BSchool and Corporate Rants

Job Hunt Update

2007-04-19T10:37:00.000-05:00

As this blog and b-school wind down, I thought a final post regarding employment would be important.

It was a difficult decision, and I had several opportunities to consider...but I took a buy-side research analyst job with Victory Capital Management - the asset management branch of Keybank. This means that of all places to relocate to, the Fiancee and I are moving to the Cleveland, OH area. If any of you are there or headed there, feel free to drop a line.

I've enjoyed writing over the past two years, but it is time to move on to the next chapters - namely employment, marriage, and hitting 30. Time to get a dog...

I'm outta here.

I jinxed it...

2007-02-20T21:09:00.000-06:00

I knew we wouldn't last long up there at #1. Few do. Good game Sparty. Go Bucky!

The Man

2007-02-20T10:17:00.000-06:00

We're ranked #1!!!!!

2007-02-19T21:21:00.000-06:00

In hoops, not MBA rankings. Wisconsin (aka Wisky, aka Sconnie, aka Bucky, aka Madtown) has the #1 team in the land in the AP poll. The [assistant] coaches poll still ranks us #2. No matter...we play OSU on Sunday after playing MSU tomorrow. It's going to be tough to win these games on the road, but Go Bucky! First #1 in history...

In another note, I am not sure if I mentioned on my blog that Bo Ryan talked to the MBA class last semester about leadership. It's always interesting to listen to non-business people that have the special knack for public speaking in a way that no business person can. It's clear that what these coaches deal with - the big business of alumni, recruiting, ESPN and the wonderful sports media are awfully challenging.

Job Hunt Update

2006-12-10T21:21:00.000-06:00

I don't know when Business Week does its survey of MBA job hunting or whatever clever title they give it. I can tell you this - this year is strong. My marketing counterparts, in general, have multiple, multiple job offers already. Even in Finance, they're starting to ...update...Reggie Bush is ridiculously good, but back to the point...Even in Finance they're starting to drop like flies. In Investment Management, once bonuses are paid (and most are getting 'em this year) the market will open up more than it currently is.

I currently have no job offer yet, but I'm being picky. Who wants "a job"? No, how about "the job?" Of course, that could change come April.

It's hunting season - as in hunting for jobs

2006-11-27T20:57:00.000-06:00

The fall recruitment kick has been in full-swing for the past month and I've finally ramped my search efforts up to the sending 2 resumes per day threshold. Campus recruiting appears a bit stronger this year, too. The MBA job placement and salary stats have suggested this and it still looks true.

So far I've learned that the sell-side gig probably doesn't fit my personality very well - I'm always trying to think of ways to beat "the market" not ways to tell others how to do so. I've also learned that job hunting in this business parallels that of acting or dating - it's a numbers game...and you just aren't sure which day your A-game comes out. Plus, alot of people want to hear one thing or the other and, well, you just might not say that one thing.

So "we" keep pluggin' away ("We" represents myself and the soon-to-be Mrs. -> wow does that sound weird). Perhaps an offer will come soon, or perhaps there'll be a post-bonus season bonanza. Either way, I'm still quite optimistic. Behavioralism would then suggest that means there's quite a bit of time to go :-)

Jump Around at UW

2006-10-30T21:06:00.000-06:00

I posted this on my other blog, too, but I thought it would also be fun to put it up here, since I've not made a post on this site in some time. If you want to get an idea of what it is like inside Camp Randall between the 3rd and 4th quarters, click play. The video quality isn't the best, but the floor is shaking, so give the guy a break...

I'm probably somewhere in the middle of it all.

I passed!

2006-07-28T11:37:00.000-05:00

I passed Level 1 of the CFA exams!

Woo hoo!

Zoom Zoom Zoom without the Vroom-Vroom

2006-07-24T18:38:00.000-05:00

Is this roadster cool or what?

Internship Update

2006-07-19T20:04:00.000-05:00

Prompted by a comment from KV, I thought I'd talk a little bit about my internship.

First off, I'll say that our Alumni Network (especially my program - since it has 35 years of history) had alot to do with me landing the job in the first place. That's not to say I wasn't qualified, though. IM is an interesting industry. I've blogged about that before.

At any rate, the job is very cool. I'm the "Hedge Fund Intern" and I am employee #18, I think (10 are investment people). Most of the day I am running screens, calling companies, writing up investment ideas, or defending them. Everday I'm reminded that I made the right decision to be where I am.

I am also getting a chance to see the Private Equity world from the inside. I had no idea really what PE was like before coming to bschool. Having been a GE trained engineer it would have been difficult. There is some irony in that in order to be around new technologies on a weekly basis, I had to move from engineering to finance. To quote the McD's commercial - I'm lovin' it.

No, No, No, NOOOOOOOOO!

2006-06-07T22:33:00.000-05:00

Maybe it's just me, but I find this list to be ridiculous.

Boston Recap

2006-05-30T19:56:00.000-05:00

The gf and I went to Boston for the long weekend / her birthday. Atop the Prudential Center after dessert she cried as she graduated to fiancee. Pretty excited about that!

As for Beantown - it was great to us. We did most of the touristy things, and a few not so touristy. Back Bay / Copley Square was pretty cool at night - lots of restaurants and bars. Thanks to the Chilli Duck for some good Thai food, and The Globe for giving us a menu as a momento of our trip.

Thumbs up for the Boston Duck and the USS Constitution tours, both which were way cooler than I could have imagined. The Sam Adams tour isn't bad either, if you like beer. Oh yeah, and go see Fenway if you get the chance...hopefully you'll get Steve as your tour guide!

Here's a picture of Ralphie - our traveling dog - and John Harvard's statue.

CFA - All Day, Everyday

2006-05-21T22:55:00.000-05:00

Not that I don't already know most of the material on the CFA Level 1 exam, but I am spending the last weeks heading into it making sure I know the material. I'm putting in 8-12 hours a day - going over the stuff with a fine-toothed comb. It's not actually as bad as you might imagine, since most of the material is interesting (not the Tax stuff, however...)

Fortunately, there is a fun trip with the gf to Boston coming up later this week where I can forget about it for a few days. Beantown - here we come!

Easy Mac

2006-05-19T14:57:00.000-05:00

Easy Mac with vegetables - one of my favorite meals on a b-school budget. 10 times better than ramen, at only 2 times the cost :-)

A Quick Thought

2006-05-18T14:19:00.000-05:00

I really hope that the gentleman on State St. playing the 5 gallon buckets with his drumsticks is using the money in his tip cup to buy some drums.

ASAP Placement from UW-Madison

2006-05-18T11:04:00.000-05:00

Placement this year at graduation for ASAP'ers is quite strong. Places employing ASAP '06 grads:

Fidelity - buy side - Boston, MA (2)
UBS - sell side - NYC, NY (2)
Heartland Advisors - buy side - Milwaukee, WI
American Century - buy side - Kansas City, MO
Waddell & Reed - buy side - Kansas City, MO
State of WI Investment Board - buy side - Madison, WI
Passport Capital, LLC - buy side/hedge - San Francisco, CA
McDonnell Investment Mgmt. - buy side - Chicago, IL
Green Street Advisors - buyside - Newport Beach, CA

There are still a couple to go, but the remaining students are close to finding homes. For a list of firms that employ UW-Madison ASAP grads: http://www.bus.wisc.edu/asap/employers/firms.asp

As for my class, 2007, 9 of 11 of us have internships, and there may or may not be a 10th hiree here in a couple of weeks.

So things look pretty good, and the rumor is that the incoming class of 2008 is taking shape very nicely. This will be the third class that is part of the MBA program, but I believe the 38th ASAP class to come through UW.

In the meantime, the new MBA building project has begun. The adjacent building - where the new building will be created - is being demolished as I type.

Great things happening here at UW!

And so, Baltimore it will be...

2006-05-14T13:56:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure what all the rules are about posting where I'll be working and whatnot...but I can say that I'm really excited to be headed where I am for the summer. It is in the heart of Downtown Baltimore at a firm that invests primarily in Private Equity, but also has a hedge fund business. My excitement was mostly subdued on Friday when I visited the firm - however my insides were incredibly excited.

Now, there's still work to do - the CFA Level 1 exam is on June 3rd and I have probably only put in 50 hours of studying outside of the MBA core.

I'm Done! (with year one)

2006-05-09T14:06:00.000-05:00

My last exam was not my best moment as an MBA student, but I am now a 2nd year student. Party Time!

Actually, I did party it up for 3 whole hours, then I came home and fell asleep attempting to watch TV at 9:05 and slept nearly 12 hours before waking this morning.

I apologize for getting lazy with the Oros Speaker updates. It's a shame, too, because the last two speakers were Barry Alvarez - former football coach at UW and now the Athletic Director and John Morgridge, former CEO of Cisco Systems. Both of these guys were funnier than expected and pretty insightful. Barry talked alot about motivation and leadership, and John discussed the culture at Cisco and how it helped fuel its success.

At any rate, early next week I should be able to tell you all whether I will spend my summer in Baltimore or Minneapolis.

Observations at UW-Madison

2006-05-01T15:58:00.000-05:00

The undergrads are pretty hot
No, they're really hot
There may not be a better feeling than getting an opportunity to kill time on the Union Terrace with a beer on a nice day
Us MBA's stick out on campus like Barry Bonds at a little people's convention
Marketing people get jobs really, really early
Finance people get jobs really, really late
They all wind up being really good jobs

quick post

2006-04-28T12:43:00.000-05:00

I lied. It looks like I will be an intern this summer with a good opporunity. More to come later :-)

Almost done...

2006-04-18T05:59:00.000-05:00

There are 3 weeks left, and year one will be over. I'm 8 pounds heavier than when I came - ugh. I didn't expect to work nearly as hard as I have, but I'm not sure why I expected so. What it's meant has been less exercise than any point in the last 10 years of my life.

But, for the summer this could change. It does not look like I will be an intern anywhere. At first, I found this to be disconcerting but now I am not so sure. From a personal standpoint it will be great. From a professional one I am not sure. Few of the summer positions out there are really in what I want to do, but they would be opportunities to network. On the other hand, I can spend time focusing on my research, portfolio management, and my overall mental and physical health (by slowing down some) and gear up for the full-time job search coming in the fall.

Most students, Keven included, will be interning somewhere...but not all. I can think of some students having new children to raise, semesters abroad, or Military duty to head back to.

