I spent a few years working as an analyst building operating models so I’m decent at that stuff but I’m starting a new job at a wealth management firm and my job will be to allocate assets across different asset classes and managers. I have no problem with the assets themselves and understand at least at a high level how they work but have no experience with the processes. For example…
Private equity: how does the deal process and funding? Where can I learn what some important things to cover are when speaking to managers?
Private debt: origination process, important aspects of debt deals, etc.
Basically I understand the asset classes but don’t understand any of the processes and what may be important intricacies of deals, structures, originations, etc.
Does anyone know of any good resources where I can learn this stuff before I start and am clueless in meetings?
If your job is to give assets to managers, those guys should be happy to spend countless hours with you to talk about their products. They should even be willing to buy you steaks and expensive food for this privilege. It is their job to service you, which includes giving you any information you need to evaluate their product.
^Yeah, wholesalers (or whatever the fancy PE version is) should have plenty of educational material. And, yes, you may be able to score a nice meal if you have assets.
Question: Why are you looking at illiquid alts? Are your clients UHNW or endowments/foundations? For 99% of wealth managers (financial advisors), illiquid alts are way beyond the scope of what you need to do.
Looking at illiquid alts because our clients are UHNW. The PM who i’ll be reporting to is basically 20 years on wall st. with BB IB experience, followed by working at a top PE firm, followed by working at a top HF. Basically, I don’t want to show up with my pants down. I’d like to prepare and look like I semi-understand wtf is going on. I’ll be his right hand and he chose me personally but I’m honestly very worried so I’m trying to prepare in advance.
