PWM interview questions?

Part time internship, have a bit of prior work experience.

Is it just going to be 1 interview? Also if any of you could throw some sample questions my way I'd really appreciate it.

I purchased the WSO behavioural interview guide- is that enough?

 

As said, the majority of the questions will be fit. PWM is alll about being able to communicate well. Just have answers ready for why you want to work there, why you like investing, etc. Of course, be able to take someone through your resume and relate it back to the job you're intervewing for. Finally, you should be prepared to give some thoughts on the economy and how you would invest a client's assets.

 

I wouldn't focus only on "stock picks". Rather, what any good PWM shop will sell is asset allocation/portfolio diversification. So yeah, having a good stock or two will bode well, but if you really want to shine, I'd recommend focusing on what asset classes you would be under/overweight based upon the current investment environment (hint; one of the big themes right now is where to get yield in an environment where traditional asset classes are highly correlated and are offer lower than historical yields).

 

Worked at a similar place a few summers ago. Shouldn't be technical at all, know how the markets are doing (which ever ones they invest in, mine was equities) and why you want to do PWM. Know the basics of equity research (or again, whatever they invest in) and asset allocation principles. It might be a good idea to skim through Graham's Intelligent Investor and get the key ideas, they had me read that over the summer. Typical behavioral stuff, you'll need to stress the relationship building aspect of PWM I think. Can't really comment on salary. Good luck

 

What I did (no cold calling for me, they had another intern do that)-used 2-3 different tools to update clients' quarterly reports, created a bunch of lists for them to cold call from, updating random things in clients' accounts, looking at small recent mergers or acquisitions that the FAs would then try to call-trying to set up 401k stuff I think. Then they gave me 1-2 outlook reports issued by BAML (I worked at a ML office) on different stuff most days-just to read over.

My FAs weren't really looking for stock recommendations from me, mostly because they use a lot of mutual funds and ETF type stuff, but they still talked with me about their views on certain stocks and sectors. It all depends on the guys you're interning for.

 
jrt336:
What I did (no cold calling for me, they had another intern do that)-used 2-3 different tools to update clients' quarterly reports, created a bunch of lists for them to cold call from, updating random things in clients' accounts, looking at small recent mergers or acquisitions that the FAs would then try to call-trying to set up 401k stuff I think. Then they gave me 1-2 outlook reports issued by BAML (I worked at a ML office) on different stuff most days-just to read over.

My FAs weren't really looking for stock recommendations from me, mostly because they use a lot of mutual funds and ETF type stuff, but they still talked with me about their views on certain stocks and sectors. It all depends on the guys you're interning for.

This sounds very similar to my PWM experience too. I enjoyed talking about stock pick ideas with my boss (when he was interested), but it wasn't a core part of the job to come up with pitches or anything.

 

• Created and analyzed quarterly client reports using Merrill’s Portfolio Analysis, BlackRock Morningstar, and Lipper analysis tools • Analyzed economic outlook reports and summarized the data for financial advisors • Presented a self-researched report regarding local merger and acquisition activity to financial advisors, and targeted over 1,000 local business owners as potential customers • Assisted financial advisors by creating and updating client accounts

 

^Looks legit

Any way to include cold calling on the resume? being a good salesman is actually a kind of an attractive trait in bankers I feel like for the sell side

Also how difficult are the interviews? I've heard some are jokes because the FA's are looking for free labor but never want to underestimate the competition and fuck it up

Would you go suit and tie or say jacket with khakis?

 

Cool Cool and I assume you never mentioned "other aspirations" in finance but just focused on the beneficial experience of stock research, working with clients, etc. What would be beneficial things or at least related to M&A or ECM I could ask to do? I feel like presenting on a stock idea to potential clients would be a great talking point for the resume (but they might interpret that as cold calling sadly)

 

I don't think FAs have to use modeling/DCFs at all. At least I never saw it-don't know why they would need to. There are not a lot of things in PWM that would help in banking. Maybe doing some kind of analysis on stocks would allow you to familiarize yourself with the financial statements and certain ratios that you would come across in banking. I just contacted my bosses from last year to try to set up informationals with some of their contacts in banking & AM, but I wouldn't mention it in an interview.

