University Endowment Fund Analyst

Interested in hearing your guys opinions on what values there are in seeking a part-time investment analyst position at a university endowment fund. I just want to point out that I want to do this solely for experience in long-term value investing and asset management. The endowment fund is >= $20 billions, if that helps narrow down anything.

What would be the pros / cons of working this position? Would this be worth it if I already have something lined up for the summer? This and the summer internship (multi-strategy HF) would be focused on different styles of investing.

Appreciate the thoughts

 
Best Response

In general, most university endowment funds manage their money through select asset managers, which occasionally may include a hedge fund or alternative investment platform. In this sense, endowment funds are really responsible for keeping track of the value of their distributed endowments and how they are performing; as well as seeking out new managers and getting rid of underperforming ones.

University endowments differ slightly from the average investor in that their main goal really is not to blow up and match the gains of the market; as opposed to needing an outperform. This may differ by endowment manager, but this is a pretty common sentiment on the AM side. For this reason, endowments are more like a fund-of-funds product with a large blend of assets managed by different AM's, and individual investments in bonds and stocks, but more of the former and less of the latter.

I think you can always learn no matter where you are, so there's no harm in taking the internship. You'll probably gain some valuable exposure to different investing styles and learn how certain products (Large-Cap vs Small-Cap, Growth vs Value) function.

 

Agree with the above.

It's a good starting position to get your feet wet and learn about the industry. You would probably see different asset classes or at least different managers within an asset class, so that's valuable. Assuming it wouldn't severely cut into your academics, I would take the position. Endowments are usually pretty laid back so I doubt the workload would be anything intense.

 

What is your end game? However, gaining perspective of an "ultimate" investor and top institution would be invaluable no matter what career path you take. You would learn how LPs think, gain relationships that could prove extremely valuable down the line, and obtain a general understanding of asset allocation which at the end of the day is what really drives returns for individuals and institutional investors alike.

 

I work at one of the largest endowments/foundations in the U.S. as an associate after 2 years of BB equity research. Associates here make somewhere in the $90K-120K range base depending on experience and bonus somewhere in the $30-50K range. Keep in mind that this is with 40-50 hour work weeks and perks that are unparalleled, as far as I can tell. You're a client of both the buy side and the sell side, so you get access to information and events from both sides, even when you're very junior (plus a fair bit of international travel without much penny pinching - business/first class, nicest hotels - but it's infrequent enough that it's not a burden). MDs probably make 600k-$1mil all in, and CIO types $1mil-$2mil+. I wouldn't go back to a bank for 2x the pay. There aren't many available positions and these places tend to recruit a bit under the radar, so you won't hear much about the job on forums like this, but I highly recommend that you accept an offer from one unless you're absolutely set on something else very specific for some reason.

 

So you go to Mizzou...You'll most likely be doing a lot of due diligence on managers/funds. Probably includes some reporting, reading of marketing materials, investor letters, etc. Might be asked to monitor macro environment (not just economics but also current asset allocation/strategies/performance of endowments and alternative investments of endowments.)

 

if you're a freshmen with nothing on your resume than i dont see how it can hurt, the problem is for finance roles you're competing with all the other dorks who had Summer analyst positions before they even started college

alpha currency trader wanna-be
 

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