Life as a Top Asset Manager

Mod Note (Andy): #TBT Throwback Thursday - this was originally posted on 3/24/13.

So I've seen a few posts lately asking about mutual funds, Asset Management gigs, and alternatives to the sell-side out of college, and hopefully my experience taking the asset management route to hedge fund rather than banking can help people get a better idea of what the expectations will be like.

Top Asset Management Firms To Work For

I'll be clear early on, I worked at the type of asset management firm that's tough to classify. I like to consider this class of AM firm as a "top asset manager" or a "boutique asset management firm" or something along those lines. In a thread about Third Avenue (one such asset manager), West Coast Rainmaker does an excellent job breaking down these types of firms and the major ones in one of his comments. Link to that is right here.

These funds tend to go unnoticed/unappreciated/unrecognized by the majority of WSO (and the majority of the younger crowd on Wall Street in general), and are markedly different from the likes of the traditional asset managers such as Fidelity, T. Rowe, Capital Group, Wellington, BlackRock, etc. that I sometimes lump into the "too big to succeed" category. Not that they aren't amazing firms (I'd happily have worked at most of them... not BlackRock though) but they, as West Coast Analyst phrased it, don't provide truly differentiated products in most circumstances. I'll try my best to identify the differences between these and top asset managers that I know of as I go along.

Take a look at the photo below from Three Bell Capital to get an idea of the benefits a boutique firm has to offer.

My background as it relates to AM, briefly: I spent 2006-2008 working for a top asset manager in an investment analyst role working strictly with concentrated long-term equity investments. I got this job through On-Campus Recruiting and think the reason I was able to get their attention was that I had been investing for a very long time and managing money for friends and family for a while, mostly in the same style as they did. Despite their notoriety in the investment community, I had no clue who they were when I interviewed there, and for some reason, I also think that helped during the interview process.

Benefits Of Working For A Boutique Asset Management Firm

Like any type of firm, there are benefits and drawbacks to working for a boutique asset management firm. I will do my best to lay them out for you here.

The Recruiting Process At A Small Asset Management Firm

  • Research teams tend to be very small, tight-knit in terms of philosophy, and turnover is extremely low. The advantages to this are pretty clear: the culture does not quickly change and the groups are very friendly/ extremely willing to develop talent from within. That makes them very ideal places to start out. The drawback is also obvious then, as it's very difficult to get your foot in the door and actually find an opportunity to interview since most places are not frequently open to hiring.
  • Recruiting practices make it hard to get a job right out of school: Some top AMs will hire through OCR and other direct-from-undergrad means, but most have ad-hoc recruiting practices. Sending out your resume can sometimes be all it takes if you catch them at a lucky time when they're open to hiring, but often they are only looking at certain target schools for their hiring when they need it or will take experienced hires from elsewhere. The key trait these firms look for is a previous appetite for investing (particularly in whatever their style may be) and a virtual certainty that investing is what you plan on making your long-term career.
  • Interview processes for these firms are generally casual and very investment-oriented. The behavior questions I remember getting were pretty standard, but a lot of it was geared towards getting a feel for your personality as it relates to being a deep thinker and an investor.

One of the biggest differences I noticed between the recruiting processes of the top AMs and the traditional AMs was that the people at top AMs seem to be MUCH more like genuine intellectuals and learners than people at a place like Fidelity where there might be more of an established process and way of thinking that keeps everyone pretty much doing the same thing.

I had situations during my interviews where the PM interviewing me would literally pull out a pad of paper and start taking notes based on something he didn't know, that I did, about a company he wasn't familiar with or something. They genuinely want to know everything, and it's all very intellectual. Technicals aren't really a big deal per se, but having a pitch and being able to explain your thought process when evaluating a business is extremely important.

Most top AMs are long-term investors, so knowing how to look at a business through that lens is a big deal, much more so than being able to predict a 3-month catalyst that will get you 10%. They don't want 10% once, they want 20% annually for 40 years.

Culture At A Top Asset Management Firm

I think I've covered a decent amount of the culture within my recruiting rant - my apologies - but I'll quickly stress the things that I noticed compared to my experience at hedge funds or with people at traditional AMs. There's the intellectual component, then there's the stress on talent development (biggest plus to working at one of these places), and the last part that I haven't mentioned yet is another big one... most analysts at these types of funds aren't a very social bunch.

Watch the video below about boutique asset managment firms.

Autonomy is a huge part of the job, as the smaller the research team the more responsibility each analyst has to take on (and the fewer people to micromanage you). I can say that even two weeks into the job out of college I was meeting with clients who had separately managed accounts with us, grilling top sell-side analysts, and meeting CEOs for lunches.

These guys really gave me no time to grow up and put me right in the fire from day one. While I love this, some people might not be able to handle it but most of the time their recruiting practices select people who can. The downside to this level of responsibility/autonomy is that people aren't really spending any time during the day just chatting or being social.

Now, we spent a lot of time talking with one another about businesses and what we were working on, but we didn't spend much time hanging out outside of work (some of us did, but really not nearly as frequently as I do with my coworkers now) and there's not much room for personal life conversation either. Outside of the social aspect, it also sucks that you can start working on an idea and run with it for 3-4 weeks without a single person walking into your office to tell you it's a good or bad idea. Then all the sudden your PM might suggest moving on to another project and you've wasted a month on a single idea. So if you're not proactive in checking out your progress, you can potentially get fucked.

What's It Like Working For A Boutique Asset Management Firm?

The autonomy, like most else involving top asset managers, was good and bad. Now depending on who you are, the way it affects your actual daily work will vary. Right from the start (and even as an intern) we were all given the same job title as Analysts and had more or less the same general responsibilities. With such a small team and an enormous amount of ground to cover in the equity space, analysts are expected to source their own ideas and to do it well. From day one you come up with your own ideas, do your own research, and figure it all out on your own.

If you don't know how, tough shit, you're probably gonna get fired then. Asking for help isn't looked down upon, but it certainly will slow down your process and make you look a lot less desirable than someone who can put out solid research on a potentially-attractive business. We had an analyst start pitching a gaming company and I don't think anyone took him seriously for at least 3 months after that.

The talent at the level of most of the top AMs, particularly the PMs, truly tops on Wall Street in a lot of areas. Being surrounded by the kinds of investors who run these funds can be a huge bonus to your career in terms of developing into a smarter investor and piecing together the investment processes of multiple successful managers to form your own unique philosophy is worth working for them for free, honestly. I never really thought of my work as "actual work" because of how enjoyable it was working with these type of people, so it's hard to dive into specifics.

I could obviously write about all the stuff I did and it would take 90 pages, but that would be a waste... so I'll save questions for the comments and try to answer them as best I can if anyone has any.

Lifestyle Pros And Cons Of A Boutique Firm

This is the one area that I think really separates top AMs from their peers. Just about everyone in the firm, including the PMs, is in between 8:30 and 9:00 am, and out around 5:00 pm... with 6:00 pm considered "staying late" and 7:00 pm is an all-nighter. I never worked a weekend my entire time at the firm, and analysts routinely shot 4:00 pm emails to the research team to let them know they'd be working from home the next day.

As long as you get your shit done and you get it done well, nobody really cares where you do it, honestly. I've heard this sentiment echoed at other top AMs, but never at traditional asset managers. Another big difference is that the top AMs (probably just a function of smaller analyst headcount) usually have very flat structures where everyone is pretty much on the same level except the PMs, though even they tend to prefer their analyst duties to their PM duties.

So hours are great, you're typically treated very well by your coworkers, face time is nonexistent, and the only real way that I've ever seen analysts come in feeling like they hate their job or their coworkers is when there wasn't a cultural fit in the first place and someone fucked up in the hiring process. It's really a hard gig not to like, hence the super low turnover.

How Does Compensation Compare At Small Firms

My personal experience with compensation was that my firm actually paid a bit above what my investment banking buddies at top shops were getting all-in, but other data points and experience has me putting the typical compensation numbers at or very slightly above street level. Salaries tend to be higher than banking, but like most AM firms the bonuses are significantly lower.

At the end of the day, you're working basically a 9 to 5, so the slightly lower comp isn't gonna kill you and the exit opportunities are the same or better than banking if your ultimate goal is moving to a hedge fund or other asset manager that matches the investing style of your AM firm. In this environment, I would expect something like 80-90k base salary and a bonus in the 20-30% range for top AM firms, though it could be slightly lower if things have changed significantly.

My salary was higher than that and my bonus was slightly above the 30% mark my first year, but that was 2006. After a few years, those numbers go up pretty significantly, and I know for fact our highest-paid non-PM analyst (though he handled some separately managed accounts like most senior analysts) was getting all-in comp north of $3.5M, which you can't really complain about.

Summary

All in all, top AMs are an amazing place to start an investing career. An intellectual culture that wants their young talent to develop and succeed, an attractive compensation structure, very easy hours, and great excellent opportunities all make them highly desirable but extremely difficult to get hired.

I'll try my best to answer anything I didn't cover in the comments.

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Hearing about jobs like this keeps me going; it sounds too good to be true. I'm still kicking myself for not even applying for an internship at a Ruane, Cuniff & Goldfarb-spinoff. I actually bought into the "markets are perfectly efficient" line in academia for years.

How did your fund view diversification? I have a ton of respect for guys like Berkowitz who commit to their best ideas. But (a) that doesn't leave much for a junior hire to do, and (b) a lot of retail investors fear that kind of volatility.

I would guess running a diversified (75+ position) fund lets makes it easier to ignore short term volatility. Especially if you are investing in traditional "value" stocks, you are probably buying into some pretty troubled companies that may fall further before correcting.

 
West Coast rainmaker:
Hearing about jobs like this keeps me going; it sounds too good to be true. I'm still kicking myself for not even applying for an internship at a Ruane, Cuniff & Goldfarb-spinoff. I actually bought into the "markets are perfectly efficient" line in academia for years.

How did your fund view diversification? I have a ton of respect for guys like Berkowitz who commit to their best ideas. But (a) that doesn't leave much for a junior hire to do, and (b) a lot of retail investors fear that kind of volatility.

I would guess running a diversified (75+ position) fund lets makes it easier to ignore short term volatility. Especially if you are investing in traditional "value" stocks, you are probably buying into some pretty troubled companies that may fall further before correcting.

We were in the "diversification is for idiots" square, and as my boss used to always say, your best 6 ideas will be better than your next 100. We tended to invest less in the cigarette-butt value stocks and more in the high quality businesses at fair prices kind of value stocks that you could hold for 20 years and just know this is an excellent business that will keep compounding its earnings growth and give us a return for a long, long time. As for limiting what a junior guy can do, I don't think it necessarily does that. While we only held like 15 positions, every analyst is still looking at 1-3 ideas that aren't actually positions, and we research those extremely heavily before they get put into the fund, and the real reason why analysts stay busy is simply that the more excellent businesses you can identify, the better. If an analyst spends 2 months figuring out that XYZ Corp is an excellent business worth owning, but the stock doesn't get cheap for another 7 months and you end up buying it, that guy's 2 months were actually extremely productive. The more knowledge the better was always our motto.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 
BlackHat:
West Coast rainmaker:
Hearing about jobs like this keeps me going; it sounds too good to be true. I'm still kicking myself for not even applying for an internship at a Ruane, Cuniff & Goldfarb-spinoff. I actually bought into the "markets are perfectly efficient" line in academia for years.

How did your fund view diversification? I have a ton of respect for guys like Berkowitz who commit to their best ideas. But (a) that doesn't leave much for a junior hire to do, and (b) a lot of retail investors fear that kind of volatility.

I would guess running a diversified (75+ position) fund lets makes it easier to ignore short term volatility. Especially if you are investing in traditional "value" stocks, you are probably buying into some pretty troubled companies that may fall further before correcting.

We were in the "diversification is for idiots" square, and as my boss used to always say, your best 6 ideas will be better than your next 100. We tended to invest less in the cigarette-butt value stocks and more in the high quality businesses at fair prices kind of value stocks that you could hold for 20 years and just know this is an excellent business that will keep compounding its earnings growth and give us a return for a long, long time. As for limiting what a junior guy can do, I don't think it necessarily does that. While we only held like 15 positions, every analyst is still looking at 1-3 ideas that aren't actually positions, and we research those extremely heavily before they get put into the fund, and the real reason why analysts stay busy is simply that the more excellent businesses you can identify, the better. If an analyst spends 2 months figuring out that XYZ Corp is an excellent business worth owning, but the stock doesn't get cheap for another 7 months and you end up buying it, that guy's 2 months were actually extremely productive. The more knowledge the better was always our motto.

