New Monkey Needing Advice
Hello all, My name is Josh S. and this is my first post on WSO. I am a former active-duty Marine Corps veteran who served for 5 years, went to college under the GI Bill for 4 years, and then did various banking and customer service jobs. 2 years ago, my then fiance-now-wife and I talked about going back to college so that I can make a better life for myself than what I was doing. I currently attend Capella University online, finishing my bachelor's degree in Finance in a few months. My GPA currently is at 3.313 which can be bumped up to 3.4 by the end of next quarter if I get A's in both classes. I was about to attend my first and only internship, but due to the Coronavirus pandemic, it was cancelled until further notice. I am concerned about future job prospects and am looking for guidance. I am interested in asset management, private equity, and investment banking. What should I do? Thank you in advance for your time.
-Josh
Welcome to the forum Devil, sorry I just saw this, but hopefully you've found some helpful info so far. I was a corpsman for 8yrs so glad to have you aboard. I joined WSO originally in 2012 early into my financial career and it has certainly been valuable during it.
In case you haven't figured it out yet I'll give you my overview of the best way to benefit from the community.
1/2 of the Monkeys are students, or Interns looking to make the same moves you are. That being said I recommend doing a little research before asking a question, because its likely been asked before, and also usually half of the responses are useless to the repeat questions lol.
1/4 are idiots, just the nature of the beast. Not actually idiots, just more interested in fucking with people that helping. ( although I am occasionally guilty of this also)
The rest of the bunch are actually experienced and can provide guidance or at least insight. That being said the reality of the Investment Industry is with great rewards come great talent, and entry is limited. Obviously nothing is impossible and fuck anyone who say it is, but 3/4 of your rivals are applying for the premier jobs with target school primo gpa's, years of networking internally, and are younger/ more moldable to the companies desires.
Negatives aside I got into the industry so you can, but I had to fucking hustle, and it wasn't always fun along the way. The lowest bar for entry is as a Financial Advisor. It typically pays shit initially, and 90% of new FA's wash out in 2 years. Grind it out for the first 2-4years and it's worth it, and while it's not the IB 250k income, it's served me very well, and I certainly have more time to do things I enjoy. I'll leave you a link at the bottom to my journey, as I think you could find some value from it.
If there is anything I can do to helpful or questions I can answer feel free to shoot me a message. And of course Semper Fi Brother.
https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/ama-financial-services-my-journe…