ValueInvesting:
Its relatively the same, though the GS name may make it look better on your resume. Also don't look into it if you are trying to lateral to GS IBD, it won't work.
Out of the Chicago GS office at least, I've heard of some lateralling into GS IBD (though after their 2 year PWM stint).
 

The average account size at GS is $25M of liquid wealth. In comparison, the average account size at JPM Private Bank--the closest competitor--is $10M.

Moreover, wealth advisors at GS can invest client money in private equity and hedge funds, or more esoteric assets such as structured products. These asset classes are mostly unavailable at other firms' PWM divisions.

For the above reasons, rarely do wealth advisors at Goldman jump ship to another firm. GS is the premier place to be for PWM.

As a side note, a lot of monkey's on this site obsess over banking, and are oblivious to the value of the PWM enterprise. It's one of Goldman's top priorities because the revenue stream is very consistent and high margin. Moreover, from a work-life perspective, nothing beats the lifestyle of an senior wealth advisor. They typically works 9-5, and their income is not affected by slow periods in deal making.

 
Best Response

I have a friend that works for GS in AM. He works his ass off. Almost IB hours which seems ridiculous to me (for AM). He does a lot of portfolio modeling and asset allocation work, pitch books for clients, account maintenance, admin stuff, etc. I am at MS. Not nearly the hours as GS. It all really depends on the team you are working with as to what they want you to do. Both sides is less “analyst” type work than say a capital markets analyst/equity analyst, unless you are working for GSAM in Chicago.

GS has a little different structure. They target 25MM+ but won’t shy away from a 5MM account. The payout for brokers is also way less than at other wirehouses. They also have a rotational structure for some accounts so that if a broker leaves he doesn’t take his clients with him (they are clients of the firm, not the broker). At GS you will have a higher work load but probably learn more/and you’ll have Goldman on your CV.

MS PWM is no different than regular MSSB. They have nothing special that regular MSSB doesn’t have. They get a little more access up the food chain but if you have a 20MM client you are privileged to the same access. They start at a little smaller minimum but again it depends on the team. As an analyst you’ll do a lot of financial plans, asset allocation work, fund due diligence, account maintenance, asset allocation, etc.

The biggest thing you need to look at is the team you would be working for. Are they a big team that is bringing in a ton of assets? Are they good money managers or just good salesmen? Are they going to take the time to teach you stuff (because the firm won’t teach you anything useful). Are they generous during bonus time?

Personally unless you are looking to make a career out of it I would go GS, just because it’s Goldman.

 

Thanks fmjohns, helpful info! In regards to the team structure, did you have a say as to which team you wanted to join? Also, what is the usual range for total comp? Thanks again for your help!

 

not sure about the comment about GS "that if a broker leaves he doesn’t take his clients with him (they are clients of the firm, not the broker)." I believe that it is stipulated within the contract how long the non-compete period is, but brokers tend to leave precisely because they are bought off by other firms with the understanding that the GS PWA will bring his clients with him/her.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240529702039202045771950402879783…

 

"I believe that it is stipulated within the contract how long the non-compete period is, but brokers tend to leave precisely because they are bought off by other firms "

Of course that is how brokers make a living. Depending on the size of the book you can get 3x trailing 12 production. Half of that up front. Any broker who doesn’t move every 8-10 years had better have good reason not to. What I was saying about Goldman was that with some accounts they will rotate which brokers the clients work with every few years to make the client more attached to GS rather than any particular broker. Good strategy but it doesn’t always work. There is a guy at GS in my city that works with pretty much all the big time recording artist. He is their guy, they don't care where he is. He could leave and all his clients would go with him. GS knows this and they make him very happy because of it. They also try to use the team rotation structure whenever possible to increase client retention when brokers cross the street.

 

Right now, looking at Summer Associate at MS as a FA. Not sure if that's totally what I want to do yet, but I figure I have 10 weeks to learn more about it and see if other sub-categories such as asset allocation, research are more interesting to me. So as a full-time FA, what should I expect for total comp? Thanks again for the insight fmjohns.

 

If you are going to be a summer associate they will probably have you do a bunch of lowly work, binding, data/statement entry, putting together marketing materials, correspondence etc. Depending on the team you will be working for (which you will not have a choice of unless a specific team is bringing you on) depends on the type of work you will be doing. A lot of our summer interns her work for mgmt half the time and work around to a couple teams the other half.

If its not structured you will do stuff for management to take the pressure off some of their admin people/ the work they don’t want to do. Think going around the office to get a head count for stuff, setting up the conference room for a lunch and learn, data entry, following up with brokers for past due compliance items. The other times mgmt will pawn you off to teams who have expressed interest in having free labor to do projects for them. Examples; find all people who are major share holders in these 10 stocks in Baltimore, put them in excel, then call or mail them. Go through all the people in my book and get them signed up for online access. Put together this mailer for partners at xyz law firm. Call all the CPA’s in the area and invite them to this lunch, btw setup a lunch meeting at xyz restaurant. The work for different teams will vary a lot based on who they work with, what they do, etc. we have about 4-5 of these people always coming through the office.

If its a structured program (we have 1 person in our office) it will look like this: Work in compliance for a few weeks (boring as hell, stupid bs compliance work), work in operations for a few weeks (about as bad as compliance), work with a team for the rest of the time (widely varying work, marketing, data entry, calling, who knows what else).

 

My girl did GS PWM last summer. Client facing has its perks when you're dealing with movie stars.

From what I understand, it's a lot of plugging in asset percentages into a proprietary program, reading off new risk, and slapping a pitch together. Most of the time is spent fielding calls.

Hours are amazing and at GS you're working with the top talent in the galaxy so I would definitely do it if I had the chance.

 

Any idea if that's what Analysts in the group also spend most of their time on, or was that SA work?

Tennis Champ:
My girl did GS PWM last summer. Client facing has its perks when you're dealing with movie stars.

From what I understand, it's a lot of plugging in asset percentages into a proprietary program, reading off new risk, and slapping a pitch together. Most of the time is spent fielding calls.

Hours are amazing and at GS you're working with the top talent in the galaxy so I would definitely do it if I had the chance.

 

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