Vanguard Investment Management Development Program vs NISA Investment Advisors PM analyst Rotational Program.
I have offers for both of these roles. I'm leaning heavily towards NISA even though its not that well known outside the forums of LDI AM. Within LDI, it's a legend. They do extremely interesting work and even though they're a smaller shop, their investor concentration is pretty good (over 200 different investors). They've had pretty rapid growth, but at the same time so has Vanguard. They both charge the same kinds of fees I imagine and have the same risk-profile. Again, NISA is a legend in the LDI space, but Vanguard is a legend in the index funds / mutual funds space. They're both offering the same comp and amazing benefits. I've heard skills aren't necessarily transferrable in both because they both do very specific, different work to the general field, but I don't necessarily buy that with NISA. I also believe I might be doing more impactful work because I've been told about my day-to-day as an analyst and it will be work that will directly impact the portfolio of there over 200 clients (especially considering they have a small headcount 300). NISA has some great people, the majority of whom graduated from Wash. St. Lou which is a top college. Even though some people don't necessarily associate Vanguard with prestige, and some even go as far as to compare it with a "call center" job, I'm 100% sure this doesn't apply to investment management as it is non-client facing and I've heard, against popular opinion, that a good portion of Vanguard's funds are actively managed, which I suspect the Investment Management team would be working on.
Hey gonline47, what a lonely thread. I'm here since nobody responded ...so maybe one of these discussions will help:
If those topics were completely useless, don't blame me, blame my programmers...
Here’s my two cents:
Background: I’ve work at VG for two years in the business dev space and have colleagues who are in the program there. From my personal vantage point the rotational program there is quite good. There are some risks involved given that you can’t choose your final placement. You may rotate through research on a sector ex. Credit and then next you could institutional advisory for OCIO, and then land again on a trading floor for index/active equity or fixed income. So if PM is what you want you’ll have to work hard for it to make sure you stay in it after a rotation through. Not impossible, just framing the environment.
For me my experience has been ok. It’s tough to maneuver and there’s a lot of competition for minimal open spots in front office.
Next is location. Malvern sucks and living in the burbs is something I don’t recommend. Just live in PHL if you’re going to take the job and commute. Everyone young does this. Downtown is fun and affordable so that’s a plus. I would say PHL has STL best hands down.
As far as NISA I’m sure they are great in the space and you could learn quite a bit there as well. If you’re going to be a company store type of person and stay for 5+ years both are great. If your looking to hop sooner after the program maybe VG is the better option because of the name, maybe not.
Hope this helps a little. I’m probably going to shop around as I want to get on a desk or cover credit but overall it’s a great opportunity. If I knew your aspirations more I could talk further via PM.
Best of luck!
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