I was always above average in intelligence but I was a terrible student, went to a SUNY school, basically taught myself the material for tests and graduated a degree in business/finance and a 3.3 GPA.
Started in BO, moved to MO, attempted to break into IB or ER for the first 3 or so years. Came very close but never ended up making it happen. Tried to break into the sales side on the desk I was working on in my 4th year, no dice. Basically feel like I haven't used my brain at all since I gave up on IB/ER considering how process based and monotonous my work has been the last 7 years.
I've likely battled some form of depression throughout that time without recognizing it. The last 2 or 3 years it's very much affected me. I won't go into all the details there but A LOT has to do with be extremely unhappy with my career.
I've always been interested in the markets/economics/politics but I guess from a distance. Always thought once I moved into IB/ER I'd be immersed in a world where I would obtain a deep knowledge of this stuff so just casually read articles but never fully grasped what I was reading or put things together or formed opinions of my own on these things.
Now at 30, I'd like to deeply and intuitively understand the markets/economics/politics and how the all relate to each other. I'm not sure if I'm either not smart enough or I just haven't used my brain in the way I used to in so long that I'm having a tough time understanding and putting together things I am reading and will eventually be able to as I read more and my brain starts working again or if maybe some of the things I am reading are just at an unreachable level for me since I'm not immersed in it all day everyday?
I was scrolling through some of WSOs top posts as I was always I guess envious of posters here that were able to carry on these in depth conversations about the markets/economics/politics in such a fluent way that it was so apparent they had a real grasp on these topics and I found the below links.
Are these guys at the top of the bell curve in terms of intelligence and I shouldn't hope to have their type of understanding of these topics? Do they likely have such an indepth understanding due to working in roles like IB/ER/PE/HF where they are immersed in it everyday? Am I having trouble understanding what they're talking about and following along because I just haven't been reading about these topics at all or really using my brain the last few years?
I guess I'm trying to figure out if I'm likely capable of having this type of understanding and push through this mental fog and frustration and keep reading or if maybe I'm just not cut out to be one of those people that really understand these topics and spend my time on things I am more likely to understand?
If the case is I just need to keep reading and get my brain active again, how can I go about actually taking away things from threads/articles on these topics? Should I take notes on these things I read and go over them at the end of everyday? Or the fact I may need to do that is further proof my brain just isn't made to grasp this stuff? Sure I can leave with some very general ideas about what I read and some overall ideas but I feel like there is so much information I'm not retaining and can't necessarily use what I have retained to have a conversation about it. How do I go about really taking things away from what I'm reading and linking various sources together in my mind? It feels like I'm just reading with my mind shut off and somehow the cliff notes are registering. I don't want that. I want to learn, retain, find relationships and be able to articulate things I've learned and my thoughts on those.
Thoughts/suggestions/advice/insight are really needed.
https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/wealth-inequality-in-america-from-a-helping-perspective
Where you spend your time will equal, roughly, what you understand. You've, from what you mentioned, have clearly had other things that you've been working through - and good on you for working on yourself. So few manage to do that, and honestly that's more impressive than being able to quote an obscure 1817 civil ordnance that still serves as precedent for laws today, or sheds new light as to why trumps executive power should be curtailed.
My thoughts below on how to best start engaging your brain.
1. Read 'source' material as much as possible. Interested in the constitution? Read it first. I cannot tell you how many people want to argue over the constitution, yet have no idea what an actual amendment says. Then work your way out to other things, in this example read the federalist papers. Then the anti federalist papers. Then find some books on that time period to read for context. Why? This gives you the ability to understand the issues or topic, and then take what you think is important or lets your brain apply what is or isn't relevant. Then look for other authors who add context. This won't be possible for everything, of course, but where you can - don't skip the hard work.
2. When you do the above - read actively. Take notes, write down questions in margins, etc. People - myself included - read to get to the end, not to understand the material. Take your time when you go through a book, article, etc. Skimming is fine when you need to get the gist of something - but if you are really trying to understand the material, you have to take it seriously.
3. Read as much as you can with an open mind. Process the information before you choose to agree, disagree or read it again.
4. Some actual advice and not just 'tactics' - break out your old history books. Go to some of the open course ware from MIT, Harvard, whoever and take their history classes. Read Durant's History of the world if you want a vast overview - it's.. extensive, and can get you up close to what we'd think of as 'modern' history. Dan Carlin's podcasts are fantastic if you are into history and more of an Audio person, plus he obsessively sources everything so you get a treasure trove of materials to dive deeper into. The linking will just start happening - It's a byproduct of all of this.
5. I'm droning - so I'll end with this. Start writing. That forces you faster than anything to succinctly articulate your ideas. Find people who are interested in topics you are, and simply talk to them. Starting writing a blog. Dive into these topics. That's the best thing you can do.
Really appreciate the thorough response!
I think I'm just in a very weird place right now and very unsure of myself. I remember when I graduated and was trying to break into IB/ER and was teaching myself modeling and the finance and accounting that went along with it and realizing as I was doing reading more material and doing more practice interview questions, that thing were actually making more sense to me rather than just recalling rote memorization and being able to apply certain concepts/processes to different questions/areas. So hopefully my brain fog will start to improve if I really spend time just reading and taking notes a lot.
I think I'm also second guessing the idea that if I have to take notes and re-read those notes over and over to retain and start to understand some of this, that that extra effort is only further proof that my mind doesn't really grasp this stuff and my time may be better spent elsewhere. Still not sure on that...
I do often find when reading I'm just reading to read and get to the end. Any advice on how to read more actively with the intentions of understanding/retaining?
Not the guy above, but on you "reading to read" is a problem I have as well. I've found that reading a little and then thinking about what you read helps. If you remember in highschool/college, you'd read a chapter and then discuss it. Something like that but go through it with yourself and see if you understood what you just read. Now that I've made it a habit I find I don't have to stop as often, I can just read and things click for me as I read, ideas stand out more clearly in the text to me.
Someone else posted about this not too long ago and WSO user mentioned that OP might not be all that interested. I think that has something to do with it too, but as Addinator and MaxEpic mentioned, immersion is essential. A lot of these guys on WSO actually work in finance so knowing this stuff is their job. Being interested and diving deep will certainly be helpful, but if you don't talk about it and you don't think about it you won't really retain anything - unless you've have one of those brains... I know people who can read an article one day and quote specific lines or numbers a few days later.
You can grind and read and listen, but if it's all you do it probably won't stick because it has no immediate relevance to anything in your life. Use it or lose. Just don't get discouraged. If you ever need to deep dive into something, having at least some general understanding about something you read about a few weeks ago is better than being clueless. Additionally, having some background makes it easier to remember the next time you re-learn the same thing. Don't give up; not being able .to retain arbitrary -by circumstance- information doesn't mean you won't be able to retain the same information when it becomes relevant to your life.
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