Q&A: Asset Management BO to FO and everything in between

What I like about my company is that we are small, that a lot of the PMs have equity analysis duties too, so they have their book of accounts, and some equity research duties related to a specific sector (why me coming in helps them with some of the pettier account activities simple trades and re-balances, etc.) while they can focus on the research side with freed up time. So personally I have not considered equity research too much, it is always something that if I get interested in down the line I can offer up assistance potentially to one of the analysts, but I participate in all the stock selection meetings so it is something I am exposed to through that. I think with my background I am more suited for portfolio management, and mutual fund selection anyways. I think that interests me more too than elusively equity research!

I would say it depends on the company and how much exposure you get to the portfolio managers in your role. I was doing fund accounting for internal and external hedge funds/mutual funds and because of the size of the company, I did not feel like I had the ability to move as much as they said they encouraged it across the company. It is easy to get siloed in a particular role or area, which led me to come back to where I am now, since I knew the location would create less competition to get into this job, and the small size had me interacting with the investment team at least on a weekly basis. I just took the chance that our growth would be too slow to create a position in this area and that I would be stuck in the compliance role for longer than I would have hoped. Luckily it played out how I anticipated and I was able to develop other skills, learning our systems and finding ways to pull new data from our system that they found valuable. This while not being in my former role too long that I moved up too high that moving laterally was kind of out of the question. The great thing for me now is that I was able to make the move so I don't have to deal with that silo effect that I felt I faced in my first job. If I go somewhere else eventually, I have directly transferable skills.

I would think forecasting and planning skills might be more beneficial and transferable to like an equity research area more than portfolio management. If you are willing to potentially move to a less senior role depending on how long you have been there, it is certainly not impossible, depending on the type of networking opportunities you have. I always think how you sell your skills is more important than individual specific skill sets. Your ability to learn is also key. If I am thinking of your role correctly, you might be at a disadvantage because you don't have the day to day involvement in the markets and discussions about them as much as someone in another type of role might have. Hopefully that helps!

As I sort of hinted in other posts, I work at a small company, and we are a Bank only in the name, we only do investment management, no commercial banking activities. My boss knew my aspirations so was pretty supportive in me attending wealth management meetings as a "compliance resource". Which helped me learn our services, methodologies and the people in my new department. Also, my new and old boss's offices are next to each other, so obviously she put in a good word for me only because I did good work for her, so that is part of it. Having all that background knowledge allowed me to have a competitive advantaged versus anyone else either just graduating (my role could potentially have been taken by a recent grad, but pay would have been lower I would think) especially since they needed someone who could pick it up quickly and go, I have to learn the basic processes and trading systems and stuff like that, but other skills i picked up just being at the company let me come in immediately and benefit in some way. I think just the familiarity they had having me around the office is what helped me here, so as much exposure as you could get to the area you want to work the better.

So if someone had my background going into a wholsaler position, I would try and sell my fund structure knowledge, and more in depth knowledge of how the funds operate and trade, into describing the various strategies to my clients. I think having a high level market outlook whether it is your own or being able to articulate your firms outlook is key if you are trying to show proficiency there. That will be tough since a BO role usually doesn't have access to as much information as those in my type of role now. I learned that quickly. Where before I was struggling to form my own conclusions due to lack of information, now I am challenged due to the large amounts of information I now have at my finger tips through our news services, and investment research platforms.

Awesome Thanks! I saw the new ask @DickFuld right after I posted this and knew it would be hard to compete :) That helps!

So when I made the move out of Fund Accounting, I was going to a familiar role where I had an internship, so I knew the opportunities that MAY materialize going forward, also knew it would be okay for the time being, help me study for the CFA etc. So as far as where to go, I am not sure I can be as helpful there, since I moved in house as a lateral. To me it seemed like a better chance than being at the larger company, and not being around the Front office roles at all. I think I can give more guidance on the skills that you can highlight during interviews.

Since I worked at the company, I already knew the structure of our services, client targets, and generally as a whole their investment approach. This all was helpful in the interview and put me ahead of anyone else they may have had applying. I was also helped by the location not being your typical financial hub so I am sure the amount of applicants was lower (I figured any advantage I could have is helpful). So knowledge of the company, services, and investment process was an advantage for me, having passed the CFA exams (or waiting for level III results at the time) showed proficiency in general portfolio management issues while learning from the PMs as I started. Then just knowing simple scenarios, tax implications of holding specific investments in various structured accounts were useful in case they come up in the interviews. I think my knowledge of the systems we use, and strong proficiency in Excel were also selling points for me. I think smaller shops appreciate these skills more since, a lot of the larger places have the types of applicant pool where they make this a stone cold requirement and not just a preferred skill. Knowledge of fund structure given my experience seeing them operate in Fund Accounting I think was helpful since I saw it was an area they did not have as much help at, that I kind of offered an interest and skillset from that approach so it led to the extra consideration. I think examples of ways you created efficiencies using these tools will be most helpful. I am sure everywhere has inefficient processes, so having had experience in learning processes and improving them just brings another advantage.

