Asset Management Basic Info
I am a current sophomore at a solid/decent target undergrad business program with a pretty good finance placement record heading into my recruiting semester for IB. I still don't really know what I want to do with my life, but the general field of finance is probably where I will end up unless things drastically change. I plan on recruiting for IB, but I am probably an average candidate within my school, and don't think that IB sounds particularly interesting to me anyway. The exit opps are obviously great and the comp is unbeatable, but its not really worth it to me to sell my soul. I have pretty much narrowed it down to IB, AM, or WM, but there is not near as much information available on the latter two options as there is for the former.
Would anyone out there be willing to give me a rundown on AM as a career path? TC expectations, immediate and future, competitiveness, culture, life balance, future job prospects, etc.?? I would be very grateful.
Boosting
There’s a few large and reputable AM that have RA positions - go read that thread that was posted a few days ago. RAs are roles post undergrad but they are time limited (3-4 years max). Compared to banking the promote from RA > Analyst is not common. In general roles are few in between, most people don’t leave, and at most reputable AMs you need a MBA. That’s like 90% of what you need to know, I’d recommend you get some skills in banking then try to recruit after. Most of the people in my AM (think TRP/Cap/Wellington/PIMCO/Fidelity) did BB / EB banking (or MBB) > MF PE > HSW > then LO AM. For RA roles at my AM it tends to be people from stellar schools like Harvard, Stanford, Williams, etc. and those kids are sharp as hell.
Sharp as hell, but apparently not enough to build a financial model.
It’s a work in progress… LO AM model doesn’t give juniors as much close mentorship / modeling reps as banking unfortunately
Yeah, one of the top LO's (CG/D&C) that I'm thinking of doesn't seem to have much formal, structuralized training at all. What would you suggest to an incoming RA to develop these skills? Is it all based on how well they can network to find a mentor?
Nothing radical - I think back in my banking training days we had one of those instructors come in from WS Prep or another provider so that's helpful since I did a stupid lib arts degree. I think just have the hunger to learn and do a prep course on modelling. I'd also recommend people aiming for the RA roles after a year or two of banking since it doesn't feel as much of a ramp (and a big improvement in lifestyle).
idk man these days the recruiting market is so efficient (with such a surplus of WSO degenerates) that there's no free lunch - all FO roles are more or less equally competitive The standard number of people applying: number of seats available tradeoff. Meaning that, sure, there's less people applying for AM and ER (compared to IBD), but there's also way less seats available out of undergrad. AM and WM are both competitive enough that you can't afford to be like 'Go into AM cuz I'm too average for IB'. That would be a risk-less arbitrage which has already been arbed away and can't exist. In this no-arbitrage world, the only way you can get some sort of edge is to go into whichever role truly interests you. You have to really want it and employers can sense that. Hold XYZ yolo stock cuz you truly believe in its prospects and like it, not cuz you did a DCF and found its fair value to be below consensus - you probs made some wrong assumptions somewhere. All the low hanging fruit has been plucked
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