What is the performance of your fund? Like, after fees, relative to the market, how are you guys doing? Am asking because I just read the hedge fund mirage and generally think that investment managers don't add value.

 
STIBOR:
What is the performance of your fund? Like, after fees, relative to the market, how are you guys doing? Am asking because I just read the hedge fund mirage and generally think that investment managers don't add value.

At the risk of giving away where I worked, our annualized return to date over multiple decades of life was in the high teens. The firm I work at now is much newer, but in aggregate, also high teens for a little over a decade. I always subscribe to the theory that the right kinds of managers do add value, however on average the whole may not.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 

Had you stayed in your old firm, we probably would have met in 2010 when we were doing a NDR.

Impressive pedigree..you Wharton kids get everything handed on a silver platter :P

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/_KarateBoy_
 
Best Response
KarateBoy:
Impressive pedigree..you Wharton kids get everything handed on a silver platter :P

Honestly after seeing the amount or grind and hustle that kids on this site have explained having to go through to get internships and full time opportunities, I almost resent my alma mater for how badly the ease of access to top jobs was taken for granted by a lot of students. I like to think I worked pretty hard and had a genuine interest in the jobs I was able to get as a result of going to a top school but a lot of my peers really didn't. So many intelligent kids went there because they knew they were smart and could go anywhere they wanted, and decided they might want to go into business because it pays really well, so they decide on Wharton because it's thought to be the best for business at the undergrad level. Then two years into their college educations they realize they never wanted it to begin with and either disappear into something retarded or end up swallowing their happiness and just plodding along into banking, taking the spots from much hungrier kids who actually wanted it 100x more. It's almost ridiculous, and I seriously admire a lot of the kids on here who will read the stuff I write and come back with some really great questions and seem to aspire to have the same opportunities that I had, which I totally took for granted. It really is amazing and I think we're going to see a shift at some point where the backgrounds of Wall Street are going to look a lot more diverse than they historically have. And I'd welcome that.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 

From West Coast Rainmaker's post in the thread "Third Avenue Management"

Wellington: Boston based, awesome culture, awesome products. I'd kill to work here. Mostly does subadvisory work e.g. Hartford Life outsources the management of some of their mutual funds to Wellington. Lots going on: they have quant, L/S, industry specific, etc. teams internally.

Dodge & Cox: Low turnover (both in portfolios and personnel) and a little slower paced. They focus on large cap equities; also started international and FI funds. Their funds are all multi-manager; every investment is extensively mulled discussed by the team. They started a research associate program a few years ago due to the expanding scope of the firm. The associates stay around for 3-4 years, then generally move to a MBA program (like most AM firms, great placement).

Capital Group: Old firm with a great track record. Good culture, good comp. Very understated - they do not advertise their funds. They also use a multi-manager model, but PMs are each given a slice of a fund to allocate to their best ideas. In my opinion, one of the best AM firms to work for. No real way in out of undergrad; they only have a back office rotational.

DoubleLine: I basically worship Jeffrey Gundlach, so I was excited to see them open an equities fund. No idea how you'd get hired there though.

First Pacific Advisors: Great performance. Robert Rodriguez's firm; he occasionally does interviews. I don't know much more about them.

Harris Associates: Chicago based, Bill Nygren's firm, manages the Oakmark fund. Has a thriving separately managed accounts business. I think comp is slightly below street, but I could be wrong.

Neuberger Berman: NYC based. Interesting structure: they split people up into teams by PM. So you would have the [PM's name] team managing one pool of money. Not terribly familiar with them.

Ruane, Cunniff, & Goldfarb: Manages the Sequoia fund. Classic Value investing.

Royce: Great name in small caps, if that's your thing.

Third Avenue: Previously discussed.

There are some other great managers (Yacktman, Fairholme, Himalaya, etc) but I haven't looked into them mainly because they don't really hire anyone.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 
BlackHat:
From West Coast Rainmaker's post in the thread "Third Avenue Management"
Wellington: Boston based, awesome culture, awesome products. I'd kill to work here. Mostly does subadvisory work e.g. Hartford Life outsources the management of some of their mutual funds to Wellington. Lots going on: they have quant, L/S, industry specific, etc. teams internally.

Dodge & Cox: Low turnover (both in portfolios and personnel) and a little slower paced. They focus on large cap equities; also started international and FI funds. Their funds are all multi-manager; every investment is extensively mulled discussed by the team. They started a research associate program a few years ago due to the expanding scope of the firm. The associates stay around for 3-4 years, then generally move to a MBA program (like most AM firms, great placement).

Capital Group: Old firm with a great track record. Good culture, good comp. Very understated - they do not advertise their funds. They also use a multi-manager model, but PMs are each given a slice of a fund to allocate to their best ideas. In my opinion, one of the best AM firms to work for. No real way in out of undergrad; they only have a back office rotational.

DoubleLine: I basically worship Jeffrey Gundlach, so I was excited to see them open an equities fund. No idea how you'd get hired there though.

First Pacific Advisors: Great performance. Robert Rodriguez's firm; he occasionally does interviews. I don't know much more about them.

Harris Associates: Chicago based, Bill Nygren's firm, manages the Oakmark fund. Has a thriving separately managed accounts business. I think comp is slightly below street, but I could be wrong.

Neuberger Berman: NYC based. Interesting structure: they split people up into teams by PM. So you would have the [PM's name] team managing one pool of money. Not terribly familiar with them.

Ruane, Cunniff, & Goldfarb: Manages the Sequoia fund. Classic Value investing.

Royce: Great name in small caps, if that's your thing.

Third Avenue: Previously discussed.

There are some other great managers (Yacktman, Fairholme, Himalaya, etc) but I haven't looked into them mainly because they don't really hire anyone.

Ahh, thank you. pardon my lack of attention to detail
 

What's the average age that most analysts in the AM world get their CFA - How quickly does that rocket you to a PM gig? Are internship positions at AM/IM firms usually equity research roles? Do you have a specific view on Equity vs FI oriented firms?

Sorry for the barrage of questions. I interned at a boutique IM firm over my past Freshman Winter/Spring break, though 80% of what I did was data entry, they did toss me into the mix in multiple client meetings (with BB names) because the PM I worked for wanted a college students view on Apple vs Samsung when discussing AAPL holdings.

Really loved it there, currently looking for other options for the summer since they can't keep me.

 
StryfeDSP:
What's the average age that most analysts in the AM world get their CFA - How quickly does that rocket you to a PM gig? Are internship positions at AM/IM firms usually equity research roles? Do you have a specific view on Equity vs FI oriented firms?

Sorry for the barrage of questions. I interned at a boutique IM firm over my past Freshman Winter/Spring break, though 80% of what I did was data entry, they did toss me into the mix in multiple client meetings (with BB names) because the PM I worked for wanted a college students view on Apple vs Samsung when discussing AAPL holdings.

Really loved it there, currently looking for other options for the summer since they can't keep me.

Average age... maybe 23-24? Most places will either not give a shit whether or not you get your CFA, or they will really encourage it (e.g. T Rowe) and get you on track to get it right when you start working, so if you entered out of undergrad they'd probably help you to have it within 2-3 years. I don't know how much that helps you get to a PM role and I think your individual performance is obviously the bigger part of it. I'd say 8-10 years might be the average to get into an actual position where you're managing capital. Could be much earlier, could be much later depending on firm. I'm always biased towards equities because it's all I know and have ever done, but I'm sure fixed income can be great if that's your thing, and PIMCO is beastly obviously so they must be doing something right in the FI space.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 
BlackHat:
StryfeDSP:
What's the average age that most analysts in the AM world get their CFA - How quickly does that rocket you to a PM gig? Are internship positions at AM/IM firms usually equity research roles? Do you have a specific view on Equity vs FI oriented firms?

Sorry for the barrage of questions. I interned at a boutique IM firm over my past Freshman Winter/Spring break, though 80% of what I did was data entry, they did toss me into the mix in multiple client meetings (with BB names) because the PM I worked for wanted a college students view on Apple vs Samsung when discussing AAPL holdings.

Really loved it there, currently looking for other options for the summer since they can't keep me.

Average age... maybe 23-24? Most places will either not give a shit whether or not you get your CFA, or they will really encourage it (e.g. T Rowe) and get you on track to get it right when you start working, so if you entered out of undergrad they'd probably help you to have it within 2-3 years. I don't know how much that helps you get to a PM role and I think your individual performance is obviously the bigger part of it. I'd say 8-10 years might be the average to get into an actual position where you're managing capital. Could be much earlier, could be much later depending on firm. I'm always biased towards equities because it's all I know and have ever done, but I'm sure fixed income can be great if that's your thing, and PIMCO is beastly obviously so they must be doing something right in the FI space.

Solid advice. Your previous firms investment philosophy is pretty identical to the firm I intern at. Big thing I noticed at my firm is that since they're a small boutique (18 man) and only have 4 people on the advisory team every single person has to be as educated and up to date on research on every equity in their portfolio as the other. Reason being is that they don't think it reflects the best on them to have a client call one of their PMs wanting to know about X stock only to get the response, "Oh that's PMs stock not mine, I'll transfer you to him". I really like the approach.

What sort of material/books would you recommend reading and learning to be able to knock AM interviews out of the park (As far as technicals go)? Or is what you posted in your OP about interviews really all there is to it?

 

Nice thread. thanks.

Most of the funds BH/westcoast mentioned sound like equity L/S focused, with the exception of dodge&cox which he mentioned has some FI.

Does anyone have the equivalent list for top boutique AM's (intellectual culture, willing to teach you how to invest, more focused on performance rather than asset-gathering, etc.) that run macro/ficc (basically non-equity) strategies?

 

I recently moved from SS ER to the BS as an analyst. I believe my new firm falls into the category of a top shop, despite our ultra-low profile. We're about $10 billion in AUM, focused on absolute return, run a pretty concentrated portfolio (typically top 1-2 shareholder in our portfolio companies), and the work is very autonomous. My experience to date is very similar to what BlackHat outlined above.

There's a lot I would like to say but I don't want to hijack the thread and I do want to go to sleep.

But, it may be helpful to some in here to realizes that lot of different funds describe themselves as value oriented investors. Usually, how a fund defines value typically falls into 1 of 3 buckets:

1) Free cash flow yield/coupon investors. This would be guys like Berkowitz. 2) Distressed value investors 3) NAV investors. This would be like Third Avenue and this is the style my new firm falls into.

BlackHat, I'm curious to know how your old firm/new firm define value? Your OP makes me wonder if you've had a pretty similar experience from the perspective of calculating NAV to quantify downside risk.

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KarateBoy:
BlackHat, I'm curious to know how your old firm/new firm define value? Your OP makes me wonder if you've had a pretty similar experience from the perspective of calculating NAV to quantify downside risk.

We're really in the most oldschool Buffet-esque style of value investing you could think of. We spend months researching businesses and usually aim to understand them about as well as anybody not in the C-suite, and then usually rely on Mr. Market to come to us one day with a fair or good price for the business at which point we like to pile in. I wouldn't really call it the NAV method nor would I call it the FCF method, and certainly not the distressed view either... but really a combination of them all into just being able to identify what an excellent business looks like and what a fair price to pay for it might be. We don't have target prices, we want to hold businesses forever and grow our capital alongside them, so we're definitely not saying "this business sells for X today but is worth Y. Let's wait til it's worth Y and then sell it for a profit." We would rather say "this business is so good that it will grow at X forever. We can buy it today and see a Y annual return or we could wait and if we get it at Z we can get a better return." And we of course fall into the camp that says we're owning the business not the stock, so we don't really care about the price of the shares so long as earnings or whatever major metrics we care about are growing the way we want them to.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 
BlackHat:
KarateBoy:
BlackHat, I'm curious to know how your old firm/new firm define value? Your OP makes me wonder if you've had a pretty similar experience from the perspective of calculating NAV to quantify downside risk.

