Deciding between Private Bank and Boutique M&A

Dear good people of WSO,

I am a junior with no relevant as of yet, and currently there are two roles I'm waiting for a reply on. The first role is a 6-month internship at a private bank on their Private Wealth Management team, and the second is an Analyst Intern position at a boutique M&A firm (with no clarity on length as of yet). What are the relevant considerations for me to take into account, and what are specific details to each category I should look out for?

Thank you for your attention, and best wishes.

2 Comments
 

In general, at your stage of life, you should show a strong preference for roles that will develop transferable skills and maximize your future earnings and optionality. If you start at a boutique M&A firm and decide you want to do something else, you will have many options, including pursuing Private Wealth Management. But if you start in PWM and decide you want to do M&A or something similar, that switch will be much more difficult to make. 

That isn't the only relevant consideration by any means. But unless you really know you want to do PWM (and you don't, which is why you're asking) I would lean heavily towards the M&A path as the better role to launch a finance career. 

 

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