What was your main motivation for going into finance? The cliche answer to that question is “money, danm it!”. Movies like “Margin Call” play on the typical wall street tale of those full of heart and ambition chasing down dreams of the most wealthy kind of success only to have their soul ripped out by the demon of greed. One day you find yourself…maybe wealthy…but soulless, broken hearted and with a dead dog
Those of you in the biz, what do you have to say to this fresh chippie? I don’t yet work in the industry but I am frustrated by the souless prognosis I may have waiting for me. Am I really alone in my ambition for the buy side not being motivated by wealth? I really put the carriage in front of the horse trying to participate on the investments forum but seeing the discussions on there is very exciting to me because THAT is what motivated me to go for one of the most brutal and elite industries. Originally wanting to be a research scientist, but having a brief but BORING stint in astrophysics, I found high finance a way to be a scientist in the way I always thought being a scientist would be like. I really don’t care much about the money… I care more about the reward of being right when I play the world like a giant chess game! (slight exaggeration)
So what do you say, my future peers. Are you here for both money and love? Will the buy side leave even me, with pure “love” in my heart, souless and with a dead dog?
Jk. Kinda. There will come a point when you realise that you don’t want to do (can’t do) anything else with your life. I guess you can categorize that as love. I mean, that excuse passes off as a marriage proposal nowadays.
Are you practicing for a job interview? It’s not very convincing, I’m afraid. At least kiss the guy’s ass by saying finance has all the smart people, and you get a high by interacting with these luminaries. If you’re hot and if the guy has no ring, say you want to find a husband who is BSD. Job is practically in hand now. You are welcome.
I am passionate about finance. I make love to my Bloomberg every morning. I gasp in ecstasy at every trade I make. I am literally laughing quietly to myself most of the day. Clients think I’m weird.
Answer to interview question would be, I find it a challenging career where I can continue to learn and grow. I believe my background and experience is well suited for the task and can add a lot of value to your firm.
There is a meaningful segment of finance professionals that are predominantly motivated by money. Look at some of the people you see in finance including some on this forum. Soulless individuals for the most part. But I also think there is a large segment that truly enjoys picking stocks with a passion (think Buffett types that live and breath stock picking and investing) and happen to make lots of money, but are not motivated by money. I think to have a long and prosperous career in this industry you have to have a passion for investing otherwise it is too hard and you will be eaten up by your competition.
Everyone is motivated by money to an extent. And if you think you aren’t, then that’s because you have enough money to get by. I don’t think that alone makes a person ‘soulless’.
I actually object to the idea that people in finance don’t contribute to society. You hear similar opinions about lawyers. But try running a society without banks and without courts. Not everyone can or should be a doctor and plenty of doctors are motivated by money.
To the OP, I think your view of finance is unrealistic and skewed by movies such as Wolf of Wall Street. Most people on the CFA path work in pretty mundane offices and do reasonably interesting and worthwhile work. If you have some fantasy of models and bottles and six figures bonuses you are going to be disappointed.
love. i thought “what would i do if i won the lottery?”, which is funny cuz i basically never play the lottery but nonetheless. my answer was, i’d get a sweet home trading setup and manage my money as well as the money of family and close friends. then i thought, hmm, if i’m spending all this time doing work to find investments, why don’t i market myself to others and grow the assets so that i can swing a bigger D.
I REALLY hope you are not joking!