We're really in the most oldschool Buffet-esque style of value investing you could think of. We spend months researching businesses and usually aim to understand them about as well as anybody not in the C-suite, and then usually rely on Mr. Market to come to us one day with a fair or good price for the business at which point we like to pile in. I wouldn't really call it the NAV method nor would I call it the FCF method, and certainly not the distressed view either... but really a combination of them all into just being able to identify what an excellent business looks like and what a fair price to pay for it might be. We don't have target prices, we want to hold businesses forever and grow our capital alongside them, so we're definitely not saying "this business sells for X today but is worth Y. Let's wait til it's worth Y and then sell it for a profit." We would rather say "this business is so good that it will grow at X forever. We can buy it today and see a Y annual return or we could wait and if we get it at Z we can get a better return." And we of course fall into the camp that says we're owning the business not the stock, so we don't really care about the price of the shares so long as earnings or whatever major metrics we care about are growing the way we want them to.

This is good stuff. We should talk some more about this in the future.

I'm gonna go to sleep before I get carried away. I hate walking in sleepy on Monday's.

But I think that you should write a little about why you wish you had stayed longer at the AM.

Many of the people on here know that you left b.c. its a HF and your experience wasn't that great (until you moved into your currently role). I think it would be valuable if you explained what you think you could have learned staying at the AM and maybe how your career path could have been differently.

Again, this is a great thread. I wanted to make something similar to this once I have a little bit more experience with our process. But, it's worth stressing again: shops like these are better than the VAST majority of HFs.

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Prangs:
What do you think of PIMCO/where does it fall in relative to traditional asset manager vs boutqiue

PIMCO is one of the largest managers in the world. They're top two, with DoubleLine, on the fixed income side. I hear that they underpay their analysts b/c the brand name is so valuable.

They've been building out an equity strategy with pretty limited success: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-23/neel-kashkari-says-he-s-leavin…

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/_KarateBoy_
 
KarateBoy][quote=Prangs:
What do you think of PIMCO/where does it fall in relative to traditional asset manager vs boutqiue

PIMCO is one of the largest managers in the world. They're top two, with DoubleLine, on the fixed income side. I hear that they underpay their analysts b/c the brand name is so valuable.

They've been building out an equity strategy with pretty limited success: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-23/neel-kashkari-says-he-s-leavin…]

What you heard is correct, especially on an hourly basis. Recruitment policy is very stringent about hiring with flat comp (i.e. no pay bump, you're extra comp is the brand). Pay is typically 15-20% below market for similar AM positions across the board. Your minimum work day is 10 hours. Long and early hours are definitely encouraged (Gross & El-Erian boast about how little sleep they get), 4AM is early & 6AM is typical. Most people start leaving by 5:30 and its generally empty by 7PM).

 

Really useful and insightful post BlackHat, much appreciated.

May I ask why you said you wouldn't mind working for any of the traditional AM firms, but not for BlackRock?

Secondly, since you mention the teams are pretty small and tight-knit in top AM firms, would you say that if you don't get in straight from undergrad it's very hard breaking in later? Would they hire post-MBA? (I'm in London if that makes a significant difference)

I'm currently looking at taking a prop trading role, but I guess my end interests lie within Asset Management. Would you say starting off in a trading role if I wanted to break into Asset Management later is particularly bad? I realise it's probably not the most common of routes, but would you say its actually a hindrance?

 
Impossible_Living:

May I ask why you said you wouldn't mind working for any of the traditional AM firms, but not for BlackRock?

I don't want to speak for BlackHat here, but I am guessing because their culture is pretty horrible. Massive and bureaucratic, while still demanding facetime and 80+ hour weeks.

I'd personally agree with BlackHat. Would not work at BlackRock.

Have heard some negative things about Fidelity too (long hours, very competitive, somewhat political). Though I've also met people that like it there. I can't say the same about BlackRock; I have never met a happy BlackRock employee.

 

Awesome post. I'm curious how the odds are coming into a boutique AM later in the game? Say 2-4 years out of MBA with ER exp. Also how is that type of background looked upon by the guys in AM boutiques? Thanks.

 
Calnus:
Awesome post. I'm curious how the odds are coming into a boutique AM later in the game? Say 2-4 years out of MBA with ER exp. Also how is that type of background looked upon by the guys in AM boutiques? Thanks.

This'll be addressed at everyone asking the "what are my chances if I'm ___ years out of school, post-MBA, etc." type questions.

They certainly hire people at what is considered the "junior level" (i.e. anything up to but no more than about 5 years out of school or 3 years out of MBA) but not as often since you usually have to pay those people a lot more than an entry-level kid and they can often have the same level of ability as analysts since you'll be molding them a bit into thinking the way your fund thinks anyway. The firm I worked at had hired a guy out of a credit fund who was post-MBA and he was ultimately considered a junior hire even though he was in his mid-20s I believe. So it definitely happens and it's not horribly uncommon either, and as long as whatever you're doing can line up well with the philosophy of the AM firm, you definitely have a shot.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 

Every preftigious highschooler on the east coast is going to tell their friends this weekend they will work in AM and make $3.5M before age 30. They will then proceed to laugh at the other guys.

In all seriousness, great write up. If you have time BH, can you let us know what happens when an investment thesis tanks? Give some examples in your case, or those of other analysts.

 
karypto:
In all seriousness, great write up. If you have time BH, can you let us know what happens when an investment thesis tanks? Give some examples in your case, or those of other analysts.

This is a tough one. I've never had a conviction call blow up in my face but I'm going to assume that would be just an amplification of what I'll describe anyway.

I recommended a retailer long right before earnings because I'd always liked the company and this was the earnings announcement that would set the stock off if they knocked it out of the park. I gave my PM the skinny on the trade, told him that you'd see 100% upside over the next few quarters or so if they beat and something like 25% downside if we sold on a miss. He was interested but ultimately said he didn't feel like making a trade like that since it wasn't his expertise. I told him that's fine, and ended up coming back to him and telling him even though I still liked the company to beat, it probably wouldn't be a good idea anyway and it wasn't a big deal to me. Sure enough he decides to put the trade on without telling me. Earnings miss heavy and the stock sells off harder than 25%. The dumbass decides to hold and we lose another 10% on it for a total loss in the 30-30% range before he finally got out. Naturally it's attributed to me and I have to live with shitting on our team's performance for the near-term.

Having to explain yourself to people that know nothing about the trade after the fact is one of the most painful things to do because everyone just hits you with the 20/20 hindsight and keeps asking the "how did you think ___" question. It's a pain in the ass but it's a necessary evil. So of course I have to explain myself to my PM's boss, my PM again for some reason (he was pretending to not know much, it was great), and my peer analysts. That part isn't the worst though, the toughest part is that your next few ideas all get second-guessed because your blowup is still fresh in everyone's mind, and unless you start seeing some success with your next ideas, you could be on the chopping block... and no matter how good you are or how long you've been around, that thought does cross your mind from time to time even if it's not reality, which makes it tough to walk into work sometimes. Like many others on WSO have said before, HFs are stressful and AMs are no different if you blow it. This example is from an HF obviously but I think if I had an investment thesis blow up at my AM I would have been out the door immediately. The whole point there was that you do so much research that it's almost impossible to be wrong, or at least that's the thinking.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 
BlackHat:
karypto:
In all seriousness, great write up. If you have time BH, can you let us know what happens when an investment thesis tanks? Give some examples in your case, or those of other analysts.

This is a tough one. I've never had a conviction call blow up in my face but I'm going to assume that would be just an amplification of what I'll describe anyway.

I recommended a retailer long right before earnings because I'd always liked the company and this was the earnings announcement that would set the stock off if they knocked it out of the park. I gave my PM the skinny on the trade, told him that you'd see 100% upside over the next few quarters or so if they beat and something like 25% downside if we sold on a miss. He was interested but ultimately said he didn't feel like making a trade like that since it wasn't his expertise. I told him that's fine, and ended up coming back to him and telling him even though I still liked the company to beat, it probably wouldn't be a good idea anyway and it wasn't a big deal to me. Sure enough he decides to put the trade on without telling me. Earnings miss heavy and the stock sells off harder than 25%. The dumbass decides to hold and we lose another 10% on it for a total loss in the 30-30% range before he finally got out. Naturally it's attributed to me and I have to live with shitting on our team's performance for the near-term.

Having to explain yourself to people that know nothing about the trade after the fact is one of the most painful things to do because everyone just hits you with the 20/20 hindsight and keeps asking the "how did you think ___" question. It's a pain in the ass but it's a necessary evil. So of course I have to explain myself to my PM's boss, my PM again for some reason (he was pretending to not know much, it was great), and my peer analysts. That part isn't the worst though, the toughest part is that your next few ideas all get second-guessed because your blowup is still fresh in everyone's mind, and unless you start seeing some success with your next ideas, you could be on the chopping block... and no matter how good you are or how long you've been around, that thought does cross your mind from time to time even if it's not reality, which makes it tough to walk into work sometimes. Like many others on WSO have said before, HFs are stressful and AMs are no different if you blow it. This example is from an HF obviously but I think if I had an investment thesis blow up at my AM I would have been out the door immediately. The whole point there was that you do so much research that it's almost impossible to be wrong, or at least that's the thinking.

This is what scares me to be honest. I love analyzing companies, learning how the world works, and investing, but I'm uncomfortable with the amount of chance involved. The more I read about EMH, the less conviction I have in my ideas. This isn't a troll post, I'm honestly curious (will be working in SS ER this summer). How do you handle this/what are your thoughts on EMH?

"My dear, descended from the apes! Let us hope it is not true, but if it is, let us pray that it will not become generally known."
 
BlackHat:
karypto:
In all seriousness, great write up. If you have time BH, can you let us know what happens when an investment thesis tanks? Give some examples in your case, or those of other analysts.

This is a tough one. I've never had a conviction call blow up in my face but I'm going to assume that would be just an amplification of what I'll describe anyway.

I recommended a retailer long right before earnings because I'd always liked the company and this was the earnings announcement that would set the stock off if they knocked it out of the park. I gave my PM the skinny on the trade, told him that you'd see 100% upside over the next few quarters or so if they beat and something like 25% downside if we sold on a miss. He was interested but ultimately said he didn't feel like making a trade like that since it wasn't his expertise. I told him that's fine, and ended up coming back to him and telling him even though I still liked the company to beat, it probably wouldn't be a good idea anyway and it wasn't a big deal to me. Sure enough he decides to put the trade on without telling me. Earnings miss heavy and the stock sells off harder than 25%. The dumbass decides to hold and we lose another 10% on it for a total loss in the 30-30% range before he finally got out. Naturally it's attributed to me and I have to live with shitting on our team's performance for the near-term.

Having to explain yourself to people that know nothing about the trade after the fact is one of the most painful things to do because everyone just hits you with the 20/20 hindsight and keeps asking the "how did you think ___" question. It's a pain in the ass but it's a necessary evil. So of course I have to explain myself to my PM's boss, my PM again for some reason (he was pretending to not know much, it was great), and my peer analysts. That part isn't the worst though, the toughest part is that your next few ideas all get second-guessed because your blowup is still fresh in everyone's mind, and unless you start seeing some success with your next ideas, you could be on the chopping block... and no matter how good you are or how long you've been around, that thought does cross your mind from time to time even if it's not reality, which makes it tough to walk into work sometimes. Like many others on WSO have said before, HFs are stressful and AMs are no different if you blow it. This example is from an HF obviously but I think if I had an investment thesis blow up at my AM I would have been out the door immediately. The whole point there was that you do so much research that it's almost impossible to be wrong, or at least that's the thinking.

I actually have some questions regarding "The whole point there was that you do so much research that it's almost impossible to be wrong, or at least that's the thinking".

I'm working in a top HF but not in an investment team. Because of the nature of my work, I know the performance/timing of all the strategies. I can say at least 1/3 of strategies don't make money and it is pretty often to see strategies blowing up (say short heinz before Buffett step in). Not sure if it is the case at everywhere but it is pretty hard to image "always correct at investment" when you have billion of assets under management

 
BlackHat:
We had an analyst start pitching a gaming company and I don't think anyone took him seriously for at least 3 months after that.

Excuse my ignorance, by why is this?

"My dear, descended from the apes! Let us hope it is not true, but if it is, let us pray that it will not become generally known."
 
BCbanker:
Maybe you could get a little more granular on comp. How old is the Non-PM analyst? $125k to $3.5MM is a big gap to bridge. Take a non MBA guy in his late 20's, equivalent to a senior associate on IBD side. What are they pulling in AM?

