I don’t doubt that. If you don’t need to be the richest person on the planet (or in town) in order to feel fulfilled, then the corpfin jobs are a better risk-adjusted bet by a longshot.
I was just pointing out that the idea of “just go and get a $100-$200k 40 hour a week job and be happy with that” makes it sound a whole lot simpler and more likely to happen than it really is. The fact that being a WS BSD is even less likely to happen doesn’t change that.
If the Corpfin jobs are in your reach, though, it’s not a bad option, as long as you don’t worry about how to educate one’s children.
sometimes i can’t help but feel like i’m getting the shorter end of the stick in this industry. i have friends that work in other area besides finance and are excelling a lot better than I with less work and effort. I guess life’s unfair. I think I will pursue the CAIA and the FRM as well when I clear level 2 of this June hopefully.
I can’t control the economy and who, where, and when people hires me, but at least it’s comforting knowing that if I work hard and gain these different designations under my belt, that at least…AT LEAST…i have done what i can control, and achieved a certain level of knowledge that I can be at peace with my self even though I will never make it on wall st, but at least I’ve tried =)
CAIA will have zero value in corporate. FRM may have some value. Everyone is getting the short end of the stick in this economy though. You’re probably just considering the friends that have had success. You probably know many folks if you think hard that are completely screwed. You don’t have to worry about sleeping on the street or food right now, so you’ve got it good. Perspective my friend. Things will work out. Keep hammering away.
i’ve got a friend back in high school. not the brightest kid in the world (neither am i tho), ended up working night shift at a shipyard just carrying scrap metal for a recycler and doing loading/unloading. A year or so go, I got back in contact with him when I went to visit Virginia beach and he’s a certified welder on crewships. I was thinking ‘wow…that’s not bad.’ Talked to him yesterday and he’s a director of operations of a shipping dock now for cargo ships!
No college, No grad degree, Not a lot of stress and getting paid almost 6 figures for a 9-5 gig.
But you’re right…there are people that have it worse. Ahhh…hind-sight is 20/20 =)
^ life is never fair. In fact, a lot of success is as dumb as being in the right place at the right time. You can do things like study for the CFA which you hope will set you up to be in the right place, but of course, no guarantees
If you need a course on ALM to sound like you have the technical skills, PM me. I can probably help you understand concepts and provide some resources to read. Anyone at your stage in the CFA can perform those functions in most size institutions.
