Wealth Management to IB?
Despite not deciding that I wanted to break into IB until my last semester of college, I was lucky enough to have landed an unpaid IB internship for that semester. In that role I worked directly with an MD on a couple different deals for about 5 weeks before unexpectedly receiving an offer for a paid Wealth Management internship at a large global bank for the remainder of the semester, which I ended up accepting bc I was a broke college kid and it was closer to campus, and there was no upward mobility at the IB firm. I then ended up receiving a full-time offer for a Client Associate position with this company (glorified assistant to the FA's). I accepted this offer bc I did not receive offers for an IB analyst position despite my recruiting efforts. I started this position at the beginning of this year and although I am learning a lot, I definitely still want to break into IB one day. I know I need to do this within a year or two, or else I'll get stuck in WM for the rest of my life. My plan is to pass the Series 7 next month and then complete the Wall Street Prep financial modeling course and earn that certification. Then begin hardcore networking again and hopefully eventually win an offer from a local/boutique investment bank in the DC metro area (of which there are ~30). Not sure that I want to take my chances applying to a BB as I had a low undergrad gpa (below 3.0) and don't think I could compete with 4.0's from targets. So is this a realistic plan? Will I have to pursue a Masters in Finance (MSF) in order to rebrand myself and makeup for my low undergrad grades? Should I try to move to a valuation/M&A-related role before trying to break in to IB? Any advice is much appreciated
IB is VERY incestuous from schools they hire from to even get started. You're alternative is to work PE while trying for the MBA at a top school and see if that gets you there
I think the answer to your question is based on two factors: 1) what sector do you want? 2) what kind of a career do you want? IB’s are laying people off like crazy so the sector will determine the opportunity. There is a decent amount of junior staff with experience out there so your competitive pool is high. The bigger the city, the bigger the pool. You have a better chance for a job in Milwaukee and can build time in grade. Also - the more specialized the asset class, the fewer the jobs and the harder it is to rebrand yourself when that sector has a downtime. Next - in my experience, IB land is very incestuous. It’s hard (not impossible) to go from small boutique IB firm to Goldman. If you don’t care about that, it’s not an issue. The smaller the shop however, the more you “eat what you kill” and that gets old in a recession. For what it’s worth, I have friends in WM mid career pulling in 500k+ for a great lifestyle. My IB friends work more hours and don’t have nearly as good a life.
Nuveen, for the folks in WM pulling in $500k, what firm are they with, and how long did it take them to get there?
OP...you lost your chance for now by selecting WM and getting a sub-3.0 GPA! What you should do is, grind it out for a few years and rise within WM, then go get a Top 15 MBA. Target b-schools that are IB heavy. And this time go for the IB gig ;) Or you could just bust your balls for a FA that serves the HNW/UHNW market and eventually spins off as a multi-family investment office. ;)
HNW? UHNW?
High Net Worth and Ultra