Maybe this summer could be an opportunity to put some things in serious perspective because my family certainly has not seen or heard me much since school started. I can say that the MBA is certainly a sacrifice - more so than I thought it would be. A good one, I think, but that doesn't mean it is easy.

Noah Alper Speaks - Great Job by Entrepreneurship Association

2006-03-07T12:11:00.000-06:00

Last Thursday I had an opportunity to eat a fine steak (it sure had been a while) and hear Noah Alper (UW BBA - Economics, '69) give a talk about his experience in entrepreneurial endeavors. He talked a little bit about his failures, as most who give these kinds of talks do. But then he also spent a good portion of time telling the story about how he came upon the Noah's Bagels idea.

If you don't know the story, he started his first store in Berkeley, CA. In a short time there were 38 stores and he sold it to what was then Einstein Bros. Bagels. I believe the price tag was at or above $100 million for the business - I could be wrong on that detail but I recall that number coming up in the discussion. (Noah's is currently owned by New World Restaurant Group, which I believe is 96% owned by hedge fund Greenlight Capital)

At any rate, it was a neat story to hear about and I'm sure I picked up a few things even if I did not write anything down. The main reason for my post is to give a shout out to the Entrepreneurship Association here at UW who did a nice job with the event!

The Internship Hunt

2006-02-21T19:14:00.000-06:00

Unlike KV and a slew of others, I have yet to line up an internship for the summer. The investment management field is a bit, well, stodgy for lack of a better word. It's no wonder so much $$$ has seen its way run towards hedge funds, who try to think different - or so at least some of them do.

There aren't a ton of spots available on the buy-side, so it is a bit of a struggle. It also justifies the "stodginess" to an extent, so I will cut the recruiters a little bit of slack on that line. With that being said, one of the interesting things is that typically analysts and Portfolio Managers are doing the interviewing for the roles I interview for. Are they qualified to actually know what to ask in personnel interviews? Or how about evaluating important criteria? It brings up an interesting point. Nevertheless, it's the game I am stuck in so I must play it. I'd prefer to go to a hedge fund that isn't trapped by rules and investing styles, since those rules tend to be what causes them to be worse-than-average investment vehicles, on average. However, if I feel like I will get the chance to learn from one or two far-better-than average types of PM's I would cherish the opportunity. So far I still have 17 potential places with applications that haven't been rejected (I've only received 2 official rejections but have had a few companies neglect to get back to me while interviewing other classmates). Not all of the 17 are buy-side jobs. One of them has to hit, right???? Right????

Oros Speaker - Steven Burrill - Biotech Venture Capital

2006-02-06T16:31:00.000-06:00

We had our first "John J. Oros" speaker on Thursday. Steven Burrill, founder and CEO of Burrill and Company came to talk about his experiences in his field - biotech venture capital investing. Most importantly, though, he tried to remind us that risk taking is encouraged. I loved hearing him talk about his former Starbucks addiction, sleeping only 3 hours per night, and trying to find the next great biotech revolution that will cure cancer or alzheimer's.

On a scale of 1 to 10 I give the talk an 8.5. It was motivational, interesting, and, at times humorous. Steve's bio sure is interesting, and it goes to show how strong the business school alumni network is.

Being wrong is ok...

2006-02-06T09:29:00.000-06:00

Wow - I was amazed at how poorly the 'Hawks played. Worst SB performance I have ever seen...preseason form. Doesn't work vs. a good team like the Steelers.

Congrats to the Bus!

Take the 'Hawks plus the 4...

2006-01-29T20:51:00.000-06:00

Sorry Bus. You're one of the greatest guys to play the game of football, but your team is going to get beat on Sunday. Seahawks by 3.

Yet another post

2006-01-23T23:30:00.000-06:00

...it's been a while, huh?

Not much on the b-school front, 'cept we got a new assistant director of ASAP. He rocks - he comes with a bunch of experience in the investment biz.

Today I officially got entrenched into the semester, spending 3 hours on case pre-work for my valuation class tomorrow. This class is intense, but I'll be better off. The atmosphere is much like in the movies - no hi's or hellos, just continuous cold-calling. That's not too much unlike our prior classes, but this one just has an added feeling of "I better get my schtuff ready for this class or else..."

Tonight I'm trying to value an option on a pharmaceutical drug that has already passed pre-clinical phases. In the morning I will continue...as my brain is now currently fried from this and internship-hunting.

On the Job front, there is no reason that all of us shouldn't have a solid internship for the summer. Currently there are two hedge funds in the process of recruiting ASAP first-years, several mutual fund companies, and there are plenty sell-side opportunities opening up. Since there are only 10 first-years in ASAP, things look rosy right now, but that doesn't mean getting these jobs will be easy. Fortunately, there are even more companies who are planning to talk to us, but haven't made any official plans.

Semester 2 - about to begin

2006-01-16T11:39:00.000-06:00

I did well last semester -> I'm still alive enough to write this post! So, I have my health. Life is good, right?

I say that because my family is messed up. Of course, everyone's is, right? A month off does nothing but reiterate that. They're messed up, but I still love them and I know that they'll get through the things that have happened.

So, tomorrow beginning at 11AM I will once again be in classes. Yeah, that 11AM start is going to be awfully rough. What sucks is that on Mon/Wed classes start at 8AM which means I will get lots of sleep on Tuesday and Thursday and probably no sleep on Mon / Wed. Life is rough.

I posted my classes last semester. I will do that again:

Investment Theory and Application
Corporate Finance Decisions
Valuation and Corporate Investment Decisions
Managing Behavior in Organizations
Operations Management
Professional Perspectives
Investing 101 - aka ASAP 101

Now for the introspective part of the post. I could have probably done just as well by spending less time on my classes. That's not to say I'm a slacker, but I could have worked out more, played some hoops and/or hockey or gone out more. This semester, with the CFA Level 1 exam looming, I may not have the opportunity. That means less Friday hangovers (Yay!) this semester. The point is, though, that you can have a life outside school, even MORE than I though.

Now it's time for me to find out how two of my buddies did in the MBA World Series of Poker. Next year, I am planning on heading to the event myself. Of course, I plan on winning it but in the game of poker you just never know what can happen.

The Break

2006-01-09T22:49:00.000-06:00

...is normal for most MBA's. But, when you're trying to crack into the Investment Management biz, it's still busy.

I have been pouring over a research report on Panera Bread. I intend to use it as an example of what I can write. Since it is my first official Equity Report, I wonder how accurate it can actually be. But, all I can work with is what I've been taught thus far, I s'pose. At least the analysis isn't telling me that Panera's worth either 3 dollars a share, or 300 hundred. It's actually fairly close to where it trades today, but not to where I think it will trade in a year.

Anyhow, the point is that break hasn't really been break for me. Well, except that I HAVE slept until noon three times. And I watched "The Price Is Right" once. It hasn't changed one bit since I was 5 years old!

Happy Holidays!

2005-12-28T14:20:00.000-06:00

From insanity to "what the heck do I do now?" - kind of. When you're me, the holidays are hectic because of my insanely large family (not to mention the need to be in several places at once because of divorces). But, that's all come and gone for now, and now it's back to the books for me.

Just that, "the books" are different now. Hopefully I'll get through some of the investing books I have wanted to read for pleasure. You see, I have accumulated many investing books however, I have read, well, less than the number that are on my shelf. And, this time of year the markets are not very interesting. (yes, I started a sentence with "and" -> so what?)

So I liesurely work on looking for summer internships, spending time with the girlfriend and the newly adopted cat, and cooking. It's quite nice. I'm not traveling anywhere glamourous this year (last year I spent 8 days in Florida for the New Year (and Florida's glamourous status can certainly be debated)). The lack of funding has caused me to curb traveling for a while. Meanwhile, 10 of the MBA students will be carted around the country of Malawi (Africa) for 2 weeks by some high-status person. I think it would have been a neat trip - one of a kind - but alas, with what cash would I have gone? I'm not asking for sympathy, though. This sure beats working. Well, kind of. Working in the markets isn't really work to me.

So anyways, happy holidays, and travel safely wherever that may be!

One More Week...

2005-12-13T22:37:00.000-06:00

One more week to go. Coffee is the key to finals week. Lots of it.

Accounting final is tomorrow, then it will be the first class that is officially done.

And, after handing in something like 74 pages of reports on Panera Bread, I still need to know it a little bit better. But, I think we won in terms of stock that went up the most this semester. Go figure. Not that it was a contest.

Crunch Time

2005-11-30T18:28:00.000-06:00

It's crunch time. So I blog. It's a way to pretend that there's not a whole bunch of shit to get done in a little bit of time. But it's all good. In three weeks, I'll be chillin' at a bed and breakfast with the girlfriend for a few days before visiting the fam for the holidaze.

So what's due? Marketing Case, Accounting Case / mini-presentation, Finance Case, Data Analysis Case and Presentation.

That's not alot by itself, but it's all group work. The assignments and exams I'll leave out. Just toss some random tests on that and there you have it. Semester 1. Woohoo!

Too bad my call options on Panera expired before the stock started to run. Sad. I hate options.

Out

Wisconsin - ASAP Meets with Warren Buffett

2005-11-13T12:39:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we had the pleasure of hearing Warren Buffett speak at the Field Club in Omaha. I was amazed by a couple of things -

His general health and well being - At 75 years old, Warren is in great shape. He moves around much better than anyone I have met who is his age. He's as eloquent as ever. I can only hope to be in his shape at his age.

His humbleness - we've all probably read stories about his style and his personality. All of it's true. He knows he's made mistakes and can readily admit them. The things he preaches are completely ground in his head (being loved=a good life, wealth means very little, good businesses with good people are what you should by...the list goes on). Whether you've read his teachings in a book or heard them live, the stories change very little. He's just much funnier in person than in a book.

I attribute #1 above to his never really having worked a day in his life. Most people work at jobs they don't love, and doing so takes a toll on them. Warren just did what he loved to do. It wasn't work. And his health is great. #2 above just is who he is. He runs Berkshire his own way and ignores his critics. He's not afraid to make big mistakes, and since he cares little about material possessions it's no wonder why he became such a great investor.

Here's the picture with both first and second-year Applied Security Analysis students and Mr. Buffett.

After we met with Warren, we took a tour of the Nebraska Furniture Mart, one of Berkshire's companies. The tour was neat, because we got to see the story in front of us. The place is even bigger than I expected.

