PE vs LO AM
I got an offer to return to LO AM ER for FT (eg. wellington/fidelity/t.rowe) although I also got a FT PE offer for a MM PE shop in nyc. I am really interested in both aspects and I believe I would prefer to live in ny.
Both are VERY different and will take me on opposite career paths, so l would appreciate any advice or guidance you can give me. Making such a decision in your early twenties is not easy.
I'd recommend going the PE route. Asset management is a long-term career, and if you don't like it, skillset is not terribly transferable. If you don't stick around long-term, you won't make a lot of money early on, and the only real switch you can make to get paid more is to a hedge fund - transition isn't necessarily easy given different mentality and lifestyle differences. Asset management is like an AUM aggregation game - you can't really live off of a fund unless you can raise a considerable amount of capital. Private equity can scale both larger and smaller, so you can buy and run a small business if push comes to shove, but also skew up and down across LMM / MM / MF as well as sector / style (e.g. tech growth) if you really want. If you don't know what you really want to do and want to leave open optionality, would take MM PE. If you know for a fact that you are okay making less than your peers for the first half decade and your absolute priority is lifestyle, then asset management is definitely the choice. From a learning perspective and markets side of things, asset management is probably more fun imo, but that also depends on your firm's diligence process.
What did you end up choosing? Looking back, are you happy with the decision?
I absolutely would have chosen LO AM if it’s one of the three names you mentioned
in a similar boat - what did you end up deciding and are you happy with the decision?
Similar boat - keen to hear
Would be great to get an update. Currently in PE but exploring a move to NY and looking into AM. How was the WLB in AM?
LO AM at one of those 3 shops easy
Update (ignore my title) Just my take, I went with the LO AM offer but between the outflows and the lack of return offers for early career programs (which I’ve seen across friends at other LO AMs too). I got laid off and ended up pivoting into corporate strategy. Honestly it would’ve been an easier transition if I had gone with PE as I would’ve built deal experience.
1) LO AMs do open doors but mostly within public markets. 2) Early career program conversions are low and it’s only getting tougher imo. 3) And for what is worth LO AM firms are not as well known outside of finance.
So if you do decide to go for ER/AM route keep in mind that sell side (GS, MS, JPM, etc) will open more doors outside the industry. I had to explain over and over during interviews who we were.
curious why you didn't pivot to public mkts? at my shop (one of the T1 LOs, not the ones you mentioned) conv rate is low as well for early career ppl, but almost all early career ppl who didn't get return land on good feet after the program... whether it's top tier MBA / other top quality funds (and some maybe lower quality.. but still w/ jobs). Were you truly laid off or did you just end your 2-3yr program w/o planning for an alternative at the end hoping you'd get the return offer?
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