My plan for the new job

As I have written here previously, I have accepted a new job at a major investment bank where I will be doing internal finance/accounting type of work. Today, I found out that a colleague of mine is leaving to work at the same bank….. except she got a job doing Private Equity!!

I have to admit, I’m a little bit jealous! She told me that she initially went in to apply for a similar job that I am taking, but somehow they moved her along to speak with the PE people. Aside from my minor jealousy, I am extremely happy for her. She was one of those people who you could see was going to be very successful. She is extremely attractive, she has a winning personality, she smiles all the time, she’s fun to be around, she’s highly intelligent, and she works very hard. Given all that, I can’t see how anybody wouldn’t want to hire her!

This has gotten me thinking – I have the potential to be one of those people, but I am not there yet! My last two years in public accounting have set me back because I have not been focused and I have not worked hard! Yes, I have learned about accounting and financial statements, but not nearly as much as I would have learned had I been a banker or something.

Now is my second chance to make something of myself. Here’s what I want to happen at my new job:

• I want to go in everyday with an attitude that I have to work hard… not like what I have now where I feel that there are no consequences if I laze about and get nothing done
• I want to be focused and I want to care about what I’m doing
• I want to go to the gym every night and get in a great workout after work (I get my best workouts when I’m doing well at work)
• I want to drink more green tea and less coffee (totally random but this is correlated to my mood and attitude)
• I want to bring a great attitude to work – I want to know everyone’s name and smile and laugh a lot
• I want to “fit-in” with the office culture
• Finally, I want to do a great job and feel good about myself again

Amaranth Collapse

I was chatting with my friend Brian over email this evening about the Amaranth Hedge Fund disaster. He keeps talking about something “lurking” out there; something like a LTCM perhaps. While I see his point, at this stage it doesn’t appear that there is the kind of “systemic risk” with Amaranth’s trades the way there was with the bond portfolio at LTCM. It’s still early so it’s tough to know any specifics about what went on but I think we know some things.

My initial thought was that Amaranth must have had naked long positions on the February ‘07 gas contract. It turns out, they were involved in spread trading, which means that they must have shorted a different month. Most traders consider spread trading a good risk management technique as diverging contract prices tend to correct. Evidently, natgas is a wild beast and has so much volatility that these spread trades are not hedges at all. Nonetheless, I would bet that when they entered this trade, they back tested it for 30+ years and concluded that they did have a hedge.

I’m not sure what the implications of this are… perhaps we will see an end to the positive correlation of nearly all asset classes over the past few years. Or maybe this is just a case of all this “fast money” creating extra volatility which is obfuscating the long-term trends:

• Commodity prices of all types will continue to rise as the BRIC countries continue to get richer and consume more

• The USD must fall dramatically from its current levels for many reasons, not least of which is the ghastly amount of consumer & government debt and the trade & current account deficits

• Because of all this debt, the USA desperately needs inflation – that’s the only way to dig out of this debt. Therefore, I can think of two scenarios:

1. We get plenty of inflation as a result of easy money policies all across the world – the government will do its best to adjust its definition of inflation so that it happens stealthily instead of overtly
2. Since what we need the most is inflation, what we might get instead is deflation of asset prices. Now that would be bad!!

6.30.06 Networth

My networth increased by 10% in the first half of 2006, this despite some noteable setbacks.

In particular, I made a wrong bet on gold futures in my newly opened Refco account.

The majority of the increase, therefore was from savings, energy stocks and an increase in my Hong Kong stock.

12/31/05 Networth

Here is my 12.31.05 Networth Statement. I plan on adding lots of detail with the new posts.

New Job!

Great news… I got a great job offer at a bank!!! The job is sort of an internal finance/accounting role. The advantage is that it involves a heavy interaction with at least five different areas of the firm on a daily basis. I am excited for a fresh start; excited to start a job where I want to excel and not just get by.

Before I started my current job in New York, I had such a different attitude about work. During my junior of college I had an internship at a major bank. It was unpaid but I was extremely dedicated to my work. I was doing very tedious work using massive spreadsheets but I wanted to do the best damn job possible. Hell, I would have accepted the job if I had had to pay to do it!

From the beginning, I did not have that attitude about my current job. I only saw it as something I would do for two years while I qualified for the CPA. Consequently, I never really did a great job and I was miserable a lot.

New Boyfriend Background Information

I have been seeing a guy for about a month and a half. We get along really well and there’s a good amount of sexual chemistry. As the weeks go on, we are spending more and more time together. It is a good thing, but it has me pondering how I should proceed.

Problems: He’s not my type. I am looking for a guy that is bigger and stronger than I am. This guy is neither – he is short and slim. Also, I’m not all that into him…I’m not “gaga”.

So, at this point, I would say that this is probably the most serious relationship I’ve ever had. I’m just not sure how much more I should pursue it if, in my mind, I don’t think it will work out.

Big Day In the Job Search

A lot happened today on the job-front:

Current Job: I found out today what my new salary will be and I was extremely disappointed. Given how strong the job market is for my industry, it is very hard to believe that they would be offering such a low amount. Do we work in "financial services" or not??? If the answer is yes -- and they claim we do -- then we are substantially underpaid.

Interviews for New Job: Today I went for my third interview at a major investment bank. I have been interviewing for a “back-office” position doing a combination of financial reporting and internal finance (budgets, projections, etc.)

There’s a lot that’s good about the job, but there are some negatives, too. For one thing, one of my best friends happens to work at the company and in the division. His role is definitely a lot more high profile and glamorous. He is nonetheless very supportive of me taking the job even though it could be a little bit weird. More on this later.

My Second Attempt at Blogging

I am a 24 year-old gay man living in New York City. I work for a professional services firm as a number cruncher. I decided to start this blog because I want an outlet to discuss what's going on in my life. I have given it some thought and decided that the following broad topics (in no particular order) are what I think about most:

1. Money
2. Career
3. Relationships

Here's what I pledge to do with this blog:

* Nobody I know will ever hear me reference this blog -- I want to be totally honest
* I will stop over-editing posts -- expect some typos