Meeting a legend who completely impressed everyone = an awesome trip. If you ever get the chance to head to Omaha and visit the Oracle of Omaha, do it.

Wisconsin Portfolio Management - In the Press (Forbes 2003)

2005-11-08T07:08:00.000-06:00

If you have access to Forbes, you can view this entire article about the University of Wisconsin's Applied Security Analysis Program (ASAP). I know I have posted a link to it before, but since it's that time of year when people out there are applying / choosing schools, I thought I'd put it here again. While I realize that most people out there have not considered UW, there are a good handful of people out there who want to be in Investment Management, and ASAP is a great place to be.

http://www.fortune.com/fortune/articles/0,15114,395148,00.html

Off to finance class to talk about market efficiency today. I have heard that this is the most animated lecture of the semester, so I've got my coffee and I'm just rarin' to go...

ASAP 101 - More on Asset Allocation

2005-11-07T14:29:00.000-06:00

Friday's speaker saw another alum. This particular speaker was the President of a small money management firm - a position he's been in since buying the firm along with a partner (who also happens to be an ASAP grad) in 2002. He had been at other firms prior to that, most notably at UBS.

He spoke to us more in depth about asset allocation. In fact, he actually gave us some ideas about how to think about valuing stocks relative to bonds, and how one could form a strategy based on this. The main idea underlying the concepts was mean reversion - that returns tend to come back to their "normal" levels over time.

At a simple level, he looked at recent returns of stocks and bonds, and then created a plan to allocate the portfolio based on those returns - using the idea that if times were great, chances are that the next few years won't be as great, and vice versa.

More food for thought when we're in charge of the portfolio next year!

On a related note, we're off to see the Oracle of Omaha on Saturday, in Omaha, NE. It's going to be a long trip, but I'm sure that it will be a good learning experience!

ASAP move gets some more press

2005-10-27T21:54:00.000-05:00

Only local press - nothing major. Here at the UW, giving students $30 million is an honor, no doubt. But, giving the program this kind of money is not considered a controversy - because the school knows we'll manage it well.

Our little investment management program has been flying under the radar for years. We are all a-ok with that - because we're a tightly-knit bunch who simply love investing. Anyhow, here's a local article regarding the Board of Regent's recent decision.

Wisconsin's ASAP fund grows to $44 million

2005-10-27T07:04:00.000-05:00

Well, the cat's outta the bag on this one now. It's published on the b-school website, so I can feel free to discuss it. The fund that we (as students in the MBA Applied Security Analysis Program - ASAP) has grown to $44 million dollars. Most of that is in Fixed-income investments, however, and the new lump sum of ~$30 million has a more specific sandbox in which the money must be put to work. But - I strongly believe that this goes to show how much the school believes in our program. After all, they have 35 years of a proven track record to look at!

For the story, click ->http://www.bus.wisc.edu/news/0153.asp

Wisconsin - Oros Speaker, ASAP 101 Macroeconomics speaker

2005-10-26T15:52:00.000-05:00

This is my first ever blog entry from the Stephen L. Hawk Center for Security Analysis. I plan on spending more time up here these days.

Anyhow, I promised to attempt to write about the speakers we meet while we're here.

Last Thursday, the MBA program was fortunate enough to hear from Paul Leff an ASAP Alum ('83 - I think) who is one of the two co-founders of Perry Capital Management - a fairly large Hedge Fund. He spoke to the general MBA class, but mostly about investing. Following him, we had an informal speaker (over beers) with an alum from the same exact class ('83) who gave opinions on the future of the big brokerages / sell-side businesses in the investment industry. He also spoke about landing jobs and whatnot.

The following day, we had another ASAP alum ('73) who spent 3 hours talking about modeling the economy, how to deal with "macro economic shocks" and "macro economic-non events", monetary policy, and the cyclical nature of the economy.

So there you have it. Last week - 3 speakers, all who've gone on to great success in the biz.

I am not sure if I can give the names of our ASAP speakers at this time, because, at least for now I have no permission to do so. The Oros series speakers (monthly speakers who visit the entire MBA class) are published on the web, as Keven noted in the comments section of this post) Time will tell as I get into this process a little bit more whether or not sharing names is the prudent thing to do.

**Note: I obviously edited this post after the comment by Keven.

ASAP 101 begins today!

2005-10-14T10:33:00.000-05:00

Now that our small class of portfolio managers (to be) is acclimated to the MBA rigor and have begun to peak on the "efficiency curve" (of being grad students), our ASAP 101 class begins today. The class has also been called Investing 101. The class has three purposes:

To provide us with intros to investment analysis and tools to do so

To meet with and learn from many investment professionals throughout the year

To merge academics with real-world ideas and get us ready to get into the business (and, more importantly, manage the school's fund of $13M)

ASAP 101 runs for the remainder of the academic year. I will try to post a snippet of each class, that way those of you who read my blog to learn more about UW and, in particular ASAP, can get a better feel for what it's all about. Today we'll be talking about investment styles and beliefs about markets in general.

In a way, this is where the rubber meets the road. There are 10 of us this year who are going into the business and we have a plethora of resources to choose from, access to many investment pros, and we all love talking about the markets and investments. Now I'll be looking forward to Fridays!

It's the little things...

2005-10-11T17:20:00.000-05:00

On a campus that make you smile sometimes. The MBA class of '07 is all cooped up tonight, studying for Exam #1 for most of the students (Finance majors, however, took an Econ exam today).

I am writing this post from the Memorial Union. To be specific I am sitting right near the entrance to Rathskeller - a popular area to mingle, eat, play cards, or drink beer. Yes, you can drink beer in the Union at UW (Actually, there are multiple unions and I don't know if Union South serves beer). One of the most popular hangouts on campus itself, there's also a huge patio area outside that is aptly named Union Terrace (there's also a small stage outside). It hasn't gotten too cold yet this fall, and I imagine there were people hanging out on the terrace earlier today. It's getting a little chilly this evening, however...but as I look to my left I can see Lake Mendota and there is a plethora of sailboats on the lake (should it be written as "is" or "are" a plethora?). It really is a beautiful setting.

On my walk in, I passed a student playing fetch with her golden retriever. Fetch is truly timeless game - and I'm sure that it will live on forever, or as long as dogs are man's best friend. In fact, seeing it being played brought a smile to me and actually prompted my writing this post.

Now back to the accounting...

School Update

2005-10-04T19:31:00.000-05:00

Next week will be the first of Exams. Econ and Accounting are up on Tues and Wed, respectively.

Accounting is alot of work, but so far so good, with only a little bit of frustration. It's important for me to know this stuff in my chosen path!

Also, special thanks to KV for publishing his notes on the career changing discussion from his resume shop.

Friday, we are headed to Chicago to become Factset trained. Factset is basically financial / company / investment analyst software that supposedly allows us to do our jobs easier. This marks the first meeting of our rest-of-the-year long class, ASAP 101 - which has been called "Investing 101". Mainly there are investment professional speakers, discussions, social gatherings, and team buildings as well as investment analyses to perfom. It's all about starting to form some kind of preference to an investment style. If you're new to my blog - I'm switching careers to become a portfolio manager, somewhere :-)

I feel worried but not overly so in terms of landing that glorious internship. Our alumni network is very strong in this field, and that's one of the main reasons I chose UW (which is around #30 overall in MBA rankings).

In short, there's lots going on, and lots to do, but it's alot of fun.

Next up: Working with the Wisconsin GFO (Graduate Finance Organization) on marketing the "new" finance programs in the MBA program.

(Until 2 years ago, ASAP and ACFIN were Master's in Science, NOT part of the the MBA program - both programs have been around for a while (ASAP - 35 years, ACFIN 6 years), they just changed a little bit for the better)

Your chance to help me....

2005-09-27T18:21:00.000-05:00

So this is where the readers of my blog - should there be any these days - can help me out. Here's my dilemma:

I would like to obtain an internship for the summer. I prefer to work in equity research, portfolio management or proprietary trading - focused on portfolio management. The problem is that my current work experience comes from 7 years in the engineering field at two fortune 500 companies.

I'm not worried about meeting contacts in the business. UW can hook me up there - that's why I am here. What I am a little bit worried about it my blank resume, as far as professional experience in investing is concerned (I have lots of personal experience, but they are different). As compared to others, my experience is limited.

So, what should I focus on during my resume?

What other tips can you out there offer? Anyone else gone through a similar experience?

This just in - B-School isn't ALL about the books!

2005-09-27T18:07:00.000-05:00

In reality, you go to either
a) Change careers and do something you like or
b) To further your current career

So, you study and worry about exams and spend countless cash on books that will be mere paperweights in months, not even years. When...

The reality is - it's about your resume and who knows you (note that this IS different than the "who you know" thing that people always talk about).

Your resume is important, and you need to focus on finding, or if you possess confidence and perseverance - creating - a job. It's also about networking. And, at some schools, you just get "networking" as part of the package, whether you want it or not - and it's FUN. 'Sconnie (that's yet another nickname for Wisconsin) is one of those schools - even Sports Illustrated calls it the best college sports town in America. And, for a more recent article on "networking" in Madtown, check out Luke Winn's article on today's version of CNNSI.com.

WISCONSIN 23
MICHIGAN 20

I think I did 11 hours of homework today...

2005-09-25T23:04:00.000-05:00

Just brutal. Accounting - 5.5 hours, Finance - 4 hours, Marketing - .5 hrs, misc - 1 hr.

Gotta keep up with the stuff, or I'll get lost. But, I'm tired now, and class starts up again in 10 hrs.

Meanwhile, my fantasy football teams are now 2-1 and 0-3. I love/hate that silly game!

Adam Smith would be proud...

2005-09-12T20:38:00.000-05:00

I'm sleepy. I still feel disorganized, make that routineless. That's actually a good thing. The day goes fast. This is something that didn't happen to me while in my previous life as an engineer - where I lived Dilbert^3.

The big difference is that, despite my non-stop feeling of never having everything done, I relish in the fact that everything I'm doing is for me again. It's not to make some manager look good to some other manager who just wants to look good... In fact, life in the huge corporate cog is like looking into a kaleidoscope seeing managers everywhere. Half of them are idiots. Rather, they are probably fairly smart people who make idiotic decisions for emotional reasons which they are unaware of.

My ultimate goal is to be a philanthropist, but even that is for selfish reasons in many ways. So today, and for my next 21 months in b-school, my studies are for me. Adam Smith would be so proud...

