buyside

Greetings Monkeys! As there are many of you who are pursuing IB, we have written up a high-level overview of the different paths that one could take post-IB Analyst stint. We were in your shoes not too long ago, happy to answer questions or help where needed! Welcome to Investment Banking: Where everyone on the outside wants in, and everyone on the inside wants out. The worst-kept secret in the world of IB is that junior Investment Bankers are planning on staying at their bank forever. Sometimes it is necessary, of course, for these interns and analysts --typically-- to play the role publicly

04 Oct 2021

~15 year career as an investment banking analyst/associate in ECM (SPACs) and leveraged finance/restructuring, hedge fund analyst/portfolio manager and currently as a corporate finance executive for a fast-growing start-up (led $70mm equity raise process). Have interviewed and spearheaded recruiting for investment banking, hedge fund and start-ups. If you're trying to break into investment banking, can give you mock interviews. Love mentoring young professionals and learning from others. Am decent with excel modeling, but am aware why model assumptions are way more important than the actual

07 Jul 2021

I was wondering why everyone on WSO is so against joining the buy-side right out of undergrad, given the opportunity? I've spoken to a wide range of people with ranging seniority on the buy-side, from analysts that chose LMM over BBIB to analysts at MFs or large-cap HFs. Nobody that chose the buy-side before IB regrets their decision. Also, many of the people later in their careers who got to the same spot they could've gotten to if they didn't do IB say that they would just join the buy-side right away instead of doing 2+2/2+2+2. Also, just based on common sense, why would an LMM analyst that

10 Mar 2021

Hello, incoming 2nd year analyst at MM PE fund in Europe. My firm base salary is below market and I got head hunted for a similar position at another fund that directly compete with mine. The process moved really fast and they're offering me a job. No one knows that I went through a recruitment process at my current firm and I don't know who to talk to/how to approach that I would like a raise ( I want to stay at my current fund but other fund pays more). I think it's too soon for me to move and I'm happy with everything at work, except that I know that my salary is below market (by quite a

26 Aug 2020

Hi everyone, Curious to hear about everyone's thoughts on Five Elms Capital. Any insight would be appreciated. Thank you.

26 Aug 2021

What are the real responsibilities and expectations of a first year private equity associate (recruited from 1.5-3 years in banking)? I've had several first round interviews with PE firms where they have described new associates as being fully responsible for effectively the entire deal process (model / rationale / diligence / CIM / IC Memo). Is this accurate? If so, how can this translate into better hours than banking? Granted, as a third-year analyst, I take full ownership of technical and other processes, but my VP and MD to some degree have some oversight / bear some responsibility for

20 Jan 2021

I just received a full time offer to join a large (yet slightly unknown) insurance firm's Investments team in NYC. the starting salary is on par with "high finance" in NYC and I'm not entirely sure what bonus compensation looks like, however I am a bit worried about if working for an insurance firm will have any negative consequences on my future? I go to a non-target school in Washington so even receiving an offer to join the buyside in NYC straight out of college is big for me, and I know investments and AM is what I want to pursue, but i have been recommended by a few of my peers and alum

01 Oct 2020

Hi WSO, Quant Trader here, 8 years working in HFs and IBs. Experience has taught me office politics, having an edge, ruthlessness of the markets and domain knowledge. Four options. Which you think has the highest probability of realising this: I'm on VP pay right now, I want US$1M next year. That's enough for me to live my form of the good life. 1. Slog it out in sell-side trading. 1M a year happens via the usual VP -> D -> MD progression. Bad? I probably see it in another 8 years, best case is 6. 2. Leave sell-side, join MM, deal to get 10% of my PnL. Problem? I hit a draw down limit and I'm

20 Apr 2021

I want to know if people in the community would be interested in a really tactical guide and example of what modeling looks like on the buyside. Before I joined the buyside five years ago, I was very intimidated by the unknown and especially by financial modeling. What did modeling look on the buyside? How complex was it? What should it look like? I wondered stupid things like how many tabs do they have and what are they? I had never seen an example and to be honest, now with hindsight, most of what I see online is way more complex than what people actually do and I want to shed some light on

15 Sep 2021

So I'm not really sure how I should be asking for an industry suggestion since I'm a student, but I've done a fair amount of research on both ER and IB, but I'm not quite sure how I'd fit in so I'd like to hear from people in the industry where they think I belong since you have a fair amount of experience. I enjoy writing and researching, which makes me think that ER is perfect for me, especially considering in IB most of the work is lackluster and although there is research as an element, you're mostly just pushing out pitchbooks and financial models (correct me if I'm wrong) whereas an ER

