As always a very glass is ½ full kind of dribble from a lot of people <40 who have been conditioned to just see the world as a big blue happy marble. QUOTE]
Rossi
I loved this analogy. Your post was longer than many of my term papers, (written before word processors were invented) but it was interesting and thought provoking.
I'd be curious to know when you were graduated, and what was your major that prepared you for a career as a Money manager?
BTW Thanks for taken care of so many Co-Ops. Hopefully you'll get some permanent employees from the group. For those of us interested in things other than Hockey, what has been your experience in this area? Are they Business majors or do they come from other areas. Personally, I'm still getting used to being described as a "DMSB" (D'Amore McKim School of Business) after so many years of being abbreviated as BA or CBA.
Thanks,
I was first and foremost a hockey player but in 3 years as a DIV 3 transfer, I never played in game or even suited up, but gave 100% in every practice and did my in job supporting the team and Fern and did whatever was asked of me.
I was a dual major Political Science and Economics with a minor in History graduating a proud Husky in the very late 1980's, I did all of my initial co-ops at John Hancock Life initially working indirectly for a new VP who was hired to change the brand and marketing of that company in 1984. He later went on to become the CFO, I became a co-op at a time when many NU co-ops were afforded the opportunity to work in finance regardless of major if they had aptitude, recommendations and the grades. It was also a time when better placements were divided out based on your performance, period. Example: top Engineers were at places like Thermo Electron, Boise, Wang and Apollo Computer and the more marginal ones might be working for the MBTA or Radio Shack.
When not on co-op I worked nights on the now defunct Boston Exchange at night as s a pink sheet trader working for many of the firms that later went belly up in the 1990’s, including those sensationalized in the media and press and I had 1st hand dealings with many of the most unsavory characters that were created by the lax regulation of the 1980’s. Upon graduation, I moved form Mission Hill to Kenmore Square and attended BU Graduate School of Management (day school) and received both an MPA (MET) and MBA with a concentration in government finance.
I continued at JH but in their funds group at 101 Huntington. After my graduate education, I worked as an Analyst with responsibility for trading JH Regional Bank Fund, later I went to work at a few hedge funds in Fairfield County but returned to Boston after few years, I worked in various roles with several trustees and Boston based money mangers over the next decade and now work as a Consultant and RIA to the retirement community and TPA’s with an emphasis on health/welfare, pension funds and endowments primarily for educational and not for profit organizations (hospitals and health service organizations) and most recently have worked as a expert witness for the FCU (Financial Crimes Unit) for the US Dept. of Justice. I obtained several industry designations that are in my opinion far more valuable in my direct day to day work than any of my knowledge gained in my graduate education including several NASD lic’s a C.F.P., CLU, CEBS and most importantly a CFA. However, I will always value those NU undergraduate degrees and experiences substantially, as the school and my program of study taught me how to think, organize my thoughts and delegate work. I was asked to read and write extensively in these undergraduate programs and I believe it to be the basis of the development of my ability to do analysis. any one can plug the numbers into the formula it's interpreting the results and being able to convey those results to a layman with deep pockets that make the difference, statistically the NU I attended was a fairly easy place to get into, and conversely it was an equally as difficult a place to get out of, with unreal attrition rates in some programs that neared 70% in 1985 it had nearly 60k students and you were a number and you had better find a way on your own because nobody was going to help you, just registering for your classes took initiative and innate ability. LOL!
So, "Yes", statistically today most of the students we have are limited by strict corp. regulations that seem to allow only the most obvious majors, which I think is quite short sided but a companies today seem to have less time for development and risk, that said however, some of todays students are quite stellar, and as a whole perfoam as well or better collectively than the odd lot of kids that I came up with, but I really long for the days when my co-ops test standardized test scores were perhaps more moderate but their desire and tenacity to make a profit was not marginalized by learned passive behaviors spawned in an educational system that makes them fearful of making mistakes and giving incorrect answers in a world in which they believe the results of the efforts of your labor should all be divvied out equally. Your life and work results are not guaranteed and its not the job of your government or your employer to level the playing field that's your job as a human being in Darwin's world!
