| Topic Name: |
Buy vs. sell-side career? |
| Message Name: |
any advice? |
| Date Posted: |
08/16/2006 |
| Message: |
I am an undergrad interested in equity research, but there are a few things that I've been wondering about:
1. What are the major differences between the buy and sell side? Hours? Lifestyle? Compensation? Quality of work? Job opportunities outside of big citites?
2. On the sell-side, is there pressure from sales and from the executives of the companies that you track to recommend their stock? How much freedom does an analyst really have to slap a "sell" tag on company's stock?
3. On the buy-side, what does the future look like? Now that investors (individual and institutional) are realizing that passively managed index funds outperform the vast majority of actively managed mutual funds after fees are deducted, it seems like PMs will be replaced by computer programs, and equity analysts will be replaced by data entry employees.
4. Will most equity research firms cover the costs for the CFA program? What if an analyst wants to go for an MBA, will firms cover those costs as well? Even if it's a traditional MBA rather than part-time or EMBA?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
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