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?

4 Comments
 
Most Helpful

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.

 
"Littytitty" 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?

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.

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.
 

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.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.2%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.6%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.2%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (43) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (75) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (67) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”