PhD in financial mathematics compared to masters This may not be a suitable question for this but I wanted to seek some advice from some of you out there. I came into Florida State University as a PhD student in Financial Mathematics and I am finishing my second year here. I passed my qualification exams and started exploring in areas of Monte Carlo simulation for pricing American options. Although, I have considered putting my PhD on hold and getting some work experience within the field of Quantitative Finance, but I do not have any work experience.

I talked to the director here and he said that I could come back and finish my PhD after if I desired to get some work experience. I am wondering what the difference is in applying as a PhD student or applying as a Masters student since from what I was told working for a 3-5 years coming out of the Masters program would make you just as prepared as a PhD student coming in to the job market depending of course on the experience you get.

Is a PhD really necessary to get a job in the quantitative finance field? Or is a Masters with PhD level training good enough? 

I am interested in what you all think. Any comments are greatly appreciated.
From my math profs that have done some pioneering work in the field:

1) back in the days, PhD was required because there weren't MFEs around.  now the PhD is no longer viewed as a "requirement" and many mfe's get hired for roles that used to require a PhD.

2) having said (1), the PhD trains you for a research position in quant-finance.  The MFE will not.  So, different skill sets and different career paths.  Which do you want?  Research / PhD roles, not as many exist today, are very hard to get.  FSU PhD may not open many doors for you to top quant shops or top banks - check this, though.  MFE + programming may be better for you to land at a top place to do quant finance.

3) whatever you do, try to train in lots of numerical methods.  apparently people move up very fast (managing director or similar) because there just aren't enough strong math people in quant-finance.  For instance a prof told me that tons and tons of people at Top Investment Bank X can't actually use optimization correctly.  Strongest math talent go elsewhere - primarily somewhere in academia, so if you claim you're strong in math, you could move up fast.  

4) from a head trader on an algorithm trading desk: having interviewed thousands of candidates, he says that there is a stigma attached to PhD candidates, and they are screened, interviewed and assessed more carefully to find out whether he or she even has any relevant skills aside from his PhD thesis work.  

5) MFE programs usually have recruitment / networking opportunities 

That's all :)