Hello all,
I will be heading to a BB in a major city next summer (SF/NYC), and while I currently do not plan to participate in on-cycle PE recruiting or prep, I am curious about the hype. Are there any good books that you guys recommend to go through to decide whether or not it is something one should consider?
I've been told to read the intelligent investor and some of dalio's books, but was hoping for something less boilerplate and more informative with a focus on private equity.
Thanks in advance, +SB for good recs.
Distressed Debt Investing by Stephen Moyer
Any reason why?
so you learn about distressed debt investing, its quite intuitive
So you don't make dumbass PE mistakes.
Das Kapital
This book changed my life, can not recommend enough, truly strengthened my belief in capitalism
calling BS you haven't read it
Fair enough
This is a tough one. When I wanted to make the move into a hedge fund, I read a ton of books. From value investing stuff, to macro, to interviews, to technical analysis to options etc.
In theory I learned a lot and always encourage people to read as much as they can an absorb. Ask questions. Be curious. Also worth reading the (now very dated if its still up) equity private blog about life in a middle market PE shop. That was really interesting for me to read when I was much younger.
However, nothing I read prepared me for trading or managing a portfolio day to day. Sure at a high level some stuff did, but one only knows when he/she is in the trenches how he/she likes it and how it truly is. That's just life.
OP - I would recommend doing your best in your first job, and then talking to as many folks on the PE side as possible, clients etc, the lower the level the better over a coffee/drink etc. You'll get a better idea of the day to day and sitting on the banking side you'll have some clue of what they do. Then if you are interested, give it a go. Try it. You can always quit and do something else.
Most of these jobs are not jobs for life...
Good Luck
This is what I expected and was looking for. Thank you +SB
Agree with Jamoldo - also equity private blog is all-time great read
The Buy Side by Turney Duff is a fun read, nothing to do with PE tho
Turney Duff is a legend and colossal coke fiend lol.
https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/the-buyside-a-monkeys-review
Think about what kind of investment thesis would best fit with your own and how that impacts your day to day work and where you want to end up.
I think PE is too large and asset class to say you enjoy PE itself if that makes sense...
The guy at a LMM PE firm focused on buying small SaaS companies is doing very different work than someone at Blackstone looking at energy deals etc...
The factors I would consider are probably:
Industries/verticals
Size of fund. The smaller the fund the more exposure you get to the whole process.
Investment thesis. This should line up with how you personally think and work... Do you want to be a wizard that turns heaping piles of shit into magical money machines? Or would you rather buy into profitable businesses that don't require you to live in a shit hole dressed as a wizard? Risk appetite?
Thank you for this!
Watch the original Wall Street movie at least once a week for the next 6 months. Make sure you wear similar attire as Gordon Gekko on your first day.
Read 'I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell.' It's not about PE, but should be a cornerstone of every gentleman's library.
King of Capital
just talk to people in the industry
I'd echo the importance of speaking to people in the industry. There is no amount of reading that is going to help you determine a fit. Moreover you need to know what value YOU can bring to the industry, not whether it's a blissful place. It's not. It's a job. Just a f-ing job. Like all other jobs. Maybe if you join KKR and have carry exposure it's a shot at bucks and glory. Otherwise don't overlook banking as a path to make $.
I cannot agree more with the bolded above. It's so true.
This is more VC/growthcap focused, but...
● Accidental Empires ● Angel Financing for Entrepreneurs ● Dealers of Lightening ● Disciplined Dreaming ● Founders at Work ● Hard Drive ● Mastering the VC Game ● Term Sheets and Valuations ● Venture Deals
On the more value-investing / trading side of things (but also just some good readings) ● Adaptive Markets: Financial Evolution at the Speed of Thought - Andrew W Lo ● Principles: Life and Work - Ray Dalio ● Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World - Dan Gardner ● The End of Theory: Financial Crises, the Failure of Economics, and the Sweep of Human Interaction - Richard Bookstaber ● You Can Be a Stock Market Genius : Uncover the Secret Hiding Places of Stock Market Profits - Joel Greenblatt ● Financial Shenanigans - Howard Schilit ● Excess Returns - Frederik Vanhaverbeke ● Margin Of Safety - Seth Klarman ● Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (A Marketplace Book) - Edwin Lefèvre, William J. O'Neil ● The Big Short - Michael Lewis ● Stock Market Wizards : Interviews with America's Top Stock Traders - Jack D. Schwager ● The Wisdom of Crowds - James Surowiecki ● Thinking Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman ● When Genius Failed : The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management - Roger Lowenstein ● Where are the Customers Yachts: A Good Hard Look at Wall Street - Fred Schwed Jr. ● Confessions of a Street Addict - James J. Cramer ● Analysis for Financial Management + S&P subscription card - Robert C. Higgins ● Buffett : The Making of an American Capitalist - Roger Lowenstein ● Dynamic Hedging : Managing Vanilla and Exotic Options (Wiley Finance) - Nassim Nicholas Taleb ● Fooled by Randomness : The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets - Nassim Nicholas Taleb ● Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In - Roger Fisher, William L. Ury, Bruce Patton ● Good to Great; Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't - Jim Collins ● Hedge Fund Masters : How Top Hedge Fund Traders Set Goals, Overcome Barriers, and Achieve Peak Performance - Ari Kiev ● In an Uncertain World: Tough Choices from Wall Street to Washington by Robert Rubin - Jacob Weisberg ● Inside the House of Money: Top Hedge Fund Traders on Profiting in the Global Markets - Steven Drobny ● Market Wizards : Interviews with Top Traders - Jack D. Schwager ● Metal Men: How Marc Rich Defrauded the Country, Evaded the Law, and Became the World's Most Sought-After Corporate Criminal - A. Craig Copetas, Marc Rich ● Option Volatility & Pricing: Advanced Trading Strategies and Techniques - Sheldon Natenberg ● Panic: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity - Michael Lewis ● Flash Boys - Michael Lewis ● Practical Speculation - Victor Niederhoffer ● Return to Go - Jim Slater ● The Art of Short Selling - Kathryn Staley ● The Art of War: The Oldest Military Treatise in the World - Sun-Tzu ● The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book On Value Investing, Revised Edition - Benjamin Graham, Jason Zweig ● The Money Game - Adam Smith ● The New Market Wizards : Conversations with America's Top Traders - Jack D. Schwager ● Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System---and Themselves - Andrew Ross Sorkin ● Trading with the Enemy: Seduction and Betrayal on Jim Cramer's Wall Street - Nicholas W. Maier
Bro do you even read?
No, I get my facts from Fox News and WSO.
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