Portfolio Analyst or Research Analyst (Buy side) at Asset Management firm Career path and Competition

Asset Management seems like the ideal industry for me. I don’t plan on working for an investment bank though. Sorry guys but I won’t be taking jobs working more than 60-70 hours (70 is a stretch but if it’s not regular or is spaced out over the weekend I might take it) a week. Companies like Fidelity or Vanguard or even TD Ameritrade look ideal. I really want to work as a portfolio analyst, some type of research analyst (equity, fixed income, or similar) or any position where I am buy side and actually involved in choosing the stocks, bonds, ETF, etc. There are lots of jobs available as investment consultants/financial advisors for asset management firms. These jobs seem really easy to land simply because of the abundance of them. This job might be good but although I am a good communicator and extroverted, I find customer service and sales attitudes exhausting. I don’t like forcing things on people and forcing smiles and etiquette. I simply like researching business news and economic trends, watching Bloomberg, reading The Wall Street Journal, and analyzing where to invest.
My biggest concern with this is it looks like there is a miniscule amount of jobs available in actually managing these funds whether that be research or portfolio analysis or research jobs. I swear from estimating there are only max 5,000 jobs (let me know how correct or wrong I am) in the U.S. that even exist for these and the turnover rate is tiny. Many require Master’s Degrees which I will likely pursue and more than willing to but I will start working after my I get my bachelor’s degree and will have to be employed before entering graduate school.
There are lots of jobs as portfolio analyst jobs in commercial banking but they are all credit portfolios. If I start off in one of these jobs is it possible to transfer over to asset management? It seems hard if not impossible to break into this industry out of 4 year college. Is that true? What are professions or industries that could give me the experience necessary to break into asset management as fund manager/analyst or research analyst? How competitive are these fund management or research analyst jobs? Any other career path advice regarding fund management or research analysis in asset management firms let me know.