1st year - Buy or Rent?

ach22587 — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:07:14 -0400

Thoughts on renting in NYC or buying an apt instead and building equity your first year on the job?

I'm sure there are pros and cons of each that I haven't thought of so I'd appreciate any insight.

Trading books that aren't Liar's Poker

ach22587 — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:59:38 -0400

Anyone have any ideas of books (I'd say more textbook rather than novel) on how products are traded?

I ran across a copy of Burghardt & Belton's "Treasury Bond Basis" so I'm using that as my base.

Derivative Specialist Program

ach22587 — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:08:22 -0400

There is a new program (first class of about 5 people came in as FTers last year) at the bank I'm interning at called the Derivative Specialist Program (DSP). If you decide to apply to the program and are accepted, after your initial FT training you go through five 6 or 9 week rotations (1 sales, 1 economic research, 1 structuring, 2 trading). At each rotation you will be treated as a new FT hire, so it's not like you'll get intern responsibilities. The program lasts 1 year.

In regards to pay, 1st year comp is performance tied to your time at each desk and will be nearly identical to the 1st years at other desks.

One of the negatives that jump out right away is that if you want to trade your own book, you start out a year behind everyone else in your class.