The guy is mid 50s, so with a 30+ year age gap the compensation gap is understandable hopefully. I'd say a non MBA who's been at the fund since he left undergrad in his late 20s would probably pull down something like 500-600k with some cushion to the upside on that if they're good. The thing about these types of AM firms is they aren't very institutionalized and they don't have set career tracks the way an investment bank would or the way a traditional AM like Fidelity would. So you're going to get paid the minimum amount required to keep you usually, which can be very high if you're good or somewhat lower if that's not the case. Most of the time your exit opps are pretty damn good out of top AMs so the price to keep you is higher.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 
BlackHat:
I'd say a non MBA who's been at the fund since he left undergrad in his late 20s would probably pull down something like 500-600k with some cushion to the upside on that if they're good.
First of all, thanks for writing about this topic. Asset management is a great career and it allows you to earn a good living while working reasonable hours. That being said, since your job is primarily to think, you think about the portfolio and your positions all the time, whether you are in the office or not. I agree with all of your major points in this article about what it's like to work in this field. I highlighted this quote above because this is the one thing that stood out to me as being different from my experience. At my firm, I think the average pay for someone still in their twenties as closer to about $200 - 300k. Certainly, we have paid people better than that in that age range, but it's far from typical. In my experience, everything would have to align to earn $500k in your twenties. It would have to be a great year for performance of the fund (both absolute and relative to your peers), significant asset raising, and your stocks doing well. That being said, I don't know if my firm or your firm is the outlier.
 

Did any analysts from your firm go to top business schools and is there any benefit of going to business school within top AM firms?

[quote=rufiolove]When evaluating whether or not to post something on WSO, I think to myself, "would an idiot post this" and if the answer is yes, I do not post that thing...[/quote]
 
packmate:
I was wondering how HF recruiting is structured from these top AM firms? Is it as standardized as IB? I know a lot of HF recruit from investment banks, but it would make more sense to me if they actually recruited investment analysts from these AM firms

Very loose and ad hoc. If you contact a headhunter (or in my case get contacted by one) you usually have just as good a chance as anyone to get a gig at an HF since people rarely leave these funds and when they do people will want to at least talk to you if they've heard of / respect your fund. I'd say it's not as streamlined as IB but your chances are just as good if you're active about searching for opportunities.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 

Although I come from a target school... the experience of competing against over 500 candidates for every position is a very humbling experience.

@KarateBoy: I think you would like hearing this... but my firm (very small) prioritizes hunger/interest and quality of experience much more than any brand name. I am always disappointed when I see a resume with 3.9+ gpa from a decent school with a bb experience... when they talk about it and you realize that they didn't do anything at all and the bank was using them to do monkey work. It still confounds me how finance funnels some of the top minds to churn out excel monkeys. Complete waste of brainpower and talent. This obviously doesn't apply to everyone with that gpa and bb experience, but every time I do hear about one a part of me breaks on the inside.

 

Awesome post. As a college student on WSO, it is fairly difficult to find a wealth of information on anything besides IBD; so thank you for that.

You spoke a lot about the culture, pay, etc. at Top AM and Traditional AM's- what is your take on BB AM in comparison to those previously discussed?

 

Does your firm trade around positions or just look to buy dips of the annointed holdings?

I've interviewed at a few firms with the "buy and hold forever" mindset, and it really just isn't my style. Maybe because of that, I've wondered about the impact of greater economic volatility on this sort of strategy. Have you ever had that sort of concern?

 
BlackHat:
Compensation My personal experience with compensation was that my firm actually paid a bit above what my investment banking buddies at top shops were getting all-in, but other data points and experience has me putting the typically compensation numbers at or very slightly above street level. Salaries tend to be higher than banking, but like most AM firms the bonuses are significantly lower. At the end of the day, you're working basically a 9 to 5, so the slightly lower comp isn't gonna kill you and the exit opportunities are the same or better than banking if your ultimate goal is moving to a hedge fund or other asset manager that matches the investing style of your AM firm. In this environment, I would expect something like 80-90k base salary and a bonus in the 20-30% range for top AM firms, though it could be slightly lower if things have changed significantly. My salary was higher than that and my bonus was slightly above the 30% mark my first year, but that was 2006. After a few years those numbers go up pretty significantly, and I know for fact our highest-paid non-PM analyst (though he handled some separately managed accounts like most senior analysts) was getting all-in comp north of $3.5M, which you can't really complain about.

Would you say that compensation is structurally lower at AM, even top ones, versus a HF?

It is often describe by many on this forum that someone jumping into a HF after 2-years of exp. should expect a base of $100K+ and a bonus of $100K+. That's materially above what a AM would pay.

For an example, I'm a 2010 graduate (so for those who can't count I'll be starting starting my 4th year this summer) and I (conservatively?) expected my compensation to be roughly in the range you described by BH.

In fact, I took a $10K cut in my base salary when I switched over from SS ER to my AM. We'll see where my bonus shakes out at...I was told by my PM "If you just stay employed you should be at least 40% and there's room to move up from there".

KB

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/_KarateBoy_
 

Let me see if I can tackle as many of these as I can before I head out for dinner.

KarateBoy:
Would you say that compensation is structurally lower at AM, even top ones, versus a HF?

Yes, even top AMs are going to pay less on average than an HF. The trade-off is that they're incredibly stable and the lifestyle is for the most part much better. However, the pay can still be very good and in my experience I was getting paid much better at the junior level than someone would have been at an entry-level HF job. But the mere fact that the HF comp structure has an unlimited ceiling based on performance gives it a structurally higher pay obviously. No matter how hard you crush it at an AM firm your firm doesn't take in any more for that other than as a function of additional investment based on past performance. Of course AUM balloons much quicker at an asset manager than an HF, so that mitigates the difference at least a little bit. All in all, the guys who the top AMs could easily break off and become billionaires running HFs but the stability and the lifestyle, plus the $50M or whatever my boss was taking home was probably more than enough to keep his simple ass happy.

I've interviewed at a few firms with the "buy and hold forever" mindset, and it really just isn't my style. Maybe because of that, I've wondered about the impact of greater economic volatility on this sort of strategy. Have you ever had that sort of concern?

To each his own, but our thought process is that what the market is doing is vastly irrelevant, and the only thing volatility is good for is getting us a cheaper price to buy more stock if we so choose. Never really had a concern that the market was getting too volatile for us to be able to do what we do. Definitely not.

You spoke a lot about the culture, pay, etc. at Top AM and Traditional AM's- what is your take on BB AM in comparison to those previously discussed?

No clue really, but to be honest the BB AM teams leave a bad taste in my mouth. I'm not sure if they do actual stock-picking as much or what their strategies are like. All I know is we've never hired someone from a BB AM team and I haven't bumped into one in the HF space in any peer firms, so haven't been able to ask about them at all either.

Are you currently pursuing the CFA?

I think I've brought this up at some point in the past, but certain AM firms will heavily encourage you to get your CFA, like T. Rowe Price, but most HFs and the top AMs that I'm familiar with could care less about the CFA. To be honest, I've never thought once about getting it, never plan on it, and there'd be no benefits to getting it. I share that sentiment with all of my coworkers and plenty of analysts in other hedge funds. Nobody at my AM firm had one either, and I honestly only think that it's helpful for client-facing positions and things like sell-side research where credibility is very subjective and important nonetheless. Some firms might offer pay bumps for CFA designation, but honestly other than that I can't see why I'd want one. Also beneficial for people without a finance background if they're making that transition to finance and want to show that they're serious about what they're going into.

On generating new ideas, where do you usually get your ideas from? Did you subscribe to Barron's or you usually get something off newspapers/magazines/sites you follow? You have mentioned in your mini HF series that you do printout and bring home a 10-k to read at night, do you do that everyday or just over the weekends?

I get my ideas from absolutely everywhere, the very least frequent being financial publications like Barron's or anything like that. I've gone over the deal generation process in some comments from somewhere and don't have time to go into it again here, but it's out there something. And yes, I read at least one 10-K a night. If you're not reading, you're not learning. It's all about learning the business, then asking the right questions to the right people, and coming to a logical conclusion based on that. I really can't stress reading enough.

I have been having interviews with a few funds but so far none of them asked me to walk them through current condition of equity markets / economic events yet? If lets say you were to interview me, how am i supposed to answer this question? Is it giving my opinion on current the Eurozone Debt Crisis (Cyprus), Fed Stimulus, Jobs market improvement, PMI releases and back to events six months ago (Fiscal Cliff, Elections between between Obama and Romney, Outright Monetary Transactions and Basel 3 Banking regulation?) I wouldn't how to answer such a question properly from beginning so i need a guideline on this.

This is actually a great question and different than the rest so I'll address it. The objective of me as the interviewer is to see how on top of current events you are, how well you know which ones are the important ones, and that you know how they connect back to whatever area the job interview is for. So for example, if you were interviewing at my AM firm and I asked your thoughts on the Eurozone Crisis and particularly Cyprus, Fed Stimulus, and Sequestration... I wouldn't expect you to know the gritty details of all of these events and exactly what each does to all interested parties... but I would like to hear you be able to coherently connect the events in Cyprus to how they would affect the other weak Eurozone companies, and how that might affect our economy back in the States. Then maybe the basics about how Fed Stimulus is propping up our equities markets and if you think that will make it harder to find good deals in the marketplace or how it would alter your strategy. I'd just want to see if you can take in this information that we usually don't care too much about (being anti-macro guys) and find a way to tie it back to what you do on a daily basis in evaluating a single business and making decisions.

I know I skipped a few questions but I'm sure I had a reason for it. Anyway, off to dinner.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 
2.71828:
Someone asked a similar question, but you might have missed it. What would you say to someone convinced that public equity markets are efficient to make them consider otherwise?

Boom and bust, baby.

Take a look at GMCR, AAPL, LEH, NFLX, etc... If markets were efficient, then prices wouldn't be so volatile.

Tech bubble, housing bubble, tulip bubble...I can keep going.

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/_KarateBoy_
 

Blackhat, thanks so much for doing this. Your responses have been incredibly informative. Now, I'm not sure if it was intentional, but you've ignored the three questions (including mine), about EMH. If you don't want to talk about it for some reason, that's fine. If your open to it though, I'd definitely interested in hearing your thoughts. As I mentioned in my previous post, I love analyzing companies but am uncomfortable about the amount of chance involved, so I'm second-guessing my career path.

Based on your love for reading and investing, I'm sure you've researched this before. Thanks!

"My dear, descended from the apes! Let us hope it is not true, but if it is, let us pray that it will not become generally known."
 
Illuminate:
Blackhat, thanks so much for doing this. Your responses have been incredibly informative. Now, I'm not sure if it was intentional, but you've ignored the three questions (including mine), about EMH. If you don't want to talk about it for some reason, that's fine. If your open to it though, I'd definitely interested in hearing your thoughts. As I mentioned in my previous post, I love analyzing companies but am uncomfortable about the amount of chance involved, so I'm second-guessing my career path.

Sorry, you're right I missed these, but not intentionally! Efficient market hypothesis is one of those things I'd heard about since freshman year of college in all my business classes and it seems to be academia's way of explaining the market into something of a science. I really hate that idea. If someone asked me what the split was between art and science in investing, I'd say it was 70/30 in favor of art. I don't have academic studies or keywords and finance jargon to back up my thoughts on EMH, but in my 6+ years of experience now, I've found that when you take all the people out there managing money, a good number of them absolutely suck at it. Put them all in front of the same 10-K, have them read it, and 90% of them will come away with a very rudimentary understanding of the business's potential problems or potential growth engines. There IS such thing as a superior manager, and there IS such thing as a superior company. So when you're in a position to pick some businesses for the long term that you think will outperform the market, and if you're a superior manager who knows what a good business actually looks like, it's very possible to do. In fact, if you happen to have this kind of skill, which I like to think people at my fund have, it's even easy. I can tell you if something is a good business in a week if you give me a few filings and a telephone. The hard part is finding the outstanding businesses and those tend to take months to finally get comfortable with. But look at the people who do beat the market consistently. Most of them follow this pattern. Long term picks, concentration in those picks, and intense research. All the information isn't out there and all the information isn't reflected in the price. Fear and irrationality are what make value investing possible, so EMH would put us out of business if it was 100% true.

