If you work at a bank and you’re not a VP, you should jump out of your cubicle’s first story window.
^ I guess. Is one rank below VP an Executive Assistant?
Most places I’ve encountered it goes analyst/associate, senior analyst/senior associate, assistent VP, VP, Director, MD. MD is the highest corporate title.
^It depends. If we’re talking about “retail” banks like BofA (ex-Merrill), they hand out VP titles like toilet paper. The structure you’re describing is more for GS and the like.
^I knew a guy who had a hacksaw BS degree in Spanish from Tiny Baptist University, spent five years in the Marines, and had a Series 7. That was enough to become a VP at JPMorgan Chase.
In order to be fair, he was one of the best-looking, coolest guys I have ever known.
Sales?
Yeah. But he wasn’t very good at it. Didn’t really know shit from shineola about banking and money.
it’s pretty much a given that people who naturally look good and are cool to be with have a massive headstart in life. regardles of talent and brains.
^ Particularly in sales.
^ and even more so if attractive female with various assets
I mostly agree but I think investment acumen does have an influence on the type of LPs you have. There are at least a few L/S investors that could pick up the phone and raise 100s of millions of fresh capital at full fees with a multi-year lock from very smart money virtually over night. That is a much different proposition than being month-to-month with people who view your fund as a stock to be day traded. It relates to investment acumen because only a few managers are well regarded enough to swing those kind of terms, whereas most managers are happy to take any money they can get.
Regardless of outliers though, I generally agree with what you are saying. My point is that there is a signficant advantage in having the right LP base, and this is only available to a handful of managers.
That’s true. Basically I was saying that being able to pick good clients so that you are not so dependent on them that you have to bend to their every whim is a business skill rather than an investment skill, but it’s also true that if you have generally recognized investment skill and therefore can pick who your clients are and tell the wrong ones to go take a hike without flinching, that helps a lot too.
It’s usually some variant of this, although I think the “senior analyst/associate” thing might be special in research. If you do IB, for instance, there is generally no such distinction from normal analysts or associates. Morgan Stanley has a special title called “Executive Director”, which is basically Director at other firms. I’ve also seen some companies where very high ranked people, for instance division heads will have some made up corporate title like “executive vice president” or “senior managing director”, in order to distinguish them from the lowly normal managing directors.
In LP, sure. In 40 act and UCITs funds clients can invest and sell at will. That is why I am saying that the skills to be a good investor and skills needed to maintain assets are basically opposed. Even if you have the skills to be a good investor, once you gather assets all the financial incentives are to maintain those assets and that often means breaking from what made you a successful investor and trying not to scare retail clients.
Nice summary of this thread here: