Asset Management Careers

List of Top 5 Careers in Asset Management

Below mentioned are some of the Asset Management Job Roles that a person can reach in his career.

1. Market Research Analyst
2. Credit Analyst
3. Private Equity Specialist
4. Equity/Debt Dealers
5. NAV Fund Accountant

Overview of Asset Management Career

Asset Management is the management of the investments on behalf of its investors. The job of asset management professionals is to source high-value mandates from wealthy individuals and advising them on the best investment decision that will enhance their portfolio value in the long term.

Asset management is a financial service offered by investment professionals to large corporate, government agencies, and financial intermediaries like banks or FIIs. Investors are allotted units for investing in the fund. The NAV of the fund represents the performance of the same. JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, DSP, Deutsche, Bank of America are one of the top asset management companies globally.

Career #1 – Market Research Analyst

Market Research Analyst - Job Description
Responsibilities	Leading the buy-side and sell-side research for the company and preparing various research reports which includes company profiles, calculation analysis, peer group comparison, and market outlook on the sector for the fund manager to take an informed decision.
Designation	Equity Research Analyst
Actual Role	He will support the senior analyst in all the research related activities including client meetings or arranging con-calls.
Top Companies	JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, DSP, Morgan Stanley.
Salary	The median annual salary for a research analyst as on May 2018 was $ 63,120 As per Bureau of Labour statistics of US (https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/financial-analysts.htm)
Demand & Supply	Demand for research analyst will continue to grow at a faster pace with the advancement in technology. Being a skilled job, the supply is less than demand.
Education Requirement	A Bachelors Degree or an MBA from a reputed college.
Recommended Courses	CFP or MBA or CPA
Positives	High growth potential in the future with heavy compensation and exciting job profile.
Negatives	Long working hours researching on various industries/sectors can be a tiring job.

Career #2 – Credit Analyst

Credit Analyst - Job Description
Responsibilities	Responsible for interpreting financial information of the assigned company and provide with the credit report of the same to the debt fund managers with regards to the liquidity and financial stability for their decision making.
Designation	Credit Analyst
Actual Role	Work on complex financial models for assessing the creditworthiness of the borrower and the ability to repay the amount in the future.
Job Statistics	As per the Bureau of Labour statistics of US https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/financial-analysts.htm, the number of jobs in this category was 2,96,100 as of 2016 and are expected to grow at 11% from 2016 to 2026.
Top Companies	Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, DSP, Morgan Stanley.
Salary	The median annual salary for a credit analyst as of 2016 was $ 85,660
Demand & Supply	Credit analyst brings a lot of knowledge from the debt market which is essential in any AMC to provide the right kind of support to the debt fund manager.
Education Requirement	CPA / MBA from Tier -1 Universities with at least 5-10 yrs of exp.
Recommended Courses	CPA/ MBA
Positives	Detailed research enables the credit analyst to get complete information of the borrower company and also the industry in which he operates.
Negatives	It is a desk job giving full support to the debt fund managers hence can be a little boring for extroverts.

Career #3 – Private Equity Specialist

Private Equity Specialist - Job Description
Responsibilities	Responsible for generating high returns for the investors by investing in non-listed private companies who have growth potential in them.
Designation	Private Equity Fund Manager
Actual Role	Invest the fund's assets in private companies with high growth potential and generate multi-fold returns to the investors for taking such a high risk.
Top Companies	JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, DSP, Morgan Stanley.
Salary	The median annual salary for a private equity professional depends upon the returns he generates for the investors. However, it may vary anywhere between $3,00,000 to $5,00,000 annually and can further be increased taking into account the variable pay.
Demand & Supply	Is a very niche profile and only candidates from premier institutes are been appointed since it is a very highly paid job along with the requisite skill set.
Education Requirement	CPA / MBA from Tier -1 Universities with at least 10-15 Yrs of Exp
Recommended Courses	CPA/ MBA/ IIT/ IIM/CFA
Positives	Direct contact with the wealthy HNI investors and the company management for investment in their company.
Negatives	Takes a long time to crack a good deal. Mostly 6-12 Months and there is also a risk of the investment becoming zero.

Career #4 – Equity/Debt Dealers

Equity/Debt Dealers - Job Description
Responsibilities	Dealing in equity/money market securities such as certificate of deposits, commercial paper, treasury bills, government securities, corporate bonds.
Designation	Equity / Debt Dealer
Actual Role	Place orders in the market from the trading terminal and execute the deal successfully.
Top Companies	JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, DSP, Morgan Stanley
Salary	The median annual salary for equity/ debt dealer can be approx $ 75,000 to $1,00,000.
Demand & Supply	A highly demanded profile in the market since it requires a deep knowledge of all the equity and debt markets to do the dealings.
Education Requirement	CPA / MBA from Tier -1 Universities with at least 5-10 Yrs of Exp
Recommended Courses	CPA/ MBA/CFA
Positives	Active involvement in the equity and debt markets since the full day goes sitting in the dealing room watching the behavior of the markets.
Negatives	A time-oriented job since the individual has to reach the office before the market opens.

Career #5 – NAV Fund Accountant

NAV Fund Accountant - Job Description
Responsibilities	Responsible for accounting of the investment/redemption transactions of the investor, designation: fund accountant
Designation	Fund Accountant
Actual Role	Daily NAV calculation and reporting the same to the investors and fund managers about the performance of the Fund.
Job Statistics	As per the Bureau of Labour statistics of US (https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/accountants-and-auditors.htm, the number of jobs in this category was 13,97,700 as at 2016 and are expected to grow at 10% from 2016 to 2026.
Top Companies	JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, DSP, Morgan Stanley
Salary	The median annual salary for a NAV Fund Accountant as of 2016 was $ 70,500
Demand & Supply	It’s an operative job profile since the NAV has to be calculated on a daily basis. There is a huge demand for this role since many new funds are been launched in the market in recent times.
Education Requirement	CPA / MBA from Tier -1 universities with at least 5-10 yrs of exp/ engineering background.
Recommended Courses	CPA/ MBA
Positives	End to end accounting of the fund with exposure to all the investment decision taken by the fund managers & a stable profile.
Negatives	Daily routine job can be a tiring process for those who like to go out of the office and meet people. It’s a desk job which requires dedicated effort to complete the operations.

Conclusion

Asset management job is one of the top profiles which anyone can explore to get a good understanding of the equity and debt markets. It provides extensive experience to the candidate in the financial services sector. Once you work in an AMC, it will open multiple doors in the market in the form of banks, NBFC’s, stockbroking companies, investment banks, pension funds, government agencies, regulatory bodies like credit rating agencies, etc.

Recommended Articles

This has been a guide to Asset Management Careers. Here we provide the list of top 5 Asset Management job options, roles, and career paths including Market Research Analyst, Credit Analyst, Private Equity Specialist, etc. You may also have a look at below articles –

• Top Careers in Capital Market
• Careers in Valuation
• Equity Research Jobs
• Banking Sector Careers