career switch to Asset management job

[danieldaniel]

Hi guys. I am an eng-trained professional who wants to join asset management companies. I graduated with B.Eng 2nd lower from NUS 2010 and have been working for two years. Firstly as an engineer, then as a financial advisor for 7 months. I have following doubts and hope to get some advice from you all here.. thanks thanks :P

- With my current qualification & experience, am I able to get into AM companies like blackrock, miton, etc. If yes, what kinda role? opt?

- If I must go for further study, which one is more relevant and valued: MFE?, MBA? or CFA?

- If I were to take CFA cert, working experience in financial lines s required, does my 7-month financial advisor exp count? must it be at least more than 2 years?

thanks again. feeling really miserable now.. if I received good career advice 5 years ago, things would be totally different.. haiz..

You can find ops role in asset management, but you will it a deadend job with limited prospect.
With pedigree of education or blueblood heritage, it is very difficult to enter buyside portfolio management.
With engineering background, your best bet is to spend 80k in acquiring a masters in financial engineering from US, and network your way into these roles. have seen a few examples of lowly paid engineers morphing into private equity funds or quantitative asset managers.....

It is not a sure win bet but odds are at least 50-50

Only 80k to get a masters? It should be at least 200k and not counting the loss of income.

Originally Posted by danieldaniel

Hi guys. I am an eng-trained professional who wants to join asset management companies. I graduated with B.Eng 2nd lower from NUS 2010 and have been working for two years. Firstly as an engineer, then as a financial advisor for 7 months. I have following doubts and hope to get some advice from you all here.. thanks thanks :P

- With my current qualification & experience, am I able to get into AM companies like blackrock, miton, etc. If yes, what kinda role? opt?

- If I must go for further study, which one is more relevant and valued: MFE?, MBA? or CFA?

- If I were to take CFA cert, working experience in financial lines s required, does my 7-month financial advisor exp count? must it be at least more than 2 years?

thanks again. feeling really miserable now.. if I received good career advice 5 years ago, things would be totally different.. haiz..

u can dream on

2nd lower local degree? only got home for back office in local banks

blackrock? LOL

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Only 80k to get a masters? It should be at least 200k and not counting the loss of income.

The Berkeley FE masters is a 1yr program, costs usd60k excluding living expenses.
Yes there is opportunity cost which is loss of income during study period.
To put things in perspective, usd is the cheapest against sgd, so a good deal. The costs in singapore context is the price of Coe.

Originally Posted by danieldaniel

Hi guys. I am an eng-trained professional who wants to join asset management companies. I graduated with B.Eng 2nd lower from NUS 2010 and have been working for two years. Firstly as an engineer, then as a financial advisor for 7 months. I have following doubts and hope to get some advice from you all here.. thanks thanks :P

- With my current qualification & experience, am I able to get into AM companies like blackrock, miton, etc. If yes, what kinda role? opt?

- If I must go for further study, which one is more relevant and valued: MFE?, MBA? or CFA?

- If I were to take CFA cert, working experience in financial lines s required, does my 7-month financial advisor exp count? must it be at least more than 2 years?

thanks again. feeling really miserable now.. if I received good career advice 5 years ago, things would be totally different.. haiz..

Become a CFA Charterholder

If u haven't read this, its good to re-consider your career options in asset management. To earn your CFA charter, you must have at least 4yrs of qualified investment work experience. Where did u get the 2yrs from?

Can share why you aren't satisfied with your current FA job?

If you are looking at buy-side analyst, it's very tough to get in. For a newbie, not only do you need a good hons degree, you must also demonstrate your passion in research/analysis, do you do your own research and analysis on equities etc in professionally written report? Without relevant experience, you can attach these reports (including your thought processes etc) in your application to have a higher chance of interview. Do more research on this, CVs of analysts/portfolio managers etc are available on public domain for a reference. =)

Originally Posted by danieldaniel

Hi guys. I am an eng-trained professional who wants to join asset management companies. I graduated with B.Eng 2nd lower from NUS 2010 and have been working for two years. Firstly as an engineer, then as a financial advisor for 7 months. I have following doubts and hope to get some advice from you all here.. thanks thanks :P

- With my current qualification & experience, am I able to get into AM companies like blackrock, miton, etc. If yes, what kinda role? opt?

