As a HS Senior, how can I learn more about finance?
Hi,
Hope that I don't get too much monkey shit for asking a question that's probably been asked a lot. I'm a current HS senior that was just accepted into UChicago ED. I studied STEM for the last four years, so I know close to nothing about finance. I plan on double majoring business economics with a complementary math-related major. I don't really have anything until the start of college, and I was hoping to get a head start on learning more about the finance sector so I could focus more on social life, classes, etc. when I get on campus. I've been trying to learn about subsections (IBD, S&T, ECM, etc.) and the lifestyle (YT videos, WSO) but I'm having trouble identifying resources to get a more in-depth understanding. I am wondering if there is any set of resources that could be helpful. If so, please let me know and thank you so much.
Go. Touch. Grass. Don’t you have a basketball game tomorrow?
I'm just trying to learn a little more about something I'm interested in. I spend most of my day at school with friends while you spend most of your day on WSO and jerking off.
Good, enjoy that time with your friends. The shit you’re interested in actually sucks and you shouldn’t be worrying about it
That's what others tell me too lmao. I just hope to grasp a better understand of the industry so I can find out if it suits me, and I agree with you, I'm not going to stress about it. BTW, I hope you didn't take my last comment as more than a snarky reply.
If you want to start learning finance, the following MIT course is a good and broad starting point to get the basic principles. And it was recorded as the 2008 crisis was unfolding, so there are great discussions in the beginning of each lecture.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUl4u3cNGP63B2lDhyKOsImI7FjCf6eDW
Or did you just want to learn about different careers?
Both. Nevertheless, thanks for your recommendation, I'll check it out
go on youtube and look at rareliquid, afzal hussein, and whatever pops up in your recommended after that
Ok, thanks for the rec, I'll check it out
for what it’s worth everyone saying it sucks probably just doesn’t have a passion for it. i wanted to do IB after doing some research when i was 16, spent the last summers doing PE at a LMM and then BB IB. Most I’ve enjoyed myself since losing my virginity and lifting trophies w my teams in HS. And maybe i hate it after a few years sure, but guys don’t shit on this guy cuz he has an interest and some initiative. To OP, don’t be an arrogant prick and tell ppl all they do is jerk off. Makes you sound asinine. Explore the interest on youtube/wso/m&i, be polite, be courteous, work hard, and you’ll do well
I speak for myself only. When I was in your shoes senior year of high school I fell in love with finance and never really enjoyed senior year. All of college it was constantly network with this person and network at that event join this club etc. In the end it worked out but I look back at those days and think sometimes, fuck I should have enjoyed them when I could have. Point being it’s great you wanna learn finance but also enjoy your life now because tomorrow isn’t guaranteed even if it is you’ll look back and say “I wish I would have done it differently”.
In my opinion what you are doing now is plenty fine. If you really want more in depth knowledge try to learn the very very basics. Like what is the S&P 500 or what is a Treasury. This is only when you have down time. The reason you’re getting so much crap is because everyone would give anything to be your age again and enjoy life and you’re worrying about finance already. Don’t get me wrong it’s great and respectable but enjoy life but if you were to really really wanna go about it, just learn the basics. Sources out there are (investopedia, YouTube, different books).
Feel free to shit on my answer but the 2 reasons why I said what I said above are:
1: You’re young enjoy it cause time moves really fast and doesn’t stop for you and or me
2: If you learn the basics you can build off that. For example I asked my interns “hey what is a call and put option” then built off that “hey what are the Greeks” then built off that then eventually asked them “hey if I thought vol was cheap how would I trade it”. Notice how it starts with the very simple concepts if you have that concept that’s a great thing to have because you can then build off that and that doesn’t only go with derivs but with other products too for example “what is a Treasury” then “what is the difference between a bill, note, bond” then “what is the yield curve” then “what is curve flattener and steepener”. Same idea you start a foundation then build off that.
