Portfolio Manager Career Path

Looking to become a Portfolio Manager in the next 5 years. Obviously, an equity research analyst position would be the perfect first step, but I had an interview for an investment portfolio specialist position at a small wealth management firm. It is a Portfolio trader/implementation/research. With the first two being the majority of the job. The research portion is towards passive management. Do you think this would be a good start instead of an equity research analyst job?

Thanks,

What do you mean by “portfolio manager”?

I would like to be an active domestic equity portfolio manager

This link should help:

Landed myself and a few friends PM-grooming positions. Good luck!

Another option is get a good job in a target industry (like consulting or some other role that gives broad and deep exposure) and then move to being a specialist in that industry on the buy or sell side.

There is no link attached?

I am a specialist in airlines, and the permanent signal there is ‘sell.’

But what kind of portfolio? You mentioned a wealth management firm which leads me to believe you mean an RIA. If you’re talking about becoming a PM for an asset manager that runs mutual funds, SMAs, or hedge funds, that’s completely different.

If you want to be an active manager, don’t join a passive shop. For active funds, research is a more logical path to PM. For passive, it’s all about the rules so the “research” is really just implementation anyway.