AM in Cal/San Francisco

Hi, i am an international student studying in California and i am wondering what are Asset Management career opportunities here, and spec. in San Francisco. I like to think of me as being ambitious and my conclusion was that i should aim for NYC. However, i like outdoors and sports and sun and healthy living (not a hippie) and laid back atmosphere and ocean and all that. And also, i guess that salary would be lower (right?), but so will be the living costs. This is especially important since i want to build my own portfolio. Can you please tell me, as an investment professional, what are the prospects of working in San Francisco?

 

i dont work in asset management, but from what little research i have done on the business, am seems to be a very fragmented industry. its not like ib where nyc is the epicenter of activity. generally, i think you could find job opportunities in any large metro, including sf.

--- man made the money, money never made the man
 
Best Response
mr1234:
i dont work in asset management, but from what little research i have done on the business, am seems to be a very fragmented industry. its not like ib where nyc is the epicenter of activity. generally, i think you could find job opportunities in any large metro, including sf.
I have to disagree - Boston is where AM firms are most concentrated and is to AM what NYC is to IB. That being said, you can find smaller shops in most major metros, but the AUM will be less and they definitely won't have the same level of prestige as some of the top firms. If you're set on California, you would be an idiot to look past PIMCO just because it's not in SF. I would also take a look at Western Asset which is north of LA.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I tend to think of myself as a one-man wolfpack Buyside strongside
 
rooster:
mr1234:
i dont work in asset management, but from what little research i have done on the business, am seems to be a very fragmented industry. its not like ib where nyc is the epicenter of activity. generally, i think you could find job opportunities in any large metro, including sf.
I have to disagree - Boston is where AM firms are most concentrated and is to AM what NYC is to IB. That being said, you can find smaller shops in most major metros, but the AUM will be less and they definitely won't have the same level of prestige as some of the top firms. If you're set on California, you would be an idiot to look past PIMCO just because it's not in SF. I would also take a look at Western Asset which is north of LA.

just curious, which asset managers have their hq's in boston? b/c when i think of large asset and investment managers, i think: blackrock, tcw, pimco, western asset management, capital group, vanguard, janus, prudential, fidelity, various am/im groups within insurance co. and pension funds, as well as the am/im groups within ibanks and vanilla banks. most of these arent based out of boston, theyre all over the place. thats why i said that i though am/im was a fragmented business, both in terms of location and size. not trying to sound like a dick, i am actually pretty curious.

--- man made the money, money never made the man
 

I don't really follow or have much specific knowledge about hedge funds, but when it comes to more traditional asset management I can't think of anywhere else that has more quality firms than Boston. I didnt even bother listing firms that just have an office in Boston, but just the ones headquartered there since any large firm will have a presence both there and in SF. As I mentioned, this is not including hedge funds, which could be what you were looking for, but I don't really know as much about them and someone else could offer a more qualified opinion. If you guys think I'm wrong I would be interested to see which SF firms you think trump the collective quality of those in Boston. Note: I'm not from Boston, don't give a shit about Boston, don't work there, etc, just think that in terms of the biggest and best, as a whole it beats SF. If anything, I would put Boston and NYC as the top 2 cities.

Some of the big players:

State Street (top 5, +$1T AUM) Fidelity (top 5, +$1T AUM) Wellington (top 20, +$500B AUM) Natixis (top 20, +$500B AUM)

Some of the smaller ones:

Putnam BNY Mellon AM MFS Pioneer Eaton Vance John Hancock

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I tend to think of myself as a one-man wolfpack Buyside strongside
 

Nicu,

Barclays Global Investors (now part of Blackrock) used to have its U.S. headquarters in SF. I would start there. Capital Group has an office. Carlyle has an office. Citadel has a small outpost. I don't know much on the banking side, but my guess is JPAM and CS have investments ppl out there. Franklin Templeton is headquartered in San Mateo. Matthews, which is small but very well respected for its Asian markets funds is based in SF.

If you are also interested in SoCal the list grows; PIMCO, Western Asset, TCW, a couple more Capital Group offices, Oaktree, Brandes - which is in Del Mar. That's the good life if you ask me... working in finance but living in San Diego, it doesn't get any better than that.

 

You all should actually check out www.advisorheads.com A lot of advisors from different firms that can give some great feedback and ideas business building.

Let them know MsBroker referred you. It is a private forum so you do have to register and post an intro, so saying who referred you makes it a little warmer to newbies. :)

 
NYFINANCEDUDE:
When inclduing both asset managers and hedge funds, the breakdown for top public equity investment management cities goes like this:

Top Tier: New York Metro (inlcudes Greenwich) Boston

Second Tier: Chicago San Fran

Third Tier LA DC Philly Houston

Aside from citadel, what notable hedge funds and AM firms are in Chicago?

I agree with boston and NYC being at the top, with SF behind those. Boston is incredible for AM: fidelity, wellington, state street, putnam, MFS, Harvard Management. Also you have arguably the best value investing hedge fund in baupost group. and some other specialized hedge funds like bracebridge, convexity, etc.

So cal obviously has PIMCO, oaktree, and a capital group office. SF, in addition to blackrock and capital group, is home to dodge and cox, which is a very well-respected AM firm.

 
 

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