Should I try to quit my weird gig for an equity research associate position? How competitive am I?
Title asks the questions. Thoughts are appreciated. Details on my background:
-Graduated 2012, little-known midwestern private school. Full ride scholarship, summa cum laude, math & econ major.
-Worked at mutual fund company you would recognize for 18 months, quantitative investing / risk work. Little excel modeling.
-Left late 2013 to manage money for a small office (whoo, I'm a PM, lol). Mostly picking fixed income mutual funds. Run a large cap equity strategy (30 stocks); performance has been ~ 200 bps over the index annualized. Done some hedging with options and other such fancyness.
-Passed CFA Levels I II & III.
-Obvious weakness is little excel modeling experience.
-Rarely if ever work more than 55 hours a week. Only two weeks vacation though.
-Paid $130k for 2014, in a cheap city.
More info: my workplace is not sophisticated, growth opportunities limited, I'm getting tired of my city, etc, so I'm thinking it's necessary to split if I ever want to realize my full potential / become a first-class professional. Thought about pursuing an equity research gig at a bank or mutual fund company. Also thought about reaching for a hedge fund, but recruiters won't find me; I'd have to find them. Applied for a few things and have one phone interview scheduled so far (ER associate, sell side in NYC).
Here's the concern: I have it pretty good in a lot of ways - I live modestly but comfortably off half my pay (could easily live larger and get my own marble-encrusted apartment with a waterfront view and still save 30%), don't work crazy hours, and am in excellent health (I think, knock on wood). If I move to New York for a research position am I going to end up being negatively impacted financially, mentally, physically? Or am I worrying too much? Am I even competitive versus my more traditional-path peers?
Appreciate your $.02.
Have struggled with a similar situation myself. Very tough to say, but I would say it depends a lot on the growth opportunities this shop has? You say they are limited, but how bad are we talking here? Are you on a path where you could be receiving equity in the firm down the road, could you advocate for moves into new asset classes/business lines? This could be a reason to stay, there can be a significant upside...That said, being in a similar situation, I share the same type of concerns. Anyone else have any thoughts?
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