Does the concentration of your MBA degree matter if you would like a career on Wall Street or banking? I have?

Question

an undergraduate degree in geography and an M.B.A. in business management. i have been working on wall street for 10 years now and have 4 or 5 brokerage licenses. ex. series 7, 63, 24, 4 etc. when i got my mba i choose general management rather than finance because at the time i thought i might want to work in HR. After changing my mind and deciding I wanted to spend my career on Wall Street, I wonder if the fact that I have an MBA in management rather than an MBA in finance will hurt my career. how much will something like this matter? I have though about going back for a post graduate certificate in finance but it would be hard to find the time now that I am married with kids. will something like this matter in my career much or are my credentials enough to climb the wall street ladder? i already have worked on wall street for 10 years. I don't think I have the patience for the CFA exam. My other thought was to just read finance books during my spare time, like commuting on the train, rather than going back to school? will my mba concentration hurt my advancement possibilities on wall street?

Answer 1

If you've been on Wall St. for 10 years, I think you should have a decent idea where your career is going.

I could only guess from what you are writing that you are perhaps in a back office job, and looking to move to the front office?

Or are you just not getting promoted at the rate that you'd like to be?

If it is the former, then it will depend on what you'd like to be doing.  A CFA would be a great way to get into research, but won't help you much in trading.

Since you have 10 years of experience, your in a tougher spot because your pay / title expectations may be a lot higher than someone is willing to consider since you would be 'new' to the front office.

The other main consideration I would have would be where you got your MBA.  Face it, there are lots of bankers with Ivy league MBA's, so they won't see your degree as very valuable if it is not from a top school.

If you aren't trying to make a move between different parts of a Wall St. firm, then I'm a bit more confused.  If you've been around 10 years things are either working or they are not.  If you are asking, it would seem like they are not.  Is that because of your work performance or do you think there might be a bias against your MBA?  I'd say that the biases really only hold true when it comes to initial hiring.  If your bosses think you are worthy of advancement, they won't go back to your resume and say "oh, but his MBA is from XYZ University and we only give those positions to people with a certain pedigree" (caveat: this might happen at the C-level).