05 Sep 2020

Going to start recruiting soon as a second year analyst in IB M&A. I'm at a boutique, and we mostly do buyside advisory deals. I closed 2 deals recently (~$250mm) as the sole analyst on a 4 person team, so I was the one building the whole model and running diligence, etc. The issue is while I understand the deal rationales and actual numbers pretty well, the models we build....were honestly not the greatest. One deal was a weird carve out situation, so we literally put in an LOI knowing only LTM revenue and gross margin. Over the course of diligence, we slowly got target projections for the

12 Dec 2019

Hi All - I'm ~5 or so years out of college. I did not do a formal 2 years of investment banking and was instead hired out of undergrad as an analyst at a fund. I've worked at several firms in several major US cities. I've worked at one smaller regional firm with $500M - $1B AUM and have since worked for larger firms with $3B+ and $5B+ AUM, both of which are well known and respected in the investment community. In terms of deal experience I've worked on 10-20 deals so far in my career that have ranged from $10M Series A investments to $20M-$50M minority growth equity investments in unprofitable

04 Sep 2016

Hi, I came from a financial engineering background and somehow ended up in the middle/back office of an equities/options trading firm. This is the first full-time job I got after graduation but I feel like I really don't like to be at the operations team where it seems like that my work doesn't deserve any credit and doesn't make any impact at all. I was looking for something more on trading strats but never got a chance to get anywhere closer after being in the firm for a year. I currently got several offers from other firms. All trading firms or funds gave me job offers of similar roles in

19 Jul 2021

Mod Note (Andy): Each day we'll be posting the top WSO forum posts of 2014. This one was originally posted on 2/23/14 and ranks #26 for the year by total silver banana count. You can see all our top ranked content here. So everything comes full circle. I've been coming on this website for 7 years now. It was a huge source of information when I was first learning about the industry. I was super eager and literally read every single post from a few of the contributors that I respected (big shout out to Bondarb). Over time, I became more of a contributor, under a few different screen names, and

12 Dec 2014

Hi everyone, I'm an incoming full-time IB analyst at one of the Canadian banks, having worked in PE (major shop with total >$100B AUM across all asset classes) and IB (mainly M&A) for a summer each. School ends late April for me and my job starts the beginning of August, so I'm thinking of working at a fund in London during this time-off. I love Europe and know London is where I want to be long-term. I was wondering if anyone knows whether this is possible / has been done given the non-traditional window I have - I know London tends to accommodate off-cycles so imagine it more feasible here

20 Oct 2021

The Current Promotion Cycle for Investment Banking Analysts So recently I got word that Goldman Sachs is announcing a pretty dramatic policy shift in the promotion cycle of investment banking analysts right out of college. Traditionally, investment banking analysts would work for two years and then jump to a private equity firm, hedge fund, start up or some other role in corporate finance. The rare breed that could withstand the 100 hour work weeks would sign up for a third year. Most of the best & brightest would move to greener pastures where they could work a measly 70-80hrs/week on average

10 Nov 2015

Hi- curious about what the monkeys on WSO think about this. I've been told that buyside is where almost every IB analyst hopes to end up. I just recently received an offer for an investment group at BlackRock (which is, at least my impression, a buyside destination). Would you recommend taking this offer with BlackRock over doing the more traditional IB route. What are advantages to taking this offer/potential downsides I'm not thinking of? Will pay differ at all long term or will this help me bypass the traditional two years of IB work? Any advice welcome!

10 Nov 2019

I had a number of questions about Citadel's global equities team because I recently advanced pretty far in the process there. There is a surprising lack of information on the fund given its overall influence on the finance world more broadly. Feel free to comment on any of the questions below so we can all get some good information on this fund together: * What are indicative ranges for total compensation at the associate, senior associate, analyst level? (surprisingly difficult to find this information; though it varies, it would be helpful to know an illustrative number) * How is Citadel

19 Nov 2016

Hi, I've been in New York for just over a year and am finally settled in. Currently, I work on the sell side covering event driven trading (90% merger arbitrage). My eventual goal is to move to the buy-side, a transition that I hope to make within the next two years. Wondering if anyone can suggest how I can make the transition, such as attending any NYC conference/events that could gain me exposure to buy-sides? I am also curious on branching out to other strategies in addition to merger arbitrage, by this I mean specifically distressed investing, special situations and discretionary macro

