I am in my early 30s. I did fairly well in school, majored in Economics.
The script was as follow.
1)The workaholic path. Go do internships for investment banks. Get a job there and work until 1am everyday. Then try to exit into private equity.
2) The “Intellectual Path”. Go and intern in a hedge fund and try to convert as a full time analyst. Learn value investing, security analysis and do a CFA. Hopefully you can become a portfolio manager. If you can run your own fund one dat you wll become a multi-millionaire
The problem is most of my peers can never even secure the internship, unless you have super good grades and network extensively to land the first opportunity. So most of us do a middle/back office roles in finance. Five years since we graduated most of us gave up trying to “switch”.
I was more interested in the “intellecutual path”. I couldnt get an internship in a hedge fund so I joined a Singapore bank as a mortgage banker for two years. Later on I took a pay cut to try proprietary trading in a small local firm. Its a mainly commission based role and we are only allowed to trade using the strategies developed by the founder of the firm. The problem is that in 2017 the strategies were not working and no one was making money. So many of the traders, including me left the place. The logical conclusion is to join a more established trading firm with better mentors and strategies. But times CHANGED. They don’t want people who know macro-economics or any knowledge in technical analysis. Established trading firms want people with strong programming background or advanced math degree. So we are useless to them.
What do I do next? Go do a STEM PHD to get a better trading job in finance? Thats INSANE. I still have a very good buddy struggling with the script. He was doing a compliance job in a bank until 8pm everyday and meanwhile studying CFA on weekday nights and weekends. Thats 80 hours of hard work per week HOPING for a better future. That’s insane.
I came to realise that if we have to work our asses off it would be better working for ourselves-run a business or be self-employed. The script does not work and it was based on tales with survivorship bias. There is nothing sexy about my motivation for entrepreneurship. The script was obviously broken. You cannot work for a company that does not want you or need you. Period. Better to spend time hustling for myself than to hustle for a hope to get a better job on a “career path”.
Internet business? Not my cup of tea. I evaluated my experience and strength objectively and decided to go self-employed as a financial consultant. I have decent network to tap on. I am currently tied to the biggest insurer in Singapore.
All that was what happened before I know about the fast-lane. Now I am here.
The script was as follow.
1)The workaholic path. Go do internships for investment banks. Get a job there and work until 1am everyday. Then try to exit into private equity.
2) The “Intellectual Path”. Go and intern in a hedge fund and try to convert as a full time analyst. Learn value investing, security analysis and do a CFA. Hopefully you can become a portfolio manager. If you can run your own fund one dat you wll become a multi-millionaire
The problem is most of my peers can never even secure the internship, unless you have super good grades and network extensively to land the first opportunity. So most of us do a middle/back office roles in finance. Five years since we graduated most of us gave up trying to “switch”.
I was more interested in the “intellecutual path”. I couldnt get an internship in a hedge fund so I joined a Singapore bank as a mortgage banker for two years. Later on I took a pay cut to try proprietary trading in a small local firm. Its a mainly commission based role and we are only allowed to trade using the strategies developed by the founder of the firm. The problem is that in 2017 the strategies were not working and no one was making money. So many of the traders, including me left the place. The logical conclusion is to join a more established trading firm with better mentors and strategies. But times CHANGED. They don’t want people who know macro-economics or any knowledge in technical analysis. Established trading firms want people with strong programming background or advanced math degree. So we are useless to them.
What do I do next? Go do a STEM PHD to get a better trading job in finance? Thats INSANE. I still have a very good buddy struggling with the script. He was doing a compliance job in a bank until 8pm everyday and meanwhile studying CFA on weekday nights and weekends. Thats 80 hours of hard work per week HOPING for a better future. That’s insane.
I came to realise that if we have to work our asses off it would be better working for ourselves-run a business or be self-employed. The script does not work and it was based on tales with survivorship bias. There is nothing sexy about my motivation for entrepreneurship. The script was obviously broken. You cannot work for a company that does not want you or need you. Period. Better to spend time hustling for myself than to hustle for a hope to get a better job on a “career path”.
Internet business? Not my cup of tea. I evaluated my experience and strength objectively and decided to go self-employed as a financial consultant. I have decent network to tap on. I am currently tied to the biggest insurer in Singapore.
All that was what happened before I know about the fast-lane. Now I am here.
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