Analyst Role With Bad Math Skills

I want to be an Acquisitions Analyst, but here’s the catch; I suck at mental math and math overall.

But somehow I’m really good when it comes to analyzing investments and deals. I have to say that although I’m not a math guy I’m still a very critical, strategic and logical thinker (I think I’d be a good GP/Operator in the future)

Will my poor math skills decrease my chances from landing a role as a CRE Acquisitions Analyst??

5 Comments
 
Most Helpful

Definitely still possible. The math in general is not difficult but honestly being above average at mental math will aid in appearing “sharp” and polished, especially at more institutional shops. Practice and deal reps will help refine this, but I’ve always been strong with mental math (quick multiplications, dividing by fractions, percentages, etc.) and it’s been a benefit in meetings with brokers, equity partners, and doing BOE sensitivities on the fly with upper management during IC meetings.

Still possible of course to have a successful career on the principal side but will be a disadvantage when competing with analyst/associates that can do mental math quickly. Would work on getting extremely proficient in excel to offset this.

 

Deal math is not rocket science. Plenty of liberal arts majors (like me) do perfectly fine. 

Use excel. 

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

I was legitimately terrible at calc and pre-calc. And while I’m very very good with any sort of mental math… that is fluff and I think people (including me) use it to try and show off how smart they are (even though it’s no different from calculating a tip at dinner lol).

Excel and calculator will handle everything for your job. Deal math is very simple. Or at least should be. Be confident.

 

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