From a Top 10 Business School to PWM to Trading? Is it possible?

Hey guys, just wanted to gauge everyone on this.

I went to IU's Kelley School of Business (undergrad) and graduated May 2010 (finance major). I've always been doing sales so after getting rejected by a few banks (I definitely didn't work as hard as I should have to land a IB job), I decided Wealth Management was the best route for me.

Since joining this team, my target client is either a guy in banking, a trader, or someone on the buyside, and the more of these people that I meet, the more I believe that I am in the wrong industry.

Ideally, I want to do trading. Do I have all the knowledge and training to hop in there and do well? Probably not. -- So my question to you guys is: Is it possible for me to jump into an entry level trading job from where I'm at, and if so, whats the best route for me to do it?

9 Comments
 
Best Response

Ok, so the next jump would be to a bank- shoot for Institutional Sales at half the firms; PWM at the other half.

Getting to the career you want is a game of Manhattan Paths. Sometimes you get a huge win and get a green light to cross an avenue. Otherwise, you just cross the next street in the direction you're going. Either way, you're going to have more opportunities to move towards institutional S&T at an investment bank.

Just for the record, your background- MBA and PWM- doesn't make you a strong candidate for trading. Of the 70 traders I work with, I think only one has an MBA- and that was "by accident". It makes you a strong candidate for Sales and perhaps portfolio management at a mutual fund, but not necessarily trading.

You understand there's a huge difference between the mutual fund manager on one side of the phone deciding whether he wants to buy shares at $75.50- and probably hold them for a year or two- and the trader on the other side quoting a price and then trying to go out and line up a seller. I just have to ask- with your background- PWM and an MBA- why are you so interested in heading over to trading? Why not stay at AXA and try to get into portfolio management instead- where you can manage a $500 million portfolio?

Most folks with a strict MBA/finance background who want to be traders really want to be portfolio managers.

 

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