Is PWM and PB mainly just bringing in money?
I had a PWM internship at a top bank and it seems as if there is little to no finance involved. The advisor really only research which investment managers to use. Is this how it is in all PB and PWM?
I had a PWM internship at a top bank and it seems as if there is little to no finance involved. The advisor really only research which investment managers to use. Is this how it is in all PB and PWM?
| +17 | The Madison Group - Morgan Stanley | 3 | 1w |
| +8 | Credit Card Discussion for Incoming Analysts | 4 | 4d |
| +7 | Financial licensing education | 4 | 2w |
Career Resources
Career Advancement Opportunities
June 2026 Investment Banking
Overall Employee Satisfaction
June 2026 Investment Banking
Professional Growth Opportunities
June 2026 Investment Banking
Total Avg Compensation
June 2026 Investment Banking
“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”
Leaderboard
| 1 | 99.2 | |
| 2 | 99.0 | |
| 3 | 99.0 | |
| 4 | 99.0 | |
| 5 | 98.9 | |
| 6 | 98.9 | |
| 7 | 98.9 | |
| 8 | 98.9 | |
| 9 | 98.9 | |
| 10 | 98.8 |
“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
What wealth levels does your advisor serve?
Short answer is PWM is a sales/relationship business, so at every level bringing in money is a key skill that will be rewarded and perhaps outshines all others.
But, as you go up market into HNW/UHNW, the products themselves and the teams supporting them become more and more sophisticated. A family with $5MM probably gets all the advice they need with a shortlist of investment managers and a chat about risk tolerance. A family with $500MM needs sophisticated asset allocation guidance, legal/trust advisory, tax planning, potentially multiple credit facilities, etc. That's where you can start to leverage real finance skills into career value-add.
You forgot the second, more important part: Keeping it.
Unless you are dealing with very high net worth clients, most of it is BSing the client and then CFP type risk analysis, tax planning, insurance planning, estate planning etc. You are going to be miles from actual cutting edge financial analysis and development. My 'advice' time as a financial advisor mostly involved "This is what a stock is, this is a bond is, stock riskier than bond. It may make you more money tho. How much of each u want?" Once I got to talk about IDGRAT strategies, but that was a real streak of luck with an internal FI PM working on liquidity concerns for a Fortune 50 company.
From what I've seen manager research is the only part that can produce alpha, so at least that's something interesting. Everything else is tax/legal/estate and mostly hand-holding, so professional expertise and sales, respectively.
The money is made by the sales guys. From my experience, even the big sophisticated shops don't have rigorous, endowment-type manager research.
Goldman PW is the best I've seen. JPM might be good too, I say that because we haven't cracked them.
Aut accusamus cupiditate quisquam dolor commodi sit. Rerum ducimus repellat veniam maxime voluptatem. Alias enim ea est nesciunt id. Optio omnis autem dolorem qui consectetur velit facere.
Ea minima quod et quia ab voluptas dignissimos. Iste non blanditiis sunt molestiae. Sint nobis velit vero maiores omnis aliquam possimus. Omnis et ipsum repudiandae recusandae consequuntur numquam aut. Et in sint aut quis nihil deleniti. Nihil minus nihil totam qui possimus et fugit. Et quia eum ut omnis provident officiis.
Id aut a officiis quo quae nulla quisquam. Sed minima odit recusandae totam nihil cumque. Aut magnam amet dolorem distinctio sed.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...