Xi wang
INVESTMENT ADVISOR
Financial security is imperative as it entails economic stability and a comfortable livelihood. It also allows one to save money for their future; especially for emergency situations. Nowadays, people have learned or are learning how important financial security is. We need financial resources for everything in life.
Keeping this in mind, planning investments becomes crucial for one’s future. It becomes the job of an Investment Advisor to consider all your resources, your future plans, and any other financial factors, for a portfolio that represents you, their client. The advisor will provide you with multiple recommendations for investing. They will guide you through the process, using their knowledge and experience, to meet your expectations, and in many cases, exceed them.
Scripted below is the interview between the members of the Consilium team and Ms. Xi Wang, an Investment Advisor in Julius Baer. We highly appreciate Ms. Wang for taking time out from her busy schedule to do this interview and answer the following questions. Her insight and advice are of great value to us.
1. With respect to education, what did you have to do to reach where you are?
Ms. Wang received a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering in China. Her dream was to pursue finance. Consequently, she moved to France where she earned a double Masters Degree in Management and Finance. Her education laid a foundation for a career in investments.
2. One of the most difficult decisions to make in High School are subject choices. Which subjects did you pick?
According to Ms. Wang, she always enjoyed Mathematics, so she chose subjects in a similar field, such as Math, Physics and Chemistry. Ms. Wang explains that she did not choose subjects like History, as they would not meet the requirements of a career in investment advisory.
3. If you could summarize your profession into 4 words, what would they be?
“Fast-moving, Challenging, Exciting, and Rewarding!”
4. Can you please describe your profession briefly?
Ms. Wang manages investment portfolios for clients, with various financial instruments, with the final goal to reach their expectations with risk under management.
5. What inspired you to become an investment advisor?
Ms. Wang believes that what truly inspired her to become an investment advisor was the fact that she enjoys communicating with people and listening to their stories and experiences. At the same time, Ms. Wang is passionate about finance. Therefore, being an investment advisor was the perfect profession to combine these two passions.
6. What qualifications and/or skills do you look for in a new hire?
As an investment advisor herself, Ms. Wang believes that strong analytical skills is imperative as you would have to analyze all the information and data provided, in order to be a good investment advisor. Communication skill is another skill that is crucial, as this particular job entails communicating with different clients.
7. Can you recommend any high school subjects that a student should take before proceeding into a similar field?
Mathematics is extremely important, says Ms. Wang. Apart from that, language skills hold equal weightage in this job. She believes language skills are generally important for this, and in any other career. Ms. Wang recommends that you master English first, then your mother tongue. She also suggests learning a third or fourth language as it would help your application.
8. What parts of your job do you think are the most challenging?
Ms. Wang explains that managing her client’s expectations is the most challenging part of being an investment advisor. This is especially true because the saying “The sky is the limit” proves that people tend to dream big. Therefore, providing a realistic investment result while also considering their dreams and expectations, is challenging.
9. How many hours do you work in a typical week?
Ms. Wang very candidly told us that she works for around 9-10 hours a day. In Dubai, employees work 5 days a week, from Sunday to Thursday, whereas the International financial market is open from Monday through Friday (which is a weekend in Dubai). Since Julius Baer is a private Banking company, the employees must follow the International Market, which simply means having to work on a Friday (sometimes) as well. In general, Ms. Wang says she works for approximately 55 hours a week.
10. Why did you choose this career?
Ms. Wang says that she chose her career based on her personal choice. Another reason was the opportunity that opened up for her, to work in this field, when she was studying in France.
11. What kind of clients do you usually get?
“Most of the clients that I get are quite diverse”, says Ms. Wang. She gets various clients from different backgrounds. One thing that most of her clients have in common, is that they are all very successful in their respective fields.
12. What do you love the most about your job?
Ms. Wang enjoys talking to her clients, who are all successful of course; she continues to explain that they have a lot of stories, experiences and lessons that they are willing to share.
13. Have you worked in any country before? If yes, how is the UAE different?
Ms. Wang has worked in France and China. However, when she worked in China, her career was not in the financial field. With respect to her job particularly, Ms. Wang explains that the working hours, in general, in the UAE are a bit longer in comparison to Europe. This is because people in Europe tend to pay more attention to the work-life balance unlike in the UAE as it is an emerging market. Ms. Wang also says that in the UAE, they push you a lot more therefore, you come up with more ideas which she considers a very good thing.
14. With the rise of Artificial Intelligence, what is your opinion on what the difference between an automated advisor and a physical investment advisor is?
Ms. Wang explains that this an important question as AI has not penetrated into our lives yet, but she can imagine in a few years that it will become more and more involved and integrated into our lives, eventually changing it. Considering what the job of an investment advisor is, there would be potential challenges of working with an automated investment advisor. Ms. Wang believes that it would be difficult for a robot to replace a human investment advisor because it is more of a “people business” and relies heavily on the interaction between the advisor and the client. It is not only about providing advice, but it is also about building trust, human to human, as described by Ms. Wang. That kind of interaction would take much longer for a robot to perfect.
According to Ms. Wang someday in the future, it would be possible for an automated robot to replace advisors. However, there is still a long way to go before robots can achieve the human skills required for the job.
15. We hear a lot about investment and its importance in the world. Can you tell us why this industry is so important for students looking to pursue a career in this field?
Ms. Wang explains that, while we are talking about investment, at the core of it, we are talking about money. It means having a financial system, that in her opinion, would be one of the most important foundations in everyone’s lives. It does not only focus on the present, it has a big impact and helps plan for one’s future decisions. That is why it is important to think about investing for yourself when you have the money. Being an investment advisor in this field, you would help people manage their money and help them plan for a better life in the future.
16. Other than the interaction you have with your clients, does your job require you to interact with your co-workers a lot or do you usually work by yourself?
There is a lot of interaction between Ms. Wang and her co-workers. Even though they are all located in different parts of the world, they have conference calls. None of them is a “lonely solider”, as they always work in a team to contribute their ideas and recommendations which they bring to their clients. It is all teamwork.
17. Do you have any advice for our viewers?
“I wouldn’t really call this advice, but I would suggest that you try your best to experience as many different things that you can. Since I think that, at a young age, the world is right in front of you and you have a lot of dreams so you can’t immediately make up your mind over what you want to do. If you can, then congratulations, that’s great! But otherwise try to experience as much as you can and eventually once you really know what you want to do, then just go and pursue your dream, that would be the best thing! So, all the best!”
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