14 Dec 2019

Opana ER helps to activate opioid receptors in the central nervous system to reduce pain signals and treat moderate to severe pain. You can buy Opana ER online, provided that you bear an appropriate prescription from a doctor. It is because buying or selling without a proper prescription is strictly prohibited under the law, and authorities may hold you liable for some punishment if you do so. In addition to all other necessary precautions, you should avoid making medical errors and try to be consistent throughout the treatment. Why is it used, and how does it work? Opana ER contains

23 Aug 2021

Hedge Fund Structure Over the last few months I've realized just how diverse hedge funds are, and how little people (both in/out of the industry) understand about the different structures. This is my attempt to distill some of the bigger differences in 'team structure and compensation'. It's a detailed answer to a question I asked two years ago: .Tiger cubs vs. hedge fund gaints. This isn't really about investing strategy (credit vs. l/s equity vs. activist), though certain strategies lend themselves better to certain structures. Hopefully others can chime in with additional insights. Hedge

03 Aug 2014

Hi everyone, as the title suggest my question is this - When you get a buy-side ER internship, does the fund manager (or analyst below him) expect you to actually look in the sector and find investable ideas? Or in reality the interns help with a bit of everything to learn the role better and maybe the fund manager (more likely the Analyst) only expects 1-2 good ideas for those 2-3 months. I know its a basic question but I think i'm overthinking this. To me, it makes sense that they expect a good stock pitch before they hire you, and for you to actually come up with 5-6 real, investable ideas

15 Jan 2021

Seen threads focussed on IBD and on SA but not on FT recruiting for the buyside (will also add in sell-side EQ research) Started applying only a couple weeks ago, here is what I found so far, please feel free to add more below: Blackrock Blackstone Goldman Sachs Point72 Morgan Stanley Jefferies Macquarie Schroders Baillie Gifford HSBC Temasek GIC D E Shaw Citadel ICG Hamilton Lane Berenberg - opening soon Janus Henderson - Opening soon Aviva - opening in 2022 Abrdn - Opening soon

01 Oct 2021

Mod note: This comment was in response to this thread: Best Entry Level Job for Running Future Hedge Fund Wait...you think b-school is going to teach you 'in depth modelling skills'? B-school teaches you advanced undergraduate-level finance. It does the same for marketing, accounting, organizational behavior, etc. It definitely does not teach you advanced modelling skills that are beyond what you're going to learn on a desk. If you're a sales professional within S&T, maybe b-school adds some quantitative skills you wouldn't have picked up on the job. But so would the CFA. If you want to run

15 Mar 2014

Hello all, I've recently transitioned from Institutional Banking in Australia to working at hedge fund in Canada (>CAD$300m AUM). I've got one job and that's to meet up in person with every broker and analyst in town (and call or email every other one in Canada who isn't in town) and have them pitch me their best stock - in which the fund manager has pledged to invest a healthy eight-figure sum of his own cash. Finder's fee go to the one who pitched the best stock - and if they happen to be a broker they'll also get the commission. Sounds like it should be a cakewalk, right? Nevertheless, I'm

24 Feb 2020

In the past few years, more buyside companies are hiring analysts straight out of college, or without 2 full years of ibanking experience. If you are in one of these positions, the 6 tips below might be able to help you. My own experience is more in public markets, so it might not apply as well to people who are in private market/venture capital. 1. Be slow but steady in forming your view. Granted, if you are in an investment role, then you are hired to have a view. However, one of the very common mistakes I've seen around me (and in myself as well) is when very junior analysts try to come up

07 Mar 2014

Hi all, curious to get the forum's opinion on credibility of equity research providers as found on CapIQ Investment Research, ThomsonOne (Refinitiv), AlphaSense, etc. Trying to coach up our analysts on which sources are good, which are bad. Any thoughts? My Top 10 ranking in terms of analysis quality, breadth of coverage, etc. are: JP Morgan UBS Oppenheimer Cannacord Genuity Credit Suisse Deutsche Bank Jeffries Barclays Evercore BTIG

01 Jul 2021

What's up monkeys, I've got an interview coming up for a pretty well respected AM that offers some PWM and HF services as well. It's my first interview for a proper capital markets role, but I've done some interviews for other finance/business internships and I feel decently confident about my overall interview skills. I've heard of some questions this shop tends to ask and was wondering how to answer when they ask "what are your views on the market right now?". If anyone in the industry can help and maybe provide an example of an educated sounding answer without coming off like I think I know

04 Oct 2021

Hi everyone, I few weeks ago I joined one of the biggest pension funds in Mexico (Over 50bn usd), specifically in the Private Equity division, as an Infrastructure&Energy Analsyt after being 2 years as a market risk analyst in another pension fund, so pretty good job in FO buy side as LP (Limited Partner). But now, almost at the same time I started my new job, I got contacted to start the recruitment process at GS in IBD as an Junior Analyst. I know the most common thing is going from IB to PE, but this PE is referred as KKR, Blackstone, etc. but what about PE from the perspective of a pension

10 Mar 2021

I've been on Go Buyside for about a month now and spoken to one recruiter and applied to maybe 20 jobs. I get a fair amount of notifications that "an investment manager has downloaded your resume." The only way to see which firm is to upgrade. Has anyone upgraded? Is it worth it?

