Waaaay ahead of you guys… Nuppal: I already have a list of the MN ibanks and research firms from CapitalIQ or whatever. The list, while lengthy, contains mostly ma and pa shops with 2 or 3 employees. I have contacted many of them already. Lots of quantity, not a lot of quality leads. Student1: No way in hell I’m going to pass the CFA in 2 months. Anything is possible, but I’m not going to risk $1500 of cash I don’t have. From everything I’ve heard, and have seen with my own eyes tells me CFA lvl1 isn’t much help in this market anyway. No need to rush for it in my opinion. Cookthebooks: It’s actually a really tiny commercial bank with 3 branch offices. They do some credit analysis, mortgage loans etc but not a whole lot of upside no matter how you slice it.
volante99 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Waaaay ahead of you guys… > > Nuppal: I already have a list of the MN ibanks and > research firms from CapitalIQ or whatever. The > list, while lengthy, contains mostly ma and pa > shops with 2 or 3 employees. I have contacted many > of them already. Lots of quantity, not a lot of > quality leads. > > Student1: No way in hell I’m going to pass the CFA > in 2 months. Anything is possible, but I’m not > going to risk $1500 of cash I don’t have. From > everything I’ve heard, and have seen with my own > eyes tells me CFA lvl1 isn’t much help in this > market anyway. No need to rush for it in my > opinion. > > Cookthebooks: It’s actually a really tiny > commercial bank with 3 branch offices. They do > some credit analysis, mortgage loans etc but not a > whole lot of upside no matter how you slice it. I graduated in June 2009 and unemployed since… so I can kinda understand your financial situation. I have 75% of CFA material to SKIM over (as in briefly key points). 25% more for you isn’t that much. I ALSO have another industry exam 2 weeks before my CFA L1 exam, which is arguable harder than CFA L1 which I’m only starting to study for. Oh and did I mention I don’t have a finance degree/background? What do I think my chances are of passing L1? 80%+ 
So stop making excuses about it being too late and try the damn thing. It’s not $1500 if you fail, the exam portion is only a few hundred. Call it an investment.
student1 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I graduated in June 2009 and unemployed since… > so I can kinda understand your financial > situation. > I have 75% of CFA material to SKIM over (as in > briefly key points). 25% more for you isn’t that > much. > I ALSO have another industry exam 2 weeks before > my CFA L1 exam, which is arguable harder than CFA > L1 which I’m only starting to study for. > > Oh and did I mention I don’t have a finance > degree/background? > > What do I think my chances are of passing L1? 80%+ > > > So stop making excuses about it being too late and > try the damn thing. It’s not $1500 if you fail, > the exam portion is only a few hundred. Call it an > investment. volante99 doesn’t have those few hundred dude. Is that hard to understand? Geez now I know why you still don’t have a job.
The CEO of US Bank (headquartered in MN) started out as a bank teller.
employment versus unemployment seems like a no-brainer to me, regardless of whatever direction you want to take it.
TMurf Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The CEO of US Bank (headquartered in MN) started > out as a bank teller. Did the CEO of US Bank take that job right after graduating college or while in college (or even HS for that matter)?
If I am reading this correctly you have an undergrad degree and live in MN. Get a freaking bank teller job at any of the big banks in Mpls: WF, US Bank, TCF… I saw a bunch of TCF job openings the other day. It has been mentioned before in this thread, bank teller is not the end of the world and you can move pretty quickly. Maybe in 4-5 years you are a good old financial analyst looking at mortgage yields 24/7… I do not think you are going to make it to a investment shop unless you change. The bank teller route and building a career at one of the banks mentioned above might be your best future. I am sure there are plenty of CFA candidates with MBAs and/or CPAs trying to break into finance like you. Guess what, you need to get a job + take the CFA asap + network + probably take some accounting / finance classes… Overall you need to get your $hit together if you want to make it in finance. It is pretty tough out there. I am sorry that you are frustrated. You do not want to hear this, but there are a lot of people that have made a lot more sacrifices than you to make it in finance and are still as far as you are.
I just though of something else… The problem that I see with bank teller is that you cannot study at work. Your terminal will not even have Excel (I am assuming) It might be better to get a job in those banks in some type of admin role (e.g accounts payable) so you could do your job fast and then study at your desk in the downtime. Also, have you build any models that you could show to potential employeers? Are you following any industries and creating some type of reports that could show your knowledge. If you cannot afford the CFA right now, at least you could build some models. Also, you could buy the 2009 materials for the CFA I for cheap and start reading. It cannot hurt. Just throwing some ideas.
