Help me decide on offers.

Hi Everyone,

option 1: boutique consulting firm associate. They work mainly (70%) with 4 or 5 F500 tech companies. 50-60 people at the firm. Pay is 40k.

option 2: totally different. associate at mutual fund. Pretty small (700million). Less than 10 employees. As far as job description, I'd mainly be doing a little bit of everything. Worried it may be too much marketing for the firm. But it is in finance.

To tell you the truth, I'm not sure what I am trying to do in the future because I understand the careers are totally different but I'm truly having a hard time deciding. I originally wanted to do MBB (but i applied too late). I thought it would give me a good sense of the business world and i could learn a ton. I'm also interested in portfolio management because we knew a few CFA®'s in our family who were all doing very well. I've always liked the markets. Long term I am wondering which would be the better career choice for salary. I'm guess the CFA®, but it is probably harder to break into?

I thought PWM was cool mainly because I get to work with people and because it was analytical. Reducing risks for clients does actually seem rewarding. Also I want to do portfolio analysis but I'm not sure my offer has much of that. There portfolio turnover is less than 15%. They also are a Mutual Fund and not much portfolio analysis here. My problem was that I don't have a boat load of wealth in my family. I heard that is important to be successful in Asset Management?

I thought consulting was cool mainly because of the learning aspect. Love powerpoint and think I could do well in making decks, etc. Also the variety of the job really does interest me. I was worried about the career advancement. Future salary/ going into industry. Especially working at a boutqiue. Also the pay does seem low which although they work with legitimate companies and have a pretty nice office. It makes me worried about the company.

Any consultants who went from consulting to AM? Maybe i should take the consulting position and take CFA® lv 1 and find a good high paying analyst position.

How can i pick?

 
Best Response

First: pwm is not analytical at all. It's just sales. I had to say that because pwm guys think they're analytical.

Second: If I truly wanted to get into AM I would take the job at the mutual fund because no matter what you really end up doing there, you can always twist it into something that would be favorably to you on a resume for AM.

Third: Get your CFA while working at the mutual fund.

Fourth: Apply to AM jobs that truly interest you.

Fifth: I am still in college, so take into account that my credibility and experience is limited. Just trying to help you think this out rationally.

 

Is the second one a fund of funds or a mutual fund? If the latter, it might be great. With only 10 people, you could potentially get exposure to the PM/CIO and learn how they think about securities/markets. Nothing wrong with doing a bit of fund-raising as long as you are proactive, put in some hours outside your core tasks to look at companies in detail and possibly start pitching ideas to your seniors. If you really want to be in finance, then this is a very viable option.

The pay at the first one just seems too low, hence I wouldn't suggest it.

 

Option 1 sounds a little sketchy and they pay is really low. I definitely wouldn't take it.

It sounds like you are interested in the AM route so I would definintely consider option 1. $700M isn't a large fund by any measure, but it's also not that small. Working for a fund of that size will allow you to see every facet of the business. I guarantee you that you will be doing quite a bit of bitch work, but that's what everyone does coming out of school. Once you learn the basics and build trust with everyone else at the firm I am sure they will let you do other things.

 

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