Starting pay
 

I just want to say that starting pay is very dependent on the industry, company and job function. I graduated from SIM UOL 4 years ago. But I continue to upgrade myself with a masters degree and currently doing a professional certification sponsored by the company.
Currently working in a global MNC (top employers in the industry) with a very competitive pay package. As long as you continue to work hard, value add and be good in what you do, you will be able to increase your earning power.

What masters are you doing and at which school?

I did masters in innovation from SMU.

Wow, so you are a very innovative person?

Well, it's a very interesting course. I guess everyone can be innovative.

Hi everyone from SIM,

i was reading the forum and just want to give a few tips as i do know how hard it is to get a finance job from SIM. I took around 4mths to find a desired finance job. it's about my 3rd yr working.

Currently, Im in a front office, dealing role in a bank. i deal with forex, swaps, FI, repos and also does market making etc... It is the department that does the fixed rate, floating rate swaps kinda thing we study.

my path basically goes like this..
trading with my own money, start studying in SIM, holiday spent proprietary trading at a legitimate firm (not 6cap), Holiday spent in private bank, grad, dealing in fund, dealing in Bank.

tips.

1) Try to work part time in bank. I didnt know it was important until people actually called me up for interview because i have work as scanner-boy in a private banking environment

2) try to pick up skills. Bloomberg, reuters, excel functions, algos, programming does help

3) prepare for interview & apply for the right job. local banks and americans are super paper chase.. i think it is fine to skip applying to them if u want front office jobs.

Interview is everything. When employers tested me on options, excel and every finance qns, they are usually beyond textbk. E.g. I was asked what are the 3 ways to form a butterfly with options.. calculate swap pts, substantiate view of usd/sgd in 1yr, number of rate hikes, taylor rule....

4) i do not wish to encourage paper chasing but sadly CFA and Masters do help. All my colleagues have master degree.

And in regards to trading, let me clarify a few pts:

i) proprietary trading firm do exist.. but i advise u to trade 2yrs, 364days/yr b4 u decide to sign up.

ii) no prop trading in banks due to volcker & dodd frank. we unwind position fast.

iii) very little chance to run your own book in banks. it is a business model.

iv) buy-side punters are the most fun with highest variable bonus, but least job security and easily exploited.

FO can get about 5to6k payroll in about 3 to 5 years.

Why did you go dealing in a fund and then dealing in a bank? Would a slightly more preferred path be dealing in a fund then to a analyst or trader then finally to portfolio manager?

That's a pretty low base for a dealer. I'm guessing you are at a local bank. Your bonus must be good though. Any numbers to share?

here comes the brutal truth..

1) 80% to 90% of analyst dont become portfolio manager
2) traders cannot become pm unless they know portfolio construction
3) analyst is most places is just a rank. u can be a hr analyst too..
4) i start with high 2k, 2yrs+ of working, around 4... bonus in fo range frrom 2 to 6mths.. buy side can get upto 12..
5) im heavily discounted in pay in my last 2 job because im not a master degree holder and im private u..
6) a rates trader or market maker makes abt 6to15k/mth with 2 to 10mth bonus.. depending on the bank..

the system is as such.. if u wanna make lots of money, i suggest try to do a business. portfolio manager is difficult. dont believe me? go wiki blacklittle model and get pass the first paragraph... if u love financial mkt, then fo is worth all the hours and effort

My turn to clarify.

Of course I was referring to Analyst on the front office analyst to portfolio manager track. I was not referring to black office analyst and definitely not HR analyst.

I wiki Black-little model as you asked. I think the confusion in the first paragraph comes where it says:

"The model starts with the equilibrium assumption that the asset allocation of a representative agent should be proportional to the market values of the available assets, and then modifies that to take into account the 'views' (i.e., the specific opinions about asset returns) of the investor in question to arrive at a bespoke asset allocation."

My first question would be how do you measure the market value of a particular asset? The natural answer would be equity indices for the equity asset. We could use currency indices, such as DXY for the us dollar, for the currency asset. However, I doubt the indices for the other currencies, EUR, JPY, are widely used.