34 yr old CFA too old to break in to Equity Research?
I went to a top university and then spent 5 years as an officer in the military. Got out and worked as an actuary for 2 years, then spent the last 5 years in the invesment side, doing mainly manager research/asset allocation/risk management for a family office.
I recently finished up my CFA and am taking the Wall Street Prep courses to get my modeling skills up to par. Plan to have 15-20 companies modeled out with my own reports written in the coming months.
But the question is, am I to old to get a equity research associate/analyst job? (I look young, but have a wife and 2 year old).
I'm not sure if you're "too old" but given that you have 12 years of professional experience, you certainly seem "too experienced" for an entry level job. If you've already received your charter, think you can network your way higher up the food chain? Hopefully some of the ER guys here on WSO can give you some better insight into this approach.
Have you considered taking your MBA?
I'm 30 and networking hard to get into ER (have relationships at 12 of 34 firms in town so far), and everyone tells me I'm not too old. A few have suggested a few years from now I might be, but I'm guessing you're more qualified than me, and you have a stronger analytical background. I'm expecting to get hired a jr associate and have to wait four years to become analyst. You could probably do it in two years or less. Just guessing here though. But I certainly suggest you start networking your tail off, and get some opinions from analysts in your geographic region.
Huge waste of money. It won't get him into ER any faster than networking. He already has all the knowledge.
Agree on the MBA thing. Waste for me.
Yeah I have two good contacts I am gonna have sit-downs with in a couple months once I have my company pitches set. They are well connected in the area and like me (at least I think so).
Hopefully they can help steer me in the right direction and to better people if I am not looking there already.
ER is a tough nut to crack. Unless you're being recruited from school/MBA, it's a function of networking once you get some aptitude down. I've decided to pursue ER as well, so this is what numerous analysts/associates are telling me. Just get to know them and if they like you and think you can do the job you'll find a way in.
Too late? Maybe, but there are tons of people who switch careers into ER in their 30's and even a bunch in their 40's. If you can and want to do the work, that's pretty much the common denominator. Given you have a family, I'd suggest looking at a relatively stable sector like O&G as opposed to tech startups...there's always risk but some sectors are much more volatile.
Also: just curious, what branch of the military? It may help with recruiting on some level. Hit up the military folks in finance as well, the network is pretty good about taking care of their own.
Have you considered PWM? On either the portfolio or relationship side? Being from the military, you could have or already do have a huge network for building a book. Just a thought...
I know a PM who works at a $500MM fund that was a park ranger until he was like 35.
Navy.
Yeah - I haven't started putting myself out there - I don't want to jump the gun and they say "oh come in and talk to some people" before I have anything modeled out or any significant research opinions on stocks.
And no, not doing my MBA. Waste of money if you ask me for what I want to do, especially because I have my CFA.
When it comes down to it, part of the reason I want to do it is because it is the CORE of this profession. Asset Allocation, Manager Selection, etc... are all derivatives of the fundamental research and security selection that is done.
If I can't break into it in the next couple years, or do break in and stink up the joint, then yeah - going into PWM is probably the way to go.
Thanks you guys for your responses. I've been reading posts here ever since I decided to quit whining and go for it.
@LevFinGS
That's just amazing. Guess he got tired of facing real bears, so decided on fighting the market bears instead...
I work in equity research. I've seen people 30+ break in it depends on the sector ie. biotech, healthcare there's phDs and MDs etc. ER is very unstable though. Feel like it's been 3 rounds of layoffs every yr since i've been here. How come you want to switch from manager selection/ asset allocation? Do you want to switch and stay on the sell side?
Manager Selection seems silly. Who am I to choose which manager is beter when I have never done their job to begin with? Asset allocation is certainly useful, but again, making macro calls is more luck than skill. At this point I would want anything - sell-side/buy-side, anything where I am doing actual security analysis and not asking someone else how they pick securities.
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