High Schooler question about HF
Hello,
I am a junior in HS and i’ve come to realize that my grades aren’t good enough to go to a prestigious college which in turn could hurt my chances of getting an IB offer. My main goal is to work at a HF, and would love to avoid IB anyways. How likely is it to begin working in a HF with no time in IB?
Low, hope this helps
i assumed so. i’ve been studying finance since freshman year and i feel like if anything i have an edge on my competition given my passion for what i learn. even still, not sure what to do.
You don’t have an edge on anyone. You are in high school…
Get your grades up and transfer after freshman year if you can’t save High School.
Study for the ACT until your eyes bleed and get a 34-36.
If you can’t do either/both of these, don’t even bother. Harsh reality, but your time will be better spent doing something else. If you like stocks, you can be a financial advisor and you’re still “there”. I have plenty of friends that worked “crappy” financial advisor jobs, started their own thing, and make MSD a year with far less variance. They went to crap universities, too.
^agree. everyone dunks being an FA out of college but on average, moderately successful FA is cushiest job in the industry. difficult when starting out but if you stick it out 10yrs, work within a bank to leverage referrals/resources, scale book to economy of scale, then spinout and hang your own shingle, comp & lifestyle are great. barely a 9-5 job which includes client lunches, golfing with sales people, etc. likely clearing in excess of 1mm per annum, assuming scale & well-managed operation, with sticky customer base which creates annuity-like income stream with minimal vol YoY. ironically i think MDs in IB (excluding prodigy rainmakers who genuinely love the game) prob look at their private wealth peers and wish they choose the same path and could be more present for their families. an FA with their own practice can clip annuity stream well into their 60s/70s and eventually monetize firm equity value by selling to one of the RIA rollups with earnout structure to ensure client transition. Greater upside in IB/HF/PE, sure, but you have a finite window for prime earning years to make enough to finance the lifestyle they desire in retirement. And there is always a hard charging younger buck behind you looking to politically assassinate you - similar analogy to pro football. With FA, once you reach scale, you can take your foot of the tedious new client acquisition effort to grow book, and grow organically through referrals from existing clients. youre not cold calling in your 40/50s.
I might make a bigger thread on here about this and steal some of your content :)
I know you mentioned my favorite/biggest/most important point… YOU ACTUALLY HAVE AN ASSET YOU CAN SELL!
RIAs sell all the time, albeit at a small revenue multiple…. You run a $500M book at 1% average fee… sell at 4x revenue… (I have no idea what the right multiple is here). That’s $20M. Not bad.
Obviously a lot of bad FAs that don’t make it too, but same with IB analysts.
You have plenty of FA friends making $3-6mm ("MSD") yr?!
Yeah…. Obviously can’t prove it, but look on the Forbes list of top RIAs/shops in ur state and back into it… revenue of 1-1.5% of AUM… back out a cut to the custodian/prime broker/platform… a little for software/CRM… paying juniors a bit (training to eventually leave and start their own book, or buy u out over time)…. It’s a pretty sweet gig sometimes lol.
One of my buddies drives a Ford Explorer despite net worth being mid-upper 8s because he doesn’t want his clients to know how much he makes off of them. He’s 50ishand runs a $1.5B AUM RIA in a LCOL city with a big corporate presence.
You’re basically convincing non-finance people that your important/know what’s going on and you just surf the beta wave. A lot of people out there that freak when the market is down 2%. Remember that this forum/our circles are not the norm…
Getting into a hedge fund is much like working at a hedge fund. To get into hedge fund you will need to:
Hope this is helpful.
Could you describe what you think the bar is?
Discovering the bar is a journey that you will have to take yourself. This is the best practice possible for working at a L/S hedge fund and an essential skill that you must hone.
yes you can reach HF w/o IB - source: i did it. you have to love the game. research stocks. put risk on. have a thesis and talk to ppl about it.
My recommended path - get an accounting and history degree and go work in equity research.
that’s exactly how i wanna do it. i know how hard it is but i think it can be done
Reading your comments I'd say you aren't cut out for it. Your condescending attitude towards your peers says everything we need to know. Humility takes you a long way in the HF biz, you have yet to realize how vast this expanse is and what kind of 'monsters' await in the space.
With that attitude you will get chewed up. The irony is, yes, like you said there are idiots among your peers who don't know jack and guess what? you're one of them.
If you want to be at a HF for the sake of being at a HF, those days are gone and you'll never be there. Unless of course you went to HWYPS. People who think they know a lot get put in their place real quick in this business.
I think you have got the wrong idea. I understand how i may have come off as brash, but that was not my intention. I know that I know far from anything at all about the finance world and all that it beholds, but am I wrong to say that if this is my passion and I love it, and I want it badly, then I have the “upper hand” in making it into where I want to be? Didn’t mean to come off as cocky, just got a bit defensive I guess.
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