Sales? IBD? PWM/AM? HELP PLEASE

I am fresh out of college and need serious advice form someone who knows about various i banking divisions. Basically, im looking for a career which would involve recommending stocks to clients and developing relationships with them. I understand that this is obviously a sales role, but which sales role is the most lucrative? securities division? PWM? what is the difference between the two?

12 Comments
 

fresh out of college and do not know any of this yourself? interested in finance but have no idea what anything is by the wording of your title? the date 1992 in your user name? I call bullshit. you are probably a freshman in college or a high school kid.

"Look, you're my best friend, so don't take this the wrong way. In twenty years, if you're still livin' here, comin' over to my house to watch the Patriots games, still workin' construction, I'll fuckin' kill you. That's not a threat, that's a fact.
 
Will Huntingfresh out of college and do not know any of this yourself? interested in finance but have no idea what anything is by the wording of your title? the date 1992 in your user name? I call bullshit. you are probably a freshman in college or a high school kid.

sorry i should have been more clear. i am from england, so what we call college is what you call high school.

 
Best Response

From my general information (very general)

PWM= Recommending stocks to clients and developing relationships with them Not lucrative unless you have many clients to bring to the table or are higher up. Not a very sought after place to be as an analyst or client advisor as you will be the first few years if you are part of a larger team (taking care of clients, pitch books, administrative duties) Great work life balance but not lucrative by any means at a junior level, many people spend years in finance then do PWM as their network grows larger. PWM as a big timer is great as you are working 10-4, can make lots of money barely doing anything, but as I said most people that are within this category have been elsewhere or in the industry for 20+ years.

Sales is recommending securities to clients such as hedge funds, taking what research hands you, selecting what you feel would be best.Definitely pick this over PWM, as it is more lucrative, hours may be a bit longer but lifestyle in the end would be better.

IBD= no recommendations involved, rather modeling deals etc. AM= as a junior you may not recommend anything but mostly research holdings and won't speak with clients until very much later on.

I would definitely go for sales.

 
PIEFrom my general information (very general)

PWM= Recommending stocks to clients and developing relationships with them Not lucrative unless you have many clients to bring to the table or are higher up. Not a very sought after place to be as an analyst or client advisor as you will be the first few years if you are part of a larger team (taking care of clients, pitch books, administrative duties) Great work life balance but not lucrative by any means at a junior level, many people spend years in finance then do PWM as their network grows larger. PWM as a big timer is great as you are working 10-4, can make lots of money barely doing anything, but as I said most people that are within this category have been elsewhere or in the industry for 20+ years.

Sales is recommending securities to clients such as hedge funds, taking what research hands you, selecting what you feel would be best.Definitely pick this over PWM, as it is more lucrative, hours may be a bit longer but lifestyle in the end would be better.

IBD= no recommendations involved, rather modeling deals etc. AM= as a junior you may not recommend anything but mostly research holdings and won't speak with clients until very much later on.

I would definitely go for sales.

Thanks so much for your answer. Can you possibly elaborate on how much less lucrative PWM is than sales, provided obviously that you dont have lots of rich clients in PWM. And also, how much longer are the hours in sales? isnt your work mainly centered around market hours? With sales, will you have to take out clients often/ go for lunch with them/ develop a good relationship with them?

 

PWM is as lucrative as you make it. If you can develop a book with high end clients and keep them on for years while continuing to grow your book then you could make bank. Conversely, you could suck and make next to nothing. Hours are good but its not like you leave at 4 everyday. A lot of your money is made networking with potential and current clients as that is how you bring in new business.

If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
 

PWM is very lucrative, but you may have to cold call to build your book whereas sales you are trained to work with existing clients.

Sales gives you a better foundation is what I'm trying to say in general, but if cold calling is your thing then PWM isnt bad, and is great once you have lots of clients.

 

also, its my understanding that the way sales people make their money is through commission from large volumes of securities transactions, but how do PWM guys make the serious money? commission? a cut from the profit they make their clients?

 

Get your university degree, you'll learn a lot.

"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer "Your grammar made me wish I'd been aborted." -happypantsmcgee
 

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