Homework for Christmas

After some silence RSM announced itself today with a loud “bang”. A hefty package was received containing most of the materials required for the first term. From the included class schedule, case work, etc one can conclude that time is going to be in high demand. Personal Leadership (PLD), Management Accounting (MA1), Management Sciences (MS1) and Business Methods (BM1) make up the programme for the first term. In preparation, one has to start reading up on case work and text books.

Next to text books also software was handed out, all software is used within the Management Sciences classes, which are based around making sense out of data. The software package consists of SPSS, StatTools, @RISK, BestFit and PrecisionTree.

It will be a challenge to make everything come together next year, family, work, studies, etc. That however is also part of the learning process.

Time and motivation are ticking away

Time is slowly ticking away before the EMBA starts on the 12th of Jan 2008. The hectic end-of-year period has started where everybody brushes up on their good behaviour as the end-of-year reviews are just around the corner. My projects and performance over the year sofar don’t give me any reason to be ‘worried’. Thoughts if I want to continue my career in finance still keep lingering on, hopefully the EMBA tour will shed some light on my future career in terms of domain. Currently busy with the nth cash management design for a corporate cash management solution (supporting cash balances, cash forecast for all possible transaction types, IRS, CDS, etc) and a design for a new NAV based unit administration system. Bla bla bla … it just doesn’t tickle me anymore as it used to do

Just wondering though that most MBA blogs I read have students wanting to get into the investment business, albeit, Investment Bank, Pension Funds, Hedge Fund, Private Equity, etc having worked for over a decade in this domain I wonder what the appeal is. After a while, everything becomes the same and its plays like a broken record, the nth M&A deal, the nth implementation of ‘new’/'exotic’ instruments, the nth new market-data interface, the nth trading platform … the nth of nth of the same.

Back to the EMBA, I noticed that strong emphasis is placed on good math skills*, for many of us EMBA’s doing hard-core maths is a while ago, the last time I calculated an integral is more than a decade ago . Fear not, I found this nifty little video, which explain how to do complex multiplication (we have to start small ) calculations without a calculator.

Watch …

Entering Math trick as search criteria on Youtube will give you more Math-Goodies

* Many Beta mathematicians would argue if the (Alpha) Math in Finance is really math or just a lot of statistics and probability calculations, if so I would like to point them to the “Financial Engineering” concepts used for risk/return/strategy analysis of financial instruments.

The return on ‘Love’

I found this piece on Patxi’s LBS-log, its copied from Howard Lindzon according to Howard this exchange in Craigslist has been flying around NY city and streets, because everybody finds it brutally honest and funny as hell (the comments on Howards blog also are worth reading).

So what is it about? Basically, an allegedly beautiful woman asks advice on how to marry any high earner in NY, and she gets quite a candid response! (almost MBA like ) … Read and weep/smile:

What am I doing wrong?

Okay, I’m tired of beating around the bush. I’m a beautiful (spectacularly beautiful) 25 year old girl. I’m articulate and classy. I’m not from New York . I’m looking to get married to a guy who makes at least half a million a year. I know how that sounds, but keep in mind that a million a year is middle class in New York City, so I don’t think I’m overreaching at all.

Are there any guys who make 500K or more on this board? Any wives? Could you send me some tips? I dated a business man who makes average around 200 – 250. But that’s where I seem to hit a roadblock. 250,000 won’t get me to central park west. I know a woman in my yoga class who was married to an investment banker and lives in Tribeca, and she’s not as pretty as I am, nor is she a great genius. So what is she doing right? How do I get to her level?

Here are my questions specifically:

Where do you single rich men hang out? Give me specifics- bars, restaurants, gyms What are you looking for in a mate? Be honest guys, you won’t hurt my feelings Is there an age range I should be targeting (I’m 25)? Why are some of the women living lavish lifestyles on the upper east side so plain? I’ve seen really ‘plain jane’ boring types who have nothing to offer married to incredibly wealthy guys. I’ve seen drop dead gorgeous girls in singles bars in the east village.

What’s the story there? Jobs I should look out for? Everyone knows – lawyer, investment banker, doctor. How much do those guys really make? And where do they hang out? Where do the hedge fund guys hang out?

How you decide marriage vs. just a girlfriend? I am looking for MARRIAGE ONLY

Please hold your insults – I’m putting myself out there in an honest way. Most beautiful women are superficial; at least I’m being up front about it. I wouldn’t be searching for these kind of guys if I wasn’t able to match them – in looks, culture, sophistication, and keeping a nice home and hearth.

it’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 432279810

The answer

Dear Pers-431649184: I read your posting with great interest and have thought meaningfully about your dilemma. I offer the following analysis of your predicament.Firstly, I’m not wasting your time, I qualify as a guy who fits your bill; that is I make more than $500K per year. That said here’s how I see it. Your offer, from the prospective of a guy like me, is plain and simple a crappy business deal.

Here’s why. Cutting through all the B.S., what you suggest is a simple trade: you bring your looks to the party and I bring my money. Fine, simple. But here’s the rub, your looks will fade and my money will likely continue into perpetuity…in fact, it is very likely that my income increases but it is an absolute certainty that you won’t be getting any more beautiful!So, in economic terms you are a depreciating asset and I am an earning asset.

Not only are you a depreciating asset, your depreciation accelerates!Let me explain, you’re 25 now and will likely stay pretty hot for the next 5 years, but less so each year. Then the fade begins in earnest. By 35 stick a fork in you! So in Wall Street terms, we would call you a trading position, not a buy and hold…hence the rub…marriage.It doesn’t make good business sense to “buy you” (which is what you’re asking) so I’d rather lease.