Right into the fire...

2005-09-09T00:02:00.000-05:00

Today we had the pleasure of attending the Director's Summit - an event that spans two days and discusses issues concerning corporate governance.

I had a chance to meet some interesting people, investment professionals, corporate board members, and a CEO of a small cap company traded on the Nasdaq.

I also had a chance to listen to a presentation about the Nasdaq / Reuters joint venture called the Independent Research Network (IRN). The idea for the IRN is to provide unbiased analyst coverage of stocks that have little or no coverage. It was an interesting idea, but not one without issues that need to be worked out. Overall, I believe that something does need to be done to make equity research a little more unbiased, so I had quite a bit of interest in the topic, despite the fact that some of it was over my head.

It's going fast. Just 6 weeks ago I was still an Engineer. Suddenly I'm in the securities business. Sort of. It's fun, and slightly intimidating at the same time.

But I wouldn't be here if I didn't love this stuff...and if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.

Panera Bread (PNRA) it is...

2005-09-07T20:13:00.000-05:00

Our group will be using Panera Bread as the firm of study for the semester in all of our core classes: Finance, Accounting, and Marketing.

The MBA program moved operations to the 2nd semester, thus we won't be studying that this semester like last year.

Woo hoo! Cinnamon Crunch bagels are now homework. How awesome is that?????

Class has started

2005-09-07T08:44:00.000-05:00

I started off the b-school career in great fashion - Finance. It turns out we get to follow a stock all year through the core, and our group is supposed to know all about it. I don't care what we do, as long as it's not a boring stock. I'll update you on what it will be.

Last weekend I spent my time driving through Chicago, which actually wasn't to bad for once, en route to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Then it was on to Manistee, Michigan. Then Pontiac, Michigan. Then Milwaukee, WI, then back to Madtown.

It was a long, long trip. But - I drafted a good fantasy football team, anchored by Peyton Manning, Domanick Davis, and Curtis Martin (Yeah, I know...how??? - I wonder that myself, since my league has 10 guys, all who've played for more than 7 years).

As for our big ASAP (Applied Security Analysis Program) field trip - well, it turns out that it is a go. I still am hesitant to discuss the details for now, but if and when it happens, rest assured the world will get its information!

The apartment is coming together. It's still not great, but it's getting close. Now, I just need to figure out how the constant outflow of cash can be slowed!

Presentation Complete

2005-08-30T13:08:00.000-05:00

We finished our team presentation today. Oddly, though, I haven't actually written about the fact that we were responsible for a presentation.

That's because it took alot of time. These two weeks have served as a great introduction to group projects, managing time, and most importantly, how to function on lack of sleep.

I highly recommend that any incoming student invest in a spill-free coffee mug. Mine was $21, which seemed like alot to me, but cheap in comparison the the damage that a $9 mug that is merely "spill resistant" will cause.

As for my individual program, we met our first "Alum" yesterday. He discussed some interesting topics in the investing world, mainly breaking down the old "value vs. growth" debate that has been created by publications and financial planners, and what drives the notion that there is a difference (it's not a black and white situation). I talked a little more about that on my other blog.

Anyhow, I'm almost moved in and organized. My phone is still dead to the world. SBC hasn't been great, but, I also need to make sure they're better informed. But, now I'm ready for classes to begin. It's time. Enough with the orientation already! :-)

Got my computer!

2005-08-26T08:54:00.000-05:00

My lack of a computer has been the cause of my absence lately. But, now I am the proud owner of a shiny new IBM T42 Thinkpad. I gotta say that I like the computer - it's sturdier than my old Dell was, and, well, it's faster but that's because the specs are newer and faster.

This past week, as you may have read on Keven's blog, we've been in orientation. I am actually skipping "Basic Excel" as I type this (today is optional). I missed yesterday with the passing of a grandfather, which was not unexpected, but a sad day nonetheless. The school was very understanding in working with me to make sure I didn't miss anything, and so I knew where to be for my group meeting; we have presentations to start building in groups.

What I've learned so far about Madison, our Class, or our Program

walk to Grainger Hall in 15 minutes

bike to Grainger Hall in 6 minutes

no idea when my apt. will be organized - it's still a disaster

113 incoming Full-Time MBA students

10 are in the Applied Security Analysis Program (ASAP), which means more fun for us when we run the portfolio!

I'm "the rookie" in the program (sort of)

We have FACTSET and WONDA on our PC's, along with a Bloomberg terminal in the Hawk Center to help us with market research

My guess is that all 10 of us want to work on the equity portfolio, so we'll need to widdle it down to 5 fixed-income, and 5 equity

We have a very exciting field trip opportunity, for now I'll keep quiet on what that trip may be, but if/when it occurs, I'll be sure to detail it here

about 30% of the MBA class is married (I am guess-timating)

Freshmen look like little kids to me

Can't file for student loan deferment until the day classes begin

Most people lost out on the football ticket lottery. There's a posting in the hall that says "Wanted, Student season football tickets, will pay $300" Reg. price: $109

With the Core classes, the Professional classes, the John J. Oros speaker series, AND our own Investing 101, I will have to find a way to never sleep

That's about it for now from Mad-town.

The students, the class, the beginning

2005-08-20T15:22:00.000-05:00

What to write about? There's been so much that's happened in the past week:

2 (yes, TWO) trips to Wal-mart to buy the little things a new place needs (shower curtain, silverware holder, etc) totaling $45

Checked out my books at the bookstore, then found a couple online for cheaper than the bookstore price (this was just becoming an option while I was an undergrad)

Met some of the students, including Keven while having some beers. Generally, it was mostly all the same conversation (where ya' from? what were you doing before here, etc...) It'll be this next week, orientation, when we really get to know each other (and I bet someone, not me, is going to show us his/her dinner outside a bar)

Checked out the Farmer's Market around the state capitol in Madison. I had an "almond pocket" for breakfast today that was made by the Oakhouse Farm Bakery. It's the best breakfast pastry on the planet. It's been described as "decadent", by a high school kid who works at the vendor stand. He wasn't lying.

Slept in my apartment, on the floor, with a sleeping bag. My bed's not here yet.

Bought groceries in Madison. I chose Woodman's grocery store (they don't seem to have a website). They have ridiculously cheap groceries. And the place is gi-normous. If you're in Madison, go there, but at least bring a debit card, cuz they don't take credit cards. I think I got about $70 worth of food for a mere $43. (Hey, it's student budget time now!)

Dodged the bees. The bees are everywhere right now, and it's about 88 with 90% humidity (you sweat the instant you're outside). My car had the misfortune of being parked under a tree that dripped some stuff onto my car, thereby turning it into a flower (or so the bees think). Thus far, I've killed one with my trusty, rusty, dirty ol' Colorado Avalanche hat (the damn thing wouldn't get away from the hatch handle, and I needed to put the groceries in the car), and I've killed another while pumping gas. It thought I was a flower despite my continual attempts to reverse from the little critter. I gave the bee plenty of opportunity to reconsider its decision to try to spread some sweet pollen (or is it nectar, furthermore, what's the difference?) via me. So I swatted it to the ground with my hand, and alas the bee was no longer. I'm sure that if you were witnessing the event live, you'd have laughed your ass off: Me, running backwards like a defensive back in football, trying to avoid what from a distance looks like nothing, and then swatting apparently nothing - all in between the gas pumps.

Me: 2, Bees: 0

At one time yesterday, I counted 17 bees on my car. 17! Will I get stung before classes start??????

The other thing that has been nice is NOT actually having a computer for a few days. I have been "forced" to do other stuff, which has been really good for the mind. But, in just a few days, it will be back to good ol' me.

I'm in Madison! (almost)

2005-08-18T10:36:00.000-05:00

I have been making day trips to Madison this week, slowly moving into my apartment. I learned a few things:

1) It takes exactly 15 minutes for me to walk from my apartment to:
-Grainger Hall (where the B-School is)
-The Union (They serve beer at the Union, which is the most important thing to know about it)
-My friend's place on Lake Mendota
2) I found the Registrar's office
3) You can't get a student loan deferment until the day classes start
4) Campus is huge. Now, I've always known this, but it's friggin' huge.
5) My living room and bedroom are exactly the same size. It's weird because for a living room it looks small, but for a bedroom it looks pretty ample. Perception is everything!
6) Finding parking on campus is easy - when school is not in session...(I'm never going to even try once school begins)

Today I head back to get my phone set up and meet a big chunk of the incoming class at the Great Dane (a local brewpub known to be a place where Grad students hang out (Read: old people).

Thanks!

2005-08-18T10:35:00.000-05:00

My "Shameless Plug" blog was really just an experiment, so thanks for those of you who clicked. I wanted to see how much traffic it would generate!

Shameless Plug

2005-08-15T13:47:00.000-05:00

Also, if you haven't checked out my Market Musings site, please do. I plan on tracking my progress, learnings, and thoughts about the markets . Since this is what I am headed to B-School for, I figured it makes sense to write about the markets!

It's also linked on the left of this page, permanently.

Fantasy Football season is upon us!

2005-08-15T13:43:00.000-05:00

For those who play, you understand my excitement. For those who don't, you smugly and secretly ridicule those of us who sit back and do nothing on Sundays except watch football, talk trash with our buddies, eat, drink, and constantly check our computers to see what else is going on around the NFL.

But trust me, there is no better spectator sport in the world (action, hitting, strategy, etc..., and Fantasy Football makes it just that much better!

For the first time, I've actually bought a membership to a site to help me out. Last year I used their book, and because they're completely statistical like myself, it was worth the 19 bucks. In my opinion, The Huddle is the best site for FFball, bar none.

What I'm Reading...

2005-08-09T07:53:00.000-05:00

I recently had the pleasure of visiting a "Half-Price Books" store. It was my first time - though I am not sure why other than their very inconspicuous location. Perhaps, since they are "Half Price Books", they also have "Half Price Real Estate"? I have been to their website before, though.

Anyways, I had the pleasure of picking up "The Millionaire Next Door" for a mere $5.98. I have to say, it's one heck of an interesting book, although, thus far there is nothing major in it that shocks me.

I have learned that to date, I am a "UAW", or an "Under accumulator of wealth". This is because my net worth should be, according to their formula, about $176k. It's not, though. I also had my eyes opened a bit when I realized that my salary is 100% of my net worth. I also pay taxes on about 85% of my net worth. YIKES!

