My plan for breaking into finance sector

McKinsey or Mckenzie?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Dude whatever gave you the idea that that sell side analysts do "rigorous analysis" on the companies they research?

Have you even bothered to ask your remissier to send you samples of analyst reports before? As a CIPMS and MS Financial Engineering professional, I am qualified and will tell you >90% of their analyses are marketing junk mail.

These guys mostly target retail investors & strict %AUM pension fund managers, no other fund manager or M&A specialist will take their recommendations seriously.

to be honest, large institutional funds e.g. Gic, blackrock, henderson do make use of sell side research to generate trade ideas, not necessarily follow blindly 100%.
some sell side research are quite good and can be found in top tier banks.
the only buyside funds who do not make use of such sell-side are algorithmic/quantitative funds managed by phds as they already have their rocket science recipes to print money. The other type is private equity funds and activist funds, who conduct their own research

Originally Posted by Unregistered

hedge funds that rely on sell-side research are doomed to fail

mind revealing the name of your fund so that we can avoid it like the plague?

anyway hedge funds are not offered to retail investors as mandated by mas
only high net worth individuals and institutions place funds in hedge funds

[alwaysnforever]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

If you really are passionate in doing in-depth finanical analysis,valuation and modelling, there really are only a few avenues that you can go for and sell-side is definitely not one of them. Each has its own strengths & weaknesses:

1) Buy-side

Pro - The closest scope that you are looking for, also where the "action" is.

Con - You have close to 0% chance of being selected based on your background

2) Corporate inhouse M&A/ Strategy Dept/ Intelligence Dept

Pro - Chances of gettin in are considerably higher as they are more willing to hire fresh grads as junior executives as long as you can demonstrate you are numberically inclined and willing to work long hours

Con - If you ultimate aim is to be in a bank's FO, it will probably not be of much help

3) Corporate Treasury

Pro - Again the chances of landing a job are slightly better. Crossover to trading houses and fund management firms is quite frequent.

Con - As the key role of corporate treasury is to hedge risks, manage capital flows and optimizing WACC, there is not much equity valuation work.

4) Management Consulting

Pro - Lots of research and analytical work if you are supporting an M&A project. Opportunity to engage the brightest minds around.

Con - Tier 1 Big 3 consulting firms are notoriously hard to get into even for an MBA student from a prestigious school. You will most likley need to settle for Tier 3 / 4 smaller boutique firms that are willing to lower standards, but then the quality of their projects and clients, research methodology and consultants will of course be of lower standards.


By financial institutional (i.e. BB) standards, sell side analyst reports range from sub standard to downright abysmal, you will not get anywhere close to developing profesionally in equity analysis and valuation by joining them.

For starters, I recommend the book "Valuation" published by Mckenzie Consulting. It provides a good overview of a few common and basic industrial frameworks and best practices in use.

based on this I would say easiest would be to get into any company (boutique more than BB for me) and work in valuation, and work my way up and finally switch over to buy side I guess.

my ultimate aim is to be a portfolio manager, but if I get stuck my whole working life doing equity analysis for the pm I wouldn't grumble.

Originally Posted by alwaysnforever

based on this I would say easiest would be to get into any company (boutique more than BB for me) and work in valuation, and work my way up and finally switch over to buy side I guess.

my ultimate aim is to be a portfolio manager, but if I get stuck my whole working life doing equity analysis for the pm I wouldn't grumble.

I heard Mercer investment is currently hiring junior analysts, but not sure if it relates to equity analysis. Although they are mid-tier, you might want to try your luck, but chances are slim as you currently have no financial qualifications.

having worked in the finance industry FO for more than 10 years, my bet is that you end up most likely as a stock remisier ... TS, every other engineer, entrenched bankers, jobless Ang Mo, top MBA, well-connected rich brats, government sector staff, banking back office staff etc... are thinking of using the same MBA / CFA path to get into FO ... if this method works, all grads in Singapore will become millionaire.. having said that, maybe you are special and extraordinarily outstanding, I give you a 5% chance of succeeding in getting what you want.

Originally Posted by Advisor

having worked in the finance industry FO for more than 10 years, my bet is that you end up most likely as a stock remisier ... TS, every other engineer, entrenched bankers, jobless Ang Mo, top MBA, well-connected rich brats, government sector staff, banking back office staff etc... are thinking of using the same MBA / CFA path to get into FO ... if this method works, all grads in Singapore will become millionaire.. having said that, maybe you are special and extraordinarily outstanding, I give you a 5% chance of succeeding in getting what you want.

Advisor, how did you get into FO?

[alwaysnforever]

Originally Posted by Advisor

having worked in the finance industry FO for more than 10 years, my bet is that you end up most likely as a stock remisier ... TS, every other engineer, entrenched bankers, jobless Ang Mo, top MBA, well-connected rich brats, government sector staff, banking back office staff etc... are thinking of using the same MBA / CFA path to get into FO ... if this method works, all grads in Singapore will become millionaire.. having said that, maybe you are special and extraordinarily outstanding, I give you a 5% chance of succeeding in getting what you want.

Thanks, but I will take my chances

Btw which area of FO are you in?

When all of you were young, did you dream of becoming a financial trader (not merchant), investment analyst or risk manager? Or be in the business of speculation, taking advantage of price differences, etc?

It's sad that jobs that add much more real value to the world aren't being as well rewarded, and all the smartest brains are flocking into this abstract business of moving money. They justify their existence by saying they contribute to the creation of efficient markets so goods and services, commodities and wealth can be better distributed around the world. Really?

[alwaysnforever]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

When all of you were young, did you dream of becoming a financial trader (not merchant), investment analyst or risk manager? Or be in the business of speculation, taking advantage of price differences, etc?

It's sad that jobs that add much more real value to the world aren't being as well rewarded, and all the smartest brains are flocking into this abstract business of moving money. They justify their existence by saying they contribute to the creation of efficient markets so goods and services, commodities and wealth can be better distributed around the world. Really?

when you were young did you think of having a gf, marrying a woman, having a kid, working, paying bills etc?