AlexP, do you even have a job? The modelling and report bit sounds like a good idea. Could have done without the personal attacks and Pursuit of Happyness lecture, though.
volante, at least your life isn’t as bad as this guy’s: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100222/ap_on_re_us/us_the1000_mile_commute
topher Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > volante, at least your life isn’t as bad as this > guy’s: > > http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100222/ap_on_re_us/us > _the1000_mile_commute I disagree. At least that guy has a job; it’s still yet to be seen if volante99 actually gets a job offer.
volante99 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > AlexP, do you even have a job? > > The modelling and report bit sounds like a good > idea. > > Could have done without the personal attacks and > Pursuit of Happyness lecture, though. Yes I have a job. Sorry for the personal attacks. For some reason the personality that come accross your posts rubbed me the wrong way. Drive forward volante and good luck.
brianr Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > TMurf Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > The CEO of US Bank (headquartered in MN) > started > > out as a bank teller. > > Did the CEO of US Bank take that job right after > graduating college or while in college (or even HS > for that matter)? I think he was still in college when he took the job.
TMurf Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > brianr Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > TMurf Wrote: > > > -------------------------------------------------- > > > ----- > > > The CEO of US Bank (headquartered in MN) > > started > > > out as a bank teller. > > > > Did the CEO of US Bank take that job right > after > > graduating college or while in college (or even > HS > > for that matter)? > > > > I think he was still in college when he took the > job. it was also probably a long time ago too- thing were different 30+ years ago 
student1 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > volante99 Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Waaaay ahead of you guys… > > > > Nuppal: I already have a list of the MN ibanks > and > > research firms from CapitalIQ or whatever. The > > list, while lengthy, contains mostly ma and pa > > shops with 2 or 3 employees. I have contacted > many > > of them already. Lots of quantity, not a lot of > > quality leads. > > > > Student1: No way in hell I’m going to pass the > CFA > > in 2 months. Anything is possible, but I’m not > > going to risk $1500 of cash I don’t have. From > > everything I’ve heard, and have seen with my > own > > eyes tells me CFA lvl1 isn’t much help in this > > market anyway. No need to rush for it in my > > opinion. > > > > Cookthebooks: It’s actually a really tiny > > commercial bank with 3 branch offices. They do > > some credit analysis, mortgage loans etc but not > a > > whole lot of upside no matter how you slice it. > > > I graduated in June 2009 and unemployed since… > so I can kinda understand your financial > situation. > I have 75% of CFA material to SKIM over (as in > briefly key points). 25% more for you isn’t that > much. > I ALSO have another industry exam 2 weeks before > my CFA L1 exam, which is arguable harder than CFA > L1 which I’m only starting to study for. > > Oh and did I mention I don’t have a finance > degree/background? > > What do I think my chances are of passing L1? 80%+ > > > So stop making excuses about it being too late and > try the damn thing. It’s not $1500 if you fail, > the exam portion is only a few hundred. Call it an > investment. Which industry exam do you think is harder than the LI?
jcole21 Wrote: > Which industry exam do you think is harder than > the LI? SOA Exam MFE
How did the interview go? Were you greeted by an 80 year old man as you entered the store?
TMurf Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The CEO of US Bank (headquartered in MN) started > out as a bank teller. Those days are over…he was prob a bank teller in HS…so was I. There’s no working up from the bottom anymore. Honestly I don’t know why people with non-finance background are even attempting to enter the industry/take CFA now. Do you really want work in finance that bad? If so, why didn’t you major in it? Or is just the sudden lure of potential money? I can’t lie, maybe I’m a hater, but those people piss me off…probably b/c they’re trying to take my food off of my plate…
TPain88 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > TMurf Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > The CEO of US Bank (headquartered in MN) > started > > out as a bank teller. > > > Those days are over…he was prob a bank teller in > HS…so was I. There’s no working up from the > bottom anymore. Honestly I don’t know why people > with non-finance background are even attempting to > enter the industry/take CFA now. Do you really > want work in finance that bad? If so, why didn’t > you major in it? Or is just the sudden lure of > potential money? I can’t lie, maybe I’m a hater, > but those people piss me off…probably b/c > they’re trying to take my food off of my plate… People just don’t understand how frickin hard it is to make it in this industry, especially coming from mediocre schools w/ no background or industry connections. I feel bad for all the finance undergrads that I run across with 3.0 GPA from mediocre schools who think that they’re going to take their BBA-Finance degree and turn it into a I-banking career… The same goes for family members who read the out-dated stats that “median salary for CFA Charterholders is $250k / yr” and it’s like they expect you to be rich within 1 year of receiving the charter…
Well, in all fairness, most people who try to get into “finance” don’t make it. I’m sure 30-year-old bank tellers who’ve been doing the same job since graduating from college had planned to be somewhere else by the time they were that age.