As the title suggests, I'd like to be a portfolio manager 10-20 years from now. I come to you guys to ask two specific questions: 1) What entry level jobs should I look for to start my career? 2) What do I need to be reading in the meantime, so that my knowledge base is where I need it to be, in order to land these entry level jobs?
I hope you guys will list a lot of careers that could be useful, instead of just the ones that immediately come to mind (such as analyst at a mutual fund or sell-side equity research analyst). I'm really looking for an exhaustive list, since beggars can't be choosers (i.e. who knows exactly what jobs I'll be able to land). Even if it's something like "start in operations at a small PWM firm and work your way up," that would be useful advice to me. I can't stress this enough, the main reason I'm asking this question, is because I want an exhaustive list so that my initial job search can be broad.
Also, in case you're wondering what kind of portfolio manager I want to be, I'm not that picky. In other words, I could be happy working at a lot of places, covering a lot of assets, as long as I'm making investment decisions. One thing I am picky about, is I definitely want it to be an actively managed fund. However, I don't care if I'm covering stocks, bonds, derivatives, or some combination. I don't care if it's a mutual fund, PWM firm, HF, insurance, etc.
In case you want to know what I've read so far, I've worked through an Intro Finance textbook, and Introductory Accounting Book (non-textbook), and am currently reading Equity Asset Valuation (by Stowe).
Background:
-Bachelors in Econ and Minor in Math, from top 50 US university. Masters in Econ, from top 50 US university (expected Summer 2010).
-Zero relevant work experience (been a student most of my life).
-Never taken a finance course, everything I know is self-taught (and I'm looking to learn a lot more).
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I don't have an MBA. I'm earning a Masters in Economics.
Is it normal to study econ without taking any finance? Yeah, I think so. Econ is so broad, that you can take a lot of econ classes that don't talk about finance. With that said though, a lot of what I learned in econ is relevant to finance. As I self-study finance, I'm realizing that there is a lot of overlap between finance and econ, and that economics is a foundation for a lot of concepts/models in finance.
In your situation, I'd say start making progress with the CFA--that will stand out on your resume over the self taught idea.
Buy side is tough to come by even in the best job markets for PM's and analysts... In your situation I think sell side makes more sense since a lot of ppl leave the sell side for the buy side after a proven track record. Get into research, or wealth management. Then after you have 3-5 years of experience, get an MBA and go from there.
Okay.
I didn't mean start off on the buy-side as a PM. I figured I might be able to start out in entry-level buy-side and eventually move up to PM on the buy-side.
Is it actually easier to land a sell-side job in the first place? Seems like it would be harder, given all the people who desperately want to work on the sell-side. Furthermore, buy-side opportunities seem like they're all over the place (since you find buy-side firms in all sorts of geographic locations, outside of NYC). Am I just dead wrong that buy-side jobs are more plentiful and less competitive? That's not to say I have anything against the sell-side, I just figured since my background is not traditional, it maybe easier to start on the buy-side.
What kind of HF... there are tons... long-short equity? Global Macro?
I've heard of people taking the CFA I in June. All buyside firms require CFA. Would be great to get a jump. You need to find a professor at your school with a CFA to sign off on you. The test is in June. It would be impressive, but really make the final chapter of senior year kind of suck. You can only take it in your 4th year of undergrad.
Hi the CFA idea aint bad. However it is false to claim that all buyside firms require CFA. I got into a summer internship in a big AM without the cfa ( i said i'd like to progress through my career while passing the cfa during the interviews ) and work experience.
I suggest you start by an internship in Portfolio mgt on the buy side itself ! get used to work in the buy side because you'll be bent on dealing with guys in distribution and fund mgt as well. so any experience whatsoever will be helpful. that being said, what core skills do you need is an essential question to which I cannot answer precisely. Hope someone on the forum helps you out. I guess tech savvy and good analytical skills. I dont even think you must be a killer in math to be good at it
I'm not sure if its easier to land entry level buyside jobs over entry level sell side. If I were you I wouldn't limit yourself to either since someone in your situation really needs the experience. The CFA is a great idea because it is very common in the buyside, and several parts of the exam shouldn't be tough for you. A lot of the quant methods is a review from econometrics and money and banking courses (hypothesis testing, probability theory, time value of money etc.). The econ section, while it only counts for 10% of the total level one, is straight forward for someone with an econ background. If you think you still have time to study and sit for the June exam I'd buy the books tomorrow. If not, I'd buy them anyways (soon) and register for the December exam since the curriculum won't change until next year. G'luck.
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