Disclaimer: I'm not an academic, and I have no clue what the semantics of EMH are. In fact, I'm not even sure if I know what EMH is anymore. I've just started equating it to "you can't beat the market cuz the market knows all the same shit you do." I'd never rack my brain on something that academic or let it stop me from going after a career I enjoy. So that part of your thought process actually upsets me a bit, I hope that doesn't end up being the case for you.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 
Illuminate:
Blackhat, thanks so much for doing this. Your responses have been incredibly informative. Now, I'm not sure if it was intentional, but you've ignored the three questions (including mine), about EMH. If you don't want to talk about it for some reason, that's fine. If your open to it though, I'd definitely interested in hearing your thoughts. As I mentioned in my previous post, I love analyzing companies but am uncomfortable about the amount of chance involved, so I'm second-guessing my career path.

Based on your love for reading and investing, I'm sure you've researched this before. Thanks!

Even if BlackHat writes 100 pages on EMH, it will be a tiny fraction of what has been written on the topic by hundreds or thousands of people on every side of the issue. While he's a smart guy, there is very little he can say that hasn't been said before and should hold sway over your decision about your future career. Nobody is holding some tonic that can calm your nerves if you're on the fence.

My $0.02.

EDIT: he just responded to you.

 
SirTradesaLot:
Illuminate:
Blackhat, thanks so much for doing this. Your responses have been incredibly informative. Now, I'm not sure if it was intentional, but you've ignored the three questions (including mine), about EMH. If you don't want to talk about it for some reason, that's fine. If your open to it though, I'd definitely interested in hearing your thoughts. As I mentioned in my previous post, I love analyzing companies but am uncomfortable about the amount of chance involved, so I'm second-guessing my career path.

Based on your love for reading and investing, I'm sure you've researched this before. Thanks!

Even if BlackHat writes 100 pages on EMH, it will be a tiny fraction of what has been written on the topic by hundreds or thousands of people on every side of the issue. While he's a smart guy, there is very little he can say that hasn't been said before and should hold sway over your decision about your future career. Nobody is holding some tonic that can calm your nerves if you're on the fence.

My $0.02.

EDIT: he just responded to you.

EMH is the reason I ignored market-based positions during college. "Oh, active management is a sham. You can't consistently beat the market" Bullshit. Total bullshit.

Do not fall for academia's swan song. It sounds so easy, "Oh, just invest in index funds and rebalance quarterly". Top asset managers don't beat the indexes because the choose not to. You really think Will Danoff isn't smart enough to outperform the the S&P by at least a few percent a year? Of course he could. But he chooses to accumulate assets instead. Remember that mutual funds are paid by the amount of assets under management, not performance.

If you run a concentrated portfolio, you risk some short term volatility. And mutual fund investors are generally the "buy high sell low" type. It's better not to risk losing investors, and instead rely on advertising/marketing.

I am uniquely resentful of academia's love affair with the EMH; I would be at an asset manager today if I hadn't bought into it. By the time I realized Seth Klarman wasn't just a lucky coin flipper senior year, I had missed all the best recruiting opportunities.

 
Illuminate:
Blackhat, thanks so much for doing this. Your responses have been incredibly informative. Now, I'm not sure if it was intentional, but you've ignored the three questions (including mine), about EMH. If you don't want to talk about it for some reason, that's fine. If your open to it though, I'd definitely interested in hearing your thoughts. As I mentioned in my previous post, I love analyzing companies but am uncomfortable about the amount of chance involved, so I'm second-guessing my career path.

Based on your love for reading and investing, I'm sure you've researched this before. Thanks!

I’ll throw in my perspective. I think it’s pretty widely agreed upon that the market is not perfectly efficient. So, we’re down to two things, is the market weak-form efficient or are there opportunities that one can capitalize on? There are many ways to approach this and I’ll touch on just a couple.

Indices:
Most indices are weighted by market capitalization. When you buy an index fund today, the stocks that have the largest weight in your portfolio are the ones that have already outperformed the others, not necessarily the ones that will outperform in the future. The stocks that get dropped from the index are those that have underperformed the most. Obviously, it would be better if these weights were applied before the under or outperformance. People have proven that small adjustments to this methodology by making a passive portfolio weighted by dividends or cash flow (or some other valuation metric) can outperform on a risk-adjusted basis for a very long period of time. If someone is able to overlay value metrics with human judgment about the quality of the underlying business, the sustainability of earnings, and the awareness of major hurdles for the business, it seems to me like a recipe for outperformance. I certainly think being smart helps in this regard, but it is much more about being methodical and consistent in application than just pure brainpower. I’m sure Buffet is intelligent, but he’s not Einstein. He just applies his methodology consistently. (He has some other advantages now that he’s so established, but I won’t go there)

Time horizon:
Different investors have different time horizons. Some people are simply looking for a big pop in the next couple of months. Personally, I think trying to time events like that is bordering on impossible in most cases. However, if someone else has an eye for the long-term and is willing to stomach some interim volatility, they can rummage through the names that others are shunning or aren’t paying attention to. Things like spin-outs, stocks getting dropped from a major index, emergence from bankruptcy, and earnings misses are often areas for opportunity. Two investors with different time horizons might approach those situations from an entirely different perspective. The most telling period in my career was the late 1990’s. Stocks were skyrocketing, but for the most part, the worse the fundamentals of the company, the better it performed. Trust me when I say it was difficult to stick to basic value based strategies. People thought you ‘didn’t get it’ because you weren’t investing in many of these internet or cutting edge technology companies. We underperformed. However, in the early 2000’s when the market deflated, we actually had positive performance in 2000 and 2001 which was a nice vindication. People were starting to actually care about things like cash flow again.

Maximizing risk-adjusted returns:
It must be true that all or the preponderance of investors are seeking to maximize their risk-adjusted returns if EMH is true. In my experience, this is not the case. The problem is that most investors buy stories. By their nature, people are generally optimistic and are overconfident about the decisions they make. This means you have people overpaying for stocks like Facebook, Pets (dot) com, or some other unproven company, because people want to believe there is a parabolic growth story. They often fail to consider less optimistic scenarios and minimize outright negative scenarios. As unsexy as it may sound, avoiding investing in companies like these is half the battle. I would be curious to see how much an investment in the S&P 500 would underperform an investment in the same universe of stocks that excluded the 10% of worst performers. In other words, if you just avoided the Lehman Brothers, Enron, AIG, and other lousy performers, how much would you outperform? My sense is that it’s by a fairly significant margin.

I’m curious to read what others have to say.

 

There is a lot of info here, I just skimmed over most of it, so you may have already awnsered but

Would we be comparing apples to oranges- If we were going to compare the competitiveness of getting a job at a top AM firm compared to a BB FO position? I would imagine their ocr is more geared towards ugrad b-schools rather than the tradition liberal arts targets, or is it the same schools with OCR, and a few non-targets who networked their way in? Do top AM firms offer internships?

Thanks BH great post

 

finally, someone giving a full analysis on how AM is going, and how it works

I can also confirm that my firm's hours are pretty much 9-6 with anything past that being very late

SB to you BlackHat

I eat success for breakfast...with skim milk
 
TonyPerkis:
finally, someone giving a full analysis on how AM is going, and how it works

I can also confirm that my firm's hours are pretty much 9-6 with anything past that being very late

SB to you BlackHat

For some additional perspective, my work day is 7am-6pm.

I think I'm working the longest, on average, of all the other analyst. But, there is usually at least 1 other analyst that's working more hours on a particular day than me.

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/_KarateBoy_
 
KarateBoy:
TonyPerkis:
finally, someone giving a full analysis on how AM is going, and how it works

I can also confirm that my firm's hours are pretty much 9-6 with anything past that being very late

SB to you BlackHat

For some additional perspective, my work day is 7am-6pm.

I think I'm working the longest, on average, of all the other analyst. But, there is usually at least 1 other analyst that's working more hours on a particular day than me.

We're styled very much like a long-term value AM player at my fund, and I'm working 6am-2pm usually, 7am to 6pm isn't terrible for a more junior guy I would think and when I was at my AM fund I routinely got in earlier and stayed later than most analysts simply because I felt like I could always be getting more work done as the most junior guy on the team. Even then, working 8am to 8pm isn't an awful workday when it's pretty cushy and you're working at your own pace. But I very much preferred the days when it was cool to roll at 5pm, which was most of them.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 

Agreed...I work at a fund like Blackhat describes and one which Westcoast Rainmaker named in his similar post. My average day is about 9am-7pm...definitely not bad and when you get lost in the analysis the time can fly by before you know it. We are the kind of shop that spends weeks considering one investment from start to finish so you truly are working at your own pace and digging as deep as possible into the weeds (because we buy to hold for the long term). It has been said before but I will echo the point that while the hours in the office are lax, and facetime is nearly non-existant, if you are doing the job well it is almost always on your mind. I read Barrons, the Economist, Fund letters, books, etc. on the weekends and at night I often find myself randomly looking up investment ideas on Bloomberg or running a screen based on something I saw on the news. If that sounds interesting to you then yes these gigs are as sweet as they sound. But, don't think that you just turn it off when you leave the office. My comp I would describe as banking-lite at the Associate level but my lifestyle is great and I'm certainly not complaining. Making PM and/or gaining equity in the firm would certainly change that equation over the next 5-7 years.

 

Thanks for the great insight and discussion. BlackHat. As someone who is looking to understand different investment styles among asset management firms, what is your view of pure quantitative investment shops like AQR Capital, Acadian Asset Management, Martingale Asset Management, etc.? Do you think quantitative investing has a place in the industry, going into the future?

 
foobar4life:
Thanks for the great insight and discussion. BlackHat. As someone who is looking to understand different investment styles among asset management firms, what is your view of pure quantitative investment shops like AQR Capital, Acadian Asset Management, Martingale Asset Management, etc.? Do you think quantitative investing has a place in the industry, going into the future?

I still don't understand it really, and there's clearly a place for it in the industry, as we've seen by their success in the past. I don't want to get too much into it since honestly i just don't know enough about quant funds, but for what it's worth I'll continue trusting my money to human stock pickers and could never feel comfortable giving it to a computer...

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 
foobar4life:
Thanks for the great insight and discussion. BlackHat. As someone who is looking to understand different investment styles among asset management firms, what is your view of pure quantitative investment shops like AQR Capital, Acadian Asset Management, Martingale Asset Management, etc.? Do you think quantitative investing has a place in the industry, going into the future?

My firm (~200bn) aum has both quant and regular, as well as our way of saying hedge fund side, ie more trade frequency and less long term goals. Our quant team has been growing, however it seems that our more fundamental/less algorithmic teams do better as those AUMs are growing at a more rapid pace.

I eat success for breakfast...with skim milk
 
packmate:
Do top AM summer internships typically end in a full time offer? I've heard rumors of places like Fidelity taking 10 summer analyst and offering only 1 position

Fidelity's yield isn't that bad. I think last year it was 3/6 interns that got FT offers. Other large AMs tend to have better yields. Fido is just a bit more cutthroat than many asset managers - I have heard the word "shark tank" thrown around by current employees.

 

I don't work at a name shop but a lot of the work that I do is the same. Usually work like 8 - 6ish. Latest I've stayed in the office has probably been like 10pm.

Definitely always thinking about investments when meeting people and doing things. If I meet a sales rep at X firm you can be sure that I'll be asking some questions. Also like to read some investment ideas at night.

 
Dhanam:
So BlackHat...what's your opinion on Herbalife?

I'd stay as far away from it as possible. Not because it's a bad company or anything (it's a horrible company though) but because you're no longer betting on the fundamentals with this clash of the titans brewing. I've explained it a few times in different threads but that's the long story short version of it. And I definitely don't like to bet on anything but the fundamentals, I'm not that smart.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 

Excellent post Blackhat and also to the other contributors. It's good to read a post concerning this topic, with respect to smaller AM houses that take a long-term value approach, when so much of what I observe and read these days is about the increasing importance of quant based investment firms that build über-complex quantitative models that require an analyst with a doctorate in physics to create. It's nice for me as a more traditional finance guy to be reminded that there exist many many different firms that employ an equal number of methods and approaches to determine how they will invest and that many firms still follow the tried and true method of just spending the time and effort to really understand what makes a business exceptional or perhaps not so exceptional.

