Welcome

Mon, 10/26/2009 - 15:35

Welcome to my new home page. It’s good to have you here! One of my goals is to serve you through this site. Being an author once meant holing up behind your keyboard for a couple of years, emerging to visit a few bookstores when a book was published, then retreating back behind your screen. Not today...we maintain websites, facebook fan pages, we blog and we tweet. These are great efficiency tools for readers and authors. There is space for you to comment, and I know from facebook that some of you will. I welcome that. 

My other goal, which I’d like to be completely transparent about, is to get you to read what I write. Authors  write in order to be read, which is why so many people blog just for the heck of it. Most of what you will see posted now are Bloomberg columns. The Bloomberg website is free; there are some incredible columnists and journalists who write for Bloomberg and I feel humbled to be among them. If you visit the site I hope you will explore.

  • ""
Sat, 11/14/2009 - 21:58 — Anonymous

SNOWBALL + Advice

First, I want to share with you that I love your book. Instead of studying for my tax class, I keep reading the book.

As someone that being around and have a lot of experience, I was wondering if I could ask for your advice. I am an undergraduate student in accounting (GPA 3.91), and I am very interested in Wall – Street. I am not very knowledgeable about it, but I feel the passion for it in me. I do not like sales, and would not feel good about losing other people’s money (could not imagine doing it). My question: what type of field will be suited for my interest as a career? And what is the best way to achieve it?

If by any chance you received my e-mail, I appreciate you for taking the time to read it, and I will be looking forward for you reply.

Sincerely yours,

A.R

Fri, 11/20/2009 - 19:54 — aliceschroeder

Hi there.

Thank you very much for your comments, but don't flunk your tax class!

If you do not like the idea of losing other people's money and don't like sales, the number of positions on Wall Street that qualify is narrow. You might want to see my recent Bloomberg column. It is very hard to find a job on Wall Street that won't make you feel ethically compromised if you work for an investment bank. There are people on the buy side who invest and don't face this problem, but they are competing with others who are "cheating" and are inherently disadvantaged. Plus you have the problem of not wanting to lose your client's money.

You don't say what aspect of Wall Street excites your passion. My suggestion is to try to narrow that down and find something specific that fits it - which may not be on Wall Street. If you are concerned that accounting is too staid a routine for example, then consider what other jobs might be exciting and non-routine.

Another thing to consider is that the careers that pay the best and are the most exciting change every twenty years or so. It's not likely that Wall Street will be the most favored place to work by the time you're at the peak of your career.
Good luck!

Thu, 11/26/2009 - 12:12 — Anonymous

Hello again, Thank you very

Hello again,

Thank you very much for responding my post.

I believe that I would like the analysis side such as valuing a company. I also consider continuing my education and attending MBA program. You were right on the money; I do have a concern of a career that is too staid. I want to utilize the most that I can in my career and to enjoy it.

P.S

I am willing to offer Mr. Buffet the same that he offered Mr. Graham and work for him for free, and I promise that I am not overpriced (just a thought).

I want to wish you and your family a happy thanksgiving.

A.R

Fri, 12/11/2009 - 14:32 — aliceschroeder

Working for Buffett

Warren has gotten quite a few letters from people offering to work for him for free. The kind of assignments you would get would be the same ones you can give yourself right now and the critiques are the same ones you can give yourself using the shareholder letters. I do not mean that as a glib response -- truly. There are communities of value investors on the net who critique each other rigorously and will provide much more feedback than you would ever get from Warren. He is, as you know, hands-off to an extreme.

If you really love investing I would plunge into the online community of value investors, then meet some in person. They're doing the tough work, which is trying to find real value in a very crowded market. When they do find it, it's psychically rewarding as well as financially enriching. This psychic reward is the under-recognized motivation for making money on Wall Street the hard (i.e., honest) way.

Post new comment

If you wish to make a comment, please enter your valid email address. A verification message will be sent to your address to ensure it is real. Comments from people with unverified email addresses will not be published. Thanks for your cooperation.
The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em><i> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd><img><p><h1><h2><h3><h4><form><textarea><input>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

  • Links to specified hosts will have a rel="nofollow" added to them.

  • You may use <swf file="song.mp3"> to display Flash files inline

More information about formatting options

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.