Consumerism Commentary - Latest Comments in Want to Make $450,000 a Year? Become a Portfolio Manager

Re: Want to Make $450,000 a Year? Become a Portfolio Manager

Jennifer — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 01:22:17 -0000

While this article is over 2 years old, I felt compelled to place a rebuttal to correct some of its' critical inaccuracies.

First off, most computer science schools - particularly the more theoretical ones - are offering programs with a level of rigor equivalent to many programs in mathematics. In fact, many departments in the highest-ranked universities worldwide are departments of "Computer Science and Mathematics"... these are fundamentally entwined elements of quantitative analysis. Therefore, your point is moot. Many programs in undergraduate physics require less advanced mathematics that programs in computer science.

Second of all, while graduate degrees are a benchmark for many portfolio manager positions, the Ph.D is not the-all-and-end-all. In fact, a master's degree with an additional 3 or 4 years of intensive work experiences is very often more of a competitive advantage than a Ph.D in a moderately related field. We'd rather see your history of Investment Analysis than your Ph.D in Quantum Optics.

Finally, many Portfolio Managers have backgrounds in Engineering, a category under which Computer Science is often considered. Analytical skills are key.

Good work on an informative article about the earning powers of Portfolio Management, however it is my great hope that further research be done into acceptable qualifications when writing an article like this, for it has the potential to misinform a future generation of potentially gifted managers that may not fit your narrow range of descriptives.

Re: Want to Make $450,000 a Year? Become a Portfolio Manager

GeneralOsiris — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:02:56 -0000

Yeah.....over 450K...

After 15 years of working in the domain....

Re: Want to Make $450,000 a Year? Become a Portfolio Manager

Evgen F. — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 22:42:23 -0000

Which degree do i need to become a portfolio manager? i am planning to take a bachelor of commerce as a gold standard in business/accounting.finance world. am i on a right track? currently i am taking some cga courses to begin in accounting and start making at least some money... i think in another year i'll be able to complete it. it's a seneca accounting and finance diploma. but then i want to switch into b.comm and go into investment banking with joint cfa and mba from concordia. am i on a right track so far?

Evgen

Re: Want to Make $450,000 a Year? Become a Portfolio Manager

Hari — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:55:16 -0000

I am curious to know if the 450,000 was a median or a mean estimate. We all know a couple of portfolio managers can make $15-$20 million in one year, that could inflate that average.

Re: Want to Make $450,000 a Year? Become a Portfolio Manager

Kris — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 23:30:44 -0000

Those numbers are stunning. Generally speaking, I know there's a small discrepancy between someone with a BA salary and someone with an MA salary, but statistically, I think there's a much larger one between an MA and a PhD. I guess it holds doubly true for these guys. Crazy.

Also - I love the phrase "math-averse." It makes me think of A) someone who doesn't like equations, or B) a universe built entirely of math. Good times.

P.S. Thanks for checking out my blog, Sasha!

Re: Want to Make $450,000 a Year? Become a Portfolio Manager

mapgirl — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 10:16:41 -0000

The one PhD in Physics who was a coder, skateboarded to work in his Hawaiian shirt. He worked on mathematical modeling software for portfolio managers. He was a fun guy.

As for the money and the math, it goes together. Quant is heavy heavy math and it takes big brains to power the models.

You're right though, most of the high salaries for PhD's in math and physics are for folks that ended up coding and founding their own companies. But you can do that without a degree too.

Re: Want to Make $450,000 a Year? Become a Portfolio Manager

James Woolley — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 10:59:32 -0000

I would have loved to become a portfolio manager and play with other people's money but I only got a 2:2 in Accounting and Finance.

Now manage my own portfolio and more than match some of these over-paid manager's underachieving portfolios.

Re: Want to Make $450,000 a Year? Become a Portfolio Manager

Chris — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 21:35:06 -0000

The investment banker salary would be fine with me, especially if I didn't have to add numbers together or anything.

Re: Want to Make $450,000 a Year? Become a Portfolio Manager

Tim — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 17:02:10 -0000

note that it is total compensation, and a large portion of that is based off of commission.

Re: Want to Make $450,000 a Year? Become a Portfolio Manager

Laura — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 08:38:45 -0000

The money does sounds great. I wish I could work there for one year and live off that salary. I'll just be content with where I'm at and move up at my pace. Thanks for the article!

Re: Want to Make $450,000 a Year? Become a Portfolio Manager

plonkee — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 06:46:37 -0000

If only I'd been more interested in high finance (and decided to do a phd). Ah well, in my next life I might try this.

Re: Want to Make $450,000 a Year? Become a Portfolio Manager

The Dividend Guy — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 23:47:29 -0000

I am willing to bet that a lot of them are in debt up to their eyeballs - fast cars, big houses.

Perhaps I am just bitter,

The Dividend Guy

Re: Want to Make $450,000 a Year? Become a Portfolio Manager

Mrs. Micah — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 21:56:17 -0000

Too stressful a job for me. With one year's worth of that money (let's assume that's the takehome) we could pay off all our debt (which is big!) and buy a new house (a smaller one at around $200k) with no mortgage and have more money left over than I earn in a year. Dang. Why does Mr. Micah's PhD have to be in philosophy?

But it's really not the life for either of us, so we'll take the lower pay and the greater happiness. But dang.

Re: Want to Make $450,000 a Year? Become a Portfolio Manager

Jon Morrow — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 19:32:00 -0000

Nice article, Sasha. It's good to hear about this side of personal finance. Personally, I think the amount of money you make is just as important as how much you save. Showing people that it's possible to make this much money could help them become wealthier, much faster.

This is similar to what I did for a living up until a few months ago. And you're right: the money is breathtaking. In my experience though, much more than 25% of the compensation was tied to performance. Performance-based bonuses accounted for 80% of mine.

You can also make significantly more than $500,000 per year. I have two friends that start private equity funds, and both of them clear over $1 million per year.