All Hail Warren Buffet!

After the mandatory praise, let us move on to some interesting facts about this great or not so great (depends on what you think of him) man. I thought this may be interesting to some of you. I do not think it is wise for you to drop some of these facts in your interviews! But do so if you think its appropriate.

Here are some very interesting aspects of his life:

1. Warren bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he started too late!

2. He bought a small farm at the age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers.

3. He still lives in the same small 3 bedroom house in mid-town Omaha that he bought after he got married 50 years ago.

4. He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him.

5. He never travels by private jet, although he owns the world's largest private jet company.

6. His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one letter each year to the CEOs of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis.

7. Warren Buffet has given his CEOs only two rules.

Rule number 1: Do not lose any of your share holder's money.

Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1.

8. He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some pop corn and watch television.

9. Bill Gates, the world's richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet.

10. Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk.

11. His advice to young people: Stay away from credit cards and invest in yourself.

This article can be found on so many different sites, just shows his popularity. I boldened number 11 on purpose.

UPDATE: I would watch at least the first 20minutes (you can skip the first 5mins - he is not speaking then!), very intelligent man.

Investment Banking and Consulting: Guides

[PLEASE NOTE: FROM NOW ON - EMAIL ME AND I WILL MAIL BACK THE IB/CONSULTING GUIDES] Reason is that many sites will not let me host thes files with them for obvious reasons! ogaden@hotmail.co.uk

The following will be very useful to many of you when the next recruitment cycle comes along.

I have attached some guides from vault, wetfeeet (remember these names) and other sources in PDF format. They are very useful. I read the Lehman Brothers guide and it really helped me secure an internship since what these guides do is provide you with an insight into the company so when you go for interviews (provided you passed the tests!) you will have more of an understanding of the company culture and how things are done, which consequently will enable you to ask more perceptive questions. At the very least, you’ll be in the loop and not just turn up to an interview!

A note about the dates, most are 2005. Do not worry they are still relevant. In fact, the newer editions are in 2008, it’s the same material but they have a “Just Updated” label on the front cover. Ah yes, marketing, squeeze those extra coins from you.

***DO NOT RIGHT CLICK***
Please do not right click on links as your download won't work.

You may skim through some of the guides/books but do not skim through this!

Vault Career Guide to Investment Banking (Format: PDF Size: 2MB)

Specific Employer Profiles: Investment Banking

Credit Suisse (Format: PDF Size: 486KB)

Goldman Sachs (Format: PDF Size: 357KB)

JP Morgan (Format: PDF Size: 479KB)

Lehman Brothers (Format: PDF Size: 288KB)

Morgan Stanley (Format: PDF Size: 505KB)

Merrill Lynch (Format: PDF Size: 523KB)

Again, don’t skim through this!

Vault Career Guide to Consulting (Format: PDF Size: 1MB)

Specific Employer Profiles: Consulting

Accenture (Format: PDF Size: 477 KB)

Bain and Group (Format: PDF Size: 521KB)

Boston Consulting Group (Format: PDF Size: 518KB)

Deloitte (Format: PDF Size: 454KB)

Mckinsey and Company (Format: PDF Size: 512KB)

Random Book

I haven’t read this, but it has an interesting title! It seems like one of those books that promise you something and then don’t deliver. Let me know if it’s any good.

Pick Stocks like Warren Buffet (Format: PDF Size: 4MB)

Requests/Offers

Anything missing from the above? Anything you would like to add/share with the rest? I am sure there are plenty, especially more employer profiles; let me know which ones you need or would like to offer, they are hard to find. Send your requests or additions to: ogaden@hotmail.co.uk

In future, I don’t want to hear any statements in regards to me not doing anything for you!!! Enjoy.

A "Day in the Life"

I found this great diagram which gives an overview of what sort of exposure to clients, expousre to senior staff, travel, desktime, and hours you would expect to find in different departments such as Corporate finance, sales, trading, Investtment banking, Private wealth management etc. Feel free to save this image it may come in handy in the future when you may have to to make a decision on several offeres!!




