Portfolio Manager Interview Questions & Answers


Portfolio Managers, also known as Investment Managers, Wealth Managers, or Asset Managers, focus on providing their clients with portfolios that are based on successful investment strategy, with the primary goal of generating a sufficient return on investment. Their clients may be individuals or institutional investors.

Whether you're a job seeker preparing to be interviewed for the role of Portfolio Manager or an employer preparing to interview candidates for Portfolio Manager position, these Portfolio Manager interview questions will help you prepare yourself for the job interview session.

Portfolio Manager Interview Questions

Below are a list of some skill-based Portfolio Manager interview questions.

  1. Tell me about your investing strategy
  2. What professional designations do you carry?
  3. How would you analyze the risk of investment method?
  4. Describe the steps you would take if you had to inform your clients about the state of their investment portfolios.
  5. How you would speak to and sign on a new client?
  6. What factors influence your investment decisions for clients?
  7. Which online tools or financial management software are you familiar with?
  8. Describe your investing strategy.
  9. Which external factors influence your strategy?
  10. You notice that one of your client investment portfolios isn’t performing as you expected. How do you inform your client of the current situation and what recommendations do you make?
  11. How do you identify investment risks? How will these risks affect your investing strategy?
  12. As a portfolio manager, what is your management style?
  13. What experience do you have when it comes to discussing our recently posted portfolio manager position?
  14. Our field is always changing. As such, what have you done with regards to personal development when it comes to a portfolio manager position in the last 12 months?
  15. What methods do you use to determine the feasibility of granting an applicant a loan?
  16. If your firm is providing risk-adjusted alpha what tools help you quantify it and for how long do you expect it to last?
  17. What is the investment process?
  18. How are products marketed?
  19. Explain the types of asset allocation
  20. What is the portfolio management process?
  21. What is the role of SEBI in portfolio management?
  22. What are the functions of SEBI?
  23. Explain the structure of SEBI.
  24. What are the types of investors?
  25. What is asset allocation?
  26. Explain rebalancing.
  27. Define the term active portfolio management.
  28. How does passive portfolio management differ from active?
  29. What is the importance of portfolio revision?
  30. Explain the common faults in revision.
  31. What is portfolio revision strategies?
  32. How would you calculate the cost of equity?
  33. What are benchmark portfolios?
  34. How do benchmark portfolios work?
  35. What are Barbelled strategies?
  36. Explain laddered strategies?
  37. What is bullet strategies?
  38. What is Sharpe ratio?
  39. What is primary market?
  40. What are financial intermediaries?
  41. Consider the Treynor-black model. the alpha of an active portfolio is 2%. the expected return on the market index is 12%. the variance of the return on the market portfolio is 4%. the nonsystematic variance of the active portfolio is 2%. what is the risk-free rate?
  42. What are the advantages of investing in a mutual fund?
  43. What do you understand by Portfolio Turnover of a fund?
  44. What are the SEBI regulations for Portfolio Managers?
  45. What are things that affect the health of a stock portfolio?
  46. Explain Equity Portfolio Management.
  47. What are the catergories of Systematic Risk?
  48. What are the catergories of Unsystematic Risk?
  49. What do you understand by Capital Asset Pricing Model?
  50. What are the components of risk?

Portfolio Manager Interview Questions and Answers

Every interview is different and the questions may vary. However, there are lots of general questions that get asked at every interview.

Below are some common questions you'd expect during Portfolio Manager interviews. Click on each question to see how to answer them.

  1. Why Do You Want To Leave Your Current Job?
  2. What is Your Greatest Strength?
  3. Tell Me About Yourself
  4. Why Do You Want This Job?
  5. Are You a Leader or a Follower?
  6. What Is Your Greatest Accomplishment?
  7. What is Your Salary Expectation?
  8. Do You Have Any Questions for Us?
  9. Why Should We Hire You?
  10. What is Your Greatest Weakness?