I started off thinking that TS is not so knowledgeable in this field..but as i read on, i realise there's just so much BS and smoke bombs going ard..I estimate that 90% of the people in this thread are not in banking..or at least FO banking..and TS probably sounds more sensible than most..

Just to put the record straight from someone in this industry..

Buy side analysts/ fund managers do use sell side research..but they don't follow blindly of course.

Most analysts start out from the sell side because buy side usually requires a certain amt of experience before u can break in..but there are outliers/exceptions of cos..

The best bet for TS is like what he already suggested..start out at smaller firms and gain the experience before moving on. Having said that, it will not be a walk in the park to get such a role cause competition for equity research is still very fierce even at smaller firms..

UBS would rather take someone who did 5 years of research in phillip securities over someone who did 5 years of Ops in Goldman Sachs..

If u're lucky enough to get in..then do the CFA..it's the gold standard for equity research & fund management. Yes..TS is also right..nobody starts off as a fund manager..

Good luck!