Hi there,
I’d like to be in touch with fellow gay or lesbian CFA candidates. I’m relatively new in finance and don’t even know a single LGBT finance type, which I find depressing. This is not an easy industry for us and I’d like to be in touch with anyone else studying for the CFA (I’m studying for Level 2 now and located in LA). And for those of you not in this group, I’d appreciate you being kind and keeping any snarky remarks to yourself.
I’ve certainly worked with a few gay people in finance, they just don’t advertise their sexuality (understandably).
I’m not altogether clear why one’s sexuality should make a hill of beans worth of difference.
I, for one, couldn’t care less.
monkeymath: if you get a group together and you find you need some help on some topics, bear in mind that I’m in NE Orange County.
+1
But it does add a different dimension to the term “CFA Hook Up”.
Believe me, I thought long and hard about the (puerile) implications of moving the thread here. In the end, I was left hoping that the childishness would be left behind.
Both of you guys beat me to the punch. I’d rather that someone’s sexual orientation be a non-issue in the workplace unless it was ABSOLUTELY relevant to the job. An example of this might be a financial advisor advertising himself as a gay so that he could assist gay clients with their unique estate planning situations.
But come the f**k on, man - we’re on a CFA forum: we’re here because we believe that a standardized test levels the playing field. It doens’t matter what your age, race, gender, religion, or birthplace is. What should matter, and does matter is: CAN YOU PASS THE TEST OR NOT?
You are missing the point. It’s not about the test. That is clearly standardized.
It was an attempt by me to find other gays and lesbians going into the finance field.
Just the reactions to this shows what a problem this is. There are very few women in this industry and even fewer minorities.
Anyone who thinks everyone has the same shot is out of their minds.
I was simply interested in finding a few other people like me in the world of finance. As for the poster that said he knows gays in the financial field but they are all in the closet, that tells you everything you need to know. Try the next time you are in the office noticing when you say things like “I went to a movie with my girlfriend” or “I picked up my wife at the airport.”…Then try constantly censoring yourself by making sure you don’t mention your girlfriend or wife. Just do it for a week.
Then tell me sexuality doesn’t matter.
Respectfully, I, for one, didn’t say that it doesn’t matter. Clearly it does (to a lot of people).
I said that it _ shouldn’t _ matter, and that it certainly doesn’t to me. If I were in your office, you wouldn’t need to censor yourself, any more than I would.
The only one making an issue out of the gay/lesbian thing is…the gay person. Everybody else seemed to be over it before it even began.
Kinda reminds me of the what Morgan Freeman said about race relations. “How are we going to get rid of racism? Stop talking about it.”
Nice. All I asked in the original post was if there were any other gay or lesbian candidates. Most of these responses - with the exception of magician - tell you all you need to know.
But I did answer your question, I personally know at least one gay charterholder but he doesn’t advertise his sexuality for whatever reason, I don’t care why, it’s his business at the end of the day.
People have have different ways of dealing with it at work, I used to work with a guy that was a stereotypically flamboyant homosexual, he never said it and nobody ever brought it up but everybody knew. It seemed he was the one overly worried about what people would think, when in reality nobody cared but was too polite to say anything.
I will agree that typically finance is dominated by heterosexual males but I think this is changing. At the end of the day, if you can make it rain, nobody in this industry cares if you are gay, lesbian, or have sex with dogs.
Wall Street is full of Asians and Jews. Your argument is invalid.
man this thread has so much potential
This. In finance, particularly capital markets, you’re measured on your ability to make money. If you can make money for your firm, your clients, and yourself; no one is going to give a flying fk if you’re gay, lez, bi, tri, trans, hacksawed, etc. Be careful about using your glbtness for leverage which I don’t think you are, but could see it in practice. “Yeah, our returns suck, but we’re the premier glbt firm in the investment community.”
Chill.
I’ve worked for a boss who I suspect was gay (he did not openly admit it). One of the greatest minds I have had the privilege to work with.
I can not speak for gays and lesbians, but for why there are so few women in the finance industry, i can tell you why: BECAUSE MOST WOMEN AREN’T INTERESTED!
It’s not like there are equal number of men and women wanted to work in finance and women just happen to get weed out, i can’t even find one single girlfriend who would say that “i wish i have you job”, where as another friend of mine works in PR (actually also for a financial instiution but her role involves no finance), MANY of my female friends wanted to be her.
Simple fact, there are not nearly as many females who want to work in this field as males, and i don’t take it offensive when i don’t see many women in the CFA exam rooms, i wouldn’t expect otherwise.
So in your case, i don’t know if men working in finance would advertise themselves as gay because it’s irrelevant to the job, or perhaps there are bullying and gays are discriminated against, i wouldn’t know…
#admitwhatyouREALLYlearned
#yoursecretissafehere
There a couple of gay guys in my work. One got married last week to his long term partner and shared pictures of him walking down the aisle. I also get emails inviting me to ‘Pride’ event organised by an ‘inclusion’ representative.
In short, being LGBT isn’t anything more than choosing what colour underwear to put on in the morning. And yes, there are lots of LGBT people where I work and also in other firms i’ve worked in.
No, as I’m not a candidate anymore. One of my former boss is a devout Christian. You can imagine the stress when I was there.