"Successful investing is anticipating the anticipation of others". - John Maynard Keynes
 

This is probably a stupid comment but I've always been a little confused on where/how you draw the line between AM firms and HF funds. It sounds like AM takes a longer term view but there are also value hedge funds that make similar type investments right? Is there a clear delineation that I am missing or is it somewhat fuzzy?

 
mappleby:
This is probably a stupid comment but I've always been a little confused on where/how you draw the line between AM firms and HF funds. It sounds like AM takes a longer term view but there are also value hedge funds that make similar type investments right? Is there a clear delineation that I am missing or is it somewhat fuzzy?

A mutual fund (i.e. traditional AM firm) is organized under the investment company act of 1940. Anybody can buy into these companies.

A hedge fund is only open to accredited investors. They are regulated based on what they invest in (e.g. a commodities fund would need to comply with CFTC rules).

 

Great Article! I wish that I would have read it 4 days ago. I had an interview with a similar firm 3 days ago and this info would have come in handy before hand. How many AUM did the company you worked for have? I am trying to see if the compensation at the firm that I interviewed with would be similar. It is a 6 person office and they have roughly 250M AUM.

 

First and foremost Blackhat thanks for the post, it's really difficult to find high quality AM rather than IB discussions.

Karateboy, to elaborate on Blackhat's answer on how to answer "walk them through current condition of equity markets / economic events yet" I would add one more thing, that has consistently helped me stand out in interviews. That is: 1.Know the macroeconomic trend, 2. Who are affected the most, and the least, and the impact ideally on the firm your interviewing for 3. The investment opportunities that this trend provides (the more specific the better) e.g. Eurozone crisis > most affected European companies > investment opportunities =value stocks. Typically, undervalued peripheral European companies who are suffering from being listed in Europe, but actually get the majority of their revenue from emerging markets thereby providing notable upside opportunity.

If you do this 1.You'll stand out 2.It's better for you,to quote Napolean Hill "all knowledge is pointless, unless it is applied", what's the point of knowing the trend, if you can't make money of it? this is what we're all interested in lol!

I did have a couple of questions of my own though and I would appreciate it anyone or Blackhat could answer this:

  1. A common trend I have heard is AM doesn't take sell side investment reports seriously why is this? Building on this, from my understanding sell side analysts give you recommendations for investment ideas how do you separate the analysts on the sell side worth listening to? from the fickle ones.
  2. We've talked a lot about the good, but what in your experience is the Worst thing about asset management?
  3. aspect of evaluating a stock is the quality of management, and I know ben graham goes into this, but I would appreciate your personal opinion on what has made management good quality and worthwhile investing in? 4.Finally you've obviously done very well for yourself, so I just wondered what do you feel differentiated you from your peers to get where you are today.

Thanks in advance

 

Hey Blackhat,

Thanks for this post - it's solid gold. I was wondering how difficult it would be for a student with a non trad background to make it into AM - hopefully on the west coast. I'm not looking for high pay or a tip top shop just for a place where I can develop and apply the skills I've learned.

I've been investing my own money for a few years and have followed the market since I was in 3rd grade, I was going to LS but dropped out after I get deeper into Value Investing - right around when I finished Security Analysis for the first time. It sort of just clicked and I realized that I couldn't do anything else. I've read all of the books you recommended in addition to the collected letters of Berkshire Hathaway and Phil Fisher's stuff etc.

I'm networking with a few family friends - including one guy with over 250M under management at a large institution like JP Morgan/Wells/BofA etc and he says that I have the chops to do it - but he is getting very close to retirement and has been there so long (45 years) that he is very far removed from the hiring process - he's looking for some leads on my behalf though.

I graduated a year and a half ago from college at a top UC with a 3.9 GPA with two degrees - but none in finance related subjects. My biggest problem is getting to the position where I can have a face to face interview - all my resumes have been blanket rejected even though I think I have a baseline of knowledge - I think enough to get an internship at least despite not having the rubber stamps on the resume. I wrote a professor teaching a Security Analysis class at the MBA program at my alma mater and sent him some of my analysis - to my surprise he waived the requirements for me - so I think that could be a good thing and would give me some relevant experience to put on my resume (which is pretty lacking). The guy runs a risk management department at a large institution, so I think if I can do well in the class he might let me intern or give me a lead.

I started to write for SeekingAlpha (even though I'm not a big fan of the websites analysis and the posters on it sometimes but I thought I could put it on my resume and have an archive of research built up - I write about 10 pieces a month or so to keep myself sharp, all my articles get accepted)

Any tips for a wayward ape?

Thanks in advance - this thread shows me that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

 

BlackHat I was hoping you could shed some light on the best way to work up to a Lead/Sr. Portfolio Management role.

Would it be something like starting in equity research, get your CFA, and then move on to Junior/Assistant PM roles?

 
StryfeDSP:
BlackHat I was hoping you could shed some light on the best way to work up to a Lead/Sr. Portfolio Management role.

Would it be something like starting in equity research, get your CFA, and then move on to Junior/Assistant PM roles?

It's pretty much what you'd expect. The best way is to stick around at one place for a while, or lateral from a bigger place after a few years down to a smaller or less-successful fund where you'll be more of a big fish in a little pond, if that makes sense. But yeah, generally the approach is that you'd come in as a junior analyst or associate and spend a few years in that role gaining the trust of senior analysts and eventually becoming an analyst yourself. From there a combination of success with your recommendations, a positive relationship with your lead PM, and time can get you in a role as a junior PM or senior analyst where you actually have direct influence over where capital is allocated. From there you pretty much just need to perform well and eventually you're running your own book. Sure, plenty of people come from sell-side and jump straight to analyst or something, but if I wanted to construct the most fast-track way possible I think I'd suggest starting in a junior buy-side ER role and if you're really good the upward mobility is probably much better earlier.

I'd also note that designations like the CFA or an MBA are much less useful and aren't really something that gets considered when deciding who should get the promotion and who is gonna get snubbed... some place do however think highly of CFA and if that's the case they'll make it perfectly clear. But I would never say it's a universal step in the process.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 
BlackHat:
StryfeDSP:
BlackHat I was hoping you could shed some light on the best way to work up to a Lead/Sr. Portfolio Management role.

Would it be something like starting in equity research, get your CFA, and then move on to Junior/Assistant PM roles?

I'd also note that designations like the CFA or an MBA are much less useful and aren't really something that gets considered when deciding who should get the promotion and who is gonna get snubbed... some place do however think highly of CFA and if that's the case they'll make it perfectly clear. But I would never say it's a universal step in the process.

Awesome thanks.

I was wondering about the CFA because I know at the AM firm I interned at they don't consider anyone for PM roles without the CFA.

 
Markov:
Thanks for this thread, Blackhat. Very informative. Can I PM you about an asset manager that has hired me for a FT role?

Do it!

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 

This post is very solid. Not to hijack from BlackHat here, but I'm currently at a smaller shop where the environment spoken of is quite accurate. It depends on what each individual is looking for, but hours are totally manageable, balance with life is great, and the degree of exposure/experience you get at a younger age is an excellent thing. I think the point about emphasizing "thought" is so crucial, and at these types of shops the mentorship and ability to go in and talk back and forth with the PM about anything freely is really cool. If you want to be a really good investor, you can learn that in a variety of different shops. That said, I think that these types of firms are quite useful in helping a young analyst develop into a really good investor over time.

 

I am aware that sell-side equity research roles require the Series 86/87 Exams, but are there any FINRA licenses required (e.g., Series 7/63/79) of buy-side equity research roles once hired? Particularly at smaller boutique AM firms, where the research and analysis would be solely used within the firm and not available to the public. Thanks in advance.

 

Great posts BlackHat, thanks for sharing with us.
I am seriously considering going into AM to build the skills and network necessary to create a PWM company in a few years. Do you think this plan makes sense? As an equity research and now PM, do you meet often with the clients (private or institutional) ? Thanks for your help.

 

how much time, on average, you spend to finish a typical 10K: 1. at the beginning of your career 2. now when dealing with familiar industry

I understand that when one is in-search for value the timing of reading might be irrelevant, but just trying to benchmark myself.

Thanks

 
naivekid:
how much time, on average, you spend to finish a typical 10K: 1. at the beginning of your career 2. now when dealing with familiar industry

I understand that when one is in-search for value the timing of reading might be irrelevant, but just trying to benchmark myself.

Thanks

At first I read everything in the K and paid special attention to things that nowadays I know are standard in every K regardless of the company... so I've gotten a lot quicker at reading them obviously. I still re-read every K that I every print out at least once, and I make sure to spend as much time reading K's as possible. Filings are really the only reading I ever do that's not on the computer/my phone... I can probably get through a typical company's K in 2-3 hours fully annotated with a cup of coffee. Some companies take much longer, and if it's a company that's completely foreign to me I'll re-read sections a handful of times to make sure I understand what the hell it is this company actually does. That's becoming less and less frequent since now there's not nearly as many industries I'm unfamiliar with.

The bottom line though is, you do get faster reading them, but you should still take a ton of time to make sure you understand them and have given them a fair amount of scrutiny. God I fucking love annual reports, not even sarcasm.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 

Ditto the loving annual reports part haha. I get so excited this time of year with fresh material. Nothing worse than using December 31, 2011 data in Jan 2013.

BlackHat:
naivekid:
how much time, on average, you spend to finish a typical 10K: 1. at the beginning of your career 2. now when dealing with familiar industry

I understand that when one is in-search for value the timing of reading might be irrelevant, but just trying to benchmark myself.

Thanks

At first I read everything in the K and paid special attention to things that nowadays I know are standard in every K regardless of the company... so I've gotten a lot quicker at reading them obviously. I still re-read every K that I every print out at least once, and I make sure to spend as much time reading K's as possible. Filings are really the only reading I ever do that's not on the computer/my phone... I can probably get through a typical company's K in 2-3 hours fully annotated with a cup of coffee. Some companies take much longer, and if it's a company that's completely foreign to me I'll re-read sections a handful of times to make sure I understand what the hell it is this company actually does. That's becoming less and less frequent since now there's not nearly as many industries I'm unfamiliar with.

The bottom line though is, you do get faster reading them, but you should still take a ton of time to make sure you understand them and have given them a fair amount of scrutiny. God I fucking love annual reports, not even sarcasm.

 
BlackHat:
naivekid:
how much time, on average, you spend to finish a typical 10K: 1. at the beginning of your career 2. now when dealing with familiar industry

I understand that when one is in-search for value the timing of reading might be irrelevant, but just trying to benchmark myself.

Thanks

At first I read everything in the K and paid special attention to things that nowadays I know are standard in every K regardless of the company... so I've gotten a lot quicker at reading them obviously. I still re-read every K that I every print out at least once, and I make sure to spend as much time reading K's as possible. Filings are really the only reading I ever do that's not on the computer/my phone... I can probably get through a typical company's K in 2-3 hours fully annotated with a cup of coffee. Some companies take much longer, and if it's a company that's completely foreign to me I'll re-read sections a handful of times to make sure I understand what the hell it is this company actually does. That's becoming less and less frequent since now there's not nearly as many industries I'm unfamiliar with.

The bottom line though is, you do get faster reading them, but you should still take a ton of time to make sure you understand them and have given them a fair amount of scrutiny. God I fucking love annual reports, not even sarcasm.

Hey BlackHat, Once again another awesome thread, thank you. I was just wondering if you could share with us any tricks of the trade you have learned when reading and analyzing a companies 10k. What are things we should be looking for and paying close attention to? What things should we skip over or omit in our analysis (you mentioned some things that are recurring in many 10k's). Obviously all the information is important, but I was just wondering what parts are more important than others, or anything else you would like to share with novice readers. Maybe this question deserves a separate thread?, as many of us on here are huge fans of your viewpoints and logic. Thanks again

 

Thanks that helps. Yeah, by reading your posts it is quite easy to guess that you have a thing for 10Ks.

And since I like where this is going I will go ahead with a follow-up:

  1. How are you taking notes? There is tons of info, how you keep everything organized? Do you just skim first?
  2. When reading 10 Ks of competitor companies, Do you do it simultaneously (section by section, let's say you have read MD&A of THI and now you go and read MD&A of MCD instead of finishing entire THI 10K)?
  3. Since you print them out, I guess you take notes by pen, do you transfer them to doc/ppt/excel later?

