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naturallight
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Investment Mgmt Internships 16 Jan 2008, 20:01
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cbreeze
So, if you are a chartered CFA, that means you had 4 years of relevant work experience ? I hope you don't mind my asking why you are pursuing an MBA if you have the official charter?
I have a friend, a sell side analyst, is a CFA but does not think an MBA is necessary.
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yep, I have the work exp. There were lots of reasons why an MBA appealed to me, but in terms of the CFA, I felt like the CFA provided the knowledge, and an MBA provided the job opps. I think it would be hard to break into a lot of the top tier funds without an MBA. Some firms only hire their MBA interns, so it's a really tough nut to crack w/o an MBA.

Also, if you look at the leaders of investment firms, they frequently have MBAs. So maybe a CFA would suffice in the initial years, but down the road, if I wanted to take more of a firm leader role, an MBA would help. Better to do the MBA now.

Ultimately, your friend is right--nobody in business really needs an MBA, whereas lawyers need law degrees and doctors need med degrees. However, if you can get into a top 15 program and your personal circumstances allow you to go, you'd be crazy not to. The career options it opens up are staggering.
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Investment Mgmt Internships 04 Feb 2008, 15:39
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forcefeed

Do you have any tips on how to prepare for IM before heading to bschool?

I think I wrote a big post on this last year, but here's the short version:

- read as many books on investing as you can
- build your own stock portfolio
- write up a long and a short stock pitch
- look into the cfa program
- read the wsj each day
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I'm interested in investment management, but have no experience in the field. I'm currently reading "A Random Walk Down Wall Street." Are there any other must-reads?
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naturallight
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Investment Mgmt Internships 05 Feb 2008, 12:00
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Bdevil25

I'm interested in investment management, but have no experience in the field. I'm currently reading "A Random Walk Down Wall Street." Are there any other must-reads?
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ha, A Random Walk Down Wall Street is all about why you shouldn't invest in an actively managed fund. good stuff to know about though.

I liked these a lot

Value Investing with the Masters
by Kirk Kazanjian

Expectations Investing: Reading Stock Prices for Better Returns
by Alfred Rappaport


my overall favorite business book is

The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron
by Bethany McLean

not really about investing, but super compelling and you will learn a little bit about financial statements.
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Investment Mgmt Internships 22 Feb 2008, 09:50
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I took am a CFA w/ 5+ years experience and am now looking to get an MBA. I work in inst asset mgmt. All the top PMs have both. S0 I agree with Cal

Other good books
Stocks for the long run
When genious failed
Den of Theives
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Investment Mgmt Internships 22 Feb 2008, 10:07
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[quote="Bdevil25"][quote="naturallight"][quote="forcefeed"]
Do you have any tips on how to prepare for IM before heading to bschool?[/quote]

I think I wrote a big post on this last year, but here's the short version:

- read as many books on investing as you can
- build your own stock portfolio
- write up a long and a short stock pitch
- look into the cfa program
- read the wsj each day[/quote]

I'm interested in investment management, but have no experience in the field. I'm currently reading "A Random Walk Down Wall Street." Are there any other must-reads?[/quote]


And if I can add to this -- reading WSJ is the minimum. If you like Inst investing try to get P&I daily and/or Fundfire.
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naturallight
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Investment Mgmt Internships 06 Mar 2008, 10:25
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whee! I just accepted an internship as a high yield credit analyst for a big mutual fund. I'm pretty excited about it.
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djhouse81
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Investment Mgmt Internships 07 Mar 2008, 08:51
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naturallight
whee! I just accepted an internship as a high yield credit analyst for a big mutual fund. I'm pretty excited about it.
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Congrats! Given the interesting times in the credit markets, you'll have your work cut out for you. Is high yielding credit the area that you want to be in upon graduation or are you hopinh for another financial market?
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naturallight
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Investment Mgmt Internships 09 Mar 2008, 08:22
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djhouse81

