Managing Money for Billionaires: Kevin's Path to Private Foundations
A Career Playbook Case Study
The Role
Kevin Chang is an Investment Associate at a private foundation, where he helps manage hundreds of billions of dollars.
So what is a private foundation? "A private foundation is basically a large nonprofit institution that was put in place by usually a wealthy individual to advance some nonprofit cause. A lot of the wealthiest billionaires you've heard about over the last two centuries in the US have established large private foundations—as a way to preserve their wealth, but also give it away in a way that improves the environment, advances medical research, or advances some higher societal cause."
The investment team's job: take that donated capital and generate returns. Think of it as managing a massive bank account and using the interest to fund the foundation's mission—whether that's combating climate change or funding research.
Why is this a full-time job? "We're not talking like $1 million in someone's bank account—that can be automated. We're talking hundreds of billions of dollars that requires a full-time team. You can't just put it into one asset class. You have to diversify it, and it's so large that you need a full-time team managing on a day-to-day basis."
The Path
Education: USC, Business major
Career progression:
- Internships: Wealth management → 409A valuation (startup valuation) → Investment banking
- Full-time: Investment Associate at private foundation
Kevin's approach was intentional variety: "In my first three roles, I touched on different aspects of finance. They were all finance-related but just different aspects. I think that is really important as you're first starting out—to try out a lot of different things."
His early exposure to business came from an unusual source: "My parents would give me allowance money based on the number of Wall Street Journal articles I would read per day. So I got a lot of early exposure to the business world through that."
Compensation
Private foundations and endowments offer competitive pay with better work-life balance than investment banking.
| Level | Total Compensation |
|---|---|
| Analyst (Entry) | $150K+ all-in |
| Associate (2-3 years) | $180K-$250K |
| Manager/Director/VP | $400K-$500K |
| Senior (Private Equity comparison) | $500K-$700K+ |
Kevin notes: "The good thing about this industry is they're quite transparent with compensation. Most roles and job postings will post a range that's pretty accurate."
The tradeoff: "Compensation is usually a reflection of the work-life balance in this industry. With the higher competition at an investment bank or a private equity fund, you're probably working a significant percentage more hours per week."
What Makes Someone Good at This
"The people who are really curious and academic are people who are really great for this role. It allows you to satiate that curiosity because you have a really wide universe. It also rewards people who go out of their way and learn a lot of different things and learn how the world interacts with each other."
Day-to-day, Kevin's job is looking for investments across all shapes and sizes. Recently, his team underwrote a distressed debt manager—a private equity fund that specializes in turning around bankrupt companies (think Twinkies a decade ago).
Job Stability
This is one of the most stable paths in finance:
"I think it's very stable. These institutions are solving for diversification and they're planning to exist into perpetuity. These foundations are very long-standing and they tend to be very small teams. It's not like working at a large tech company where their workforce is expanding and contracting with the business cycle."
The flip side: "Roles tend to not come up super often because of the stability and because these roles tend to have pretty good work-life balance."
The Hidden Gem of Finance
For students who want high-paying finance careers without the brutal hours of investment banking, private foundations and endowments are the hidden gems:
- $150K+ starting salary — comparable to IB
- Better hours — not grinding 100-hour weeks
- Mission-driven work — your returns fund causes you care about
- Intellectual variety — exposure to many asset classes and investment types
- Stability — these institutions exist in perpetuity
Why USC?
Kevin is enthusiastic about his school choice: "At the end of the day, your university experience is what you make of it. But I do think as far as getting the tools and skill sets that I needed for later on in my career, the guardrails and training wheels that the program—at least within the business school—gives you to land a role if you apply yourself. I think it's all there."
He particularly valued USC's network: "Out of all the schools maybe in the world, USC has one of the strongest networks. And I think that lends itself well if you're studying business because networking is really important."
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