P.S. Incredible, I am getting credible answers while not leaving my apartment for questions that I couldn't get answers by going miles...Thank you!

 
naivekid:
Thanks that helps. Yeah, by reading your posts it is quite easy to guess that you have a thing for 10Ks.

And since I like where this is going I will go ahead with a follow-up:

  1. How are you taking notes? There is tons of info, how you keep everything organized? Do you just skim first?
  2. When reading 10 Ks of competitor companies, Do you do it simultaneously (section by section, let's say you have read MD&A of THI and now you go and read MD&A of MCD instead of finishing entire THI 10K)?
  3. Since you print them out, I guess you take notes by pen, do you transfer them to doc/ppt/excel later?

P.S. Incredible, I am getting credible answers while not leaving my apartment for questions that I couldn't get answers by going miles...Thank you!

Don't take my methods as "the way" to do it, but I do feel I have a few peculiarities that make the way I do things pretty efficient (for me, anyway).

  1. I have, more or less, a pretty photographic memory. I always read Ks, Qs, broker research, transcripts, etc. cover to cover, preferably with my feet up on my desk and a highlighter in hand. Whatever oddities that go on in my brain for it to happen I'm not sure of, but after I highlight something I tend not to forget it. So I don't write a lot of notes but I highlight pretty liberally and one read-through of a K is usually enough for me to get all the key risks, metrics, and broadstrokes of the business down. As I go along the only thing I write notes about is bullet points on things that are major areas of concern/need more color that I would want to bring up in a call to IR or some sort of industry professional. I'm not a big skimmer of anything.

  2. Nope, going along with my answer above, I would write down some points from the THI report that I might want to look into when I read MCD, but I wouldn't jump from one to the other and then back.

  3. No, everything is paper. Paper reports, paper notes, paper everything. My office looks like this, and I'm not exaggerating: http://insanity.blogs.lchwelcome.org/files/2011/05/Carls-church-office… (also not sure how I found that picture but it's pretty accurate)

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 
BlackHat:
3. No, everything is paper. Paper reports, paper notes, paper everything. My office looks like this, and I'm not exaggerating: http://insanity.blogs.lchwelcome.org/files/2011/05/Carls-church-office… (also not sure how I found that picture but it's pretty accurate)

BlackHat, I got a question for you - Why do you hate trees so much?

"For I am a sinner in the hands of an angry God. Bloody Mary full of vodka, blessed are you among cocktails. Pray for me now and at the hour of my death, which I hope is soon. Amen."
 

Thank you for the great info BlackHat and everyone else. It is extremely useful as I am at the very beginning of my road to a shop that's hopefully something like the ones being discussed. I know BlackHat mentioned that some non-traditional backgrounds like financial reporters can be very useful on the business. Along the same lines, I was wondering if a background in audit could be marketable? I fell into it right out of undergrad and was interning at a big4 firm for almost a year (not a typical internship but a long story). The one part of the job that was actually interesting is the ability to get familiar with the 10Ks and all of the inputs as well as the business processes relating to it. I was wondering if employers in AM shops would look favorably to a skill like that or would it get discounted as accounting bs and monkey mechanics?

 
MilitaryToFinance:
Do you bother with the Q's or just the K's? I've heard from some individuals that they feel quarterly is too short a time-frame to really bother with so they only look at 10-K's. Just curious if you feel the same because you keep referring to them.

Typically the 10-Ks have a much more comprehensive discussion of the business per the MD&A.

I use the 10-Qs to pull out quarter-specific data points, such as segment info.

The transcripts + talking with the axe on the name is usually my source for getting the "background/story" part of the investment thesis.

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/_KarateBoy_
 
naivekid:
packmate:
I think your next post should be about analyzing 10-k

I second this so much

Fantastic idea. Blackhat, if you have time for this, this would be incredibly helpful for us inspiring investors!

"My dear, descended from the apes! Let us hope it is not true, but if it is, let us pray that it will not become generally known."
 
packmate:
I think your next post should be about analyzing 10-k

Unfortunately, my schedule for today was brunch, 10-Ks, dinner coming up, more 10-Ks.... but I will try to do this for you guys sometime this week or next weekend. I can already see a pretty easy way to structure it, hopefully I can come up with some good way of explaining my thought process and also get some back and forth from some of the other guys who live and breath this stuff.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 
BlackHat:
packmate:
I think your next post should be about analyzing 10-k

Unfortunately, my schedule for today was brunch, 10-Ks, dinner coming up, more 10-Ks.... but I will try to do this for you guys sometime this week or next weekend. I can already see a pretty easy way to structure it, hopefully I can come up with some good way of explaining my thought process and also get some back and forth from some of the other guys who live and breath this stuff.

Awesome. I'm definitely looking forward to reading this. Thanks man you are hands down the best contributor on this site!

"My dear, descended from the apes! Let us hope it is not true, but if it is, let us pray that it will not become generally known."
 
BlackHat:
packmate:
I think your next post should be about analyzing 10-k

Unfortunately, my schedule for today was brunch, 10-Ks, dinner coming up, more 10-Ks.... but I will try to do this for you guys sometime this week or next weekend. I can already see a pretty easy way to structure it, hopefully I can come up with some good way of explaining my thought process and also get some back and forth from some of the other guys who live and breath this stuff.

This could be some of the most useful stuff on WSO for aspiring investors. Thanks in advance for being so generous with your time.

"Do not go gentle into that good night"
 
BlackHat:

Unfortunately, my schedule for today was brunch, 10-Ks, dinner coming up, more 10-Ks.... but I will try to do this for you guys sometime this week or next weekend. I can already see a pretty easy way to structure it, hopefully I can come up with some good way of explaining my thought process and also get some back and forth from some of the other guys who live and breath this stuff.

Very excited for this also. This site is really moving in the right direction due to people like you. Thanks in advance BlackHat

 
BlackHat:
packmate:
I think your next post should be about analyzing 10-k

Unfortunately, my schedule for today was brunch, 10-Ks, dinner coming up, more 10-Ks.... but I will try to do this for you guys sometime this week or next weekend. I can already see a pretty easy way to structure it, hopefully I can come up with some good way of explaining my thought process and also get some back and forth from some of the other guys who live and breath this stuff.

This will be a BLAST!

 

BlackHat, awesome post. I'm very interested in this topic, I'm also the one who started the Third Ave thread with West Coast's great comments. My question deals more with how do you recommend breaking to an AM. This is the initial reason why I started that other thread, I was trying to break into Third Ave. My experience thus far is 2.5 years as a Housing analyst and hold a certificate from NYU in Real Estate Investment and Finance. I work with real estate asset managers and typically only really get involved in managing troubled properties.

 

I just want to contribute to the EMH discussion -- I wouldn't want someone to not pursue a career they'd love because they're worried about some boneheaded academic circlejerk. (Qualifications: I work in asset management).

Now, imagine a world in which everyone indexes. In this case, the 'market' is simply a basket of equities, and 'prices' are determined by inflows and outflows into this singular basket.

In addition to not being very fun (No more stories about AAPL's incredible run and subsequent demise! Think of all the poor financial journalists who would be out of work!), it would also eliminate one of the primary functions of the public markets. That function, of course, is signalling: How else would Management teams destroy shareholder value with a share-based acquisition if their share prices hadn't run up in the first place? How would they retain 'top talent' by giving said talent outsized equity bonuses if that equity wasn't worth anything? "Should I work at YHOO! or GOOG...? Well, shit, based on what the market believes about each company's future prospects..."

Tongue-in-cheek, of course, but you catch my proverbial drift. The market does serve a purpose other than being a profit opportunity for the morally bankrupt. Now, it's entirely possible that the active management industry shouldn't be as big as it is -- and I wouldn't disagree! -- but it needs to exist. See: Following paragraph.

Imagine, now, that a couple of cavalier Research Analysts find a way to invest in individual shares of a company. Imagine that it's a bit like the movie "The Invention of Lying" -- they're the first to even think to do it. "Wait a minute..." they say, "why is X -- a company with far superior growth prospects -- priced the same as Y, this horse buggy manufacturer?" They buy X, and sure enough, Y goes bankrupt soon after the Model T rolls off the assembly line. And, lo and behold, they have discovered... Value! Y goes to 0, and all the indexers just sort of shrug it off: "The market, man, can't beat him, but can't live without him." Meanwhile, the Research Analysts buy a Bloomberg terminal and look for more opportunities. Their success begets imitators, and suddenly, everyone is buying individual shares of companies, trying to avoid ones that are going to go bankrupt and trying to buy the ones that are going to grow. A functioning market develops. It's a beautiful thing. Pets.com IPO's.

And so: Active management must exist. Moreover, the more people who invest passively (and I don't think it's necessarily bad advice for small-time individual investors to park their money in SPDR funds), the more opportunity there is for you: The active manager. Now, I am not going to make an argument about what the size of the active management industry should be (I think having more eyes on the market is better than a couple of investment juggernauts determining asset prices across the planet), but know that your life will be worth something -- even if it's a very, very tiny something. Rescue a dog. He will make you happier about the futility of life.

Plus, what else would be doing? Making a 'model' at 2am to justify one of those aforementioned value-destroying acquisitions?

In closing: EMH is the bullshit finance professors use to justify their career decision.

 

Blackhat, not sure if you saw my above post yet but I am very curious as to what advice you'd give people (like me) trying to break in to AM, preferably an AM firm like the ones you described. Thanks

 

Thank you so much for the post; it's both interesting and inspiring. I'm a senior in high school trying to make a final college decision. I've got it down to NYU Stern, Minnesota Carlson, and Cornell AEM (waitlisted). Which would be the best to attend considering the extra cost of NYU and Cornell for trying to break into a top asset management? And generally, to benefit others and not just myself, can you break into top asset management from a non-target (like Carlson) or is it just as hard as breaking into IBD?

 
willkraft253:

Thank you so much for the post; it's both interesting and inspiring. I'm a senior in high school trying to make a final college decision. I've got it down to NYU Stern, Minnesota Carlson, and Cornell AEM (waitlisted). Which would be the best to attend considering the extra cost of NYU and Cornell for trying to break into a top asset management? And generally, to benefit others and not just myself, can you break into top asset management from a non-target (like Carlson) or is it just as hard as breaking into IBD?

Just as hard, possibly harder since asset managers aren't picking from as large a group as banking and the alumni at the shop will be much less diverse as a result too. Obviously Cornell would be your best bet out of that group, but NYU not a bad second choice.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 

I wanted to re-hatch the discussion a bit. To provide background, starting this coming week I will be interning at a bottom-up value oriented boutique AM firm for my last year in undergrad. Recently, I've been trying to get a better understanding of what exactly separates the term equity research analyst from, say, investment analyst? This firm I will be interning at has a research group who are called equity research analysts and they tend to specialize in specific industries. I'm wondering in terms of compensation how these guys would be getting paid? (BH- I can pm you with a link to the company's website if it would help clarify what I am talking about). The reason I ask is, would these guys potentially be getting paid along the lines of research analysts (60-80k or whatever) or like full analysts (300k+ for people in the late 20s and such)? Does that make sense?

"Successful investing is anticipating the anticipation of others". - John Maynard Keynes
 
SvenS:

I wanted to re-hatch the discussion a bit. To provide background, starting this coming week I will be interning at a bottom-up value oriented boutique AM firm for my last year in undergrad. Recently, I've been trying to get a better understanding of what exactly separates the term equity research analyst from, say, investment analyst? This firm I will be interning at has a research group who are called equity research analysts and they tend to specialize in specific industries. I'm wondering in terms of compensation how these guys would be getting paid? (BH- I can pm you with a link to the company's website if it would help clarify what I am talking about). The reason I ask is, would these guys potentially be getting paid along the lines of research analysts (60-80k or whatever) or like full analysts (300k+ for people in the late 20s and such)? Does that make sense?

