7 Popular Investment Jobs in Wealth Management
If you want to build a career in Wealth Management related to investments, what job should you go for?
- 5 Wealth Management Jobs where you get to Trade often
- 5 Dream Jobs of New Graduates in the Financial Industry
No. 1 Investment Advisor
The job title already attracts tons of applicants. Being an Investment Advisor means you are the “expert” in investment.
An Investment Advisor provides investment and portfolio advice and is the main source of financial market info and economic trends to the Relationship Manager / Wealth Managers & Clients.
Where: Banks, Private Banks, Independent Financial Advisory Firms, Financial Advisory Firms, External Asset Managers, Family Offices, Insurance Co. / Agencies
Similar Job Titles: Investment Counsellor, Investment Consultant, Investment Specialists
Salary Range: The pay can range from $50,000 – $400,000 or more annually
Entry Probability: Low – Good Investment Advisors usually move onto managing High Net-worth clients due to the larger Assets under Management (AUM), which requires not only extensive investment and product knowledge, but also be able to carry themselves well with clients. Usually, there would be 1 Investment Advisor assigned to advise 3 – 5 Wealth Managers / Financial Advisors. In other words, it is easier to become a Wealth Manager / Financial Advisor.
Read More: What is an Investment Advisor?
No. 2 Portfolio Advisor
The job title gives the prestige and feel of a Fund Manager or Portfolio Manager. What is a Portfolio Advisor?
A Portfolio Advisor provides portfolio / investment advice to clients on the appropriate asset allocation strategy. The assets allocated include money markets, bonds, equities, alternative investments and more. Further portfolio classification could be by geographical and sector allocation.
Where: Banks, Private Banks, Independent Financial Advisory Firms, Financial Advisory Firms, External Asset Managers, Family Offices, Insurance Co. / Agencies, Fund Management Firm, Asset Management Firm,
Others: Hedge Funds, Pension Funds, Sovereign Wealth Funds
Similar Job Titles: Portfolio Manager, Portfolio Specialist
Salary Range: The pay can range from $70,000 – $350,000 or more annually
Entry Probability: Very Low – Most Wealth Management units do not have the role of Portfolio Advisors as the recommended portfolios are usually pre-determined by a central investment committee.
No. 3 Treasury Specialist
Treasury Specialist trades millions, hundreds of million dollars and billions a year. What is a Treasury Specialist?
A Treasury Specialist provides treasury advice on foreign exchange and interest rates through spots, forwards and options to clients and Wealth Managers such as Personal Bankers, Priority Bankers, Private Bankers, Wealth Managers and Investment Advisors.
Where: Banks, Private Banks, External Asset Managers, Family Offices
Others: Hedge Funds, Pension Funds, Sovereign Wealth Funds
Similar Job Titles: Treasury Advisor, Treasury Sales Manager, Treasury Service Manager, FX Specialist, Margin Trading Manager
Salary Range: The pay can range from $60,000 – $350,000 or more annually
Entry Probability: Low – Treasury Specialists are required to have strong treasury knowledge and dealing expertise / experience. This means most Treasury Specialists come from either dealing rooms or banks’ treasury unit, which already are very difficult to get into. Some Treasury Specialists come from brokerage firms due to their relevant trading / futures / forex experience. Similar to Investment Advisor, the ratio of Treasury Specialist to Relationship Managers can range from 1:4 or 1:7.
Related Articles: What is a Treasury Specialist?
No. 4 Fund Specialist
The job title Fund Specialist refers to being a specialist in Unit Trust product. What is a Fund Specialist?
A Fund Specialist provides advisory to Wealth Managers and / or Clients on Unit Trust or related Fund product such as Exchange-Traded Funds.
Where: Banks, Private Banks, Independent Financial Advisory Firms, Financial Advisory Firms, External Asset Managers, Family Offices, Insurance Co. / Agencies
Similar Job Titles: Fund Advisor
Salary Range: The pay can range from $60,000 – $350,000 or more annually
Entry Probability: Very Low – Few firms have a Fund Specialist to meet clients as the duties are already well-fulfilled by the Investment Advisor or Portfolio Advisor. As Unit Trust forms a major part of many clients portfolio, due to its simplicity in management, some firms create the role of Fund Specialist to provide more targeted advice or access to detailed information quickly, especially of the High Net-worth clients.