Since the recruitment cycle is completely over - i will start putting material up to help prepare for the next recruitment cycle and also some information on "How to make the most of your summer internship". Anything else you would like me to cover just email me, its very difficult to know what people want to read without feedback!

Do The Wall Street Shuffle!

If you turn your sound on you will hear quite an old song called the "wall street shuffle" by 10cc. Its very funny and a decent song. I thought you Investment Bankers etc will appreciate it. Here is a snippet of their lyrics:

"Do the Wall Street shuffle
Hear the money rustle
Watch the greenbacks tumble
Feel the Sterling crumble

You need a yen to make a mark
If you wanna make money
You need the luck to make a buck
If you wanna be Getty, Rothschild
You've gotta be cool on Wall Street

You've gotta be cool on Wall Street
When your index is low
Dow Jones ain't got time for the bums
They wind up on skid row with holes in their pockets
They plead with you, buddy can you spare the dime
But you ain't got the time
Doin' the....
Doin' the....

Oh, Howard Hughes
Did your money make you better?
Are you waiting for the hour
When you can screw me?
'Cos you're big enough

To do the Wall Street Shuffle
Let your money hustle
Bet you'd sell your mother
You can buy another "

As you can see very entertaining! If you would like to use this as a ringtone [I would advice against!] or any other purpose just drop me an email: ogaden@hotmail.co.uk

Accommodation for your Internship

Just wanted to make a small note on this matter as I know many people are struggling with accommodation.

Unless you are of the lucky few that actually have family or friends near where you will be working this summer you are going to need to rent a place. Again, if you’re lucky enough, use your contacts. If not then there are many ways you can find a place. An easy start is the Internet. There are lots of brilliant sites I have come across so I will just name a few.

Gumtree: Simple and easy site to use, find what you want from other people

Nestoria: A comprehensive selection of available properties with a lot of nifty features such as a map, which tells you the nearest train stations, health centres, car parks etc.

For example, if you want to rent a flat in canary wharf - I think some of us may need to rent elsewhere considering those prices!!

The list goes on, but the key is to start looking as early as possible. I have recently found out the some university halls have already been filled up and some only have places available from July even though internships usually start in June!

No Internship for the Summer?

If you haven’t managed to secure a summer internship this summer then what you should be thinking about now is how you can improve yourself both at an educational and personal level so that you can secure a summer internship next year or a graduate programme which will also be just as competitive at the very least if not more.

So here are a few ideas/examples for things you can do during the summer to improve your chances:

1) Research and educate yourself in the way of the Investment Banks! – Regardless on what you will be doing during your summer, reading regularly about a bank that you are interested in and its industry is something you should be doing. I have met students that actually try to find out about banking news a few days before their interview! To really know a bank and what is actually going on in the markets you are going to need more than yesterdays news.

2) Take relevant courses – there are so many courses that you can take that are highly regarded by investment banks, these extra qualifications means that you will be differentiating yourself from the many students that turn up with standard qualifications: GCSE, A Levels, IBs etc. A respected course provider is:

http://www.bppfinancialservices.com/courses/default.htm

From the above you will see there is a wide range of qualifications to choose from, but make sure you chose one that will help you in the division you will be applying for.

Also as a braod guideline:

CFA: Would suit Asset management and equity research etc - http://www.cfainstitute.org/

CFQ: Would be suited for M&A/Corp Finance etc - http://www.cfqualification.com/

There are also some summer schools run by the LSE which can be very useful. But they are expensive!

3) Work Experience: Part time, Full Time, Temping and Voluntary work – all experience is good experience, but trying to find a job that is relevant to Investment banking is very difficult. However, it goes without saying that this will be a definite plus.

4) Travel! – Spending your summer travelling may be a viable proposition; as long as you combine it with some form of voluntary work, this will mean you will have something worth talking positively about in an interview!

5) Do nothing! – This is an option that has its own valid argument. Since you will be working for the majority of your life why don’t you relax now! However, in the interviews you will turn up as the same person you were last year, no improvement à it’s actually quite funny if you think about!

I hope the above helps. The bottom line is be proactive if you want to succeed.

