Investment fund manager lucrative career choice

Nidhi Prasad

The modern economy has thrown a lot of opportunities open to the students and the Banking Sector is the most lucrative option if you have a penchant to help others discover the best ways to get substantial returns on their nest eggs, are intrigued by analyzing risk, or are interested in helping businesses, buy other businesses, then consider a career in Investment Management.

Who is an Investment Fund Manager?

An Investment Fund Manager is someone who manages funds and investments for his or her clients in order to bring in the highest possible return on their money. They are responsible for managing the funds given to them by clients in an appropriate manner, taking into consideration the client's tolerance for risk, as well as the client's eventual goals and future plans.

Fundamentally, Investment Fund Managers take large amounts of money and invest it so that they can earn money for their clients.Investment fund managers provide financial advice and services to private and corporate clients about a range of investment matters, including buying and selling investment trusts and shares or bonds, to help these clients invest their money in the best places.

Investment Fund Managers work very closely with investment analysts - Fund Managers make decisions about investments, while analysts provide them with financial information and recommendations that enable such decisions to be made.

A Fund Manager is responsible for implementing a fund's investing strategy and managing its portfolio trading activities. The fund can be managed by one person, by two people as co-managers, or by a team of three or more people.

An Investment Fund Manager is responsible for researching different types of investments in order to determine the best possible options for his/her clients. They understand their client's preferences (including how much risk the client is comfortable with), and try to find the right mix of investments, while also maximizing the return on their investments.

Investment Fund Managers need to market their services, their knowledge, and their connections in order to acquire new clients. They then help these potential clients understand why investing with a fund manager is best for them. They must also continue to keep their current clients involved and confident in the state of their funds by periodically meeting with them to discuss the progress of their investments and provide reports and charts illustrating their performance.

It is the job of an Investment Fund Manager to manage the investments of their clients, whether they are individuals or businesses. They are responsible for their client's money and thus must be very careful that they only grow their investments, and not the other way around.

Investment Fund Managers usually have a place in senior management, and make financial decisions that are very difficult to make money for their clients. It is their job to invest in different financial markets such as stocks, bonds, money market funds etc.

Investment Management is Fascinating: Investment Managers give people and companies advice on what to do with their money. This involves a kind of detective work that will be different each time you do it as you match investments with your clients. One day you might be helping a fashion designer, and the next day, it's a company that built an app to help disaster victims find relief and shelter. Every day is different, and, since investments can be affected by global events, extreme weather, and unpredictable things like human emotions, there is no time to be bored. You have to keep coming up with new and different investment strategies and ways to direct funds on behalf of clients.

What Investment Fund Manager Do?

Investment Fund Managers plan out an investment plan for their clients and depending upon the individual or business's needs, the Fund Manager will evaluate which investment options are best suited for that client. It is the goal of an Investment Fund Manager to make their clients assets grow. They must meet the client to determine what investment strategy will fit their needs.

• Researching various stocks or funds that may be in the news for recent product developments, earnings statements, or other reasons so as to attempt to extract maximum value from a potential or current investment.
• Researching potential individuals or companies to target as potential clients.
• Developing proposals for prospective clients, to help these potential investors understand their tolerance for investment risk and how that can correspond to their plans for the future.
• Preparing reports for existing clients, to illustrate the success of their investments or to propose new investments that may help but tress their portfolio.
• Continuing education and licensure sessions, in order to be able to offer a wider array of services to new and existing clients.
• Reading financial briefings (often written by Investment Analysts).
• Making informed financial recommendations and decisions.
• Keeping knowledge up-to-date about the economy, current financial news and financial markets.
• Assessing and interpreting complicated financial information

Investment work provides high levels of responsibility, good promotional opportunities and impressive financial rewards for the most successful employees. The working hours may be less demanding than other investment roles but they are still long compared with other careers.

Students from finance always get confused about what they need to choose. They get confused as they receive mixed information from different sources. Some authorities say you should choose Investment Banking as its prospect is much better than portfolio or Asset Management.

Let's understand the basic difference between Portfolio Management (Asset Management) and Investment Banking.

Asset Management is all about managing clients' investments, and Investment Banking is all about raising the capital for clients.

So, the basic difference between these two is, in case of Asset Management, clients already have the money which you need to manage. Whereas, in the case of Investment Banking, clients don't have the money and you need to raise capital to support your clients.

