Does any know of any good online resources where one can get information related to investment consulting? It could be anything from job description, career progression, salary, work responsibility, investment consulting discussions/news etc. etc… This is not meant to be an exhaustive list. Thanks…
I’d research the actual shops. I have a feeling they’re going to fall in specific niches and that’s going to determine everything else.
Start with a search of these forums - there is some good information and resources here. P&I is a good starting point where you can find news and some rankings where you can then look up specific companies and search their websites for white papers and job postings.
Get your hands on a Greenwich survey of investment consulting shops. Donno how you could do it but try.
If your university has a business school and you are still a student or a nearby alumni, you may be able to get some resources from the university business library.
If you can be more specific I am happy to help. Are you doing an interview or just looking to learn about the industry? As others have said, PI online and fin daily are good resources for news. Pay is solid but not spectacular, but hours and flexibility are pretty good. Good exit opps if you work for a bigger firm. I would recommend trying for one of the 10 or so big players because after that the name recognition drops and its hard for your next employer to judge your credibility. If you want interview questions to ask or be asked let me know and I’ll type some up. I work at one of the big shops if you are wondering. Hope this helps.
HappyGilmore can you comment more on the pay and hours for a newly minted charterholder?
what are the exit opps? i’ve seen buyside sales and product manager types. some rarer FoF exits. any thing else?
@HappyGilmore…Thank you for your response. Are there roles within investment consulting that align well for breaking into buy side after few years? If so, what are they? Also, as an insider what do you think are the prospectus of the investment consulting in general? Thanks…
the main roles within investment consulting at my firm are (1) manager research, (2) client consulting, (3) investment strategy/portfolio construction. (1) deals with PMs and marketing people of fund houses. research fund managers and “rank” them within a database for shortlist to clients. (2) works with asset owners that are looking to select investment managers. usually sourcing resources from (1) and (3) for the client. (3) does modeling of strategic/tactical asset allocation and portfolio construction. some firms are not so structured such that consultants can also have mixed responsibilities from the above. and the above manager selection function is only one (although i’d say most frequent) of the various projects. 90% of consultants who didnt come from an actuarial background are working towards the CFA designation. i’m interested in knowing some exit opps as my firm is quite underpaid… many seem to hop onto the buyside 3-5 yrs after into a marketing/inst. sales role. i’ve seen some go onto family offices or FoF also, but this is where i’d hope to get some more clarity.
“Mainstream” exit opportunities generally fall into one of the following, - consultant relationship manager: a large shop needs someone dedicate for this role. Consultant generally ask more technical question so you need to be technical and know consultant’s cycle e.g. quarterly reporting. - manager researcher: for independent research shop or IBs like GS of the like have dedicate manager research team for their private wealth clients. - Institutional sales: similar to consultant RM but much more sales focus. - FoF: can be analyst or PM. I think this is self-explanatory - Analyst: Go over to the client side i.e. asset owners, and work as an internal consultant. This is what I’m currently doing. Few other types I would not consider as mainstream but risk analyst, product manager and investment strategist are all possible. It depends on what you do in your shop. For example, if you spend all your time formulating capital market assumption, providing asset allocation tilting advice, an investment strategist is possible. Generally, IC is a very pitching/sales focus career, particularly for senior staffs. That’s how you make money! Produce a piece of research and sell it to as many client as possible. As such, exit opportunities are tend to be more sales-oriented.
awesome. how long were you in investment consulting yuoska? and how do you like your role now? did you approach headhunters when you transitioned? if so were they useful in helping you achieve your role now? i get the impression that investment consulting isn’t too known outside of the circles you mentioned above so the transition may be difficult. don’t want to sound discouraging about investment consulting as i do really enjoy it now, but i just feel being closer to money does translate to better comp.
What sort of comp does IC make at mid/senior level/very senior level? The work sounds varied & interesting to a desk jockey like me.
mid level - early to mid 30s CFA or MBA - ~100k base + ~20k bonus Senior - late 30s to 40s CFA/MBA - ~120-150k base + ~40k bonus high level - 40s to 60s CFA/MBA - 150-200k base + 60-80k bonus i think this pay is pretty standard at the top 10 firms.
Presently I work for an IC boutique and the focus of my work, amongst other things, is manager research and asset allocation strategies. Generally speaking, as an analyst working for an IC firm your primary responsibilities will be relegated to the two aforementioned areas. I’ve been doing this for about 2.5 years and the work has started to turn dry and stale due to lack of complexity. There are only so many ways to manage equity and fixed income portfolios and everyone thinks they’ve built the world’s best mousetrap. The alternative space is pretty cool to research, but more than likely you will be limited to a FoF strategy. I think I’ve hit the point where I am about 99% topped out in my current role and it’s time to make a move. Once you get passed the analyst level there are few roles to aspire to. Either you sell service platforms or you act as a relationship manager as others have said. The money can be good considering the lifestyle, travel reqs, etc…poornewgrad hit the nail on the head. You’re not close to the money at all. Essentially as an IC you are the manager of the managers. It’s not your job nor your direct responsibility to oversee what the managers are buying/selling and why. Your capacity is to ensure that they follow IPS protocol and do not deviate from their mandates. Someone asked in a thread a few months back if they thought the skill set acquired in IC would translate well into the BS. The answer is about 90% no. IC does nothing to teach you that particular analytical skill set required on the BS. But, IC has allowed me to become quite intimate with nearly, not entirely, every mainstream investment strategy currently offered in the marketplace. I can talk fluently about the dozen or so HF strategies while also a domestic small cap value strategy in the same sentence. There are three things that create job satisfaction: complexity of the work, level of autonomy, and a direct connection between effort and reward. A lot of people find IC to be a very rewarding career. The complexity of the work has really diminished and I would definitely find a career on the bs much more interesting, as I’m sure most would. Just my $.02
Great post Chuck.
poornewgrad - about 3 years, I did not go through head hunters. When you said “outside the circle”, you mean into commercial? If so, then yes… I think BiPolarBoyBoston is spotted on with the figures. The more senior you get the more revenue generating responsibilities you have hence higher based + bonus. While I can’t add to Chuck’s post, I like to think job sanctification is consultant dependent i.e. which IC and which senior consultant you work with. To clarify further, if you are interested in hedge fund but work in an IC that pushes for passive, that’s not a good fit. As for the senior consultant you work with, it’s like if you have a good mentor that is willing to teach then you will enjoy… Soz for the flippant tone, this is really just a dump of thoughts without much checking.
This is a great post! A friend of mine has the following profile and is interested in joining a top 10 IC firm. Profile: In graduating year at a top 10 MBA school. CFA Level 2 candidate. 4 years of Information Technology background. No prior financial services experience. Summer internship at a boutique IC. Dilemma: She liked the work over the summer and would like to pursue IC as a full time career. However, none of the top IC firms recruit on campus. She has exhausted the alumni database and her school is located down south, so not many students end up in IC. How does she go about getting in touch with recruiting team at top firms? Is getting into top 10 IC firms as competitive as getting into Big banks? Does it require the same amount of networking, etc…? BiPolarBoyBoston threw in some compensation figures. Would they be relevant to her profile, considering that she has no prior experience? What compensation what you expect at a boutique for a profile like her’s? Thanks.
Then she doesn’t go to a top 10 b school plain and simple
@ MissCleo: I am not sure what you mean. The last thing someone would do, is to misrepresent information to get some advice.