Experiences with PWM internship?

my suggestion. Relax and watch brazzers.com, but seriously, they hired you for a reason. Don't be scared to speak up when you have something to bring to the table.

Did they tell you what you would be doing on day-to-day basis?

Not extremely specific, but I would primarily be working under the Fixed Income Portfolio Manager doing quantitative research and analysis.

loldanielol:

Hey everyone, I'm on my gap year and doing a part-time PWM internship at a boutique asset management firm. It's definitely not what I expected it to be. I do some administrative stuff (like formatting documents, random bullshit) and work on marketing stuff on PowerPoint. Overall it's a pretty chill internship and I even get to grab lunch occasionally with the CEO and some of his buddies as well. Since I came in an hour ago I've just been browsing the web (though I have work in the background in case someone walks in hehe).

Besides the grabbing lunch part, has this been typical of your PWM internships? I'm not complaining, I'm just wondering whether this internship I'm doing will even be useful in the future.

A PWM gig is a great add on to your resume, on the other hand I would definitely look into asking to do more. Ask the FA you are with if he has anything else you can help with when you're just sitting there doing nothing. Ask whether you can search a fund on a weekly basis and pitch the fund as well it's manager to the group. PM me if you have any more questions.

no shot

anyone?

you will be disappointed

real internships have busy work anywhere you go. just be thankful for the experience you get from these places. i will say that you will probably have zero client interaction unless you're taking calls. first, you need your licenses to be a qualified fiduciary. Also, in PWM you, as an intern, would rarely use PowerPoint unless it's busy work.

Are you working for a financial advisor or doing structuring?

unfortunately i don't know. They didn't give me any details on it.

Get coffee/food, answer phones, print and collate stuff.

"do you want cream or sugar?" don't forget their answer...seriously.

wow that sucks... but if it leads to FT i guess it's not SO bad

1) steal all confidential client info 2) ?? 3) Profit!

Couple of things:

I asked the financial advisor I was working under if I could look at all of his clients/assets so that I could make a revenue model for him. I broke it down based on the different products he was selling, assumptions on market return, assets added etc. It was a good project and was something I was able to talk about in most superdays

Try to sit in on at least one client meeting if your FA will let you. I did this and then made recommendations to improve the clients portfolio (client had been managing their own assets). You can talk about this in an interview and if the advisor uses some of your suggestions its even better (results oriented)

I had the opportunity to take the shitstorm of various papers and statements from the crazy array of different assets that some wealthier clients had and then compile them into a single coherent portfolio to demonstrate their performance of the the last x years. I think talking about analyzing statements of any kind is something prospective IB interviewers like to hear about.

Do a few of these things (or similar things) and you should have some good things to talk about and list on your resume.

As a disclaimer, I worked for a one man show and it was unpaid. This gave me leverage to take on tasks that I wanted to do instead of the FA telling me what to do all of the time.

Are we interning at the same place?

But ya, I'm in the same situation as you, except I'll be going for FT S&T/AM

damn wtf i never got paid for merrill

I never got paid at my ML internship....but then again I never cold called...ONCE. I'd say it was worth it - my FA had a different "theme" for each weak and I actually had some first-hand involvement with invesment alternative analyses, etc.

Anyway, the number of meetings that you schedule will be totally up to you. How personable you are and how convincing you can be will all play into the number of meetings/your overall pay.

do u get more money when u get payed or when u get paid

wow, that's going to be a unique experience! this is the first time I've heard of a ML PWM intern getting paid.

hm i thought merrill always paid their interns. guess not. but for those of you who have cold called at a PWM internship...on average how many meetings did you set up a week? i'm just trying to gauge how much money I should expect to be making

I got paid for my PWM internship, $12/hour. Never cold called either, but I think I got REALLY lucky.

A lot of my buddies did it for free, and had to cold call.

yeah i'm getting $12/hour + $40 for each meeting i set up. I'm not sure what that means though

How are you not sure what that means? If someone you call comes in for a meeting with your FA, you get $40....

i know what it MEANS i don't know how much money that will be equivalent to per week so i'm trying to figure out how many meetings the average intern sets up

bump bump bump.

insight from anyone who has had this internship?

It really depends on the FA or team you work for. I think cold calling is great, especially someone at your age. Wall Street is a relationship business and there is heavy phone contact on all levels (not just pwm). You should wind up being very comfortable on the phone and have no problem reaching out to prospects. This will greatly improve your networking, cold calling alumni/boutiques/etc will become no problem for you. You'll have access to the company directory and can network during down time.

I doubt you will get much more responsibility. Cold calling and basic admin work is all a pwm intern is around for. You would basically do the work the current assistant doesn't want or passes off.

