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Fund Manager

I want to be one
Who This Career is For?
A career in fund management is ideally suited to people who enjoy taking calculated risks in uncertain conditions. Fund managers must be able to work under extreme pressure as well as have the ability to judge costs and benefits of various different actions.

Fund managers are people who can maintain a long term vision while doing their daily tasks. They must be able to work with numbers and financial documents. Punctuality and excellent communication skills are essential prerequisites of this career path. Fund managers must deal with professionals from various fields on a daily basis.
Want to know more about it?
The primary responsibility of a fund manager is to professionally manage and maintain the financial portfolios of their client investors. Fund managers must, therefore, deal with financial assets including bonds, shares, real estate, currency and other forms of potential investments. Fund managers must ensure that their clients’ annual investment goals are being met, and if they are not, they must make the necessary adjustments to try and meet those goals.

Fund managers may choose to work for a wide variety of employers, and the kind of specific work they end up doing depends largely on who they work for. Potential employers range from insurance firms to private companies. Individuals may also employ personal fund managers to manage their finances.

People in this profession must first list all potential options they can undertake with their client’s funds. Once this list is prepared, they can analyze each of these options within the context and see which, or what combination of them is most in line with the needs of the investor. Finally, they must make the final trading decisions and then implement these decisions.

However, the work of a fund manager does not end there. The most essential part of their job is arguably following up on the trading decisions they make earlier, making adjustments where necessary. Fund managers may also take advisory positions, where they do not perform any financial administrative tasks but merely offer tips to their clients.

While there are no formal requirements for fund managers in terms of what discipline their bachelor’s degree should be, students of finance are generally given preference for fund management positions. Besides finance majors, those who have studied business or commerce at the undergraduate level also remain competitive.
Master’s degrees are essential these days to beat the high level of competition. Candidates who have MBAs are given much higher starting salaries, and more importantly, they are actually given preference to people with just graduate qualifications when applying for jobs.

What are Salary Prospects?
Most fund managers earn very high salaries, although there is considerable variation from one fund manager to the next depending on who he or she ends up working for. Statistics in the US show just how attractive salary packages in this field can become. Top fund managers earn, on average, $600 million dollars.

In India, too, fund managers are very highly paid. On average, it is reported that a fund manager earns Rs. 200,000 in India. Besides this, they receive many non-monetary benefits such as health and life insurance, sick leave, loans for housing and cars, petrol vouchers and paid vacations.
How is Life?
Life as a

fund manager

is very stressful. One must constantly work under immense pressure as they are handling large amounts of money that does not belong to them. Fund managers must answer to their clients, and this can extremely difficult.

Fund managers work standard office hours, normally 9am to 5pm. Despite having fixed hours, people in this profession often find themselves working late nights to do research and record their day’s work so that they can remain organized. Most fund managers do not leave the office much, although occasional visits to stock exchanges, real estate opportunities and their clients’ offices are not improbable.
What Perks come along with this career?
There are a number of perks associated with this career. What lures most people into fund management is the high level of salary and fringe benefits that people can attain, even with little levels of experience.

Moreover, successful fund managers are highly respected by people in other professions. People line up to get their services, and as a result, they receive excellent treatment from their clients, and the level of job security for competent fund managers is extreme.
Which Downsides are there in this career?
The biggest downside to this career path is the high amount of stress that comes with the job. This is most evident when a fund manager finds him or herself working five to six hours overtime alone in the office doing research about potential investment opportunities.

Besides that, fund managers work with large amounts of money that do not belong to them. They must keep a certain amount of accountability, which adds to the immense amount of pressure they must work in. The smallest mistake can have devastating consequences in this career path.
How is Competition?
The level of competition in this field, because of its many perks, remains fairly high. However, competition varies strongly depending on which job market one considers. In emerging markets, where investment levels remain high, there are still new job openings for fund managers, and so competition is not quite as fierce as in developed economies where due to the unfavorable economic climate, investment remains low and opportunities for new fund managers even lower.

In India, while there is a lot of competition for top jobs, at the entry level, there is considerable demand for fund managers who have good qualifications. Investment banks, private corporations as well as the government are looking to hire competent fund managers and so competition is not quite as cutthroat as abroad.
Locations where this career is good?
In terms of locations, fund managers are finding opportunities all over the world. The highest paying jobs are available in developed countries, although these jobs are understandably therefore the most difficult to get a hold of.

Emerging markets such as India, China, South Korea, Thailand, Pakistan, UAE, Brazil and Argentina are excellent places to become fund managers because of the availability of opportunities as well as the decent level of compensation fund managers in this part of the word receive.

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