19 Oct 2018

Mod Note: RLC1 posted a great response in response to this thread: Leaving the buyside and we thought it deserved its own thread. I'll share my experience. I quit a partner track alts gig that would make many of the kids on this forum drool. I quit to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities within finance/the buy side. I was both burnt out and had the same existential issues with the job that you do. I figured I could build something my way, using the skills I already had, and get a fantastic return on my time, with uncapped upside if things worked out. Well, it didn't work out for a couple of

03 Mar 2014

Hello - In the spirit of my previous post, I've provided the below information. Note that the tips are geared toward IBD analysts recruiting for the buyside and are meant to be industry and firm agnostic. #7 - Be honest with yourself Try to figure out what you want before you talk to headhunters. This is what reaching out to friends / alumni is for. Figure out what their jobs are like, what they like and dislike about their jobs. Is PE for you? Do you really want to do VC? Do you even like finance? (I've met more than a few analysts who can't wait to leave the industry) Ask yourself those

11 May 2013

Currently a LevFin analyst at GS/MS/BAML. Want to transition to buyside (specifically Growth Equity shop). Background is heavy in debt, but familiar and proficient in modeling (practice and taught through self). Is it okay if i told headhunters I want to go this route, even though my background is debt focused?

19 Nov 2019

Monkeys, As year 1 closes in, I've begun struggling with what I suppose is some sort of quarter life crisis. For many of us in banking, life to this point has been a constant series of "successes"--do well in high school, go to a top college, break into a top group on Wall Street--with the next target being a coveted buyside gig.

18 Apr 2011

The season for internships is upon us. Those fortunate few who have their summers charted are looking forward to smooth seas and clear sailing until the start of the summer. Others meanwhile are scrambling for sight of land, for that one phone call which will clear away the clouds of uncertainty and allow the sun to shine through. Having sailed these same seas before, and having navigated with many other fellow monkeys, I can offer you a few tales and some words of advice. I graduated recently with a full-time offer to work as an investment analyst. I will be working in the Asset Management

26 Feb 2014

Can anyone provide any insight on what to expect from a coffee chat with team head in a PE firm after three rounds of interviews for an investment associate role in the Private debt team (spoken to whole team from analyst to MD, case study and HR)? I've not come across this part before in the process so not too sure what to expect. Thanks

01 Jul 2018

All, Quick background on me: non-target, liberal arts guy guy bounced around a few temp backoffice jobs before landing in a ratings shop doing middle market/spec grade ratings. Been trying to break into the buyside for years now with no luck. Have had to send 100s of emails, eventually succeeded getting a few interviews, but unfortunately no luck. Been trying with networking but seeing no payoff really in terms of opportunities for me. Now the years have gone along and I am 30. Doing well in my current role but want to leave as I've been here way too long and would like to try something new

15 Oct 2020

I was recently approached by a headhunter for an ambiguously titled 'Analyst' role at a relatively new Hedge Fund / DCM advisor (not a household name but mid-sized, +$100m, led by industry heavyweights and a very small team, they have large backers - and the debt deals they have advised on / executed range around $200m-$500m) Sounds like my dream role - entry level to the buy-side - but not sure if I am misinterpreting anything. This is what the role would entail ; Dept : portfolio management; Building Financial Models, VBA Business Intelligence - Analysis and Reporting. Company Valuations &

01 Nov 2016

Curious about your opinions on the below opportunities for someone whose career goal is to become an investment analyst with his or her own coverage at a prestigious buy-side (Fidelity, Balyasny, BlackRock) in 5-10 years. Which one would you choose? Boutique HF: ~$20B family-style growth equity HF BB research: ER at one of the top shops (GS/MS/JPM) covering a tech-related sector BlackRock FMA/PAG: Could it open the door the BlackRock PMG? BB sales: cash equity sales at one of the top shops Thank you!