Congrats! Given the interesting times in the credit markets, you'll have your work cut out for you. Is high yielding credit the area that you want to be in upon graduation or are you hopinh for another financial market?
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Thanks! I guess we'll see how it goes. I think it will be good for a summer internship because my past work has been in equity, and I'm looking forward to learning about how to invest in other areas. For our Investment Speaker Series class the other day, we had a guy from a big hedge fund come in to talk to us, and it was really quite phenomenal how much he knew about various markets--equity, all sorts of bonds, MBS and other asset backed securities, merger arb, commodities. I want to be that guy.
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Investment Mgmt Internships 13 Mar 2008, 19:21
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naturallight
whee! I just accepted an internship as a high yield credit analyst for a big mutual fund. I'm pretty excited about it.
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Congrats!!! I bet it feels like getting the first acceptance all over again.
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Investment Mgmt Internships 21 Mar 2008, 20:24
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I recently accepted an internship (equity research) from an asset management firm. I am a career switcher with no financial background.

Here are things that you need to get and do well on an interview.
- tailor your resume
- read many good books
- invest/manage your portfolio
- involve with your school's investment management club
- prepare 3-4 good stock pitches
- BE PASSIONATE about the industry and the job that you are applying for.
- sign up CFA (the fact that you put your $$$ down to sign up the exam shows that you are somewhat committed)
- call call call. call your alumni call anyone!
- networking. oh did I just mention this right above?
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Investment Mgmt Internships 31 Mar 2008, 10:27
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Can anyone advise on a good resource for information on how to put together a stock pitch?
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Investment Mgmt Internships 17 Apr 2008, 08:43
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Congrats to dead4me and naturallight.

Did you guys get the interviews through your school or how did you get them?
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naturallight
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Investment Mgmt Internships 29 Apr 2008, 20:43
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gmatclb - Yeah, I got my position through on-campus recruiting. But there were a ton of postings that came through in Feb-Apr. The recruiting for this industry is less structured than for other industries.

baer - I'm going to put together a "how-to" guide on creating a stock pitch. I can send it to you when I'm done. This is a rough rough outline.

Finding the Investment
1. Screens (either MSN or Google, or Greenblatt's free screen, or a custom screen)
2. Other (news, a place you shop, etc)

Evaluating the Investment
1. Learning about the company (10k, 10q, earnings call transcripts, news)
2. Learning about the industry (S&P industry reports, competitors, 5 forces)
3. Financial analysis (ratios, accrual analysis, trends, dupont breakdown)
4. Valuation (DCF, comps, LBO)
5. Writing the pitch (brevity, clarity, interesting, persuasive)
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Investment Mgmt Internships 30 Apr 2008, 22:30
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cbreeze
I have a friend, a sell side analyst, is a CFA but does not think an MBA is necessary.
Show more

I can argue that he (she?) will need the MBA in a few years, when she has to manage a team, redesign a department or division, lead a turnaround effort, etc. The MBA will come in handy then. Experience can help but usually involves a longer learning process than does the MBA + experience combo.

L.
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Investment Mgmt Internships 01 May 2008, 07:22
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naturallight


baer - I'm going to put together a "how-to" guide on creating a stock pitch. I can send it to you when I'm done. This is a rough rough outline.
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Thanks! Please do share. Since my original question, I've contacted a bunch of people in the industry and have gotten some valuble advice. Also, for those looking to put together a model, I'd recommend Training the Street's financial modelling seminar. I took it 2 weeks ago, and it was fantastic.
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Investment Mgmt Internships 01 May 2008, 07:27
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lepium
cbreeze
I have a friend, a sell side analyst, is a CFA but does not think an MBA is necessary.

I can argue that he (she?) will need the MBA in a few years, when she has to manage a team, redesign a department or division, lead a turnaround effort, etc. The MBA will come in handy then. Experience can help but usually involves a longer learning process than does the MBA + experience combo.

L.
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+1. I was speaking to a guy who has a CFA and MS in finance and has been a PM at some big funds; he said on interviews he still gets asked "why no MBA?".
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Investment Mgmt Internships 22 Aug 2008, 07:46
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The way it was explained to me:

IB/ sell side recruits from B-school

Buy side recruits from sell side.

undergrad is a different ball game, but MBA with no finance experience is supposed to be tough road into buy side firms.
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