Is cfa or frm more benificial if you are trying to get into mutual funds

Water Cooler Careers
#1

[original post removed]

#2

CFA > FRM > Indian CA.

#3

Doing what at a mutual funds?

#4

Maybe yes. Maybe no.

#5

I went through some of the websites of mutual funds and they are only offering sales positions on their website. Are there any analyst jobs in mutual funds like Risk managers etc. that I can get through networking?

#6

OP, now i am a bit skeptical of this thread…you’re looking for risk manager position but contemplating on taking cfa exam…risk managers in my experience which are exclusive to equity hedge funds and pe funds have been reserved for semi to full on gifted mathematicians. When I say semi gifted mathematicians, I mean masters degrees or PhDs in stats, math or financial engineering from really great schools. These dudes are very smart. Some of these dudes actually manage to transfer over as research analysts or PMs at quant funds such as citadel or two sigma because well…the dudes are mathematicians and coding is natural to them. Now that is out of the way…none of these dudes ever had CFA or looked at the CFA with much respect…If you’re qualified to apply for risk manager position…i would run away from CFA and AF right now and get on quant forums or, at minimum, SumZero.

#7

Why do you think risk managers are so great? From my experience, some are good, but a lot are second stringers. Almost everyone in finance would rather be in a front office job if given the chance.

#8

Thanks for the quick response but I wasn’t asking about Risk management positions specifically. I was looking for the different kinds of jobs that mutual funds offer because the only job positions they are showing on their website is sales related. Same for internships. Thanks again…

#9

oh yeah 100%. Although i did not say they are great…however i did say they are very smart because despite their lack of real world relevance as risk managers, they are very smart. Getting an MFE from Columbia or phd in mathematics from any phd granting school is no joke.

And yes, even risk managers would rather be FO hence many of them make the switch to FO at quant funds and quant dept at large banks. just look at linkedin or career section at quant funds…they are looking for PMs who are experts in coding and statistics and math which happens to be the dudes with MFE or phds.

Now as there are different breeds of FO and Ops there are different breeds of Risk Managers. Some are merely and purely BO just reporting and monitoring risk levels and calculate some market values here and there…I am not talking about these roles.