Definitely speak with your advisor daily (don't bug them though) geit their views on the markets, what they are selling their clients and why etc. Absorb all you can

Cold calling was probably the hardest thing I've done for an internship, and without a doubt the most helpful in terms of career skills. I am not exaggerating one bit when I say that. I've always been a people person, but when you're a nineteen year old kid trying to make investment sales to high net worth adults / advisors--who you [often incorrectly] assume are smarter and more sophisticated than you--you definitely need to expand your vernacular and step out of your comfort zone.

You learn your business/products inside out, how to confidently talk to strangers, and most importantly, how to get over the fear of hearing "no." Fear of rejection is one of the biggest obstacles to overcome in sales, and in a way, every aspect of business and life is sales. Don't be rude, but be persistent, and don't feel too down on yourself when you hear "no." You'll hear it a lot.

How to make the best of it? Work.

Just work your ass off and get a good reputation in the office. If you work hard and network well you might be able to leverage that into something else for the next summer since your already at a top bank in canada. Cold calling is boring but a necessity if you want to go into PWM. Develops good skills plus you learn rejection. And some of the responses you get are hilarious

Since you are just about to enter college, no one is going to expect you to know anything. Maybe read a "Series 7 for dummies" book to get a sense of the products and business they are involved in.

I am no expert but I would expect that you will be doing nothing serious, most likely cold calling and doing any other "bitch" work that no one else in the office wants to do. I am assuming this because you are not even in college yet. The BB banks that actually have financial analyst programs JPM/GS is where you would get more hands on work. I would not worry about being ready for the internship other than just following the markets to have some idea what is going on.

Thanks for the input. The bank is massive, but this particular group is very small and I know the MD personally, which is how I got this internship. Although I wouldn't mind doing grunt work, they are paying me, so I expect I'll at least be doing something.

Say I were a sophomore in college and they were serious about my internship. How would you recommend preparing in that case?

Thank you, ct banker. I guess now I'm going to read a few books and continue my pursuit of leisure until summer rolls around.

PM ME.

I must have at least 10 banana points to use private message? How do I get more bananas? Commenting?

Prangs, share your advice with the world.

Invillers, yup. You'll get that soon enough.

As far as my advice goes, ignore the bulk of what everyone's said with cold calling and getting you licenses. It's a waste of time. Your starting college in the fall and I am telling you that you won't have any of that stuff to do. I doubt you will even speak to clients in any capacity except for taking messages or passing the phone to the members of the team you're working with. My advice is to read whatever you can get your hands on (from the WSJ, Investors Business Daily, and Barrons to anything you can about the products your firm is dealing in, from equities to structured notes to alternative investment prospectuses and pitches to everything in between) and ask questions. If the people you ask don't know, ask if they know someone who knows and wrack their brains as much as possible. I would also take a page out of Monty's playbook and just see if you can get some of the people outside of your group to take 10 minutes out of their day to sit with you over a cup of coffee and find out about them, their background and ask them questions about what they do. For as much work as your given, don't hesitate to ask to do something that you'll learn something from.

Thanks, Frieds. I understand that asking questions is crucial to internship. Any specific reading you'd recommend? I've already a long list.

If you were my intern, I would not really care if you read the WSJ and bloomberg.com every morning. You can do that on your own free time and trust me, no one will ask you for input (They might just to make you feel better and excited about the business, but you are probably 18, they wont really take your input seriously).

If you want to be a good intern, someone that will be remembered, you need to do the following:

• Always be there on time
• Don't take days off, unless its an emergency or you have let them know at the beginning of internship (family trip for example)
• Dress well (Not over the top, but well. Look how juniors dress and try to match them)
• Have a positive attitude when assigned any task, no matter how shitty the task.
• Be outgoing. This one is the one I see most people fail at. Younger people feel intimidated by the more senior folk. In reality, they are just people like you and me. Say good morning to everyone. Have chit chats every now and them, with everyone from the assistant to the MDs. Share your interests with people. The only thing you have to be careful is to not interrupt someone when they are working.

Focus on ^^^^^, and trust me, if you like the business, you will find yourself reading the news and asking those people around the office that you get along with the most about the markets, industry, etc.

If UBS is a place you want to work then yes absolutely, it'll get your foot in the door. If you want to go somewhere else I'd recommend an ops kind of role that supports S&T. That way you can see what goes on behind the scenes, and learn how everything works.

Yes, that is very good for freshman year.

Yes, even good for up to sophomore year.

ohh ok then do IBD later on I see thanks guys

why is this question asked like a million times a day?

Sorry? lol I was just trying to help...I hope I am not acting ignorantly or anything, because that was not my intent... I just might have known an answer to a question he had, which doesn't mean that I am better than him in any manner.

Sorry if I may have offended you

nah to be honest PWM really sucks if you want to do IB

you'd be better off doing some substantial non-finance internship as long as you were accomplished