Corporate Finance within Investment Management Firm - Move to Investing Side

I’ve been working at a wealth and investment management firm for two years on the corporate side of the business. We manage about $100 billion in assets, so it’s a decently sized firm. Before that, I worked in real estate finance for 3 years at a private real estate investing company. I transitioned to my current role in corporate finance to get closer to my ultimate goal of working on the investment side of the investment management business.

I have a Master's in Finance, I'm a CFA® Level II candidate for June 2017, and graduated from a top 20 undergrad college. I've always enjoyed investment related work, but right now my role on the corporate side of my firm involves more business management, financial reporting, and data analysis.

I was recently offered a promotion in my corporate finance department to manage one new employee we are hiring in the near future. At the same time, a job opened up in our global allocation group on the investment management side of the business, and I applied for the role. My manager wants to support me in my goal of moving to the investment side of the business, but if I don’t get the global allocation position, he said he needs to know if I’ll constantly be trying to apply out of corporate finance when new jobs arise on the investing side of our company. My promotion to a manager role in corporate finance is still on the table, so if I get denied for the global allocation role, I basically need to decide if I should commit for at least another 1-2 years in our corporate department as a manager or if I should decline the promotion and keep hoping I can make my way into an investment management role within our firm. I can always apply to other firms, but it seems like transitioning within my own firm is my best bet.

Will it be too difficult to transition to the investment management side if I accept the promotion on the corporate side? I won’t finish the CFA® until June 2018 at the earliest. But I do already have a Master’s in Finance, which covered a lot of the same material. Or could it be viewed positively that I got promoted within my department since I'll gain management experience and have a proven track record of advancement? I feel that the ceiling is higher on the investment management side of the business and I have more interest in investing. But I also realize that at 29 years old, I’m running out of time to move into an investment management role with no professional experience in active Asset Management, and I don’t want to pass up an opportunity to advance in the corporate side of our business.

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