a pay raise, or a hall pass for a boys’ weekend in South Beach – always look for a good entry point. When you ask is as important as what you ask. Timing is everything. Shortly after turning 40 years old and returning from my second rehab stint, I finally left the business of finance. But I used everything I learned on Wall Street to become an author and speaker, and to work in television. That’s why I think there’s no better schooling than getting a job on Wall Street. Regardless of what you end up doing later in life, the knowledge and work ethic required to succeed on the Street can benefit you forever. A WALL STREET EDUCATION THE UNEXPECTED UPSIDE OF...
I had a newfound trust in my sales trader. He was looking out for my best interest. I learned that sometimes it’s the sales or orders you don’t take that can improve your business. That sales trader became one of my go-to guys and made a lot more than $50,000 that day. Being a trader forced me to make decisions and have conviction. The timid get trampled on Wall Street. You must make judgment calls all day, every day – and most important, have reasoning behind it. Of course, results matter, but on a trading desk, you must be able to articulate why you made a decision – have an opinion. So whenever I walked into a morning meeting or my portfolio manager’s office, I learned that I had to be able to explain why I did something. One of the reasons I was able to work my way up and become a founding partner of Argus Partners, a billion-dollar health care hedge fund, was that I learned how to anticipate. To be successful at a hedge fund, you have to dodge bullets, put out fires, and make money. And the only way to do that is by anticipating who has a gun, where the fires typically start, and how to get information. When my boss was out of the office, I could predict his needs and act. When he returned, I’d update him what was going on and what I did in the meantime to solve the issue. The best way to walk into someone’s office when there’s a problem is to also bring a solution. There’s a science to making an investment decision – when to buy and sell. And as I got better at trading stocks, I also realized I could use better timing in all of the decisions involving my life... When to ask for Friday off,
Within five minutes, I was
back in the glassed-in conference roomwith the correct answer. I was offered the job.
“Practical. Insightful. Helpful. Educational. Can’t ask for much more.” HHHHH –GAMECOCKS44
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American Consequences 47
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