- What does a portfolio analyst do? Support the pm? is it a mo/bo type role? - Are AM firms even split into mo/bo? - What would ‘credit analysis’ entail exactly? (investment grade) … assisting research and help make investment decisions but how? - portfolio management: position checking, fund investment analysis, risk monitoring… im from MO ops background, how much am I expected to know? Thanks for any advice you may have. I am surprised these guys even wanna see someone like me from MO in IB for this job seeing as the job market should be flooded with people right now esp from fo?
woollycat Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > - What does a portfolio analyst do? Support the > pm? is it a mo/bo type role? This usually involves analyzing and rebalancing portfolios. It might be MO or marginally FO (I’m not sure), but it’s probably not a very good job. This is usually similar to portfolio administrator, although the job description can vary widely. Why don’t you post the description? > - What would ‘credit analysis’ entail exactly? You analyze bonds, including cash flow projections, etc. It’s the fixed income equivalent of equity research. > Thanks for any advice you may have. I am surprised > these guys even wanna see someone like me from MO > in IB for this job seeing as the job market should > be flooded with people right now esp from fo? The credit analysis position looks interesting, but I doubt too many FO people would be interested in the port analyst job. Or is this the same job? I can’t tell.
Thanks. Its the kind of middle person who assists the PM and credit analyst very closely on investment decisions and credit analysis. -trade implementation, hedging, maintenance of funds re targets, guidline checking -risk monitoring, position checking -reporting, meetings, all that stuff. any ideas as to what kind of technical questions would be asked keeping in mind this is for IG? Do you think they wil get technical with me at all? bromion - why do you say this is prob not a good job? If I am Cfa candidate and working in mo in ib (bulge bracket), is this not a better move for me? Its a pretty big firm.
It might be a decent job, just make sure that you understand exactly where it leads. To me, it sounds fairly administrative – you are basically executing trades and monitoring and rebalancing portfolios. I think a lot of people hear “portfolio manager” and think of guys who are actually managing money. The best way to get to manage money is to join a firm that indexes and work your way up or to go the analyst —> PM route. I am not sure that being a portfolio analyst will get you there, but it might. Just make sure you know the answer to that if your goal is to become a full fledged PM at some point. There are basically three kinds of PM: - PM Analyst / Administrator: Monitoring and rebalancing - Asset allocation PM: Basically a model monkey – you don’t try to produce any alpha, just plug assets into one of several firm sponsored models. - Institutional PM: Try to beat the market and/or achieve specific goals (immunization or whatever). The last position is the one most people in the CFA program want and is the most difficult to get into. I don’t know what your current position or goals are, so I can’t say if it’s a better move or not. Go to the interview and see what they have to offer.
bromion you mentioned that one route (which I guess is the most common) is the analyst–> PM route. So what do you mean by ‘analyst’ if not portfolio analyst? Would it work against me to mention that in 5 years time I want to work towards becoming a PM? Is that even realistic? I know its takes a long time to become PM but would suggesting this ruin my chances in an interview or would it be in my favour showing dedication to climb?
woollycat Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > bromion you mentioned that one route (which I > guess is the most common) is the analyst–> PM > route. So what do you mean by ‘analyst’ if not > portfolio analyst? I mean security analyst -> equity PM or credit analyst -> fixed income PM. Portfolio analyst is a different kind of analyst since you are not helping much (if at all) with the investment decision making process. A PM Analyst might lead to a an indexing PM type role at a beta oriented shop (the first two examples are usually trying to produce alpha). > Would it work against me to mention that in 5 > years time I want to work towards becoming a PM? > Is that even realistic? I know its takes a long > time to become PM but would suggesting this ruin > my chances in an interview or would it be in my > favour showing dedication to climb? I think it depends. There’s a fine balance between being ambitious (good) and too ambitious. I’ve spoken with a lot of recruiters lately, and they have all told me that people are looking to make permanent hires in this sort of environments – not “two years and out” kind of hires. I’m sure it varies from firm to firm, but keep that in mind so that you don’t alienate yourself out of a potential offer. If it were me, I would probably say that in five years I want to be one or two rungs up at the same company from where I am now (make sure you understand that role and be able to discuss it). This makes it seem like you want to stay even if you don’t.
