Internship - BlackRock PMG or PWM at a BB IB?

Similar situation guys-

I have an IBD offer (GS TMT) but also have an offer to be a cashier at a local retailer (don't want to say which one because it would give me away). Which should I take? Mostly worried about prestige and exit opps obvi.

wow

I'll go ahead and give an answer:

Blackrock PMG, dependong in where exactly within it your gonna be, is a fantastic opportunity if your interested in investing, specifically macro based -- if your into portfolio theory, mathematical models, etc, it's great. However, if your interested in value investing, distressed investing, or investing in a specific type of security (think warren bufett, bill ackman, etc) this is very far from what they do.

Private wealth management, despite what this forum says quite often, is a great paying position and if you love dealing with people and have an interest in finance also you may really enjoy it. Going into private wealth management though, unless your on the investment management side, is much more focused on relationship skills than on investment skills - so you if your wanting to become a fund manager one day this may not be where you want to start.

That being said -- assuming both firms are large, you can always start off in one place and transition somewhere else in the firm. I do warn you though that in some cases, this website is right regarding certain positions having better "exit-opportunities" than others -- by example, I'd assume, because of the high level of quantitative skills required to do well in the portfolio management group, it may be easier to switch from that to say investment banking, than a position within private wealth.

I will say this -- the people i've come across within the portfolio management group at blackrock typically stay there forever -- and I'm not saying this to mean they don't have options or are living a boring life -- they seem to either love it from the start or grow to love what they do and get compensated pretty well.

Ultimately though do what interests you most and you think will make you the happiest -- if your a people person and love building relationships, and are interested in finance as well, odds are you'll be much happier and more successful (financially in addition to happiness) than if your working in GS IBD TMT -- (in truth, by the way, within that firm working within one group and another inside say IBD doesn't come with anymore prestige than the other [ why people work a job for prestige is beyond me ] and in reality is really a function of the groups culture liking a summer analyst, and that analyst having an interest in the space.

Goodluck!

PMG, fuckstick.