Top JP Morgan Wealth Management Interview Questions & Tips

The largest wealth management shops tend to be tied to the largest banks. This is likely as you'd expect given that large banks will have large existing client bases to try to sell wealth management services to.

JP Morgan is not only the largest bank in the United States, it's the seventh largest bank in the world. 

For this reason, JP Morgan wealth management is one of the larger wealth managers in the United States (although, surprisingly not the largest). Unlike Goldman Sachs, which has a particular focus on high net worth individuals and families, JP Morgan wealth managers have discretion to go and find clients of smaller net worths if they so choose. 

As you'd expect, JPM pitches itself to potential clients as being able to help them gain full access to the suite of services and products that JPM has access to as such a large bank.

Further, JPM prides itself on having in-house experts on the thornier issues surrounding issues such as inheritance which can be leveraged by a wealth manager within JPM. 

JP Morgan Wealth Management Interview Questions and Tips

On this page we'll be going over three common interview questions and a few tips to also keep in mind if you're interviewing at JP Morgan. 

Question 1: What do you imagine your clients will be like?

Question 2: Where is oil at now? Where do you see it going?

Question 3: What routine news events have a large impact on rates?

Tip 1: Don't Pretend You Know What You Don't

Tip 2: Frame Everything In Terms of Client Service

Question 1: What do you imagine your clients will be like?

Given how broad the wealth management client base is for JP Morgan, one thing your interviewer will want to hear is who you imagine your clients will be.

An answer to this question should include some (or all) of the following:

• Their professions
• Their stage in life
• Their financial goals
• Their general personality (and how it relates to your own)

Now, of course, in practice most wealth managers will have various clients of all shapes and sizes. However, it is true that wealth managers do tend to attract certain kinds of clients.

For example, many wealth managers who have prior experience in the medical field will focus primarily on mid-life doctors who are thinking about retirement planning. 

Question 2: Where is oil at now? Where do you see it going?

This is what I refer to as a weed out question. Many when asked this question will state a number - like $45 - definitively without mentioning that there are many different oil indices with the most common in the United States being WTI. 

You should mention where WTI is and where Brent it, as they are the largest, and you can find them here. Of course, if you're applying to a wealth management position within Canada you should also know where the Canadian Crude index is and also be aware of the fact it's always lower than WTI. 

When discussing where you see oil prices going, there's no need to do a deep dive. No one expects you to have previously consulted with commodity analysts or read many research reports.

Instead, what they're looking for is your knowledge of what kinds of things could generally move oil prices. 

• Seasonality: oil tends to peak during the most active months (summertime and around American thanksgiving)
• Rig count: higher US rig counts will lead to an increase in supply and a potential dampening of prices
• OPEC news: you can simply Google if there is any OPEC announcements about supply cuts or any other future planning
• General economic growth: economic growth, generally speaking, will lead to higher oil demand and should be brought up

To give you an idea for how oil futures are quoted and the diversity of oil products available, see below:

Question 3: What routine news events have a large impact on rates?

When referring to rates we mean both the overnight interest rate - set by the Fed - and rates-products generally (which include treasuries ranging up to 30 years).

Three examples of news items that can substantially move rates are as follows:

• Federal Open Market Committee meetings, which occur eight times a year at routine intervals
• Speeches from Federal Reserve board of governors and the Fed chair
• Non-Farm Payrolls – monthly stat detailing the total number of US workers, which is released on the first Friday of every month

Bloomberg Rates and Bonds is probably one of the better sources for rates-related news, if you're looking to see what is driving markets beyond the more standard, cyclical events listed above.

Tip 1: Don't Pretend You Know What You Don't

In any interview setting, it's a bad idea to try to pretend to know things that you don't really know. However, in a wealth management interview it's more than a bad idea. It can cause you to be rejected outright. 

This is because as a wealth manager you will spending the vast majority of your time speaking to either current or prospective clients. When they ask you questions, you shouldn't be giving half-true, muddled, or misleading answers under any circumstances. 

In an interview if you are asked a question you aren't entirely sure about, don't pretend to know what you don't. Instead say, "Well, I'm not entirely sure here, but the way I would try to answer it would be..."

This shows humility, honest, and integrity and will likely earn you more points than if you answered the question completely right to begin with.

Tip 2: Frame Everything In Terms of Client Service

Wealth management begins and ends with giving clients the best possible experience. As a wealth manager at JPM, you also are representing the firm to your clients. If they are happy with you, they're happy with JP Morgan. If they are not happy with you, chances are they won't be happy with JP Morgan either. 

As many answers as possible should allude to the fact that you realize that the entire job of a wealth manager revolves around communicating and working together with clients. 

Many interviewees come into an interview and give great technical answers, but fail to impress upon their interviewer that they realize how client-centric the world of wealth management is.

Conclusion

In the world of wealth management, there are few places better to begin your career than at JP Morgan.

Not only do you get access to a great brand name, you get access to a platform that will help you bring in clients who are looking for the additional expertise than can be provided by JPM's private bank offerings. 

JPM, like Goldman Sachs, also has grown our their training offerings for new and experienced wealth managers. Over the past five years they have doubled down on their desire to grow this division and the result has been significant growth in the franchise.

Further, JPM is a great choice for those looking to be outside of major population centers - like New York - but want to have a platform that can connect them to offerings smaller independent wealth managers may not be able to access.

Be sure to check out the other wealth management interview questions I've compiled, or get all the 180+ interview questions and answers I put together as part of the wealth management guide (which has been helpful to hundreds of those looking to break into the industry).

Best of luck!