2011 - Still in NYC now a 3rd year associate in Structured Equity Finance with one of the bulges.
I moved banks once, this is harder than it looks. Don't underestimate the contacts you build up in banking rotational programs and in your first 2 years.
People have moved around like mad! MBA's really do change jobs. Bankers and consultants running normal firms, etc. Now you know why its a general management degree.
My class of '08 Cluster contacts are beginning to leave NYC and disperse round the country. Invest time in touching base or other networks. Write to guys who leave your team in a bank, touch base with your old work places, don't coast. Some merger of personal and work life (which as an Asian I still recoil from) is enevitable.
On the whole people doing well. Some more self-questioning on what return they got on b-school if they weren't career changers , but I suspect this is "grass is greener" stuff and confuses the effects of post-crisis economics with the MBA. The guys who went back to thriving economies (Asia) seem OK.
Green card processes in the US now suck (Thanks Obama! Change!). I know Indians with awesome experience transferring to Asia solely for this reason. At the same, time banks worldwide are shifting more and more middle office out of US and Europe to Asia. So we'll get to find out in a few years if the government has defended jobs Americans want or moved more industries offshore.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
An alternative view
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/19213.html
This guy has a more moderate view on the last week, but the bottom line is that 'message control' may be something Congress and Obama should learn.
This guy has a more moderate view on the last week, but the bottom line is that 'message control' may be something Congress and Obama should learn.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Coolest Toy!
http://www.toywhimsy.com/2009/02/duck-hunt-by-interactive-toy-concepts-toy-fair-2009.html
Got to admit, toys are getting better every day....
Got to admit, toys are getting better every day....
The Extreme Right- Making Sense??????
http://www.ibdeditorial.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=320027936229029
Its a far right viewpoint, but its hard to argue the market isn't pricing in the impact of Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and a President who's not about to veto their stunts.
Dow at 7100's. Low since 1997.......
http://news.aol.com/newsbloggers/2008/06/18/is-obama-the-new-jimmy-carter/
This guy made some observations in '08 that in hind sight look pretty smart.
Its a far right viewpoint, but its hard to argue the market isn't pricing in the impact of Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and a President who's not about to veto their stunts.
Dow at 7100's. Low since 1997.......
http://news.aol.com/newsbloggers/2008/06/18/is-obama-the-new-jimmy-carter/
This guy made some observations in '08 that in hind sight look pretty smart.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Economics and Destiny
I have a few links I recommend on macro-economics and general reading.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123423402552366409.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123447506782479249.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123423402552366409.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123447506782479249.html
Graduation And More
I haven't posted in almost a year.
So since then what has happened to the class of'08?
May was graduation. A wonderful bittersweet experience. For someone who moved to NY for school and subsequently signed with a NY office of a bank, it was kind of a shock to see how much of my social network had become CBS contacts. I kept up with some Mercer people in Asia but not much beyond that. Although, there was a pretty strong defection to AON in Singapore benefit/HR consulting for Mercer so some of my contacts are there.
I headed into the bank for a 6 month rotational program. 1.5 months was classroom training (on swaps, derivatives, securitization, currency) and networking. 4.5 months was leave and on the job rotations in 4 desks one of which I joined. For those familiar with finance, I am in Global Prime Finance.
The placement process for a bank rotational program is worthy of a lot of discussion but is largely bank-specific. I'll just say that its a test in itself. As it should be in a Credit Crisis.
The Credit Crisis has been in full-force during my rotations. I was on an Emerging Markets desk when Argentina decided to nationalize its pension funds. So its been a harrowing experience to say the least and at the same time, incredible learning.
I'll just say from the viewpoint of a Sales and Trading hire that my view on the important skills at b-school may have shifted a little:
Accounting and Corporate Finance: This is more important than you think. Credit was heavily impacted in'08 so there weren't a lot of spots but these skills are core to Credit. Credit is an art not a science, but to get started it doesn't take a lot more (in some cases less) than the corporate finance we do at b-school. The trick is applying it with a degree of focus and specialization (High-yield vs investment grade or industry specialization) and getting the right opportunity when you start.
Networking, Marketing and Sales: This is incredibly important. The crazy networking and self-promotion you learn in b-school and recruiting is in my view a key differentiator for you in your career in an investment bank. Its integral to Sales and client relationships which are a part of almost all banking careers. Its integral to Trading because the initial challenge is to fit into the desk and learn from your peers and superiors.
Quantitative Finance: By this, I mean derivative modelling, gaussian copulas, arbitrage pricing theory, delivery options and all the other fun stuff. I focused a lot on this in school because I liked to know. However I have found in actual working life that this stuff matters less than you think.
The stuff is good for building serious Excel skills and more importantly Visual Basic for Applications. Why VBA as opposed to C++, Python or Matlab? Because its to late for you to acquire anything else if you don't already know it by the time you hit b-school.
A true Quant in wall-street is typically a PhD and usually a financial programmer of some kind with more than the normal communication skills. These are rare so there will always be room for MBA's.
An MBA with structured thinking and who knows at least one coding language is a significantly better communicator with IT and Quant people than anMBA who has never tried the hard stuff. Communicating with technical people is something that you will do a lot of. Whether you are trying to teach them something you've observed from your front-line client contact or learn something from them, this stuff can make or break a career.