If you want to be a PM there doing what they do, then I think the position makes sense. I would stress that you are excited at the position as you can see how the current managers are managing the money/risks, learn and input in the decision making process regarding AA, holdings, etc…basically learn the ropes in this role so that you can be an effective PM down the road. Bromion is right it is not equity research, you will most likely not be looking at stocks all day and drawing up reports, but you will be rebalancing, looking at risk/reward stuff, and hopefully learning how to “manage” a portfolio, which hopefully will lead you to learning how to select investments for it down the road and turn you into a good PM. I find that route a good alternative to the analyst->PM route as I dont see too many of our PMs pouring over their own fundamental analysis all day long. The ability to manage the portfolio may be as important or more. This assumes you can make good decisions on buying/selling based on the info you are given, however. Anyway sorry for the book.
Yes, I would agree with tvPM and amend my previous statement. It’s not the fastest and most *direct* route to PM, but a port. analyst might get you there. You need both the ability to pick winning investments (stocks or sectors or classes or some combination thereof) and the ability to actually manage the portfolio. I think a lot of equity or asset class analysts could do the former but would struggle with the latter unless they have had relevant experience working with portfolios. You need both, so I suppose it does not matter which comes first, although the equity analyst path would be more traditional. Good luck with the interview!
tvPM Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I find that route a good alternative to the > analyst->PM route as I dont see too many of our > PMs pouring over their own fundamental analysis > all day long. I agree with this, although I think this is an incomplete picture. Most of the PMs I know spend a lot of time speaking with analysts and reading sell side reports (or internal research, as it may be). It’s hard to do that effectively without an equity or debt analyst background and you won’t gain that kind of knowledge base rebalancing portfolios.
At WAMCO: Portfolio Analyst --> Research Analyst --> Research Analyst / Portfolio Manager --> Portfolio Manager.
Agreed-I think it is important to be able to make decisions based on info (analyst opinions, reports, etc) as well as be able to make sense out of fin stmts and other items to come up with an informed decision (which hopefully some of the CFA curriculum will help with). I think you make a good point on needing 2 facets to be a good PM, both the security selection side as well as the managing (taking gains/losses, risk/reward, inflow/outflows, % weightings, etc) that you may get part of but not all with the port analyst position. either way, good luck!
wooly-what type of firm is this for? brokerage, fund fam, bank, hf, etc…
Ive actually got 2 interviews now at two diff AM firms. One is part of a mid tier ib and one is independent am which focusses on equity/fi/property and my interview is for the IG part. Thanks for all the info. I am still thinking over leaving IB MO for smaller place. Even if its the AM arm of a mid tier bank. But i guess there is nothing else that really interests me and chances of me moving to FO are slim esp right now!
Oh and I just got another interview with a large hedge fund for their investor relations/marketing team. Any ideas about that? (apart from pm i am also interested in sales)
No insight on that, not my realm nor my interest…you are probably making a lot of people jealous with all of these interviews, however.
I am honestly quite surprised these people want to see some MO boffin like me as I imagine the job market to be quite flooded right now with Fo people, new grads, disgruntled bear and jp employees etc Any ideas what kind of technical questions PMs and credit analysts like to ask in interviews? Do they have alot of attitude like IB FO guys do or are they more laid back etc etc?
Last interview I had with PMs was a round robin where 4 of them each had 30 minutes with me. Each one was different. Some laid back, some very proper, some asking how I would explain (plug in a term or issue), others asking me what I like to do for fun… Depending on the shop I would make sure I could spout off some stuff regarding AA, MPT stats, current econ conditions, favorite mgrs/funds/companies you might be tracking…I dont see them asking you how a change in asset life will affect their NI moving forward or something…but my crystal ball is a bit fuzzy. Credit Analysts-no clue, never had any interaction with
confirming that I shouldnt even be going for these interviews: What does AA and MPT stand for? btw tvPM, what’s your current role? security analyst?
Asset Allocation, Modern Portfolio Theory(stuff like beta, sharpe ratio, etc). I’m a PM Associate…whats the difference you ask? The pay!!! Good luck man/woman
wow i totally bombed it. Apparently i was chosen as 10 out of 50 for this lowly pfo analyst position. Is 20% a high number? Does that reflect how desperate the job market is? Is it just me who gets a major attack of the nerves when put on the spot to answer simple mathematical questions?! Oh well 1 down. 2 to make up for it.