Some of this is due to student loan debt - so it will only get worse. To think that I won't have any income until I am almost 30 is a bit scary!

No Dehydration!

2005-08-05T09:27:00.000-05:00

I got through my day trip to Noah's Ark waterpark without getting dehydrated. That's a great step for me, since the last time I spent the day in the sun, I was rewarded with an ambulance ride and an ER visit!

I'm a little bit sunburned despite the fact that I was somthered in SPF 45 sublock, but the burn isn't horrible.

Now it's finally time to start thinking about moving to Madtown...

Bloggin'

2005-08-03T11:39:00.000-05:00

I gotta admit, that, when it comes to blogging and technology, I'm slow. For those of you who've been with me for a while, you MIGHT remember that I have a degree in Electrical Engineering. In fact, Computer Engineering was my specialty.

One might think that means that I would know everything about computers. There are a few realities, however:

- I have never really used my degree for any kind of computer engineering since graduation

- Even if I had used my knowledge, that would simply have meant that I would be cooped up in a little lab all day long and wouldn't have time to learn about new software or web things that are happening.

Hell, I might not have even heard about the London episodes yet. Point is, I'm slow, and new to blogging, but I'm getting there. But, I want to give big shout outs to KV and Daniel who have helped me pick up on some things (bloglines, feeds, counters, etc).

Thanks guys!

BAM! Take That ( - $$$)

2005-08-02T11:50:00.000-05:00

Bought my laptop yesterday. It sorta sucks because I know I could have gotten a better deal through Dell while I was employed, but this is the standard issue for us ASAP'ers. It's a great computer (Thinkpad) so I am not complaining too much, just that it cost $2400. I guess that's the cost of doing business...

If you're curious: Laptop Specs

Day Trip!

2005-08-01T10:00:00.000-05:00

On Thursday, I am headed to Noah's Ark. I am pretty excited about this, cuz I haven't been there in about 8 years. The place rocks, no matter how old you are...and they keep building bigger and faster waterslides every year.

My only question for the past 15 years has been, "Why is the country's biggest water park in Wisconsin?"

Puzzling, yet, I am not complaining! =P

Where am I?

2005-08-01T09:46:00.000-05:00

Well, I am borrowing my girlfriend's computer until I get my laptop from UW...so I don't have the same 'puter capabilities as normal. Hence, my lack of posting on both of my blogs.

I am no longer subscribed to everyone else's blogs, either, because I don't have Mozilla Thunderbird on this computer.

So, now, with that said, I'm going to install the thing...and I'll be back up and running...just give me like an hour :-)

The Last Day...

2005-07-22T11:31:00.000-05:00

A decision I made years 18 months ago...

spent countless hours preparing for...

-GMAT Study

-School research

-School visits

-Application Info

-Essay writing

-Essay revising

-Interviews

spent quite a bit of money on, and will spend much, much more on in the next two years...

Has come to fruition. It's my last day at work. And the goodbyes are interesting - because everyone but me has alot to do, like always.

It will be weird on Monday - when I've no place to go, and basically nothing to do, but work on my market research and learning. Oh, and I have to start packing too - even though I have a month to move an hour away.

So this chapter in my life has come to a close. 10 years in Engineering. I'll bet I've learned more than I even realize - time will tell.

But it's time to begin Chapter 2 of my career...and I'm not looking back.

See y'all in B-School!

My Hometown is the 39th "Best Place for Business" in the USA!

2005-07-21T16:20:00.000-05:00

Well, I thought that my smallish hometown of Appleton, WI was about the 115th largest metro area in the US (approx 372,000 metro). I have seen that statistic somewhere before. Forbes actually ranked it the 39th Best Place for Business and Careers in the US (They ranked the 150 largest metro areas in the US). Hmmm...and I still think it's a little bit hickish sometimes!

My Teeth are Fixed!

2005-07-21T12:00:00.000-05:00

For now at least. 4 hours worth of work that spanned 3 sessions. Gotta take advantage of those benefits while you can. Ah, the life of a soon to be broke MBA student! Gotta love it!

The Answer...

2005-07-20T14:20:00.000-05:00

By the way, the answer to the apple dilemma posted below is:

I don't really know. She definitely didn't pick it up - at least not right away. Later that day, the apple was gone, but I have no evidence to prove that she did or did not return to pick it up.

B-school plans almost cancelled

2005-07-18T12:05:00.000-05:00

Actually, almost everything was cancelled on Saturday. After hiking 11 long miles in the 90-degree heat carrying a 30 pound backpack, my body said, "No More!". Now, mind you, I exercise fairly often (albeit it has sluffed off in recent months), and I play sports several times a week.

I was light headed and somewhat nauseated. So, a buddy stayed with me, and the other three were going to go forward further and get the car to come back and pick us up. Around 5:30, after eating a PB&J sandwich and some trail mix, I had to lie down. Nothing appeared too serious. We were still 5 miles short of our destination. In fact, only 1 guy made it the entire way, and that was without his backpack.

At 6:56 the car rolled up and things were looking up. Until 20 minutes later, en route to our starting vehicle, I got really sick. I had to get out of the car and wait for the guys to come back to pick me up. I was puzzled since I had drank 350 oz of water in the 6 hours that we were hiking, and I had eaten almost an entire pack of jerky. Again, someone stayed with me, which was awfully important. I laid down and knew I wasn't getting back up. I told my friend to call 911 - my heart was racing.

I thought it would take forever for the ambulance to show up, since we were in the woods, but the 10 minutes actually did feel like 10 minutes. I had my shirt cut off and ice packs hit me immediately. So did the oxygen tank, which felt good, but I started to tremble. My legs were shaking uncontrollably, and I was, to say the least, scared shitless. I thought that perhaps my ego was about to end me. This would prove to be a little overdramatic, however, since I am typing this less than 48 hours later.

It was a 25 minute ride to the hospital due to the windy roads and our location in the forest. My heart dropped when the paramedic pulled out the defibrillator, but when I inquired about it he ensured that it was just precautionary, and he needed to use the monitor that the machine had. Since I was able to talk, had an IV hooked up, and my pulse was down in the 80's, my mind was in a better place, even though my legs couldn't stop shaking.

We got to the hospital and I kept taking more of the IV. The ER staff didn't seem too alarmed or rushed with me, which was comforting. My girlfriend arrived teared, but I was able to call her by the nickname I usually do and I think that calmed her a bit.

All told, I wound up taking 3 IV packs and later they were able to find that my potassium and sodium levels had dropped to an unacceptable level. And, as I drank more water, it only made things worse.

I was discharged around 11:30pm and have been fine ever since. But - it was a scary experience, again being reminded that things can change very dramatically in a very quick instant.

Please never forget this, and, if you read my story, make sure you tell everyone who matters to you that you love them. Do it as much as you can.

Cohort C it is...

2005-07-08T16:59:00.000-05:00

So if anyone is stalking me, I am making it easier to do so by posting my schedule below. However, since part of my blog's purpose is to discuss the things about heading to b-school, it seems like the right thing to do.

Most things are pretty much set. I have an apartment and the lanlord has some of my money. The school has some of my money too. The only thing left is my health insurance application, which is currently under review, and actual class enrollment which takes place Monday morning, bright and early.

My Fall '05 Schedule:

Monday
9:30 - 10:45 AM Marketing Management
1:00 - 2:15 PM Financial Accounting

Tuesday
8:00 - 9:15 AM Financial Management
11:00AM-12:15 PM Data Analysis for Managers
1:00 - 2:15PM Economics for Managers (or 2:30 - 3:45PM)

Wednesday
9:30 - 10:45 AM Marketing Management
1:00 - 2:15 PM Financial Accounting

Thursday
8:00 - 9:15 AM Financial Management
11:00AM-12:15 PM Data Analysis for Managers
1:00 - 2:15PM Economics for Managers (or 2:30 - 3:45PM)
4:00 - 5:00 PM Business Leadership

Friday
Um, yeah, there's no classes on Fridays. However, there are typically seminars.

That's it. Just 16 graduate credits. Ugh. It's gonna be a blur...

What would you do with the apple?

2005-07-03T12:42:00.000-05:00

One day at work I was walking through our atrium area to head upstairs to my desk. Our atrium area is a giant, wide open area three stories tall with a sunroof at the top. It has elevator access to all three floors, chairs for people to have informal meetings and some plants to help to cheer people's moods. It is the epicenter of our building - you can't help but walk through it on your way to offices, the cafeteria, manufacturing, and the exit. It's always in pristine condition - cleaned daily.

As I am entering the atrium area there is a woman carrying a tray of food, presumably she is heading back to her desk. She also is carrying her laptop bag. Her hands are obviously full. While she exits, a used apple core rolls off of her tray and onto the floor. The woman pauses and looks up, down, and around to see if anyone has seen the disgustingly brown core fall onto the pristine atrium floor.

She notices nobody, not even me who has just turned the corner. However, given the sheer size of the atrium, it's likely that someone had to see her drop the core.

The big question is, what would you do? Would you
A) Leave the apple core because nobody has noticed (in your mind) or
B) Pick the core up, even though it is difficult to do with your hands full and risk dropping more of your stuff?
C) Something else?

What do you think she did?

Hey Short Timer...

2005-06-30T20:06:00.000-05:00

Was heard by my ears this morning as I walked into the cafeteria. I wonder what motivates people to say such a thing? Jealousy? A sense of betrayal? Disgust that "short timers" are no longer part of the "in" crowd? Or worse, that "short timers" symbolize one saying that what the "in" crowd does isn't good enough?

Or maybe it's nothing at all. For the first time since beginning my career at my current company - the workload has actually started to dwindle, and I am able to focus on the important stuff.

Funny thing - I'm more productive than ever before.

16 Working days left

2005-06-29T20:29:00.000-05:00

So I have only 16 days left of work. I am willing to stretch this to 21 because I believe that it would be beneficial for both my company and me (financially for me - one week's of work is a month of rent in school). I don't know what will happen. I gave notice two weeks ago and my boss has basically just ignored my notice thus far. He's made no announcement, and apparently isn't doing anything to try to backfill me. I have reminded him - so we'll see what happens. I'm still working on some important stuff at work, and I believe I can get a good start on it all, but the extra work might really help too. Either way, I'm getting excited about my career switch!

