How's it going WSO
Hi everyone, I have lurked on here for the past two years but want to finally introduce myself. I'm a freshman in high school looking for advice. I know I am young but am very interested in finance, particularly hedge funds and private equity. I am reading lots of books like the Intelligent Investor and Reminiscences of a Stock Operator. I know that its not very popular but I am studying for the claritas test right now because everything else needs a bachelors degree or work experience. I have a very good GPA (above 4.0) and am the founder and president of the investment club at my high school. Where do I go from here? Any advice you guys have would be helpful. Hope everyone had great holidays! Thanks, Ball Street
Anybody there?
No.
Kidding, kind of.
Not to be a dick but this kind of post by even a freshman in college is viewed as annoying. But I'll offer a few words of wisdom anyways since Seattle looks to have this game in hand and I have nothing else to do.
That's great that you have a bunch of A's in whatever classes you're taking. But high school is not even in the same ballpark as college, at least for the most part. Having a good high school GPA isn't going to move the needle for anyone. It's required to get into any target or even semi-target school. If you want to be in finance, make good grades in college.
You're the founder of an investment club, okay great. What do you do in said club? Having a club to check a box is stupid, if you can't do a DCF or value an investment then don't have a club.
I had to actually look up what Claritas is. I'd literally never heard of it. I can't imagine that it would move the needle for anyone. Don't waste $700 for something that will do nothing for you. If you really want to do something, you could study for the CFA for 4 year. Nor better yet, learn to code.
Do you know what a hedge fund actually is? Or PE? First, since it's the door to these careers, you need to understand what IB is. Then work on an entire framework of the financial system and develop an understanding of the basic economics of the sell side and the buy side. I would be much more impressed with a kid that knew how it all fits together than some kid that tells me he wants to be in PE because it's cool.
Reading is great. I would personally focus on more historical and/or broad subjects. Being a value investor is all well and good but it's totally useless without a working knowledge of how markets work and how they've evolved. Just my opinion though after having worked for a LS value fund during school.
Go get a job waiting tables, working in a local store, mowing lawns, washing windows, etc. Do something in the service industry so you understand what it means to work in a job that doesn't require any sort of skills. You should have a much greater appreciation for those people and the the work they do but you'll also see the importance in getting a good education.
You're a kid. You can't even drive and you're probably not even half-done with puberty. Spend time with your friends, go do stupid stuff, make your parents mad, play some varsity sports, get a girlfriend. If you can do all of that and make good grades and then you have time to kill, study finance. But very little you do now other than having diverse ECs and making great grades will do anything to get you into the position to get into finance, so have a lot of experience and make great grades. You're not going to regret that you stayed out past curfew but had a great time instead of sitting around reading about investing. Just don't do anything too dumb and you'll be fine.
Thanks for replying, I agree high school grades are easy so I learned most of this stuff in class. I taught myself basic financial modeling like DCFs and how the financial system works. I also learned how to code last summer but the only thing I'm sacrificing for this is sleep. I play six sports and am going to play varsity football, basketball, and lacrosse. I try to set aside time for the girls. I appreciate you giving advice to some kid.
Focus on sleeping with the head cheerleader. Much more fulfilling IMO.
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here's the deal bro, you are going to catch shit from people here if you ask broad questions like "do you have any advice for me?" or if you do a humblebrag (say your stats which you know are good and then play the victim). don't get butthurt.
my advice, in order of importance:
do not do something stupid. yes, don't be afraid to try a drug or two, drink a little bit, etc., but be responsible. the last thing you want to do is to turn in a great opportunity into juvenile detention. don't drive drunk, wear your seatbelt, don't get a girl pregnant, no means no, and all that other happy horse shit. it is much easier to break in from a non target school than it is to break in with statutory rape or a DUI on your record.
do well in school, but just well enough to get into the school you want. as btown the hardo alluded to, the 0.2 difference in GPA won't mean much when you're my age, but you'll have a lot more memories of blowing off studying that helped get you there, and that's worth it.
be well rounded. it sounds like you have a good path there, but I wouldn't "try to set aside time for girls," exploit your athletic abilities. stay a few minutes after practice and talk to the cheerleaders/soccer girls/whoever is the best at your school. dealmaking/capital raising/sales is a lot like closing ass. if you can get people to be drawn to you and be genuinely (genuine is key) likeable, you'll be fine.
extracurriculars. if I was your age, the first thing I'd do is just try to learn. read books (plenty of lists out there), read WSO, but also get out there and pound pavement. remember, this isn't the most important thing you can do, so perhaps if you find out one of your teammates' moms/dads/older siblings is in the business, ask to chat them them. if you have a career day, seek out the finance types and pick their brains, most will be intrigued to share what they know with a high school freshman who's already curious about his career.
if all of this sounds overwhelming, it could be. the #1 goal in high school is to go to college. so you can ignore #4 completely and still be OK.
PS: DO NOT do Claritas. Claritas is designed for people like my assistants to get a better understanding of financial markets. if you're really that curious and you've already nailed 1-3, buy some old CFA texts. but if it was me, I'd work on my ladder drills to get better at football, you'll be much more appealing to females and more interesting to future interviewers if you win a state championship versus a claritas certificate.
Great advice, would SB if I had one. I think I got all four down and managed to get in contact with a couple people in PE and IB. I actually took the Claritas today and passed easily after spending a couple hours reading the summaries of the textbook in class. Should I just burn my certificate and tell no one, or is it still worth putting on my resume while I'm in high school?
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