Hi, im currently working as an ER analyst in a boutique IB. Lately, i just got an offer from a family office as an investment analyst. The new opportunity will offers me a greater global exposure as the office fund is investing accross different region in various asset classes (included structure products like accumulator and ELN, bond, long short equity etc). The CIO of the family office is higly qualified and experienced and i can see he likes me very much so i think by following him i can learn a lot about investment. However, my concern is the family office is relatively new and only have less than 5 ppls in their investment team. My question is do you guys think that whether i should leave the ER job and move to this family office? My career goal is to work In the hedge fund industry and im not sure which position will give me a better chance in landing a hedge fund job in future? In addition, i was told by someone that the family office route is consider less pretigious compared to ER experience. Is that true? Thanks in advance for your valuable opinion.
Is it a FoF ?
It isnt a FoF. They do direct investment in equity, fixed income instruments, and derivatives but the fund size is only about few hundred millions. And even their team is small but the members are all experienced and qualified. The CIO is an mba from top ten US business school and all the team members have experience with BB IB in Asian. Do you think its worth to take the risk? And what i know is once i decided to leave ER it will be hard to get back…
Small isn’t necessarily bad, particularly if you are over the 100mm mark. You aren’t so big that you become a major market mover, but you are big enough that your fees can pay well, particularly if the team is small. And you’ll get more opportunities to have influence on the investment choice.
Agree with you bchadwick. Thanks for ur opinion 
Hi walkerlfk!! Family office as an industry is still in nascent stages in SG and i feel the growth prospects are immense down the line. It would kinda even give you a head start considering the niche experience its gonna offer you.
Yea agree with you Dax21B… As what i know the family office concept is popular in countries like US, UK, and switzerland and its growing rapidly in asia region too. But do you think the CFA will recognize the experience in these offices since they are relatively secretive? Will it be a problem for me in proving to CFA that my job is directly related to investment decision making? Thank you.
Investement management is one of the many aspects of managing a family office and for that matter as we are dealing with families and not corporations, secrecy will be there.
If the kind of role you mentioned has the resposibility in assisting the investement decision making process, i dont see any reason why CFAI may not approve it as relevant WE.
Ok noted. Thanks for your comments!
I would leave ER for any reason.