A nice benefit

2005-06-27T16:21:00.000-05:00

As I type this with my entire lower jaw numb from the needle of a prosthodontist I must say that while I may bitch from time to time about the corporate job and its lack of positives, there definitely are a few things to be grateful for. One of these things is dental insurance as part of a compensation package.

Rest assured, I am taking advantage of this benefit before I head off to school. I was probably en route to needing root canals on several front teeth, perhaps while in b-school, because of some excessive wear. In fact, I had my front teeth filled once, long ago, but that didn't work at all.

So, as a necessary evil to prevent further tooth decay / damage I am getting some work done that will prevent such damage. It's about 3k worth of work that my insurance has squeezed down to $1650 due to the "in-network" status of the prothsodontist. What's more is that my share is only $552 of the work.

So, it's 500 bucks worth of fillings and resins today, or $5k of root canals and crowns in the future.

Needless to say, my face is numb today...

My Patience Tested

2005-06-24T17:24:00.000-05:00

What a week. The higher powers that be decided to really test my patience in the past week. From one of my posts on my market blog, you can see it was a tough one. Combine that with another trade that went awry, and you have the tip of the iceburg. Work was a struggle this week with the inner-politicking getting rigoldamndiculous.

I also volunteered to deliver some of our team t-shirts to a friend, meeting her halfway. Who knew I'd drive right into one of the bazillion Milwaukee fireworks shows? What shoulda been a 25 minute ride turned into 100 minutes. During that ride, I also managed to find an intersection with a stuck stoplight. Note that you only know that a stoplight is stuck, if you're on the wrong side of it (the stopped side).

I managed to get a couple of hours of sleep this week, too, capped off by my 8.5 hr nap last night. That put my sleep total at a huge 20 hrs this week! The lack of sleep basically made everything that much worse - though it still really is all relative.

On a good note, the refinancing of my car was easy, my softball game was a victory, and we won both of our hockey games to boot. So not all was bad.

Giving Notice

2005-06-21T00:07:00.000-05:00

I treated it as a fairly informal little discussion. But, I must say, I was actually nervous. I've never actually quit a job before, really, or at least not a job of consequence. For me, there's always been an end in sight that everyone knew about before my positions started. Not this time.

Top that with my boss having just returned from a difficult family-based emergency trip, it made it a little nerve-wracking. But, from a professional standpoint it had to be done. I'm giving 5 weeks notice, so that the team can hopefully find a replacement.

I basically told him my plans and why. And then he went on to talk a little bit about his idea of perhaps going to Kellogg's Executive MBA program and I mentioned that I had helped my former roomie get into the Part-Time program at Kellogg. So, we talked a bit and he said that he'd be calling for my help.

Now we've got some things to discuss - workload planning and shifting for the summer.

It's been a good learning experience, the last 5 years but now it's on to bigger things. Business is business and sometimes you just have to move on and take a risk because you know it's right. Ask Mark Cuban, in what is a good, motivational blog post.

Blogs in your inbox!

2005-06-16T22:00:00.000-05:00

I'm slow. I know it. I admit it. For someone who has a computer engineering degree, you'd think I would know everything that's going on with computers. But, it just ain't so.

Today, I figured out the Mozilla's Thunderbird email reader can grab blog feeds. This is awesome, I have to say. Then, I do nothing but just launch my email every day, and whalaa - I can see what others are writing. Some of y'all, like Kevin and MargaritaLuvr, are still blogging almost daily! Keep it up!

I'm it, huh?

2005-06-08T17:19:00.000-05:00

It appears as though I've been "book tagged". Keven, a fellow soon-to-be Badger (Go Bucky!) let me know of this in one of his comments. If I had been tagged in another blog, I wouldn't know. I'm awfully busy trying to find a place to live in Madtown these days...plus hockey and softball started up!

But, I am a loyal blogger. I will post the last 5 books I have read. Before I get to that, you should know that I am NOT an avid reader. In fact, I cannot tell you what the last fiction book I read was, but I can tell you it was for an undergrad assignment. Those of you who either know me, or read this or my other blog know what I'm all about and these books won't surprise you (except for maybe the first).

1) BEING PERFECT, by Anna Quindlen
This book was given to my girlfriend by her mother and I read it in the car on the 3 hr drive home. The book's premise is simple: Don't try to be perfect, be you. It's a quick, 20 or 30 minute read and a good pause in life.

2) HOW TO MAKE MONEY IN STOCKS, by William J. O'Niel
The owner's manual for Investor's Business Daily. The book is so data driven that it's incredible, and, I gotta tell you is my bible for investing. This was not the first time I've read this book.

3) HIGH PROBABILITY TRADING, by Marcel Link
This is a great book about trading, not necessarily investing. Link provides great snippets about things he's done wrong, which might be the most important point of the book. However, he also uses the best visuals I've seen in a trading book, and really shows the value of multiple time frames. His "greedy bastard" phrase, though not unique, has found its way into my vocabularly in what not to be as a portfolio manager and part-time trader.

4) THE NEW MARKET WIZARDS, by Jack Schwager
This book actually is what my username is based on! I must admit, that I haven't actually finished all of the interviews in this book, but I'm close. How can you not love a book that, in its first sentence, attacks Eugene Fama's Efficient Market Theory?

5) TRADING IN THE ZONE, by Mark Douglass
This book is not necessarily about trading, per se - or at least it isn't once you finish it. The book is more about psychological forces and barriers that we put on ourselves. Mr. Douglass intends for the book to discuss how the mind works in the trading realm, but what he actually describes goes above and beyond trading. He describes how your brain can put barriers on what you can accomplish and why you do some of the things you do. Anyone can benefit from this very unique book.

There you have it. I'm focused, can you tell? I believe that I have about 30 books in the house. Half of them were gifts that I have no intention of reading. The rest are investing books that I bought.

I think everyone else has been tagged thus far, so I'm out on that (and I have to go hopefully quarterback my football team to victory during my last game with the team in 75 minutes).

Tunnel Vision

2005-06-06T23:05:00.000-05:00

As I was walking up the stairs at work the other day, one of the guys who has been at my company for ~20 years made the comment that "the world was coming down around us."

He was referring to the chaos around the office. We are re-organizing everyone's cubicles. It's supposed to be a productivity enhancement. I'm not so sure, but...eh, whatever. There's construction going on all over the place and it's a mess.

The point is that the world is NOT coming down. Yet, he makes a comment that it is. Look, there's soooo much more than what's going on in our little 3,000 employee campus. Believe me, there are. We have Genentech, ImClone, Pfizer, etc. trying to create cancer-fighting drugs. There's a huge turnaround project in Iraq that has a long, long way to go. We might actually be starting to see the end of our oil supply sometime in the next 100 years.

Why do people get caught up in the notion that everything going on in their life is the world? People seem to think that the CEO of our sector of the company is some god. People wouldn't even recognize him in a supermarket.

Sometimes, there's just a bigger picture out there, people...

Are Holdouts Possible in the Corporate World?

2005-05-31T21:42:00.000-05:00

I thought about an interesting piece the other day. If I were to stop going to work, and demand double my current salary, would my company realize that I save them much more than I make and that their ROI would still be a good one, thus caving to my holdout and actually double my salary?

No. They would not. I'd get shitcanned. Period. However, it brings up an interesting notion. If you know who Terrell Owens or Javon Walker are, you know that these two professional football players are not planning on attending any team workouts or practices until they get new contracts. In Walker's case, yes, he is underpaid ($500k for a top 15 WR in the NFL). In Owens' case, he is not underpaid (he signed a 7 year, $49 million deal a year ago). Either way, their industry allows for one to hold out, because, generally, these people are so critical to their teams that without them, the team is severly impaired.

So, the question is: Are there positions out there that people can "holdout" to get more money in the corporate world? This doesn't count organized strikes; I am speaking solely on an individual basis.

I don't think we're there.....yet.

Perhaps I'll become an admissions consultant!

2005-05-24T21:40:00.000-05:00

Perhaps not. I'll leave that to Clear Admit, among others.

But, I helped my former roommate secure his place at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He will be commuting and doing the part-time thing, but he's in. I'm proud of him, not just because he's my former roommate and Kellogg's "ranking", but also because I was his main essay proofreader. I was tough on him, no doubt, but it all paid off! Congrats, former roomie, congrats...

The interns have arrived!

2005-05-24T21:38:00.000-05:00

I work for a big company. So big, that we hire something like 200 interns at our facility alone. That means two things:

Parking is nearly impossible to come by - unless you arrive before 8:30
It's almost time to be done with work and return to school myself.

I'm awfully excited about #2...

Congrats, Kendra!

2005-05-19T21:09:00.000-05:00

So you'll have to hold off on that Vegas real estate thing for a bit.

I know there are at least a couple of ya out there who read my teeny-tiny piece of cyberspace, so you knew there was a post on this coming! (Since I can type fast I'm willing to bet that this is one of the first posts regarding her obvious victory)

Her win is the right choice. And it brings up a good point about leadership versus management. A great manager, while not exactly "a dime a dozen" is far easier to find than someone who can actually lead. The best quote I have ever heard regarding leadership sums it up like this (my apologies for the gender bias in the statement...): "I have never known men who could be managed into battle. They must be led." That's a great snippet. If you ever wonder what the main difference between leadership and management is, remember that quote. Leaders coach. They inspire.

In organizations leaders and managers are both very important. Both must exist for an organization to succeed because of the general qualities that each have. Leaders, being more chaotic, tend to focus much less on individual details and more on emotions and motivating factors. They align and convince people to steer ships. Managers are the people who do the dirty work: the steering, the planning, and the reporting. Sure, everyone has some elements of both, but most have a tendency towards one side or the other.

Martin Luther King was a great leader. He appealed to people's emotions and inspired them. That's what leaders do.Funny that an MBA is actually a degree in "Management". So, when you think you're truly this great "leader" ask yourself if you really are that, or a manager. I am biased to those leaders. The coaches of this world who convince people to do things that they didn't think could be done. To me, that defines greatness.

So, congrats Kendra, on getting it. "Leadership". A rare trait. And an obvious choice.

What to do when you've chosen your school

2005-05-17T21:49:00.000-05:00

Cry. Your school will be very nicely demanding your money almost instantly.
Jump for joy. You're about to start a new phase in your life - a very exciting one.
Buy an Xbox or Playstation. Face it - no more GMAT to study for, no more essays to worry about, no more applications to fill out, no more application statuses to check hourly, and reduced BW Forums action. You're going to need to kill that time doing something!
Figure out what to do with your car.
Thank everyone that helped you along the way. Give gifts to your recommenders, and thanks to those who chit-chatted with you.
Blog about nothing.
Travel. Well, if you can afford it. Or, even if you can't.
Drink. What better time to re-acquire your tolerance. You're gonna need it in a few months anyhow.
Workout. That darn job and the app process caused a little bit o' weight gain.
Do absolutely nothing and love it!

