Advice Please
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: May 2006
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From: orange county, CA
german
Advice Please
I will be graduating from college in december with a math degree specializing in statistics and a minor in managment.
I dont even know where to start? I've looked into becoming an actuarist, a financial advisor, and an accountant. The financial advisor was most appealing to me, however, even though i feel i can succeed at anything, ive been told it is close to impossible to be an FA at my age.
If there is anything you all can comment on, whether on these careers or any other ideas, I would greatly appreciate the feedback.
I am making this thread because I want to ask for advice, ideas and opinions from the experienced, not decisions on my life. Thank you.
Feel free to PM me if you like.
I dont even know where to start? I've looked into becoming an actuarist, a financial advisor, and an accountant. The financial advisor was most appealing to me, however, even though i feel i can succeed at anything, ive been told it is close to impossible to be an FA at my age.
If there is anything you all can comment on, whether on these careers or any other ideas, I would greatly appreciate the feedback.
I am making this thread because I want to ask for advice, ideas and opinions from the experienced, not decisions on my life. Thank you.
Feel free to PM me if you like.
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I'm an F/A and also a General Securities Principal. My advice to you is, if you happen to have many very close relationships with people of real affluence and/or family members that are CPA's Attorneys etc and you truly have a keen intuition for the global markets then by all means go for it. You'll need at least $10mm under active management within the first few years if you want to succeed initially. You should also have a goal of at least $25mm+ in a.u.m. by your fifth year. I would also recommend starting with one of the top 5 largest firms for training. Before you accept any position get the Branch Manager's assurance he will place you in a team with older and successful F/A's where you will at least have a fighting chance. Retail Wall Street is a tough business and takes many years of hard work, integrity, knowledge and sometimes luck to succeed. Hope this helps and I wish you the very best with your endeavors.
Last edited by RJC; Jun 10, 2006 at 07:09 PM.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 35
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From: orange county, CA
german
RJC, thank you for your advice, I sent you a PM for some questions I wanted to ask regarding a career in financial advising.
keep them coming guys, any advice from your experiences would be great.
keep them coming guys, any advice from your experiences would be great.
MBWorld Fanatic!
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Are you graduating from bachelor's or master's degree?
If you know statistics, optimization, etc., there are a lot more fields than the one you mentioned... but mostly require master's or PhD.
financial service (credit cards, retail banking), insurance (auto, life, home), health care, biotech, telecommunication (wireless, etc.), casino (no kidding... they need it), advertising, etc.
I'm particularly in financial service.... dealing with bunch of numbers to act as a fortune teller of the company...
If you know statistics, optimization, etc., there are a lot more fields than the one you mentioned... but mostly require master's or PhD.
financial service (credit cards, retail banking), insurance (auto, life, home), health care, biotech, telecommunication (wireless, etc.), casino (no kidding... they need it), advertising, etc.
I'm particularly in financial service.... dealing with bunch of numbers to act as a fortune teller of the company...
MBWorld Fanatic!
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From: London, UK
No longer stock '06 E55, A3 3.2 Quattro, GLE 400d, R107 280SL, Golf Polo
Financial markets is a great field ... but pick the particular area based on your risk appetite and emotional bias... i.e. can you deal with stress well (trader / structurung) ? are you a good communicator (sales) ? etc... work towards your strength, but above all consider the options and pick one which you either have a passion for - or a field where you believe you can develop one.
No point do the "right" job if u hate every day.
FA is fantastic but at first you need contacts and investment banking is a great place to learn the financial market ropes & establish a good network. Often successfull FA's come from more "mature" (ie. read experienced) bankers who were involved in a sales or trading role at some point in their careers. Also consider a professional qualification like CFA.
Best of luck ...
No point do the "right" job if u hate every day.
FA is fantastic but at first you need contacts and investment banking is a great place to learn the financial market ropes & establish a good network. Often successfull FA's come from more "mature" (ie. read experienced) bankers who were involved in a sales or trading role at some point in their careers. Also consider a professional qualification like CFA.
Best of luck ...
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Don't forget to test the Insurance waters. Remember, everybody needs insurance so that field has a built in pipeline of business. If you understand actuarial math, you may look to exploit that talent. A great actuary is worth his/her weight in gold to an insurance company. The entry barrier is also not as difficult as some of the other finance related businesses.
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Originally Posted by bronxballer
I will be graduating from college in december with a math degree specializing in statistics and a minor in managment.
I dont even know where to start? I've looked into becoming an actuarist, a financial advisor, and an accountant. The financial advisor was most appealing to me, however, even though i feel i can succeed at anything, ive been told it is close to impossible to be an FA at my age.
If there is anything you all can comment on, whether on these careers or any other ideas, I would greatly appreciate the feedback.
I am making this thread because I want to ask for advice, ideas and opinions from the experienced, not decisions on my life. Thank you.
Feel free to PM me if you like.
I dont even know where to start? I've looked into becoming an actuarist, a financial advisor, and an accountant. The financial advisor was most appealing to me, however, even though i feel i can succeed at anything, ive been told it is close to impossible to be an FA at my age.
If there is anything you all can comment on, whether on these careers or any other ideas, I would greatly appreciate the feedback.
I am making this thread because I want to ask for advice, ideas and opinions from the experienced, not decisions on my life. Thank you.
Feel free to PM me if you like.
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Member
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From: Southern California
2003 E55
Funny how I was in your shoes not long ago. Started off as an FA with a top firm, got all my licenses and focused on fee-based asset management. I felt like it was the perfect career choice for me being that I had a huge network of affluent executives, business owners and ceo's, both through friends and family. But like you mentioned, age is an uncompromising factor when you are in this business. I decided that it wasn't the right time for me to excel at my full potential in this biz, but realized that as long as I keep my network close I can always come back to it when I have grey hairs. I decided to go for the Investment Banking industry where in the early years you're not necessarily frowned upon for lack of age or experience. Rather they want to use your brain and vitality to endure working 80 hour weeks. And the interviews...omg, they are grueling and draining. Completely different from your sales or FA type interviews. Know your financial statements, statistics, accounting, farma french model, capm, dcf blah blah you get the idea. Well after paying my dues I found myself doing okay as an analyst on the sell side of mergers & acquisitions. And believe me when I say "paying my dues" because you won't have a life for a few years. But if you want to be 28 years young and privileged enough to drive the beast home everyday you will need to pay your dues! I would say that right now the job market for finance is in much better shape than when I was looking in 2000. If you prep right for your interviews you should be able to nail a job in IB somewhere. Good luck and happy sailing!
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 35
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From: orange county, CA
german
david great post man.. do you plan on going to financial planning pretty soon or are you gonna give it some more time? or just stay in IB because that is a pretty damn good field also.
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Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 169
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From: Southern California
2003 E55
I think I'm going to stick with IB for a while. It'll let me establish some good institutional contacts all the while gain experience that I wouldn't otherwise have in just retail financial services. Or until this industry burns me out..because it is indeed as cuthroat as they say it is.