I just tried to outline some of the skills that I thought helped me make the transition if you have follow up questions on a specific item I mentioned please ask me to elaborate since obviously not everything will apply to you!

I will outline a couple experiences I had in my first role trying to make the move internally at that big bank which had an Asset Management function to it, maybe they will be similar to you or maybe they are different.. I am based in North America! It can definitely be frustrating, at my first job in FA I had explored outside opportunities. There was a similar role to the one I have now open, and I had even met the actual team being hired for's manager once the year before, he was an Alumni from my school. I reached out to him, but he was totally swamped, and I just felt like the HR process kind of trumped anything he had control over in the whole process so kind of was stopped before I even was able to be considered which dumbfounded me. I also talked to HR about another role, which even she thought I had the right background to be considered for and got me a meeting with that hiring manager. I thought it was going well, but basically at the end of it he said I had probably been doing all the right things to get into Asset Management/Wealth Management, but I can cross your name off this resume and it will look a lot like other people in your building. Kind of the shot in the stomach, and showed it was probably time for me to leave (I happened to be interviewing for my compliance job at that time too!) This is what sold me to leave. Knowing ti was hard to get into Wealth Management from my FA job. I took the chance moving to a smaller company to possibly lateral over in an unknown timeline, glad it worked out! I was able to convince them by outlining the skills I gained hopefully tailored towards their area. (See my response to keithape above).

So I got to where I was trying to by taking a different approach and making the move, I tend to agree if what you are doing now is not working, just have a well planned timeline for how you see things playing out and be ready to reevaluate if it is not working. Basically if I did not get this job after they opened it, I would have had to rethink everything and start from square one, luckily it worked out!

I don't think jobs in FA or at a Custodial bank put as much of a sticky mark on you as we think it does when we are in the job trying to move out, but I guess because there are so many different opportunities and jobs there, they kind of lump them together and overlook them as real possibilities.

As far as opportunities, I think anything that gets you close to learning how the type of FO job you want works. Then you're having conversations with people already in that role. Maybe you're doing that more of this in FA than I was, but if you're talking to fund managers regularly, ideally in person try and get a grasp without being pushy and wasting their time of all it is they do. If there was a consulting role supporting the equity research side that could certainly be helpful, I am not as keen on that route but if you had a specific example I could give you my two cents on it!

Since my position is deemed a lateral, the pay is the same as my job previously, that being said though, I moved at the right time because as far as my previous role I moved a level up, here in my role now (assistant portfolio manager was closed thing on WSO i could find for what I do) is a step below, but I stayed at the same pay level, with chance to move up again. If I had waited too long or the timing didn't work I would think it would have been harder to move, especially to an outside company, since it would probably have resulted in a pay decrease depending on the seniority of the role, if I was taking a demotion to get into the FO.

Try and learn as much as you can, use your experience to set yourself apart, it might suck but in the long run hopefully pay off!

I really prefer not to get specifically into that, I don't think it is necessarily valuable in general given where I am at. Sorry about that! Below average for the industry right now, but it's been growing steadily each year at least at a rate higher than like a standard raise.

Are you telling me I am not what I am? Or just making a generalized statement? I guess my point is not for this discussion to be about compensation. Getting here was the first step, and all that stuff should take care of itself. But to keep the conversation from getting thrown in another direction, I guess I am in good shape based on your "FO glass ceiling" criteria from a cost of living adjusted basis.

I would say learning about all of the processes that go on behind the scenes. In my FO role that helped create contact points which made it easier to transition since I knew where to go for what issues. During the internship I was able to see every side of the Asset Management process given we are pretty small, so I would agree let me see more about the process in depth given I looked at Back office issues, front office issues, and sat in business meetings with management. Now I am placing trades and helping manage client accounts, but how does all that activity get there. Awareness of that helped significantly. Also regulation is continually more prevalent across the industry, so I am constantly tapped for references to my prior experience regarding our policies and procedures.

Since it was at same company, I was able to credit my experience with all of our systems, having passed the CFA exams, and like I just mentioned experience with policies and procedures given we are the one's putting them into practice. Having passed CFA and prior FA experience I think helped sell it further. Just the familiarity with the shop and how it worked allowed me to get up and running ASAP which is what they were looking for. It was something I could provide that someone outside could not.