Generally, the hierarchy and job titles they give to analysts are really firm-specific. But in general if anything the typical seniority from lowest to highest would be something like: Equity Research (which would be just like sell side ER except tailor made for your firm and yes, usually a sector focus), Research Associate (a younger version of the research analyst but still someone who sources ideas/actively participates in stock selection and management of the fund), Research Analyst (your typical hedge fund guy or whoever), Senior Analyst (just an older version of the normal analyst, generally has responsibility for some portion of the book and/or deals with clients and what not), and Portfolio Manager (exactly what it sounds like). Expect that Equity Research guy on the buy-side to make an equal or slightly higher base salary than an equivalent sell-side ER guy with a similar bonus or potentially higher depending on if we're talking hedge fund or asset manager. This is of course based on entry level.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 
BlackHat:
SvenS:

I wanted to re-hatch the discussion a bit. To provide background, starting this coming week I will be interning at a bottom-up value oriented boutique AM firm for my last year in undergrad. Recently, I've been trying to get a better understanding of what exactly separates the term equity research analyst from, say, investment analyst? This firm I will be interning at has a research group who are called equity research analysts and they tend to specialize in specific industries. I'm wondering in terms of compensation how these guys would be getting paid? (BH- I can pm you with a link to the company's website if it would help clarify what I am talking about). The reason I ask is, would these guys potentially be getting paid along the lines of research analysts (60-80k or whatever) or like full analysts (300k+ for people in the late 20s and such)? Does that make sense?

Generally, the hierarchy and job titles they give to analysts are really firm-specific. But in general if anything the typical seniority from lowest to highest would be something like: Equity Research (which would be just like sell side ER except tailor made for your firm and yes, usually a sector focus), Research Associate (a younger version of the research analyst but still someone who sources ideas/actively participates in stock selection and management of the fund), Research Analyst (your typical hedge fund guy or whoever), Senior Analyst (just an older version of the normal analyst, generally has responsibility for some portion of the book and/or deals with clients and what not), and Portfolio Manager (exactly what it sounds like). Expect that Equity Research guy on the buy-side to make an equal or slightly higher base salary than an equivalent sell-side ER guy with a similar bonus or potentially higher depending on if we're talking hedge fund or asset manager. This is of course based on entry level.

Thanks again BlackHat. I have been interning here for a couple of weeks now and am getting a somewhat better idea of the structure. In terms of the titles we have, from bottom to top: equity research associates, equity research analysts, a couple directors of research and a couple assistant PMs, and then several PMs. It's a bit hard to tell the differences here because all of the research guys (associate or analyst) focus on a sector and the job is so laid back that there isn't a readily noticeable hierarchy outside of analysts to PMs of course. So if I understand correctly the equity research analysts, even though they are covering a specific sector, are possibly on the compensation levels of straight analysts at another top asset manager or a Fidelity/Janus, etc?

"Successful investing is anticipating the anticipation of others". - John Maynard Keynes
 

BlackHat,

As a penultimate year UK student interning with an AM in London over the summer, I have greatly enjoyed reading your comments and found them highly insightful. Thank you for posting.

My question is a bit far-flung: I really like the US. It has been a long-term dream to emigrate. The AM I will hopefully receive a full-time offer from is one of the largest fund managers in the US. Do firms offer staff (obviously after a few year's good service at least) the opportunity to relocate abroad?

 

Nice read here. Want to add some color on PIMCO and EMH:

PIMCO is such a large fixed income fund that they sometimes don't even own cash bonds, using derivatives to get duration exposure to names. They get preference in new allocations which typically go up in price after they are issued due to supply issues. So they have an advantage there. These guys own everything and their performance is largely attributable to their aforementioned treatment and large bets on treasuries or MBS that EE and Gross make (sometimes incorrectly). For example it was recently noted that they jumped to 40% treasury exposure in their PIMIX fund, or $120B worth of treasuries, though I am not sure about the term of the bonds. Global daily volume on UST is something like $500B, so this is a large position by most measures. I don't know for sure but I am guessing there is relatively little (esp compared to the shops we are talking about) in-depth fundamental company analysis going on there. Their rep comes from their size, ability to find ways to invest despite their size, and their marketing department.

On EMH, academics use it to teach the way assets "should" behave but recognize that the real world does not work like this. The good academics will talk more about how to find inefficiencies than the rules of the hypothesis. Lots of misinformation out there about this topic.

 

Great post as usual BlackHat. My first year working for a top value manager out of undergrad; your explanation of the life, culture, and pay are all spot on. It really has been a lesson in humility, I thought I was hot shit until I started work. I was used to setting the curve, but these people operate on a whole other level - almost impossible to keep up with a certain level of raw, intellectual horsepower. The Analysts are all exceedingly academic and really care about the research they are doing and the recommendations they are putting out to the team.

 
miksqt:

Do you think an MBA from NYU or Cornell can put me into an AM firm given that I have CFA and CMT designations?

Absolutely. Coming out of a great school with an MBA is always going to be advantageous... you will have as good a shot as anyone provided you interview well.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 
BlackHat:
miksqt:

Absolutely. Coming out of a great school with an MBA is always going to be advantageous... you will have as good a shot as anyone provided you interview well.

Thanks a lot Blackhat. :)
 

My $0.02 would be that the best way to learn is to do it. Now of course it is a good idea to seek the council, or in this case read the words, of more experienced individuals. I'm not sure what your major is but it sounds like I am in a similar position as you but a year or two ahead. I am certainly no expert but I do have the benefit of direct access to some very smart people at the AM shop that I intern at. I've always had a fundamental, bottom up, value driven approach and that is also the approach that this firm takes. (Also, I want to note that I don't like to necessarily separate the value camp from the growth camp in absolute terms in every situation). My view is that I never want to overpay for a company no matter how impressive their expected future returns are. If a company is trading at 50x earnings for example I probably wouldn't buy it. (Another note, this is a generalized statement. I have a whole thought process and list of reasons why I want to buy companies as cheaply as I can but that would take too long to post here). Many times it just comes down to common sense. If you have a good understanding of a company but something that their management says, or whatever else, doesn't make sense to you, then find a satisfactory answer to either understand or just pass on the company and start researching something else. Anyways, my apologies that this is rather long winded but in short I take a value oriented approach, I don't want to overpay for a company, and another very important detail is that you REALLY need to understand what you are investing in. You need to understand what drives a business and how all the different elements of a company can affect the future returns of a business. Essentially I take a lot of lessons from Buffett. The reason I've mentioned all this is that I want to give you an idea of where I am coming from. So as per suggested reading, I have found Warren Buffett's annual shareholder letters very helpful. His 1982 letter is particularly good and in it he details the four things that he looks for in a business. A couple value classics are Ben Graham's Security Analysis and the Intelligent Investor. Also, if you are looking for other books perhaps outside of the Graham approach then I'm sure a quick search on the forums will yield former posts listing good books to read. I hope that helps.

"Successful investing is anticipating the anticipation of others". - John Maynard Keynes
 

Great post black hat! I am wondering, with the amount of autonomy within your fund, how do you screen for investment opportunities? You said that the junior guys are shoved right into the action so I am wondering, as an analyst at one of these funds, how did you screen for investment opportunities?

It seems to me, without a lot of practical experience in a certain type of investing (i.e. value or fundamental), that it would be hard to narrow down your universe into a group of companies that would be worth looking at given your funds strategy.

Thanks for the post again!

"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme."
 
miksqt:

Do you think Technical Analysis skills add to a job seeker's profile or are they overlooked by companies?

I don't think it's something that would ever make or break your interview or anything like that. It's very easy to pick up on the job, and a lot of the more value-driven guys won't even care so long as they're buying at the price they perceive to be cheap enough to generate a good return. They're not going to say "we like AAPL, now just wait for a bearish cross and buy the dip" (no clue if what I just said is valid or makes any sense, but you get the point)... But yeah, you pick this up on your own and it's not a dealbreaker unless the difference between you and the other guy was this one sole thing... and even then they'd barely be able to say one is better than the other.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 

I runmy own business. After reading almost every book about value investing, I want to learn how to valuate a company, understand special situations (spinoffs, mergers, short stock, etc). I dont want to work for a fund, just invest my money. What would you recommend? Will a 10 month MSF do the trick? or should it definitely be in Columbia's value investing program?

 

New to this board, thanks for BlackHat for making this thread.

I am a current Associate at a relatively larger, albeit not major AM firm with >$50B in AUM. I am a CFA charterholder and have been working in AM since I graduated undergrad.

As my undergrad curriculum was far more economics and EMH focused, I was wholly unprepared for what managing money on the buy-side really meant. While I had decent knowledge of finance, accounting and economics, as you start work in AM, the finance part is far more specialized. You need to know how to build a company model, complete with financial statements and analysis (of which valuation is one part.) Reading the SEC filings allows one to accomplish this goal. As Charlie Munger said, investing requires some book smarts but these are essentially the words and the language of investing. Just because you know English does not mean you know how to write a good book. Speaking of books, excellent textbooks on how to value a corporate IMO are the following:

  • Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies: Koller, Goedhart and Wessels
  • Investment Valuation: Tools and Techniques for Determining the Value of any Asset: Damodaran

While expensive, if you so choose to go into AM, they are well worth the extra effort to improve one's understanding of valuation. They sure helped me out a ton.

Now turning to picking stocks (or writing the book, to continue Munger's analogy) I would recommend the follow reading:

Each of those books are a little different flavor of how some of the most successful investors have gone about the process. Hopefully these books provide decent help to get prepared for working in AM. I certainly wished I had read them all before I started.

 

Blackhat, this was an amazing thread for someone like me looking to move from SS ER to the buy-side and regardless of if you answer my follow-up questions, thanks for taking the time to share your experience.

I'm considering an offer from a reputable L/S HF. My goal was actually to make it to an AM shop but for some reason I have had much more success getting interviews with HFs than AMs. How difficult do you think it would be to make the opposite switch of what you did (i.e. go from HF --> AM)? Would AM shops hold it against you that you were trained to look at investments more short term and really only hire out of other AM funds? Will they even look at analysts who have more than 5 years of experience? For context, I've been doing ER for the past 4 years, I figure if I take the offer with the HF, I'd stick with it for at least 2 years before trying to make another jump.

 

To whomever can help me, this is my first time posting on something and i need some insight on something. I was really aiming towards an IB analyst, and understand the positions when starting, analyst, associate, VP, ect. What is the starting point if i wanted to go into Asset Management. I researched a lot about the job and i think it suits my interests more. If anyone can help me out, that would amazing. Sorry if i sound like a noob, I'm new to all of this but have been lurking for a coupe of months now -Vincent

VPA
 

As someone who is currently working for one of the above mentioned top AM firms, I can testify that this description of culture and work style is extremely accurate. Top AM firm is a good place to be, but getting your foot in the door might be difficult without a solid connection.

"I must be cruel only to be kind" - Shakespeare
 

Why have I not stumbled across this post (and gave you +1 SB!) sooner? Neat write-up.

Moreover, it's funny how this post exactly pointed out the most important things I would like to say about my job as an investment analyst. The thing is, I work in Jakarta, Indonesia. It's good to know that AM culture is pretty much the same outside my country since I'm dreaming to taste at least a bit of Wall Street one day. Maybe if I got accepted into a decent US business school later on.

Because from what I know (reading the articles at WSO, hearing my friends stories), IB culture in Indonesia is quite different with its US counterparts. I have read some posts about AM culture, and they are all very similar actually. That's a good relief for me.

So once again, thank you for sharing!

Fortes fortuna adiuvat.
 

This is by far the best post that I have ever read. Thank you Blackhat for your expertise. I don't know how I have been trolling this site for over two years and missed this. To answer recent questions about the Asset Management industry, hours are pretty similar at my firm. Everyone starts at 7 and is out at 5. Hours can be flexible for vacations and other life matters. The culture is very tight knit but relaxed as well. The turnover at my firm is almost zero.

As far as the route into asset management, it is pretty standard for people to do a stint on the sell-side while taking the CFA before transitioning to the buy-side. Like said before, it is hard to break in due to the low turnover of positions and the relatively low amount of employees. I am lucky enough to be able to go directly into Asset Management after undergrad after interning at the firm. If an opportunity presents itself to work on the buy-side take advantage.

 

As you talk about the "top AMs/boutique funds"...not the typical companies like BlackRock, Fidelity, AllianceBernstein, etc....how did you find these smaller funds?

I'm looking to break into a smaller fund like you've talked about.

I'm an American in London & I'm having a tough time finding these funds even though I know this place is littered with them. Is there a database of them or something?

*I've reviewed West Coast Rainmaker's post fyi

Thanks ahead of time.

 

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-Doug Raible
 

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