OK, to start, I’ll walk through my current resume:
BS, Engineering Physics, from one of the top *Public* universities in the US. (2005)
MS, Biology, from a non-target school. (2007)
MS, Financial Engineering, from a non-target school. (2009)
First job (out of college, still working at it now): Assistant Trader for an Asset Management firm. Pay: ~$40K/yr with no bonuses but not extremely stressful either. (2010 to present.)
Career goals: I would like to continue to work in Trading before eventually going into portfolio management. I’ve struggled a bit with deciding on a career and may not have made the best decisions a few years ago, especially regarding pursuing higher education.
I’m almost 29 now and it feels almost everyone my age has been light years ahead in their careers. Not to whine or be negative but I strongly feel I’m not making enough at my age. This is particularly angering… however, unlike those Occupy Wall Street people, I’m taking my anger out on the CFA exam… I’m committed to sacrifice a large chunk of my free time to conquer those exams!! I attempted the CFA 1 back in 2010 and failed… I’ve now signed up to retake it in June 2012 and started studying about 10-15 hours a week since a month ago. Regardless of your replies, I have my heart set on studying and passing the CFA 1 (and eventually CFA 2 and 3…) I just want to have some realistic expectations of how my career will improve if I manage to pass all 3 exams?
Sounds like CFA will help. 29 is not too old, and you are already at a firm in the industry. Just don’t expect it will be a magic carpet ride to portfolio management. If you don’t know how portfolios are constructed or how assets are valued on a fundamental basis, the CFA curriculum will help you understand and speak more confidently about this stuff. That in itself should be a help. So, I think yours is a case where the CFA should really help you, as long as you realize that it is not a golden key all by itself. Also, try not to beat yourself up by comparing yourself to others. We all have our own stories and our own struggles, and we often make unrealistic comparisons without knowing the full facts. I’ve seen people making $20 million a year walk around miserable because the guy next to them is making $25, when, realistically, your life at $20 million is going to be pretty darned good and not all that different from one’s life at $25 million. I’m not saying that you should be happy with your current compensation; I’m just saying that if you measure your progress relative to others, you will almost always find yourself losing in relationship to someone. There are 7 billion people on this planet, and only one of them can be richer than everyone else. Happiness is being able living a healthy life consistent with your values, comfortable in the knowledge that it is financially and emotionally sustainable for you. Make sure that your values come from you, and are not borrowed from those around you.
It’s hard to tell without further information, but I think you’ll be ok. The CFA will be pretty useful to you. It won’t change your life right away, but it should increase your chances when you are trying to get promoted in your company. Good luck.
Well it seems you are set on taking the CFA, not much else anyone can say. What exactly do you do now as a assistant trader? Also, trading and PM are worlds different.
I would have thought that an Ms Financial Engineering would have been more valuable than a CFA degree. Have you tried applying for other jobs? Maybe with your experience and your degree, you can find a job as a quantitative analyst which will pay you much more than you’re making now.
I will be turning 28 in a few months, been working in biotech/pharma since college with the eventual plan that I would return to grad/med school. Lost my passion in that and have recently started on a path to ER so I am right there with ya, CFA in June and GMAT afterwards. A quote comes to mind that I will now butcher, “Those that say it can’t be done are often passed by those doing it.”
I am a member of the local society and there are guys that started at 50, so never too late, said they simply wanted to obtain the knowledge, regardless of enhancement to career. I would then go to a quant hedge fund
Too Late: NO, I started mine at age 39 working with 3 kids ages 7,6 and 4.
Do you need it: Maybe, With your resume as stated above you may not need it but if you are looking to move up or out to a different employer it may make the difference.
With the Physics and MS in Financial Engineering you should definitely not need the amount of study time that most candidates do.
My company states that good traders will eventually be mentored towards a Portfolio Manager role (and this isn’t an overnight process.) However, I’ve not heard of anyone being promoted towards a PM during my almost 2 years with them… so assume this “Assistant Trader” job is a dead-end job that still provides qualifying experience for the CFA charter.
With my background, will I have a decent shot at landing a quant role if I don’t have a PhD (even after receiving the CFA charter)?
^ no, I doubt it. Do a search of real quant jobs in finance and you’ll quickly see that they all require a PhD in some quant field. A masters doesn’t cut it
Ok, so do many people who choose Quantitative Analysis invest several years of their life in a PhD program unrelated to Finance (like Math, Physics, Computer Science, etc.) and getting little/no pay just to pursue a career as a Quant?
By foregoing years of earnings and work experience, I can’t see how this would be decisively positive NPV venture but I welcome any rebuttal to my initial impressions…
OP, it usually works the opposite way. People choosing to enter a field like Physics or high level math end up getting recruited or decide to switch into finance since the pay is much more attractive.
Most PhD quants in finance wanted to do something else - particularly academia. However, they become disillusioned, burned out, or realize that they can earn more money by going into finance. PhD -> Quant might be a good contingency plan if you are already enrolled in a PhD program and then decide to quit science. However, enrolling in a PhD program to become a Quant is not a good choice, due to the enormous opportunity cost.
Actually this is not true anymore, Masters will do it, if it is from a top Financial Math/MFE program, places like UChicago/Columbia/NYU etc. PhD is really overkill for this stuff.
I think it depends on the place. In my company, the head quant guy is a brand snob and will only hire people with PhDs. However, some places will consider Master’s students or even exceptional undergrads - for instance, my friend got hired for a quant position at GS with only an undergrad degree.
There is also some market segmentation. PhD applicants are usually have a higher entry point compared to Master’s students. So, PhDs will be disqualified for jobs that are close to entry level, but will be preferred for higher level jobs.
There is also the question of promotions once you are hired. I don’t know any “boss” quant people without PhDs. Maybe the Master’s people hit some glass ceiling at some point. Most quant bosses have PhDs, and PhD people tend to be credentialists. So it is possible that quant jobs have a caste system based on your academic degree level.