Reading List - Investment Banking & Consulting

A blog reader has kindly given me a good list of books that are worth reading. They are as follows:

Banking and Finance

General

• “The City: Inside the Great Expectations Machine” – Tony Golding – easy-to-read discussion of life inside the City
• “The Death of Gentlemanly Capitalism” – Philip Auger – history of investment banking and securities broking in London since 1985
• “Goldman Sachs: The Culture of Success” – Lisa Endlich - history of the world’s greatest investment bank

Corporate Finance / M&A

• “Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies” – Tom Copeland – classic textbook, quite technical
• “Principles of Corporate Finance – Richard Brearley and Stuart Myers – classic textbook, rather heavy and very technical

• “Big Deal” – Bruce Wasserstein – dauntingly large book, but actually very readable and easy to understand; starts with account of major recent M&A deals, then rteviews the classic M&A / corporate finance services and techniques
• “Barbarians at the Gate” – Bryan Burrough and John Helyar – classic business biography of the take-over of RJR Nabsisco in 1988; a thrilling account of a real deal; reads like a novel
• “Den Of Thieves” – James Stewart – similar in style to ‘Barbarians’, but gives an account of the insider trading in the 1980s that brought down Michael Milken and Drexel Burnham Lambert; again reads like a thriller

Financial Markets

• “An Introduction to Equities” – Reuters – easy to understand textbook
• “An Introduction to Debt Markets” – Reuters – easy to understand textbook
• “An Introduction to Foreign Exchange and Money Markets” – Reuters – easy to understand textbook
• “How the Bond Market Works” – Robert Zipf - – easy to understand textbook
• “Market Wizards – Interviews with Top Traders” – Jack Schwager – strange book – quite involved and is a compilation of interviews with traders about their trading strategies – for wannabe traders
• “Liars Poker” – Michael Lewis – classic real-life account of Michael Lewis’ career as a bond trader at Salomon in London, where he reported to John Merriweather (see When Genius Failed)
• “FIASCO” – Frank Partnoy – similar to Den of Thieves and Liars Poker but slightly more sensationalist
• “The Collapse of Barings” – Stephen Fay – easy to read account of Nick Leeson’s wrongdoing than brought down Barings in 1995
• “When Genius Failed – The Rise and Fall of Long Term Capital Management” – Roger Lowenstein – true-life account of the rise and fall of the largest hedge fund in the world run by John Merriweather – the star character in Michael Lewis’ Liars Poker

Consulting and Corporate

• “The McKinsey Way – Ethan Rasiel – explains the McKinsey approach to solving business problems; more a textbook than a biography of McKinsey
• “Jack – What I’ve Learned Leading a Great Company and Great People” – Jack Welch – the autobiography of the former CEO of General Electric, the largest company in the world
• “Competing for the Future” – Gary Hamel and CK Prahalad – management text on competition and competitive advantage, quite readable
• “The Balanced Scorecard” – Robert Kaplan and David Norton – readable management text on balancing financial and non-financial measurement / control of a company
• “Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, Implementation and Control” – Philip Kotler – the classic text on marketing
• “Competitive Advantage” – Michael Porter – the classic text on competitive advantage explain Porter’s model of the “Five Forces”; quite heavy
• “Troubleshooter” – John Harvey Jones – from the 1990s TV series, former CEO of ICI consults to six companies
• The Grocers: The Rise and Fall of the Supermarket Chains” – Andrew seth and Geoffrey Randall – review of the UK’s big supermarkets and how they have consolidated their market positions

Also, for some leisure reading that some of you may find amusing is this book:

Golden Handcuffs: The Lowly Life of a High Flyer (Paperback)
by Polly Courtney (Author)

Where are you interning this summer? [2008]

Well the recruitment cycle has ended or coming to an end. I thought I would make a post for you and myself to gloat about the offers we have received and accepted!

This format:
Where you will be interning?
What division?
University you attend?
Course you are studying?

It will be interesting to see if there is a pattern. I will start first:

Lehman Brothers
IBD
University of London - Imperial College
Computing

[To Post your entry please comment below]