I'm 15 Years-Old - Where Do I start?
Hi All,
I'm a 15-year-old homeschooler obsessed with finance looking to start my journey in investment banking/economics. A little young, I know :). First of all, I wanted to preface this by saying I'm under no illusion of the reality of finance: crunching numbers, building models, analyzing data, finding trends, etc.
I guess I should start this post where it all started for me: The Young Entrepreneurs' Academy.
Through the Young Entrepreneurs Academy, I experienced all aspects of formal business creation: filing an LLC, crunching numbers (cost analysis, quarterly projections, etc.), writing a 25+ page business plan, and honing networking skills. I participated in the local competition, in which I placed first and received funding from several institutions including Morgan Stanley, The Chamber of Commerce, Toyota, and Plaza Bank. I then flew to Arizona to compete in the regional competition against twelve states and pitched my prospective company to top executives from Sam’s Club and other venture capital firms. I received the Founder’s Award and placed second in the regional competition.
With the proceeds from my various businesses, I decided to invest in the stock market. I spent hundreds of hours studying the U.S, commodity, and cryptocurrency markets and read everything from The Only Game in Town to The Turtle Trader. As a homeschooler, mentors are an especially important aspect of my day to day learning. So, I attended business presentations and initiated correspondence with the presenters, including Mohamed El-Erian (a renowned billionaire and chief economic advisor). I also approached *****, a well-known quantitative analyst and creator of ******* to mentor me and he kindly agreed. To put my education to work, I began with paper trading to test a system I developed. Once I felt confident in my system, I began investing and gained 30 percent capital gain over the course of 12 months.
To support my ‘real world’ education and ensure a curriculum that incorporates rigor and depth into my daily studies, I completed college-level coursework. Courses such as Behavioral Economics from Toronto University and Entrepreneurship 101, 102, and 103 from MIT deepened my understanding and confirmed my sustained interest in finance. Furthermore, I took a week-long course at NYU titled "Finance NYC: An Insider's View"
Currently, I'm attempting to learn how to build pretty complex financial models and mastering Microsoft Excel. Also, I'm in the process of creating a nonprofit website to give teens' access to more concise, simplistic financial literacy.
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Now that you have a little background about me to go off, the question I'm posting is, "what now?". I'm currently located in the Los Angeles Area, but might be moving to Jersey City. I'm testing out of high school in a few months, and then I'll be on the prowl for an internship for my remaining year until university.
I have plenty of spare time - should I try to get an internship? I've heard it's hard for even MBA students to land an internship, what chance do I have?
If so, where? How?
If not, what else?
Thanks for all your help, I apologize for writing a story - this is my first post.
**** Name redacted for privacy purposes.
I think I might actually hate you
You should start by trying to get laid
Look, I think you would be fine relying on the network you currently have. Just reach out about you goals. You don't need WSO as it sounds like you have it more then figured out. Just talk to real people as a real person.
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Start a mock portfolio Get into a target PWM freshman summer MBB or BB internships sophomore and junior FT offer Exit to PE or HF
Profit
Teenagers want to be Bankers (Originally Posted: 04/29/2011)
The class of 2020 is already forming
http://www.businessinsider.com/teenagers-survey-banker-career-2011-4Annoying
That's actually kind of depressing...banking's a great career, but to want to do it so young is surprising. I mean, for your "childhood dream" to be staring at excel 18 hrs a day borders is rather bizarre. Do they even know what banking really is?
Is this some sort of teenage rebellion? With how bankers have been portrayed in the media, are these kids trying to be edgy?
How is this surprising? Kids aren't dumb. They see the outrageous bonuses and the absolute zero downside thanks to government bailouts. Any idiot can put two and two together.
Yeah I doubt they know what banking is, they just see movies like Boiler Room and think money + women, not excel + 100 hour work weeks.
Is it just me or is the person who wrote this article just as dumb as these kids? Honestly this guy is talking like every banker in America makes 1.6 million a year, thats just ludacris.
The notion that every banker in America makes that much money is a famous rapper?
Deal or no Deal banker really?
Since when was the average banker a MD at a BB? 1.6 mill, if thats the case where do I sign up?
When people comment on what they want to do for a career, they generally think about the end role rather than the beginning one.
Take Doctor's for example. When teenagers say they want to be Doctors, they aren't saying that they want to sit in med school for 10 years and take on mountains of debt, they are saying that they want to advise patients, perform surgeries, etc. Similarly, someone who wants to be a banker is referring to being an MD where they are meeting with clients, attending fancy dinners, etc. It's not fair to say that their childhood dream is to stare at excel for 18 hours a day.
Notwithstanding the above, I do think that the population as a whole does not even remotely understand what banking is about.
Damn dude, when I was young I never would have even thought about being a banker. Granted, I'm still young but not 14-15. I wanted to be a doctor or entrepreneur, never a banker.
I wanted to own real estate, not work ungodly hours.
These kids just want to do stox
Nowadays everyone wants in because of Wolf of Wall Street
Ambien and Acid
Investment banking is also becoming one of those annoying 'prestige' things that obsessive kids/obsessive parents are hellbent on, kind of like going to a "prestigious college" in the past couple generations (hence why random school who got favorable rankings in USNWR early on are HUGE now).
Was hanging out at an (Asian-Chinese) friend's house, and his little brother (age 12) told me he wanted to be "an engineer or investment banker" as per his (tiger) dad's recommendation. I asked him what investment bankers do, and he told me "they calculate interest on loans using math, and I like math."
Looking forward to when that kid discovers WSO and starts posting about how to 'do' "models and bottles."
Doesn't seem too bad for a 12 year old. I think if you asked me when I was 12, I would have said invest money for a bank or something ... (I guess if you are in a prop group and using the "investment banker" definition liberally...)
Someone who isn't even 99% as enthusiastic as you but knows the right people in your dream firm can steal a position you want.
You're fine on paper and will be on the cv, but how are you going to out do the Columbia hotshot applying to the position you want ?
find an edge, that could be in the form of people that matter inside your dream firm.
I'd start finding emails phone numbers and ask people to introduce.
Join Tobin & Company, I heard the founder is always on the hunt for keeners like you
SB
Honestly, you sound like some child-genius protege hotshot. Considering you're 15 and have already done all this stuff, getting into a target should be a breeze. From there, just keep doing what you're doing and you should be able to get more offers than you know what to do with. Also, since you're homeschooled, make sure you know how to properly socialize and be a pleasant person to be around with.
I don't believe searching for an internship right now is very important. Focus on getting into a top target school, which I'm sure you'll have no problem doing, and you're set.
When I was 15, I was masturbating and playing video games all day. Reading this made me feel overwhelmingly bad about myself. Thanks for nothing.
Enjoy your time as a teenager. That's something I regret not doing. You should prepare for college (volunteer, practice for the SAT, get good grades) before worrying about internships. It seems as though you'd have a good shot at a top school or a great academic scholarship at a pretty good one (most top targets don't offer academic scholarships).
In short, relax. You have a LONG way to go before you actually have to worry about interviewing for IB gigs.
You should adopt a VEGAN LIFESTYLE. Then will become a FINANCEGOD and make ROBERT DUVAL proud.
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