- If I must go for further study, which one is more relevant and valued: MFE?, MBA? or CFA?

- If I were to take CFA cert, working experience in financial lines s required, does my 7-month financial advisor exp count? must it be at least more than 2 years?

thanks again. feeling really miserable now.. if I received good career advice 5 years ago, things would be totally different.. haiz..

why an AM firm in particular? it is quite different from being a FA.

you can probably get an ops role with your current status at a bank. if you want the big bucks FO portfolio manager role, you would probably need to get a reputable MBA and CFA title to even stand a slight chance.

Originally Posted by danieldaniel

Hi guys. I am an eng-trained professional who wants to join asset management companies. I graduated with B.Eng 2nd lower from NUS 2010 and have been working for two years. Firstly as an engineer, then as a financial advisor for 7 months. I have following doubts and hope to get some advice from you all here.. thanks thanks :P

- With my current qualification & experience, am I able to get into AM companies like blackrock, miton, etc. If yes, what kinda role? opt?

- If I must go for further study, which one is more relevant and valued: MFE?, MBA? or CFA?

- If I were to take CFA cert, working experience in financial lines s required, does my 7-month financial advisor exp count? must it be at least more than 2 years?

thanks again. feeling really miserable now.. if I received good career advice 5 years ago, things would be totally different.. haiz..

Generally the answer is No. Your chances of getting into a top AM firm like Blackrock on the fund management level is close to NIL.

Short of somebody well known in the industry vouching for you, your academic qualifications, short stint as a retail salesperson (I'm assuming that's what you meant by financial advisor) places you at the bottom of a long queue of candidates.

A CFA is Finance101 and will not help you much, the only other alternative is to go for a Masters from a prestigious university, but the costs are famously prohibitive and most have stringent professional experience pre-requisite.

I suggest you lower your expectations and set realistic career goals if you are still interested in this industry.

I'm a retired senior fund manager, previously from one of the global fund management houses. The buyside is currently quite tight, with few people leaving. Hence few opportunities. It will be quite difficult for you to get into a global fund management house, even in a gopher-type position, without going to a top university. There are a lot of burnt out but experienced sell-side salesmen and analysts trying to get into the buyside and being just a financial advisor will not put you in good stead.

Since you are young, I would suggest that you try:

1. Local banks fund management operations like Lion Global, DBSAM or UOBAM. They do recruit local graduates and after a 5-year or so stint there as an analyst, you may be offered a portfolio management position, and in time be able to move to a global buyside house.
2. Work for one of the many hedge funds or family office funds
3. Get a job as a sellside analyst or salesman. Work 18 hr days until you are well-known within the industry. Then, move over to the buyside.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Since you are young, I would suggest that you try:

1. Local banks fund management operations like Lion Global, DBSAM or UOBAM. They do recruit local graduates and after a 5-year or so stint there as an analyst, you may be offered a portfolio management position, and in time be able to move to a global buyside house.
2. Work for one of the many hedge funds or family office funds
3. Get a job as a sellside analyst or salesman. Work 18 hr days until you are well-known within the industry. Then, move over to the buyside.

Agree with you, but people who post here want go into investments because of unhappy in their current job, cannot take long hours, think they are too low paid and want to make big bucks fast, want the social prestige as a “banker” or “fund manager” in a global institution.

Your recommendations will not appeal to any of these disgruntled people.

As for why all these average or below average performers think they are qualified to join organizations that only recruit top 0.5% talents is one of the unsolved mysteries of the universe.