Thanks for opening my topic thread. Now that I have your attention I would like your opinion on a certain matter. I’m trying to understand my direction through the strange world of finance (and, oh, what a strange world it is).
I’ve been fascinated by finance and economics since I was in elementary school (being, at the time, concerned with topics like inflation and EPS data). I remember picking up the Wall Street journal and actually reading it, even if I didn’t understand much. I wanted to understand.
I graduated with a BA in Economics (Minors in Mathematics and Business Administration) into a market that was just hearing about the collapse of Lehman Brothers. No one wanted to take chances on graduates of non-elite schools. So, I did what I needed to do: I worked at a grocery store to pay rent and eat dinner. Since then I had been trying to break into finance. Now I’m here and I’m as confused as ever. I work on the buyside as an assistant to some financial planners and am currently studying for my CFA, CAIA and CFP exams as well as taking the GMAT. I am doing very well (if not excellent) at all these study programs despite doing them at the same time. The quandary I have is that I am not sure that I ever want to be a salesman for anything, at least not on the retail level. My mother has always affectionately described me as a nerd with a graphing calculator and a strange interest in numbers. Particularly numbers with dollar signs in front of them. What does an analyst do? How different is it from filing out forms and telling people what you think they should buy? How challenging are sellside careers? Is it worth dropping the CFP if I plan on doing analysis (or maybe something else) after my MBA? Is the job fun or even worthwhile? What other possibilities are there for a finance-addicted nerd that he may not know about because he’s new to the industry? I’m curious to know what it’s like on the other sides of the industry. That said, I don’t particularly like jobs were the goal is networking, socializing, playing golf, making the sale, and maybe learning what a CDO is in thirty years when they blow up in my portfolio and I’m stuck holding an empty bag for senior citizens on a fixed income.
You seem like you might be a young kid, so here is some advice:
I don’t know you, but you seem to have an attitude problem when you bitched out dwheats. No, I don’t really care what happened but getting so defensive after one point of criticism makes you look entitled and hard to work with. I would recommend you learn how to be humble and appreciate every thing you have. That is far more fulfilling than a finance job.
So you graduated in 2008/9. So i’m guessing you are 27-28 now? You should of started with the CFA program earlier. You’re still relatively young so there is still time for career change.
To be brutally honest, good finance jobs are tough to get into. The job market is filled with qualified candidates who are willing to work for cheap. While there has been a bounce back in jobs, I don’t think we’ll see the job growth that we saw in the 80s/90s and early 00s. _ Don’t expect an easy transition. _
But there is still hope. Did you crush all your undergraduate math courses? If so, why not become an actuary? The career path is relatively straightforward, and an FSA/CFA combo makes an easy transition into ALM and Fixed Income.
Thanks for the comments. Not sure why I never went down the actuary route. Probably because it was the CFA program that got me interested at all in statistics. I always found statistics as too “scientific” for me. Advanced mathematics such as Differential Equations were pure and theoretical. Much more interesting at least at the time.
As far as the comments earlier to that other individual’s rude comments, I don’t like people who go out of their way to insult anyone. If I insult you in response, that’s just my way of punching back. I don’t run around forums and troll people and I don’t expect that behavior on my topics. Comment nicely or don’t.
As far as being humble and appreciative of what I have, I am more than you could ever imagine but I also don’t let people walk all over me. Especially when I’m trying to open up a bit. That’s what’s screwed up with this world. A guy asks for advice, opens himself up to criticism, and in comes dwheats to make sure you know that dreams don’t come true and everyone really is a jerk.
Bromion is a respected member of this community and he sounded like he was going to help you out. Even if he wasn’t a respected member, you should of atleast summerize your question for him and thank him for offering his help.
Not many people will help you in life, especially on an internet forum. As you seen, its much easier to get trolled, so when you get some help, show some gratitude.
On a related note - more and more financial advisor firms are handling the asset allocation of client’s portfolios by trading etfs and mutual funds. I can see you heading down that line if you have some quant and programming skills combined with the CFA/CAIA/CFP. Not the most glamorous but its pretty interesting in my book.
I don’t really care about this guy. He’s not going to go anywhere in the industry with that kind of attitude.
Let me summarize for you The Silver Bull (since we’re skimming and summarizing here): You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. No one else in finance cares whether you succeed or fail.
Ok… I’ll play ball. But only because I’m bored and rocking out to some Spotify. Also I get your pain, I graduated in 2010 into a market that was just dead for finance jobs.
IMO, retail CFP is BS. You’ll be a lackey for the guys that make the money, and even then they’re not doing true “buy side” stuff. I’d drop the CFP, personally.
MBA will only be worth it if your GMAT is good enough to get into a really good school. Otherwise not worth your time and money.
I’m not going to sugar coat it, you’re in a bit of a tough spot. You’re young enough to career change, but getting into that new role may be tough.
Just as an anecdote, one of my good friends just left a small RIA where he was basically a CFP (without the CFP) and they ran mostly small accounts, $100k-500k all invested into the same basket of stocks. He left to become an insurance salesman. Not sure what that says to you, but it tells me the retail gig is not where you want to be.
You actually wanted me to write out my questions again? You are wholly mistaken. I’m not sure if you have people throwing themselves at your feet for a chance to jerk you off but I don’t eat shit like those douchebags. I’d like you feedback but if you’re going to be an asshole about it then you can go to hell.
And I’ll make it, don’t you worry. I don’t need your approval to achieve success either. If no one will help light the way I’ll torch the path myself.
You actually wanted me to write out my questions again? You are wholly mistaken. I’m not sure if you have people throwing themselves at your feet. I’d like you feedback but if you’re going to be an a-hole about it then you can go to hell.
And I’ll make it, don’t you worry. I don’t need your approval to achieve success either. If no one will help light the way I’ll torch the path myself.
Imagine if you were homeless and had to beg outside.
Somebody threw you a dollar but it missed your cup.
Are you going to tell the dude to put the dollar in the cup properly? Or will you pick it up and say thank you?
If you read this forum you can tell that Bromion, and many others, consistently provide valuable input on their investment process, thesis, and general support for members on this forum. From their sheer number of posts, you can tell that they spent a lot of time doing something that they don’t have too.
Anyways, go watch Funny People, its a great movie and it teaches alot about life.
Having an “ideal” career is way over rated anyways because it isn’t real, much like the perfect women.