Morgan Stanley PWM vs Duff & Phelps Valuation

Looking for some career advice from fellow Monkey's...

I've been given two opportunities in rather different directions but wanted to gauge some other inputs on everyone's personal opinions.

Background: Undergrad finishing up this May from a non-target, top public school in the Southeast.

I've been a part-time intern on the portfolio management side on a large (+1B) wealth team at MS. Decent portfolio work, some equity research. Team is mostly geared towards options strategies(concentrated positions) as well as some institutional products and is looking to expand more on their derivatives offerings. They are now interested in hiring me on full-time as an analyst to keep growing the PM side of the business under my boss who's career before children was focused on institutional Asset Management in NY.

Interviewed with D&P, received an offer for valuation. Interned previously at a Fortune 100 Fastest Growing firm on their corporate dev team and grew my interest in the business valuation/M&A/private equity space. My coworkers there had their starts in similar spots to D&P (Big4, consulting, some IB) and recommended the base skill set you gain there to ultimately move into the more lucrative and interesting fields they reside in now.

My Thoughts:

I love investing, I love markets, and I love formulating strategies between the two. At the same time I don't see myself in the PWM world forever and at this point in my career am more about getting a good skill set. Ultimately I plan to go back to B school and know I can change career directions there.

Basically I'm looking for suggestions if PWM is worth playing around in for a little longer if the money is good and the growth of the team has some potential to be rewarding both financially and educationally vs jumping out completely and trying to build the corporate development/M&A career track I see myself in longer term. Also, impacts on potential B school acceptances from going either direction.

Thanks!

0 Comments

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...”