No. 5 Discretionary Portfolio Management Manager
Nearly a Fund Manager, but not yet a Fund Manager. The Discretionary Portfolio Management (DPM) Manager manages investments / portfolio for clients, with a pre-agreed mandate. What is a DPM Specialist or Manager?
The DPM Manager provides customised portfolio or investment allocation, with a pre-agreed mandate with clients. The mandates could be based on the financial institutions’ recommendations or customised by clients. In both cases, they provide the full portfolio and investment decisions to the DPM Specialist.
Where: Private Banks, Financial Advisory Firms, External Asset Management Firms, Asset Management Firms
Similar Job Titles: Discretionary Portfolio Management Specialist, Managed Funds Specialist, Managed Funds Manager
Salary Range: The pay can range from $120,000 – $600,000 or more annually
Entry Probability: Very Very Low – Few ever gets there. Because not many financial institutions run Discretionary Portfolio Management (DPM), the opportunities become lesser. DPM usually operates only in Private Banks.
No. 6 Structured Product Specialist
A very exciting job title but lesser known job. Most advisors do not get to see the actual creation of structured products except for the common products such as currency linked notes or equity linked notes that are readily available. What is a Structured Product Specialist?
A Structured Product Specialist provides customised investment options using a variety of financial instruments to manage the risks and returns exposure.
Where: Banks, Private Banks, External Asset Managers, Family Offices, Investment Banks
Similar Job Titles: Structured Product Manager
Salary Range: The pay can range from $80,000 – $600,000 or more annually
Entry Probability: Very Low – Structuring a product requires in-depth knowledge of the financial market. It is easy to structure products that are common in the market while highly customised products would not be easy to structure. So it depends if you are getting into a job that creates standard structures of highly customised structures.
For example, if a client wants to take a $100 million short position on an emerging currency but at the same time short the top 10 equities in that country, and managing systemic risks such that the structure becomes invalid due to capital controls / suspension of stock exchange – what instruments, issuers, duration and derivative pricing gives the best payoff over a period of 6 months to 5 years, if a limit on profit can be pre-set? That’s difficult … how about currency-linked option on USDJPY?
No. 7 Analyst
A very popular job title, especially for fresh graduates. It sounds analytical and that you will be doing complex research, numbers-crunching analysis that ultimately impacts millions and billions of decisions. It also happens to be the starting rank of many banking or financial related jobs. What is an Analyst?
An analyst does primary or secondary research on financial markets (Global / Region / Country ) or asset classes (Equity, Fixed Income, Treasury, FX, Commodities, Alternative Investments. These research information are then compiled for the internal or external use for assessment of economic trends, that results in investment decisions to be made by the Investment or Wealth Management unit.
Where: Banks, Private Banks, Brokerages, Insurance Co., Investment Banks
Similar Job Titles: Research Analyst, Equity Analyst, Fixed Income Analyst, Treasury Analyst, FX Analyst, Commodities Analyst
Salary Range: The pay can range from $30,000 – $120,00 or more annually
Entry Probability: Very Low – Most financial institutions only hire a small team to cover one area such as Equities or Fixed Income. It could comprise only 3 – 6 people in the team. Brokerages (if the banking unit have a brokerage or security arm) tend to hire more people since they do primary research on individual securities.
Ratings Advisory
- Low – For every 30 person in the financial industry, maybe 1 gets a chance.
- Very Low – For every 100 person in the financial industry, maybe 1 gets a chance
- Very Very Low – For every 500 person in the financial industry, maybe 1 gets a chance
Recommended Articles:
- How do you Develop your Career as a Wealth Manager?
- Which is Your Area of Expertise as a Wealth Manager?
- How do You Identify a Good Investment Manager?
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