How difficult would this move be for a research associate (from a top-3 school) at a major mutual fund after their first year? I am concerned about the long-term prospects of active money management; there just doesn’t seem to be a point in continuing with this career trajectory if the industry will be severely diminished in ten years. Plus, the compensation seems to be pretty even across the board.
Would be very interested in advice/opinions.
Thanks!
I am not sure I understand the terminology you are using. Could you pls explain what it is you do and where it is you are aiming at.
Corporate finance is a very stretchable term.
Forget finance and go be a DJ in Ibiza/Mykonos for the summer and Tulum for the winter.
Making the move wouldn’t be too hard if you go the MBA route. Plenty of people change careers that way, and it’s probably the path of least resistance. Since you’re neither a college senior nor an experienced hire, networking would be the only way if you were to make the move from your current role.
Given that you have only one year of experience, any corporate finance entry level employer would probably be agnostic to your current job, as long as it is in “finance” some how.
I would think long and hard before making that transition. It is much easier to go from asset management to corporate finance than vice versa. The only function in corporate that you may be able to tolerate is treasury. I started my career off with a prop shop as a trader. Later I went back to business school because I wanted a more stable career path. I ended up doing corporate finance. It is pretty bad so just research it and make sure that it’s what you really want; otherwise, you will be like me doing certs in an attempt to find your way back to real finance.
Good luck in whatever you decide, just make an informed decision and not necessarily an overly cautious one.
The original poster’s concerns are valid. For background, I spent 6.5 years in equity research at a US investment bank as an associate and then a lead analyst (also worked on about a dozen investment bank deals, IPOs and secondary equity offerings), then spent 4 years at a $2B AUM long-only as a senior equity, then spent a year as the head of investments of a new early-stage venture capital firm. I really wanted to leave public equities, as I also worry about the move towards passive investing, fee compression, and difficulty in beating the benchmarks (in my case, the Russell Growth indices). I got lucky and a long-time friend co-founded a venture capital firm (Harvard MBA) and got the chance to be a part of the senior leadership team. What i realized is that lots of companies and entrepreneurs don’t like investment guys who didn’t have any operating experience. I recently took a CFO job at a private equity-backed tech company (small-ish firm with 70 employees) and I’m learning so much on the operating side. We’re looking to spin-off one of the business lines and pivot the business, and I firmly believe the experience I’m gaining is much more useful long-term than picking stocks. I’m looking to go back to the investing side (either private equity or growth equity) and I know a lot of firms really value the operating experience. I’m working closely with our PE firm, but I must say, an operating role is harder than the investing side… I am new to it, so that’s definitely a factor, but what excites me is the ability to influence the direction of the company.
I disagree with the poster above who thinks corporate finance is “pretty bad.” Yes, some roles suck like Treasurer, Controller, etc…but, the strategic finance roles are interesting and you gain great skills.
This 10x. I spent 5 years in SS (more like 7 if you include my first role which was SS-ish) and then moved on to help family (MM sized businesses). I was in a strategic and investment (acquisitions) role until we sold the business. I will say that I much more enjoy this line of work.
I’m a research analyst at a big firm in the US and I have seen two young men move to a mutual fund in no time. I’d say give it 3 years before trying.
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