Advice for Undergraduates

[albo]

I like making music more than doing math equations and reading the Wall Street Journal. Are you saying that I shouldn't work in math/finance and just make music instead?

It pisses me off when people say "money's not important, do what you love". Get real. If you genuinely love finance and would happily spend 100 hours/week staring at Excel and editing Powerpoint slides for $40k/year and no bonus, then that's great for you. But for the rest of us, money does have an impact on what sort of job we're willing to work.

There's nothing wrong with greed. Without it, we'd have a lot less entrepreneurs and innovators in this world.

One last thing: You're a sophomore in college. No offense but you're not really in a position to be giving out career advice to undergraduates.

First of all, I'm not trying to persuade anyone that my ideas are absolutely right. I'm just expressing my opinions on how things should be, from my point of view. From what you wrote, it looks to me that we have very different ideas about the job industry. If you think you will spend the rest of your life staring at Excel and editing Powerpoint slides, maybe you are in the wrong field. I suggest you consider doing accounting, where you get paid much better for doing the same thing.
Second, I think you didn't totally understand my point of view on greed. The greed I'm talking about, is the one that brings markets and companies down, the one that causes thousands of workers to be unemployed. Entrepreneurial initiatives and innovation have positive impacts on today's world, and it is those two things that can really make the markets better. We all know about Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, who were anything but greedy, and still did impressive things. An example of a famous and rational investor, that strictly follows the fundamentals of the markets, is Warren Buffett. He has the power to make or brake a market with a click of the mouse, but still we all know that his investing practices are very rational and not speculative at all.
Third, although I'm a sophomore, I don't think you know me well enough to make a judgement on whether I'm able to give advice to Undergraduates or not. Sometimes, a few words that come from a pure mind can change the world.

 

[WushiX]

From what you wrote, it looks to me that we have very different ideas about the job industry. If you think you will spend the rest of your life staring at Excel and editing Powerpoint slides, maybe you are in the wrong field. I suggest you consider doing accounting, where you get paid much better for doing the same thing.

I was referring to investment banking, which obviously is completely different from quantitative finance but is still in the same industry. Although it's romantic to claim that one shouldn't pursue investment banking if they don't love it, the fact of the matter is that nobody likes working 100 hours per week and doing bitch work. The reason people do it is because of the money and exit ops. To claim that one therefore shouldn't go into investment banking because they don't love the work is utterly ridiculous. (for the record: I have no interest in investment banking, just wanted to illustrate a point.)

My advice for all the Undergraduates doing Finance out there, is that they should slow down and carefully analyze what they really want, and how they can best achieve it.

I agree.

In this times of economic downturn, the markets don't need people that are driven by greed.

It's this that makes me facepalm. There are tons of entrepreneurs who've created businesses that've change the world. A huge portion of them were motivated by dreams of getting rich and selling their businesses or going public, ie. greed. There's nothing wrong with that! That greed is what helps drive them to create these businesses and innovate.

The greed I'm talking about, is the one that brings markets and companies down, the one that causes thousands of workers to be unemployed.

If you're talking about the type of greed exhibited by some trader who takes on an unwarranted and excessive amount of risk that could potentially devastate his firm and shareholders solely for the hope that he'll get a large bonus, then yeah I agree with you.

 

[bigbadwolf]

Her theory of Concepts seems to be based on Frege's (rigid) Attributes. This might explain the one-dimensional characters in her novel.

She created one-dimensional characters because she couldn't write worth a damn and they served merely as the mouthpieces of her half-baked ideas. Her psychopathic conception of society antecedes pearls of wisdom like Ivan Boesky's/Gordon Gekko's statement that "greed is good."

Societies running on greed don't remain societies: real societies demand some form of social contract where there's some measure of trust and altruism, some measure of give and take, in contrast to a state of affairs where only commercial transactions dominate. A place where commercial transactions dominate is one where an ambulance service will charge you upwards of a thousand dollars to take you to a hospital, a hospital bed will set you back a few thousand every day, and "love" can be bought by the half-hour by phoning an escort agency.

 

[Anthony DeAngelis]

One could argue that altruism is self serving. The person giving has excess resources and the utility they receive by giving outweighs what they would receive from purchasing a good or service. People give to different charities and for different reasons, but always out of a personal decision.

Human beings should seek to maximize their self interest. When this happens humans will naturally donate or help others. It is because were are social animals. I think whenever people start grand standing for Rand they forget that we are a compassionate species.