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I can't speak about the internships, as I never had one, but I can speak about the businesses.

WM or Wealth management is normally headed by a Financial Advisor (FA) Think the guy who manages your rich aunt's money. They convince people to put their money with them, then pick funds, provide broad investment/life/tax advice and collect a fee on that money somehow. Being good at managing the money is good, but being good at attracting it is better. Most FAs are essentially independent businesspeople associated with a big bank in the same way a doctor's office is associated with a hospital. Good sales jobs are plentiful, but good mid/back office jobs are scarce, as most of that is covered by the home office.

Asset Management (AM) is very different. an AM firm runs the investments, mutual funds, ETFs, SMAs etc. that a FA will use. there are a lot more technical positions in AM, and a lot less gritting your teeth and saying "This is a stock, this is a bond, bond less risky, but stock probably make more."

Getting into a good position at an AM firm is TOUGH, but nice once you get in. Getting a WM position is easy, (Just look at shops like Primerica and First Investors, who'll basically hire anyone with a pulse who can pass their 6 and milk their family) but making money is all about what kind of assets you can bring in.

The only difference between Asset Management and Investment Research is assets. I generally see somebody I know on TV on Bloomberg/CNBC etc. once or twice a week. This sounds cool, until I remind myself that I see somebody I know on ESPN five days a week.
 

Getting a job at a wealth management firm is a decent internship following sophomore year depending on your level of finance knowledge. It provides a decent introduction into how markets and portfolio management work. An internship at a WM shop was my first finance internship as a sophomore, but at the time I was relatively unsophisticated to where I am now. If you have the ability to get an internship at a BB AM shop as a sophomore definitely do it though, WM is a good start but definitely not your ultimate goal.

 

I was in a Wealth & Investment Management program at a large bank where most of the class was under a Financial Advisor and the others were on AM, Risk, Operations, etc. teams serving the overall bank. Generally, I didn't realize how lucky I was and got under AM on a portfolio construction team under the ultra-high net worth division and learned a ton. I did a ton of fund statistical analysis using R, building exposure models, performance commentary on attribution reports, using Morningstar for research purposes, and taking notes on conference calls; there were a bunch of lectures under a lecture series at my bank as well. I really enjoyed it.

However, most of the interns under FA's in the program didn't do shit and the program for them basically was structured to progress skills as FA's which is generally useless and more of a sales job. Generally, Wealth&Investment Management is a great sophomore internship but be careful about getting stuck under an FA cold calling or doing useless shit if they give you any work at all.

One positive though, no matter what team you're on, to think about is generally WIM programs are easier to get into at bigger banks, and can sometimes help you get a foot in the door if you want to transfer into another division like IB after junior year.

 

yeah, i was in the same position as you -- simply a summer intern for PWM. at first, i wrote "summer analyst" because it sounded so much better, but then, i actually had a recruiter look at my resume from a BB, and he told me not to do that...

 

This is a good post. I am in the same situation. I had an extended internship that lasted for about 18 months. After I had been there a year my boss basically told me its hard to classify me as an intern still. I interned in a branch location doing PWM, but again was unsure what title to put. In general a resume is designed to highlight you as a person, but without lying. This is a very gray area. To "b" what retail branch PWM gives out titles to interns? Thats comical that you even suggested to put down whatever your title was. Personally i have intern for my longer internship and summer intern for the shorter one.

"Oh the ladies ever tell you that you look like a fucking optical illusion" - Frank Slaughtery 25th Hour.
 

Scroll up - I was not the one who suggested it.

Anyway, that's unfortunate, but thanks for the feedback.

What did you originally have as some of your resume bullets for work done in the internship? I marked down that I conducted research and created spreadsheets.

Thanks again, informative as always.

 

I have always had an official title when I was hired, whether is was designated "Summer Analyst" (banking), "Advisory Services Intern" (consulting), "Research Associate" (ER) etc. I'm sure that if you look in your contract, it will have a title in there, or at least, a designation that you are being hired as an intern within a specific division, in which case your official title would be "Intern - PWM". Every contract will stipulate this - what's comical is that you don't read your employment contracts before you sign them.

 

What's more comical is that you think a title should be a determining factor in whether or not one should take the job (i.e., if a contract does not have a title you deem adequate then you shouldn't sign it and take the job).

But thanks for your advice - I really do appreciate it.

 

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