02 Nov 2021

hey guys, thinking of joining sumzero & value investors club, and am open to other ideas. For those of you who use these, are they worth it? I guess my concern is that for VIC I don't get a lot of benefit yet I share all of my ideas and sumzero I'm just not sure. I can try to get into sumzero buyside if I submit an idea, or I can just go for regular sumzero, but no idea if there's a lot of benefit. just hoping some buyside guys can shed some light on the value of these things or if the time you spend posting/developing ideas isn't worth the benefit.

16 Sep 2014

Hey Monkeys,

22 Jul 2014

I was lucky enough to receive an offer from a buyside firm that I have since accepted, but I was wondering what the best way to reject an offer was. Also received offers from a couple sell-side positions, but I declined them and spoke to them on the phone letting them know I was thankful for the opportunity, but when they would ask which company I was working for, I declined to name them stating that I wanted to keep it private while everything was being settled, but I did say industry and position. Am I just overthinking this? Is it standard to give the company name once you've cleared

01 Oct 2021

Hi fellow monkeys, long-time lurker here. I am planning to apply to top MBA programs in the US this upcoming fall and would appreciate your insight on a tough decision that I have to make. Right now I've been with a Big 4 Corporate Finance practice in Continental Europe for a few years (and worked at a boutique consultancy before that). My group focuses on Infrastructure & Energy-related deals (mostly PPPs though), so I recently started reaching out to headhunters to see if there are any opportunities at infrastructure-related PE funds for people like me. I would love switching to a fund with

17 Apr 2018

I am a third year analyst at a top MM IB. My goal has always been to pursue a career on a buyside. I have interviewed at various buyside firms throughout my Analyst career. Made it through case studies and to final round interviews at a few places but have not been able to close an offer. However, I was recently able to secure an offer at a small fund. It's the recently created small-cap mezzanine arm of a large financial institution with ~$350M in AUM. They look to invest ~$10-20M per position. I am fairly happy with the role and firm, but the pay is considerably lower than what I was

17 Nov 2015

Hey all, Currently at a non-B4 firm in the valuations practice working with corporate valuations. Looking into transitioning to a buyside firm to a portfolio valuations role working with private companies. However, I have two concerns: 1) if the ultimate goal is to get into Corp Dev or something similar, would portfolio valuations help relative to continuing working with business valuations 2) Are portfolio valuation roles as repetitive as they seem? Seems like you do the same thing each quarter which sounds like it could get boring in a few years.

19 Aug 2021

Currently in final round interviews for a 2021 summer analyst division at PGIM. I've heard the culture is great and is a top 10 asset management firm in terms of total AUM, but how is this firm viewed by the Street? Does it compare with other big buy-siders such as Fidelity and PIMCO in terms of comp, prestige, and out-of-college training? Anyone ever work there, heard anything about it? Would greatly appreciate any insight.

06 Oct 2020

"What's the best group on the Street?" It's one of the most common questions asked on the WSO forums. Nobody ever has a definitive answer, because there isn't one. Some folks want to make a career in investment banking, while many other forward-thinking monkeys sign on with an eye already on buyside placement post-analyst program. Assuming you are in the latter bucket, like so many WSO readers are, joining the right group for you is key to getting on the headhunter shortlist come recruiting season. Here's how you find the group that will put you on the fast-track to the promised land. The main

14 Sep 2012

Hello, Can anyone provide some insight on working in finance in Asia (particularly Mainland China)? I grew up in the US and am working currently an IBD analyst in the US at a bulge bracket firm. I do have the language capability to work in China. I would be interested in either working for a western fund, or for a local up-and coming but reputable firm, Hony, Saif, CDH, New Horizon are just some of the names in China I've come across on the web. Any other key players I should look into?

05 Dec 2011

So this summer I'll be applying for full time positions as a London based grad at a top target university. Will be applying primarily for fixed income functions at BBs and top asset managers. I would like to work buyside eventually but straight out of uni sellside research seems pretty attractive given the better pay, possibly larger classes and similar work at the junior level. I was hoping I could get some info on the ease at which the transition can be made down the line and whether it's worth it at all? How would the hours match up? Would it be better to just start on the buyside given the

25 Jul 2015

I recently completed a summer analyst program at a BB as a sophomore. Due to factors both in and out of my control (I don't want to get too specific here), I was not offered the opportunity to return. However, feedback from the people I worked directly with was often very positive, and I left on good terms with both my staffer as well as the group as a whole. At this point, I have had a chance to do a lot of self-reflection over the course of the summer, and believe I have everything that I need to succeed next time around. Many of the BBs and practically all of the EBs seem to have already

23 Aug 2018