Bonds Crash Course

#1 - Bond Analyst:

A bond or fixed income analyst is a type of financial professional specialized in assessing the performance of the bonds over time. They learn fixed-income securities in-depth and perform valuations to assess their real value. Usually, organizations or governments release bonds to raise capital. Thus, bond analysts track them and advise firms as well. 

Some of the popular companies hiring such individuals include Morgan Stanley, Intercontinental Exchange, State Street, CRISIL, Futures First, and similar others. The average salary earned by them is $61k to $100k (as of June 6, 2024) on an annual basis.

#2 - Portfolio Manager:

As the name suggests, the portfolio manager is a financial expert handling portfolios of different clients. Since they hold expertise in financial markets, these managers understand clients’ investment objectives and try to give maximum returns with minimized risk. As a result, they even consider the debt instruments (fixed-income asset classes) like bonds held by clients. 

Such professionals either work individually or as a part of investment banks, mutual fund companies, insurance companies, or equity firms. Some of the large investment banks like Wells Fargo, NatWest Group, Square Yards, Capgemini, Citi, Tata Consultancy Services, IBM, and others provide a higher salary of $1,35,289 (June 6, 2024) annually to them. 

#3 - Financial Risk Manager:

As a financial risk manager, they are responsible for forecasting trends occurring in the market and their impact on the organization. They analyze the company’s financial position and suggest strategies to mitigate risk. In this process, they also analyze the risk associated with debt investments as well. 

PWC, Amazon, Deloitte, Credit Suisse, PayPal, and HSBC are some firms that mostly hire them. Generally, the salary prospects range between $78k to $100k (as of June 2024) on an annual basis. 

#4 - Credit Analyst:

Such analysts enable credit risk management by measuring the creditworthiness of the individual, firm, or investments. They are generally employed by banks, credit card companies, rating agencies, and investment companies to evaluate interest rates and associated risks. A few popular banks include CitiGroup, American Express, Barclays, HSBC, and others. Here, the salary prospects range between $51k and $87k  annually.