Its also useful for preparing your brain for the kind of learning we do in Wall Street. You tend to be a specialized user of quant finance when working. You learn what you need to learn from a seminar by a Quant or some Research dude who is paid to be a full time thinker then apply it to your clients or your trades. Some of the nerdier markets people will read the odd academic paper. No one has the time to do development of pricing theory from first principles and that stuff is often done by published academics on consulting contracts working with PhD's anyway.
So the b-school experience of learning a little of a difficult concept without all the math is quite relevant.
No matter how much math you have, you will at some point have to learn from someone who knows math you don't know. Even if at the start of your career you are up to speed, you will eventually become a manager, salesman or trader and find that the time involved there conflicts with the time needed to be on or beyond the 'cutting edge'. At some point in the careers of financial greats like Soros, Buffett or Lynch - someone else runs the numbers.
Good luck to all current MBA candidates and applicants. As of Feb '09, its rough waters out there. I don't regret any of it.
So since then what has happened to the class of'08?
May was graduation. A wonderful bittersweet experience. For someone who moved to NY for school and subsequently signed with a NY office of a bank, it was kind of a shock to see how much of my social network had become CBS contacts. I kept up with some Mercer people in Asia but not much beyond that. Although, there was a pretty strong defection to AON in Singapore benefit/HR consulting for Mercer so some of my contacts are there.
I headed into the bank for a 6 month rotational program. 1.5 months was classroom training (on swaps, derivatives, securitization, currency) and networking. 4.5 months was leave and on the job rotations in 4 desks one of which I joined. For those familiar with finance, I am in Global Prime Finance.
The placement process for a bank rotational program is worthy of a lot of discussion but is largely bank-specific. I'll just say that its a test in itself. As it should be in a Credit Crisis.
The Credit Crisis has been in full-force during my rotations. I was on an Emerging Markets desk when Argentina decided to nationalize its pension funds. So its been a harrowing experience to say the least and at the same time, incredible learning.
I'll just say from the viewpoint of a Sales and Trading hire that my view on the important skills at b-school may have shifted a little:
Accounting and Corporate Finance: This is more important than you think. Credit was heavily impacted in'08 so there weren't a lot of spots but these skills are core to Credit. Credit is an art not a science, but to get started it doesn't take a lot more (in some cases less) than the corporate finance we do at b-school. The trick is applying it with a degree of focus and specialization (High-yield vs investment grade or industry specialization) and getting the right opportunity when you start.
Networking, Marketing and Sales: This is incredibly important. The crazy networking and self-promotion you learn in b-school and recruiting is in my view a key differentiator for you in your career in an investment bank. Its integral to Sales and client relationships which are a part of almost all banking careers. Its integral to Trading because the initial challenge is to fit into the desk and learn from your peers and superiors.
Quantitative Finance: By this, I mean derivative modelling, gaussian copulas, arbitrage pricing theory, delivery options and all the other fun stuff. I focused a lot on this in school because I liked to know. However I have found in actual working life that this stuff matters less than you think.
The stuff is good for building serious Excel skills and more importantly Visual Basic for Applications. Why VBA as opposed to C++, Python or Matlab? Because its to late for you to acquire anything else if you don't already know it by the time you hit b-school.
A true Quant in wall-street is typically a PhD and usually a financial programmer of some kind with more than the normal communication skills. These are rare so there will always be room for MBA's.
An MBA with structured thinking and who knows at least one coding language is a significantly better communicator with IT and Quant people than anMBA who has never tried the hard stuff. Communicating with technical people is something that you will do a lot of. Whether you are trying to teach them something you've observed from your front-line client contact or learn something from them, this stuff can make or break a career.
Its also useful for preparing your brain for the kind of learning we do in Wall Street. You tend to be a specialized user of quant finance when working. You learn what you need to learn from a seminar by a Quant or some Research dude who is paid to be a full time thinker then apply it to your clients or your trades. Some of the nerdier markets people will read the odd academic paper. No one has the time to do development of pricing theory from first principles and that stuff is often done by published academics on consulting contracts working with PhD's anyway.
So the b-school experience of learning a little of a difficult concept without all the math is quite relevant.
No matter how much math you have, you will at some point have to learn from someone who knows math you don't know. Even if at the start of your career you are up to speed, you will eventually become a manager, salesman or trader and find that the time involved there conflicts with the time needed to be on or beyond the 'cutting edge'. At some point in the careers of financial greats like Soros, Buffett or Lynch - someone else runs the numbers.
Good luck to all current MBA candidates and applicants. As of Feb '09, its rough waters out there. I don't regret any of it.
Friday, February 22, 2008
More Stock Picks: Bon-Ton Stores BONT
Before I put this pick out there, I should note my last pick done for the Securities Analysis class was a concrete manufacturer which took some damage from the whole housing crisis. I was right on my view for the next quarter's earnings and its impact on share price but was very, very wrong on the longer horizon.
This pick is one I did for the Seminar In Value Investing class. Its a great book and done from the Value Investing viewpoint as taught by Professor Bruce Greenwald at CBS.
They tell you in Value Investing to write down your views and track them to protect yourself from hubris. Releasing them to cyberspace should be even more effective. My pick:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df9wrf5s_52g8sktfg5
The Yahoo Finance link (for your own research):
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