B-School Laptop

2005-05-14T13:13:00.000-05:00

On BW forums, LBSgrad had an idea that is so simple, yet brilliant. Go buy a USB hard drive and use it to back up data on your laptop everyday. All you have to do is buy a drive that's near the size of the installed drive on your laptop and save your critical stuff. (Why do you not need the same size? - the operating system files aren't helpful to back up, they'll need to be reinstalled if anything catastrophic happens).

LinuxGhost reiterated this suggestion, and I must say that every b-school student should do this. If you can't afford one of these drives, you can't afford b-school. Or - don't go out to the bars two nights, and buy a drive. I recommend doing your hard drive shopping on Pricewatch. I have built entire computers using only this portal - so I actually recommend buying pretty much any computer item there.

Once in a while, though rarely, my slightly-dated computer engineering background actually comes in handy!

Discipline

2005-05-13T14:23:00.000-05:00

In a meeting this morning, I thought about discipline and how important this trait is.

As an investor and trader, I am pretty disciplined. I always cut my losses and trade my plan. I have to learn how to unlearn everything I have ascertained from my engineering / corporate career because those lessons defeat one as an investor. Things like the need to be right, the ability to manipulate situations and crises - they just don't work in the markets.

What happens to me on an almost daily basis is that I take what I learn about psychological barriers and behavior from trading and apply it to the workplace.

This morning was no different. I realized that discipline is important in every career path. Engineering, accounting, lifeguarding...whatever. One must be disciplined in following the rigor necessary to do a good job. For engineers, they must follow the disciplined plan / process that has been developed to create a quality product that customers want. Shortcuts only create problems - BIG ones. A lifeguard must be disciplined enough to constantly be paying attentiong - otherwise the mistake is also potentially very big.

Funny thing though. When is the last time you heard the word DISCIPLINE at work in this context? It seems to me that discipline is perhaps taken for granted a little too much. Food for thought...

The MBA App Process

2005-05-12T16:17:00.000-05:00

Most of the mba-related bloggers are going to post one of these reflective posts wherein we look back and think about what we would have done differently.

1) Know what you want to do
Most candidates know that they want to change careers or they want to make more money. For career changers like me, this part is easy. If you're one of those who just wants to enhance your career by getting an MBA, I hope you have a BS in BS because you're going to need to BS your way through essays and interviews.

Remember your goals and remember that there are smart people and idiots everywhere. My girlfriend's new aparment is owned by an entreprenuer who has one of the most successful restaurants in our entire metro area. He came here from Detroit to start it when he was 20. He's got 125 employees now. Not bad for a pizza place. If you met him and first learned that he didn't go to college you might perhaps think he's a dumb guy. I would say he was very smart, and already knew what he wanted to do. Point #1 outweighs just about everything else in your career. I'll say it again. There are smart people and dumb people everywhere. EVEN AT HARVARD.

2) Don't get caught up in rankings
You might say to me - "Well, you should say that because you're not going to a top 20 school." Some of my evidence for this comes from the story in point #1. Your education might open doors, but it's up to you to actually do something to achieve your definition of success. Where you went to school is not actually that important. Jerry Rice went to Mississippi Valley State university and will retire as the greatest wide receiver in NFL history. The CEO of my current business got his MBA from Robert Morris College. The stuff in b-schools is all relatively the same - some schools just focus on one thing or the other.

3) Start studying early and relaxed for the GMAT
Unfortunately it IS important to do well on the GMAT to ensure that you'll get in. You might even qualify for scholarships or assistantships if you do really well. I had a 3.71 in Electrical Engineering and a 660 GMAT, and, trust me, schools focus more on the GMAT than on the undergrad GPA. I got very little in the way of merit-based financial aid. DO NOT CRAM FOR THE GMAT. Most people who did really well (700+) did not cram. I did and my score reflected it.

As for books, use the Official GMAT Guide, a stopwatch, and an error log exclusively. It's all you need.

4) Research your schools
Based on point #1, this should be easy. You'll know what you're looking for and you'll know not to worry too much about rankings. Go where you feel you'll have the best opporutnities.

5) Start your apps early
Write your essays, have your fairly intelligent friends proofread them, walk away for a few days, and then come back to them and revise. Then repeat the process until you are comfortable with what you wrote. I wouldn't suggest paying a service to look at your essays unless you like the idea of tossing 50 bucks in the toilet and flushing (unless you have absolutely no confidence in your writing ability and there's no friends or family you can turn to for help).

In short, know what you want to do. Then, start early - if you do not, your personal life will take a huge hit during the b-school app process.

When to give notice?

2005-05-11T00:18:00.000-05:00

The big question now is, When do I give my notice? My plan is to wait until my 5 year anniversary, which means I am vested in my pension plan. I figure that will be 4-6 weeks advance notice, which should be sufficient. I also really don't feel like paying for additional months of health insurance, among other expenses - especially with no income.

Many others have already announced their intentions to head back to school. "Back to school, back to school..." gives me thoughts of Adam Sandler singing in Billy Madison. Anyways, Iceman07 has detailed his experience in a pretty comical way. Read it!

Not a day passes that I don't think of my soon-to-be experience. It will be shortlived, like most things are, but you can bet your butt I'll have a smug look on my face!

Academia and the markets

2005-05-09T19:09:00.000-05:00

I am in what I believe to be a very unique situation. I'll be heading to a school that has honed a huge number of successful money managers in the past 30+ years - especially for its size.

I will come to this program with few pre-concieved notions. I've watched how markets work from an "outsider's" perspective. By "outsider" I mean that I have not had formal accounting classes, nor have I ever taken a university-level finance course.

But, I have observed the markets for years. I've been a participant for even longer - and I've been an investor as a complete market idiot. Thus, I've some great experience in what NOT to do when buying a stock. Don't buy them because someone gave you a tip, or you like a company's product / think the product is cool. Don't buy when you simply *think* that a stock's price cannot go any lower. Don't even buy them just because a P/E is low.

I've also had quite a bit of experience as a much better investor. I've studied, and even profited from some of the runs that stocks like Research in Motion (RIMM), Apple (AAPL), and Valero Energy (VLO) have had in the past year. I've read countless numbers of trading, trading psychology, general investing, and money management books. I've won on positions, and I've lost on positions. LOTS of positions, sometimes using options as a tool to hedge risk or leverage price. Does B-School teach you what to look for en route to a possible short-covering rally? What, exactly, is WRONG with short-term profits? I'll tell you what, a dollar in my pocket today is much better than 2 in 10 years! I am not saying this is the only way to play in the markets, but they are ways that money can be made.

After all, that's the only reason the markets exist. The purpose the markets serve is to provide a place where cash transactions take place. In short, they exist to make money.

I will, nonetheless, come to the Applied Security Analysis Program at UW with an unusual, "real-world" perspective. In fact, my knowledge of the "real-world" way that the markets work in terms of greed, fear, and frequent irrational exuberance got me into ASAP. Had I not known about such things, I would have bombed the interview - the interview was a very specific and potentially intimidating exercise (however, I would like to toss out that my FBI interview in 2003 was much, much more intimidating - don't ask me for details, I signed a form that said I'll never disclose them and I am true to my word).

From my observations, the academics of the markets are great, but they are not always the most important thing. I have yet to even begin my copy of "When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management", but I plan on reading it during my off-time this summer. Just because a stock is "worth" something, doesn't mean its price will get there. I've seen it. Frequently. Sometimes it will get there, and sometimes it won't. The markets are a great price wargame, unfolding every second of the day.

So, will I battle the very people I am paying to teach me in B-School? I don't know. Time'll tell on that one.

Go Kendra!

2005-05-05T21:34:00.000-05:00

Now that the Apprentice is down to two - I thought I'd just shout out a big "Go Kendra!" To be honest, both her and Tana are great at what they do, but I think that Kendra is well, a) better looking - which means nothing in terms of job qualifications, and b) good at doing what the client / customer wants and not getting to emotionally attached to doing things like attaching rhinestones to t-shirts when it's a marginal addition to the product.

Craig's gone. Finally. That was overdue. He's alright, but the show just made him look a little bit indecisive and inflexible. Bottom line - these two are the final two and they deserved. I look forward to the final show.

Yep - I'm a dork.

A buy signal!

2005-05-05T09:13:00.000-05:00

Not b-school related, but I am issuing a technical buy signal today. The $NASI crossed it's 5day MA, the TRINQ and TRIN spiked, then fell, and the volatility index (VIX) made a nice drop after it's typical double bounce pattern. Combine that with yesterday's follow through (though a mediocre follow thru day), along with a bullish divergence in the McClellan Oscillator used on the Naz, and we get a go.

I believe this rally will be a short one before we flip back to an overall bearish tone for much of this year, however. This rally could provide a great opportunity to get short.

HOW WORK CAN SUCK THE LIFE OUT OF YOU…

2005-05-02T16:31:00.000-05:00

I wish all aspiring b-schoolers the best when it comes to their lives and happiness. See, I believe that over half are going to b-school and yet they still have no idea what they want to do in the future. Further, I believe that most of them are going predominantly because they wish to advance up the corporate ladder.

Since I am a man of analogies and metaphors, let me say that going to school for this reason (mainly the bigger paycheck) will only result in you learning that your ladder is made of twizzlers (the licorice). Now try climbing it. (Ok, so the twizzler reference loses a bit because they’re tasty – but you get the point).

I should know. I am one who got an undergrad degree in something that I had little interest in but a) was good enough at math to do and b) had one of the highest starting salaries among undergrads (according to the Peterson’s career guide book we all look at in high school). Wow – I was going to be wealthy!

The money is not worth it. When you wake up every single day and simply cannot stand the work, it puts a drag on you. This drag flows over (or, BOILS would be a more correct word) into your personal life. You may feel depressed or helpless, and your energy to do things and socialize with others will dwindle. Remember, this is the stuff that will happen to you outside of work.