Key Skills for Investment Fund Managers

Investment Fund Managers have distinct personalities. They tend to be an enterprising individual, which means they're adventurous, ambitious, assertive, extroverted, energetic, enthusiastic, confident, and optimistic. They are dominant, persuasive, and motivational. They have

• Good numerical and IT skills
• Analytical and problem-solving skills
• Team working skills

These Managers spend their days in a comfortable office environment working on their computers or laptops.Investment Fund Managers also spend a large portion of their time making contacts, converting them into clients, and then maintaining their clients, along with this, these Managers may travel in frequently to visit large clients.

ELIGIBILITY

The minimum requirement that is needed for a career in this field is a Bachelor's Degree, individuals can major in Finance, Economics, Accounting, Business Administration, Statistics. However, to become successful Fund Manager the aspiring candidate should be Post-Graduate in Finance or MBA with specialization in finance. Various Investment Management courses run by stock exchanges can also be helpful in making career in this field.

This career is open to one's who have strong education background in Commerce, Economics, or Business administration or in Finance.

Step 1: After clearing Class XII, preferably with Commerce or Finance subjects. Aspiring Fund Managers can get admission in undergraduate courses related to this field. Some of the undergraduate and PG courses that Fund Manager can pursue are:

• Diploma in Investment Management
• Com (Finance and Investment Analysis)
• BBM (Finance Management)
• MBA in Finance
• MBA (Investment Management)

After getting requisite qualification and job experience one can start their own business alone or by registering an AMC with requisite permission from authorities. 

It is essential to clear the Association of Mutual Funds of India certification test to become a Personal Investment Adviser; a Certified Financial Planner Certification would be an exceptional qualification. To become a Corporate Investment Adviser, graduation/post-graduation with specialization in finance is a must.

Other desired Certifications

Also, earning other certification or charter such as the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter, the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst SM (CAIA charter, or the Financial Risk Manager (FRM), Certified Financial Planner (CFP) will boost your career opportunities

JOB PROSPECTS

The Investment Management field is wide and varied. You can find jobs in Banks, Brokerage firms, Credit Unions, and Insurance companies. You can be a Financial Analyst, Fund Manager, Portfolio Manager, Risk Manager, Hedge Fund Manager, Alternative Investment Analyst, Stockbroker, Risk Analyst, Ratings Analyst, Private Equity Associate, and more. You can choose to manage the investments of individuals or businesses. With the right education and knowledge, there is also the opportunity to join well-known financial institutions like Vanguard, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, HSBC, Merrill Lynch, just to name a few.

There are also ways you can work for yourself if you're dedicated, realistic, and have enough experience with a finance employer first.

With so many different financial products and a growing need for people with in-depth knowledge of geographic regions, it's no surprise that most Industry Analysts expect strong employment growth in the Investment Management field midway into the next decade. This jobs' outlook is much brighter than the average for all occupations, especially if you happen to be tech-savvy. Competition will be fierce, but with the right education, you should be able to land a good entry-level investment position.

Some of the Companies in India where one can look for job, are:

• ABN AMRO MUTUAL FUNDS
• HDFC MUTUAL FUNDS
• TATA FUNDS
• SBI MUTUAL FUNDS
• PRUDENTIAL ICICI MUTUAL FUNDS
• BIRLA SUN LIFE MUTUAL FUNDS

The Investment Management profession offers some of the highest starting salaries in finance. For those who are talented and ambitious, there's also a great deal of room for that salary to grow quickly.

List of Institutes

• Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta, Raipur, Ranchi
• Faculty of Management Studies (FMS)
• Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS)
• Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA)
• Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore
• Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) Mumbai

There's a tendency to think that anyone who chooses to invest for individuals or businesses as a living is a numbers-cruncher. Numbers are definitely involved, but your main focus is Investment Portfolios, not equations and calculations. These portfolios should be as diverse as possible-comprised of lots of different businesses, projects, and sectors. Moreover, you have to tailor these portfolios to the needs, passions, and beliefs of your clients. In other words, Investment Management offers you remarkably rewarding opportunities to develop and innovate, delivering solutions that make a true difference in either the lives of individuals or in the way Business and capital move forward.

(The author is a Senior Counseling Psychologist.

E-mail id- nidhiprasadcs@gmail.com)

Views expressed are personal.

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