Asset management has a reputation as a high pressure industry. It’s generally been portrayed in the media to be full of somewhat overconfident risk takers… The odds are that the typical stereotype you picture of someone in this industry will be male. Are any of these preconceptions true?
Calling the shots…
It can be said that asset management is high pressure. Some portfolios can be worth millions, even billions of pounds – that’s a lot of responsibility! As a front office division, there is the expectation for asset managers to make final decisions on buying, holding or selling an asset and how best to manage the risk levels in their portfolios…and those decisions need to make money; not lose it!
The pressure levels can vary greatly depending on the range of assets in a portfolio. Financial advisers can also handle asset management duties, but in much more of an advisory capacity which could be seen to be more relaxed compared to the front line decision makers. But there is still an element of pressure to provide advice which will help their clients to save and make money –not lose it!
Cocky isn’t the key…
The personalities in this industry differ greatly; overconfidence is not actually encouraged. It’s more about having control over the urge to get carried away with transactions and working well under pressure. Structure, strategy and risk management is essential for asset management. The likely lads may well be there, but there are a whole manner of different personalities in this area.
To an extent industries asset management are still struggling in terms of the number of women who work in the industry and progress up the ladder to senior positions. There are still more men overall in senior management teams and boardrooms. But there are things are being done to challenge these issues, with many employers now running events for young women to get them interested – they make pretty mean asset managers too!
For years I have studied American finance regulations. All the information in this blog is sourced from official or contrasted sources from reliable sites.
Salesforce Certified SALES & SERVICE Cloud Consultant in February 2020, Salesforce Certified Administrator (ADM-201), and Master degree in “Business Analytics & Big Data Strategy” with more than 13 years of experience in IT consulting.