Also, my FAs we're pretty busy guys. They were out quite a bit at meetings and conferences. They'd show me how to do something once pretty quickly, and I kind of had to go back and figure it out myself sometimes if they were out. They certainly didn't have hours to spend teaching me how to use software or anything else.

 

Gotcha with all that said, would you still have gone with PWM with a reputable brand name firm

OR

Would you go with 40 hour per week Student Endowment stock investment analysis, where they would work you hard in Asset Management type stuff

for the freshman internship: I feel like the brand name PWM might show banks your serious especially if its PWM of a firm and then going into their IBD

but the student endowment would allow you to learn things

-Also my pwm is regional and officially the internship is labeled wealth management summer branch analyst and not private wealth management summer analyst. That a big difference in how recruiters would view it?

Thanks for your help thus far man, appreciate it

 

Yeah no problem. Mine was regional too. No one will care about what the label for it is. They'll just look at your bullet points to see what experiences you had there. I think my title was technically Global Wealth Management Associate, but my resume says ML PWM Summer Analyst because that's basically what it is and people are more likely to recognize that than some GWM Associate title. Is the student endowment thing like a 10 week program? If it's 40hrs/week for most of the summer that would be pretty good. If it's just a week or 2, try to do both.

As for the PWM helping more with banking if you try to do it with the same bank-My regional ML internship wouldn't give me a leg up on anyone else applying for BofA IBanking. Maybe PWM in one of their main offices would have-dealing with more $ and generally more intelligent people-but not for the regional ones.

 

you're doing this the wrong way. ask open ended questions (his background, why he chose this field/how he got here, favorite part of the work, how he got started, thoughts on economy/markets, most memorable moment from his career, stuff like that) and he'll talk your ear off. close the meeting with asking for advice for someone like you. if you listen and are a good questioner (piggy back questions off of his answers), he'll be impressed. most high schoolers are dolts and have no idea how to talk about anything but themselves. if you are inquisitive and genuinely curious (but not annoyingly so), mind your manners, etc., you're ahead of your peers.

if this is an interview for an actual internship and not an informational interview, then ask some closed end questions like responsibilities, goals, expectations, etc., and so forth. if not (I got the indication that this is not a formal interview), do not ask this stuff, he'll get the picture if you ask for advice for "someone like me who wants an internship at a place like this."

 

I just got an SA offer from BAML PWM. They asked how you would go about constructing a portfolio and more critical thinking questions (how many taxi's are hailed from LGA each day). Other than that, be prepared to talk about anything on your resume and fit questions like "name a time when you had to do something unpopular". Very straight forward, generally very laid back.

 

PWM groups such as ML in NJ accept kids as early as high school as long as they are aggressive. Of the three kids (two I went to high school with and one in college) I knew, both said interviews were non technical and all fit/behavioral. IBD is technical ... a lot more technical (as the threads will indicate).

I'm guessing you are a senior with no job lined up once you graduate and have no banking experience (lucky guess, could be wrong). My advise is to learn modeling now and network for the remainder of the school year.

 
karypto:
I'm guessing you are a senior with no job lined up once you graduate and have no banking experience (lucky guess, could be wrong). My advise is to learn modeling now and network for the remainder of the school year.

Are you psychic, or do you just like making haphazard guesses? My unsolicited advice is to not do that again.

To answer the question, though: yes, PWM is less technical. There's a much greater sales-ish component to PWM, even at the lower levels, so they care more about fit.

One of those lights, slightly brighter than the rest, will be my wingtip passing over.
 

PWM is incredibly broad. Dont give advice unless you specify what you are referring too. Aggressive sales = broker / FA at a wirehouse / discount broker Aggressive sales = PM at a pwm firm

Then you have more technical areas in the investment products / solutions / on the retail trading desks

 

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