Proprietary equity trader (reputed shop) vs. top BB PWM Financial Analyst

If you want to trade go trade. If you want to be a financial analyst do the PWM thing. This really comes down to want you want to do.

"Oh - the ladies ever tell you that you look like a fucking optical illusion?"

pwm sucks dude, take the risk go trade.

Trillium is a good shop, friend of mine trades there hes doing just fine. Why dont you do what you think your going to enjoy and not worry about the prestige. If you love your job it wont matter what others think.

If you start out as a prop trader your not going to want to trade on the sell side.... trust me.

"Oh - the ladies ever tell you that you look like a fucking optical illusion?"

Either way, exit opportunities will be better for the prop trading shop, especially Hedge funds. First New York actually has a program to help people launch their own hedge funds. Top BB PWM has very little in the way of exit ops at all.

Also trade4size, i dont think the OP is worried about "prestige" in the sense of whether or not people will drop their jaws. He's only worried about whether they are actual legitimate operations or scam jobs which ream daytraders on transaction costs(a very valid concern for prop trading shops). For the OP, First New York, Susquehanna, and Trillium are all definitely reputable. I dont know as much about Chimera. But if you're concerned about exit ops to hedge funds, the prop trading shops have far more opportunities than anything from PWM.

It is pretty apparent from people's input that PWM at even the best BB - Goldman Sachs, offers little opportunity into other more "highly thought of" finance areas such as investment banking, sales & trading, hedge funds, PE etc.

"Highly thought of" can also be substitued for more lucrative in the long run on average.

What about for top MBA admissions? I know business schools care more about what you do rather than where you do it. What happens if I do a great job at the well-known/highly regarded BB. Would the strong performance at a well-known company be looked upon more favorably than if I were to have equally strong performance at the smaller prop. equity shop?

There probably is no answer to this, but at a place like Trillium; besides the 50k base, what is the P&L that a 1st year takes home on average? 20k? 100k??

Also, is Trillium better than the other shops; First NY, and Chimera??

I am curious as well to hear what an average 1st year prop. equity trader at Trillium or First New York makes.

I am leaning towards the BB PWM Financial Analyst position because I am ultimately gunning for a top MBA program that can open doors to any industry. I feel doing PWM can be fun and a lot less riskier in terms of compensation, and the networking opportunities are probably stronger. I would like to keep open the possibility of returning to this BB in a different division after my MBA.

I think the PWM the issue is that there is less "space" to show great performance. As an investment banking analyst, at least you can say you worked on different deals within industries and learned such-and-such for example, while talking to my friends it seems like it would be harder to "spin" the PWM experience as something substantive over the long-term.

Also, for PWM networking I've never heard of anyone consistently being able to do it except when working in an NY office as an intern.

There is no such thing as an average 1st year. prop equity trader salary. There are no "buckets" like what the banks give. You have your P&L which is derived from the account you trade. First New York will actually force you to do training for a long period of time(at least six months) before letting you trade, and from what I understand, gives new people a $200,000 account to work with to start off. You'll also get supervised by a senior trader on the floor. First NY's annual average return on its total capital usually is in the teens based off of something I worked on last summer, so tack that to the $200,000 and you prolly have a ~$10,000 bonus? But honestly, it depends so much on the individual that this average salary is utterly useless. What you should check is how much capital they'll give you to work with when you start.

I know a guy that went from GS PWM to a hedge fund.

BTW, I don't know why people on this board seem to think FNYS are great - simply not the case. Not bad, but definitely not that great.

I appreciate the input. I have decided to go the top BB for PWM route. While many say PWM is a joke and don't respect it as much, I feel it will be an enjoyable experience that can potentially turn very lucrative. I have read that top performers can make 7-figures per year and passing up the firm that I have an offer with will be a huge mistake according to many.

Ultimately I am aiming for a top MBA program and I feel that the name recognition and guaranteed bonus of this BB is too great to turn down just to take a position with a boutique prop. equity shop and somewhat unknown place where I get a fancier title (prop. equity trader) but where my compensation is anything but secure, and where people have openly questioned the quality and reputation not only here in this thread, but in the past as well.

you made the right choice. if you go into trading thinking you wont be successful and make enough money at it you're definitely not going to be a good trader at all. you do realize top performers at trading make 8-9 figures a year as opposed to 7? :)

You are valuing an MBA way too much- just going to a top MBA program isn't going to open all the doors. The best jobs go to people with relevant prior experience and PWM really isn't that much of a boost compared to any other background. People who did buyside/banking/consulting before business school will get the best jobs; unfortunately I don't see PWM having that same cachet.