Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Learning Wall Street

Working with Four Wood Capital Partners has offered a real-world perspective as to what it is like working in financial services. I have been here for close to two months now and a clearer picture is coming together.

Based on what I’ve seen, being a lower level employee is in many ways an educational experience. My involvement in various projects - from corporate decks and marketing materials to building models and conducting due diligence - offers a wide perspective of different industries and financial tools.

One of the most interesting observations in our office is the alternative use of financial tools to create numerous income strategies. It demonstrates that there is a tremendous amount of knowledge available and wide array of applications for these tools, regardless of market conditions.

I have had two major projects so far. The first was developing wealth preservation models and researching athlete bankruptcy trends to support Four Wood's private wealth management business. The other project was collaborating with a private equity group to research high-yield real estate investments in Brazil. I feel like learning on the job is much faster and more interesting than when it just comes from a text book.

Within Four Wood, the people are extremely intelligent and driven. As a firm that just started with 2 people in November, the group has grown to over 25 employees and is continuing to make headway.

The strength of the company to grow and make headway when other companies are failing comes from the firm’s CEO and CIO. Respectively, they have been a senior managing director in sales at BlackRock and credit CIO at BNP Paribas, and they cover all bases as a team from creating valuable business relationships to creating strong investment products. Getting to work with them shows how to effectively run a business.

I am excited for the rest of the summer.

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