The irony is that there’s nobody to blame but you; despite the fact that most of the people you work with will, in some way, irritate the hell out of you. It’s not their fault, though! Unfortunately, you do both your employer and yourself a huge disservice when you enter a career that you aren’t passionate about, and I intend in my career – when I have the responsibility to do so – to hire people who are energetic about their field.

I used to work out religiously – it’s something I love to do (even today) but my workouts have come few and far between because of my lack of energy in general. I’m nowhere close to being in the shape I was in when I started this job. But, I can change it.

Don’t chase the money. Your personal life will go to shit. A b-schooler on BW forums has started a thread about some of the greatest one-liners ever. Which did I choose to post?

“THE MASS OF MEN LEAD LIVES OF QUIET DESPERATION.” - Henry David Thoreau (referenced in one of my favorite books, Come Into My Trading Room, By Dr. Alexander Elder)
Don’t be one of them.

Met a fellow classmate lastnight

2005-04-29T08:54:00.000-05:00

Since UW doesn't have an official admit weekend, I took it upon myself to meet a future classmate last night over a few beers. Seems like a good guy - much smarter than I in the investing world.

Also sat with an alum who is in the biz and has a great buy-side job, working for a small shop which comes with quite a bit of responsibility.

Hopefully there'll be more beers in the future, as well as some investment ideas.

I gotta learn more about this MLP thing. It seems like it's a great deal, even if the taxes are a little more complicated. Probably not much of a tax advantage in an IRA, though. Lotsa learning to do!

I'm such a drone

2005-04-26T22:43:00.000-05:00

At work. Yay me. A fellow blogger has stated he is on "cubicle retirement" and I have shamelessly stolen the phrase when I see friends out and let them know what will be happening in a few months.

On another note, I know of a student who said no to Cornell and Duke and will head to UW's ASAP. That speaks to the strength of the program!

Now I'm just really really really really hoping I get football tickets. You see, I will enter a lottery for them. I'm sure that I'll find 'em somehow anyways, but I'm hoping my name gets chosen. For hoops tix too. I'm pretty sure I'll get the hockey tix without problems.

Big time sports. Big time IM program. Why was the process even so hard for me?

I miss the NHL

2005-04-25T19:57:00.000-05:00

I realize that I'm in the minority here, but as a hockey fan and player, I really am missing the NHL right now. Football playoffs and March Madness aside, the NHL playoffs are the best spectator tournament we have. Period. The hockey gets so intense and the players leave so much on the ice it is incredible. I just wish we had hockey. The NBA playoffs just don't do it for me, even though it's on my tv this very moment.

On another great note, the smoke-free bars rule goes in effect this summer in Madtown. That's going to be awesome!

Google and the P/E ratio in general

2005-04-22T09:18:00.000-05:00

Someone on BW forums posted that the Google P/E was too high to justify the stock's price.

What a load of horsecrap. (Is this expressing my opinion honest enough?)

First off, the P/E ratio is not a very useful metric. It lags. Terribly. An argument could be made for using a FORWARD P/E, perhaps, but certainly not the trailing P/E. But even so, it's not that useful

Why would I say this? Well, look, the efficient market theory would state that if you pull up a chart, all that is publicly known about the company is reflected in its stock price. Thus, if a company, let's say google, which at the very last tick traded at 219.4 is worth 219.4. End of story. Humans have already determined that's what it's worth. Period. End of discussion. It doesn't matter what the P/E is!

Remember, the markets are all about supply and demand, and a stock's price is determined by two humans, or at least two humans who wrote code to agree on a trade. So, when you consider supply and demand, there's much, much more that comes into play in determining a stock's future price! This is where EXPECTATIONS come into play. And that's what analysts try to do, although few are actually skilled at it...

Now, we DO have to make the assumption that people will continue to trade non-physical things like shares of company stock with currency, despite the fact that it's not alot different than humans saying gold or currency has value. That precedent's been set already...

One needs to consider overall market conditions, the company's health and track record (and more - product pipeline, etc). I also think that looking at items such as return on equity, and debt-to-equity ratio are much more useful. Also, look at the current ratio...because, after all, you're looking for some kind of "catalyst" for the stock price to move, right? Well, if a company is about to have a lousy quarter and MISS their EXPECTATIONS, then you'd like to look for some kind of a signal...and upcoming due payments / debts is certainly a nice item to add to your arsenal. Of course, you might be able to just pull up a chart and a poor current ratio is likely to already be reflected in share prices...

There's so much more, and sometimes technical analysis makes it easier than sifting through the info...but I have to stop writing on this...I could go all day...

It just makes me mad when people use P/E as the sole indicator. Seriously, what P/E did Qualcomm trade at in 1999? Yeah, ok, that was internet bubble burst time...point is, it didn't matter. And P/E still matters very little. Remember, I'm a growth guy.

And so it begins...

2005-04-19T09:34:00.000-05:00

I got email from the director of MBA student services today asking me to politely register for orientation and pay another $300 for a course that will span both years at UW. Oh boy, the nickel and dime (actually it's Franklin's now) university costs are beginning! Ugh...

Are you ****ing kidding me?

2005-04-18T23:18:00.000-05:00

The scene: Kelley admit weekend, Friday April 8, 2005. I arrive early only to find out that I can't obtain internet access on the IU campus, but a guy in the tech center says to go to the public library for free computer usage. Cool. So I go. And whalaa, I can log on with my own computer and wireless card! Sweet. A little while later I need to move my car so I walk out, but on my way out, I notice a guy kind of huddled at his monitor...and I think he's looking at porn. On my way back in - sure enough...he's looking at porn - IN A PUBLIC LIBRARY! Are you ****ing kidding me? Who does that?

Writing from my apt...

2005-04-18T13:39:00.000-05:00

More great "productivity" today - the entire IP based network went down. Phones, internet, email, everything. In fact, I am at home 2.5 hrs later and the internal network is still (presumably) down, because I can't get inside the firewall via a VPN connection. This is rare, but I guess it gives me an opportunity to catch up with my this blog, and my fund work. The markets are always interesting, and I think a sucker rally is coming soon...which I plan to use to my advantage (aka dump some of my funds in my 401k)

Update

2005-04-18T09:42:00.000-05:00

My money is in and now I'm looking for an apartment. I will live with a good friend of mine, presumably within walking distance of Grainger Hall, but far enough away so that the typical undergrad drunkenness is rarely seen out our windows. Classes start on the 22nd of August with "The MBA Experience" - or, in one word: Orientation. I'll keep posting things as I learn more. Right now I am in the process of trying to find a gift for my only Female recommender who happens to NOT drink coffee. The two male recommenders both got a UW coffee mug filled with chocolate. That was easy to find, not sure where I'm going to find something for Sue....but something will come along.

IT'S OFFICIAL! -> UW

2005-04-11T11:21:00.000-05:00

I am going to be in ASAP at the University of Wisconsin, starting on August 22, 2005. Sweet. I'm on cloud 9. I've maintained all along, that despite UW's absence from top MBA rankings, that ASAP was a unique program, and a top 5 or 10 in the nation. Today I even saw data that puts UW at #7 overall in the Investment Management, in terms of placement.

This is pure heaven for a Badger fan....and I am so excited that not only am I going to a great school that can get me to the buy-side, I am also going to the city I always wanted to - Madison. And, I get to cheer for my favorite college sports teams at the same time. It's the perfect fit; I can't believe that there is a program in this state like this...

If any fellow ASAP students come across this, or any people who are interested in working in the IM business or already do, please be sure to drop me a line!

Kelley Admit Weekend - Thoughts

2005-04-10T01:16:00.000-05:00

I swear blogspot.com went haywire for about a week. I couldn't post...so the gap in posts isn't my fault!

Anyhow, with regards to Kelley Admit Weekend: what a great school. Coming to Kelley admit weekend clouds my decision, and, as I write this from my hotel room inside the IU Memorial Union, I can say that this is a hard decision. I'm eligible for $$$ from IU, and this place really takes alot of pride in the MBA program, and wants to continually make the program stronger. And, I know that in general, IU has a stronger program overall...but for IM it's kind of a toss up. Sure, some of the stuff I've heard this weekend is fluff, but the quality of admits is pretty impressive. I wish UW would create an admit weekend, because that would help make this decision easier. Anyhow, I'm not going to make the decision until next week, when I can remove some of the emotions of having just been at IU for 2 days.

I met several people from China, 1 from Korea, a slew of New Yorkers, and Left-coasters too. Of course there's a big contingent from 45 minutes north (where, on the drive down on one of the Indy bypasses a tow truck hit a shredded semi-tire sending it in the air only to land on and subsequently dent the hood of my car somewhat severly!) There's even a guy who I met at UW prospective weekend and several other fellow cheeseheads. B-School admits have a very addictive personality, as a whole. We're entreprenuerial, and we don't see alot of limts. It's soooo refreshing, and I wish that school started tomorrow. Soon enough...soon enough...

Making My MBA School Choice

2005-04-01T11:39:00.000-06:00

I'm going to Wisconsin. I am now 99% sure of this fact.

As an avid BWer, and reader of MBA blogs all over, UW (The real UW - Wisconsin was founded before Washington, it's bigger - barely, and it has better athletic teams - arguably) has very little representation on these boards. It's not a Wharton, or a Harvard (though the football, basketball, and hockey teams could kick these schools' asses). Sometimes I worry that I might not find a job with a UW MBA. But then there are times like last night when I went back to http://www.uwasap.org and reminded myself that this program puts people in great buy-side jobs. Consistently. And the alumni network among the ASAP students is unlike anything I've seen before. Perhaps some of this is simply not known because ASAP was an MS just two short years ago. There are so many buy-siders out there with this degree, but they get left off the major surveys of MBA's...because they don't have an MBA!

It's going to be a good two years there, I know it. I hope they fill the class with the maximum 21 students in ASAP because that will mean I have 20 people who love the same thing as me, and I can learn from 'em. Plus, then we'll have the maximum number of heads for sector research when we run the fund in '06-'07!

As for Kelley - well, it's a great school too. If you look inside the rankings (take with a grain of salt), you'll see that UW and IU are practically the same for finance...IU is 19 and UW is 21 (USN&WP). And, as for IM, well, the ASAP program is probably in the top 5-10 in the country, with Texas, Cornell, UW, and Tulane the only schools that give students the ability to manage the amount of money that they do. The best part about it: Estimated cost for UW when I am done: $45k. When I'm 50 and [hopefully] giving dinero back to the school, I'll realize how good of an opportunity it was/is.