Relocation Ideas?

Water Cooler
#1

Where would you go?

Some of you are experienced dudes (ok there are maybe 2 chicks here too), some are closer to my current reality, I’d love to hear ideas. I’m 26, got my charter this year, somewhat of a hacksaw BA, and a mix of retail and commercial banking experience. Currently residing in Toronto and since nothing (other than an “OK” job) is really holding me in place, I’m contemplating a move somewhere (internationally) that has:

a) A less cutthroat finance job market b) More need for and/or less charter holders c) Ideally warmer climate (sorry, Calgary)

I would like to move away from lending and use my fundamental skills either for AM or (in the perfect world) PE/HF, but I’m willing to be open minded. Planning to be trying to make a switch to these locally too, but part of me wants a drastic change and to just get up and experience something new (and hopefully not get into too much debt lol). Being a Canadian citizen I suspect it would be fairly easy for me to get a work visa to most developed countries so that’s not much of a concern.

d) Decent female population would be nice too

#2

Encinitas, CA

#3

your first two basically eliminate all the major financial centers.

Thailand comes to my mind, that should fit the less competition aspect. and you can fulfill your female companionship requirement

#4

What about Singapour? I hear they have a large demand for jobs, not sure how competitive it is though.

#5

I do see where you are coming from Itera, and I am not opposed to moving to a non-financial center, hence I was hoping to see something outside of the usual London/NYC/Honk Kong suspects. Though I am considering all 3 just for the change fo scenery.

@Analti, thanks for the idea. I would love to move to Cali, do not have much knowledge on the job situation there. Though based on quick research, Encinitas hasn’t grown much in the past decade…

#6

Get multiple job offers first, then decide on the location.

#7

Well, West Texas certainly fits the bill with regard to the first three. Finance job market isn’t very cutthroat out here, and there are less charterholders, and we have a warm climate.

Don’t know about the last one, though. I know I’d certainly hate to be single out here.

#8

What languages do you speak?

#9

Higg - language wont help me much, I speak Russian, though prefer English at this point (on an accent scale of 0 to 1, 1 being a Borat, im about 0.32).

Greeny - Texas might not be a bad idea, KK seems to be doing well, though he went to school there.

Ohai - that would be ideal, I plan to apply internationaly from here, but getting ready for the possible scenario of moving first, and searching “locally” once I am there.

Rawraw - I know I can get by on English in Honk Kong, not sure if it’s quite the case in Singapour (if anyone has any insight, it’d be appreciated).

Thanks for your input guys! So far its either Asia or South West it seems… are things in London UK really Toronto-like?

#10

I hear the community of Ferguson in St. Louis, MO is nice. Great diversity and is really a community that pulls together during hard times.

#11

Lisbon?

#12

Denver. Pros: Rapidly growing asset management business. Cool town. Vail, Aspen, Breck, and Bever Creek are close by and full of snow bunnies. Cons: Cold but not horrible. You’d have to see Peyton Manning’s five-head all over the place.

#13

Eh, Singapore is more English than Hong Kong. Look at some pictures of buildings and signs in the city. Everything is in English.

I hear that Midland, Texas, is the best place to be nowadays. The people are very hospitable and cannot wait to cook you food in their kitchen.

#14

San Diego

#15

I always pictured Singapore as a mono-ethnic monotonous place. Upon actually going there I was surprised by the diversity including the practice of Tamil as an official language. Nice Country.

The local ‘Chindian’ women - apparently a subset of population born exclusively to Indian fathers and Chinese mothers are also drop dead gorgeous. Haven’t seen them anywhere else apart from Malaysia.

#16

I’ve had a couple friends move to Denver in the past year and they seem to love it. I’d consider it as it has a decent amount of energy stuff (as far as non-Texas cities go).

I’m trying to decide where abroad I’d like to go at some point. I’m kind of planning on moving abroad once I have enough experience to do what I want and shit hits the fan here and taxes get crazy on anybody who makes decent money. I’ll go chill in Dubai or Saudi or Singapore.

#17

Lisbon sounds like a very cool idea, though I’m wondering about the language. Blackomen - any insight on that?

Denver snow bunnies vs beach bunnies of the likes of San Diego… hmm:)

Singapore seems like the place to aim for in Asia then.

Thanks guys, this has been a pretty sweet discussion. Definitely gave me (and hopefully some of you too) food for thought.

#18

The deal with Lisbon is you would have to get a work visa and probably have a working command of portuguese. My experience with southern Europeans is that they do not learn English to the same level as the Northern Europeans.

#19

I have a friend who mile runs (flys around the world to gain airline miles at a cost cheaper than their value). He has done several Singapour runs and always said it’s extremely easy for him to get around. He also said the local ladies loved him. He said the plane rides going in was always full of finance people not from Singapour working there.

Houston and Dallas could also qualify. I wouldn’t go to West Texas, no offense to Greenie.

#20

“Singapore seems like the place to aim for in Asia then.”

Umm, I recommend that you visit all these places first. Some locations are… not for everyone.