Thanks for the advice. I hope that I don't come off as someone who wants to spend the next couple of months studying for technical interviews and preparing for an IB internship. I took one college-level financial math class (mostly for the free A since the teacher did not care) at school and was genuinely interested. I spend most of my day lifting weights, in classes, playing basketball, etc. and with the new free time I have, I wanted to spend it on something I found interesting rather than scrolling through Instagram.
Nothing wrong with that. Be aware though enjoy those days cause time flies by and before you know it you are an adult having to pay bills and work under lots of stress dealing with a whole bunch of other things life throws your way. Just enjoy now is all I am gonna say. :)
Dude what the f**k this apologetic "tone" is for?
You can ask whatever you wnat and you don't need to provide your whole life story and bunch of excuses on why it's appropriate to be asking your question.
If somebody really takes time out of their day to sh*t on you they're small pathetic people.
BUT PLEASE NOTE: in my opinion the guy that commented the original comment above me really tried to help and said it well...
WE CAN'T TRULY APPRECIATE WHAT WE HAVE UNTIL IT'S GONE. So I'm 100% certain that no matter what'll say you can't fully appreciate your situation right now when you have all the time in the world to just hit on girls, hang out with friends, go to parties and get drunk, play sports, etc... or whatever you like doing - can be solving math problems, I don't care.
I believe you that you think you have passion for finance but EVERY job has a lot of BS around it, I'd even say the majority of the work is bunch of BS...
And it's the case for any job (not only finance), so I promise you after your 3rd all nighter in a row changing fonts of power point slides leaving in 6am the next day to get your 3h of sleep you'll think to yourself "What the f**k I'm doing with my life".
So bottom line:
And that's it dude - I totally get you. I took the time to answer you because you remind me of myself when I was your age, but less apologetic and gay (I never answer here usually).
I also had some good people answering me and helping me online. So actually do what I wrote here as 99.9% of people who are now in IB never actually did that and they're bunch of miserable f**ks, you'll thank me for the rest of your life. It's a good idea to invest 1-2 years in deciding what career to pursue for your entire life more or less (what do you think most people do after IB and PE when deciding it's not for them? Corporate Development or something similar which is more of the same with less stress).
ALSO IF YOU TAKE 1 ADVICE FROM HERE - READ THE BOOK: "The Almanack of Naval Ravikant".
It's literally a guide on how to live the best life you can. Do it.
And you can't realize it yet but I just saved your life, I never usually do it.
I'll leave you with this - truly good people always find their place eventually. If you really really passionate about finance you'll get their somehow and keep at it despite the BS. So just don't take life too seriously, no one gets out of alive anyways... ;)
Kindly go F**k yourself my friend,
Kashish21.
Try to do a fleshed out stock pitch going through multiples and maybe even dcf. Try to just watch YouTube videos on the individual topics and then track the stock. You’ll learn a lot and it’ll also help you with future stock pitches for clubs and boutique interviews for your freshman year.
This is the first time I've been on WSO in a while, so that's pretty fortunate that I saw your post and got the chance to weigh in. I also commented on your post about colleges.
The Number 1 thing I’d recommend (by far) is at some point before you graduate, get on the phone with a student who went to your HS and then UChicago, and is going into IB or is part of one of the finance clubs. No need to prepare, just ask for general advice. Building that relationship is huge because even if they can’t help you with something specific down the line (like a specific club) they definitely know someone who can.
I also suggest reading about markets. I’d recommend Axios Pro Rata (daily; just read Top of The Morning and BFD, skip everything else) and Transacted (weekly; also skip the list of deals/fundraising at the end). These can skew a bit technical so look up anything you don’t understand. If you like those, subscribe to Water Coolest or Exec Sum (follow Litquidity on IG if you haven't already btw) and start clicking a few links to news articles per day. Don’t listen to people that say read the WSJ, that’s way too boring for a high schooler.
Finally, keep in mind that you’ll probably want to write up a stock pitch this summer. Don’t sweat it or think about it now, but keep the stock pitch thing in the back of your mind.
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