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Financial Adviser vs. Private Wealth and Asset Management
 

rangerdanger 12's picture
(Baboon, 153
 
Points)
 on 10/10/11 at 2:01pm

Guys Ive been often told that the stepping stone to IB is an internship in Wealth Management, how does that differ from the job of a financial adviser?

Also if you had to choose between the two with the ultimate aim at an IB position which one would you choose, a full time position as a financial adviser at a major firm or a wealth management internship at a boutique firm.

Thanks guys

Tags:
arguewithatree's picture

the difference? FAs work in

IB
 
Points)
 on 10/10/11 at 2:10pm

the difference? FAs work in PWM or GWM. a pwm intern works under an FA. as an FA you manage client portfolios/IRAs, and you have to be licensed to do so. You don't intern as an FA, you intern under an FA.

a bb won't hire you for an FA position without any experience. Also trying to get into pwm as a stepping stone into IB is just dumb, bc FAs don't even start making real money after having years of leads piled up. PWM is completely different than IB. pwm is more marketing/sales/private banking than anything analytical.

rangerdanger 12's picture

Then how do you break into IB

(Baboon, 153
 
Points)
 on 10/10/11 at 2:34pm

Then how do you break into IB if you havent been able to score an internship while in school (im graduated now) and cant really score a IB full time position?

Whats the best stepping stone into IB then?

TDSWIM's picture

I wouldn't really call pwm a

(Orangutan, 314
 
Points)
 on 10/10/11 at 3:24pm

I wouldn't really call pwm a stepping stone unless you can network your way into the ibd of the firm you're working for. Some of the non BB pwm firms have an ibd. It does show that you have some interests in the markets, especially if you actually get to work on some of the analytical stuff while you're interning. So it's better than doing, say, landscaping or putting security systems in houses or some other odd jobs.Try not to get a position that has you just selling the whole time if you want to do IB. Doing an internship in corp fin in industry might be another option as well as Big 4 Transaction Services or TAS groups.

Vancouver Canucks 2011's picture

kambojh wrote: Then how do

IB
(Orangutan, 305
 
Points)
 on 10/10/11 at 3:48pm
kambojh:

Then how do you break into IB if you havent been able to score an internship while in school (im graduated now) and cant really score a IB full time position?

Whats the best stepping stone into IB then?

You need to get your MBA. Investment banking (at the junior levels) has very specific entry points, which are the undergrad and MBA recruiting channels. If you have already graduated, you have virtually no chance of getting into traditional investment banking so I would focus on getting promoted in your current role and applying to a top business school (that has a track record of sending people to investment banks).

If you are trying to be the exception, there are two other ways (though both are extremely rare):
1.) Be extremely good at what you do 20-30 years down the line and get into investment banking as a MD-level person who manages relationships with C-level executives
2.) Do something analytical and technically-rigorous like valuations work and transition to a boutique / non-standard investment bank, before jumping (again, after a few years) to a bulge bracket bank

rangerdanger 12's picture

I see, thank you for the

(Baboon, 153
 
Points)
 on 10/10/11 at 4:59pm

I see, thank you for the information guys.

Suppose you hadnt graduated and you went to a non target school, that doesnt have recruiting how does one get into IB from such a situation.

I was planning on getting my CFA, soon as I am currently studying for one, and I am assuming that getting into a good MBA program makes all the difference in the world to getting a IB position or not.

What are the chances of getting a CFA independently, doing modeling work on your own and laterally transferring within a firm that also has an IB department.

tan86's picture

It's all about networking at

O
 
Points)
 on 10/10/11 at 5:06pm

It's all about networking at this point. Doing things like getting your CFA and learning how to model will help and give you something to talk about in your interviews to show that you are interested in IB. But getting those interviews is really going to come down to networking. Like a previous poster said, getting into IB is very tough from a non-traditional background.

As far as the difference between wealth management and FA....you say po-tay-to, I saw poe-tah-toe.

TDSWIM's picture

kambojh wrote: I see, thank

(Orangutan, 314
 
Points)
 on 10/10/11 at 10:13pm
kambojh:

I see, thank you for the information guys.

Suppose you hadnt graduated and you went to a non target school, that doesnt have recruiting how does one get into IB from such a situation.

I was planning on getting my CFA, soon as I am currently studying for one, and I am assuming that getting into a good MBA program makes all the difference in the world to getting a IB position or not.

What are the chances of getting a CFA independently, doing modeling work on your own and laterally transferring within a firm that also has an IB department.

Doing Training the Street is a plus. If you have the opportunity to do it, do it and put it on your resume. You can knock that out faster than the CFA. Talk to career services and see if they have any data on alumni already working in finance that you could network with.

buybuybuy's picture

CFA won't help you in

AM
 
Points)
 on 10/11/11 at 9:18am

CFA won't help you in banking. Go to a top 10 MBA if you want to get into banking.

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