In case you think I’m being cruel, I would say the following.If my money were to go away, so would you, so when your beauty fades I need an out. It’s as simple as that. So a deal that makes sense is dating, not marriage.Separately, I was taught early in my career about efficient markets.

So, I wonder why a girl as “articulate, classy and spectacularly beautiful” as you has been unable to find your sugar daddy. I find it hard to believe that if you are as gorgeous as you say you are that the $500K hasn’t found you, if not only for a tryout.By the way, you could always find a way to make your own money and then we wouldn’t need to have this difficult conversation.

With all that said, I must say you’re going about it the right way. Classic “pump and dump.” I hope this is helpful, and if you want to enter into some sort of lease, let me know.

Thanks to Patxi’s and Howard and of course the people involved – A great find!

RSM Blackboard

 RSM is gearing up in releasing more information. I received the credentials to log-on RSM’s Blackboard web-application (http://blackboard.rsm.nl). It serves as an electronic meetingpoint for students, professors and RSM staff. The blackboard is equiped with e-mail, forums, etc. It also holds a few interesting documents such as the ’student manual’ and an early insight into the requirements of the Incompany Project.

Everyone enlisted at RSM also receives a lifetime email address in the format: [name]@emba09.rsm.nl

Death by powerpoint

Powerpoint, you either hate it or love it. I use it quite often, but like any other tool you can use it the right or the wrong way. We are often confronted with presentations, which make your eyes and ears hurt. Either by using unreadable typefaces, psychedelic backgrounds, or so much text on a slide it seems like you are reading a novel. The following clip is a hilarious stab at the famous powerpoint abusers (you know who you are )

Laptop Dell D830

Yep, something completely different than I was contemplating about before. Basically the laptop will be my second brain so I need to be able to rely on its operation. After reading hundreds of forum threads on the IBM Thinkpad and MBP, which were not as positive as I would expected. I decided to go for plain-old mainstream. The Dell Latitude D830 was the next best business notebook on the market.

A notebook without software is nothing, so I have compiled the following software titles as a must have:

• Roboform (no need to remember all the passwords, there is already enough to remember)
• Microsoft Office 2007, the Microsoft Killer application
• Mindmapper, mind mapping software
• Corel Paintshop Pro, the mother of paint
• Adobe Acrobat writer and reader

Career ..!?

I have started to reach a mid-life crisis in terms of my career. After having spent +12 years in the financial industry I wonder if it gets any better ..? Better in what, you may ask. Better position on the career ladder, better company, better, better? I currently am VP of Enterprise Architecture in a sizable investment house, AUM = +€200 Billion, so bigger, better, higher is not the issue.

One just gets frustrated that we as an investment industry make it ourselves so difficult in terms of business and technology alignment not to mention regulatory requirements. I believe most investment companies could get by with half of the IT systems they actually need to do business, a green field design would compromise of fewer systems and fewer ‘core’ processes. Driven by ‘enforced’ incompatibilities (who is the leader of the standards pack?), ‘not invented here’ syndrome, and the increase of complex instruments, the industry is sliding of into managing complexity instead of doing business. Trading platforms, Algo-trading, etc will only bring so much relief by wrapping complexity behind facades … Old problems, with new faces, meaning doing the same concepts over and over again.

Is it time for a change ..? Will things eventually get better ..?

Info pack RSM

Finally got around to browse through the info pack I received from RSM. Besides some goodies and hard copy versions of the RSM brochures, there was a magazine (RSM Outlook), which gave an insight into life during and after a MBA at RSM. The most interesting one however, was a booklet with faces, names, etc from the current EMBA08 class. The group is really international and with no specific focus on a certain business domain.

I was also made painfully aware that I should re-submit my passport size pictures as every male student in the EMBA08 booklet is wearing a suit and tie

Booking early at a nearby hotel for the first week also seems to be a good idea. By now the EMBA09 todo list looks like:

• Re-submit passport size picture (suit and tie)
• Book nearby hotel for the first week
• Get laptop (Apple MBP/IBM Thinkpad T61p)

White Guy doing Bollywood

On a lighter note I recently saw this video on YouTube and it cracked me up! A must see.

Performance by Winston Spear as one of the cast members of CTV’s ComedyInc. If somebody has a high-quality download available than please drop me a line, I would love to add this to my personal collection.

To Mac or not MAC

One of the basic requirements when you start an MBA is to have a notebook computer, of course I could not let this opportunity pass me by, I can always use a new notebook computer I have started browsing through several offerings to find one, which fits my needs, i.e. durable, fast, light, high-tech and sexy. Currently I have found only two models, which are a cut above the rest and on my (very) short list, they are:

• Apple Macbook Pro (2,4GHz/160GB/2GB/15,4 Inch – 1440×900/MacOSX.
• IBM Thinkpad T61P (2,2GHz/100GB/2GB/15,4 Inch – 1920×1200/Windows Vista).

Eventhough I grew up with Microsoft products, I favor the MacBookPro (MBP). The Thinkpad is a very good and very durable laptop, having previously owned a Thinkpad I know that they are built to last and last. The MBP however strikes a cord with me, I just love the design, the OS and … did I mention the design? The only thing holding me a bit back is that the durability and reliability are not on par as with a Thinkpad. One can purchase an expensive Apple Warranty (Apple Care) to hedge that risk … (~400Euros).

I will make my decision by the end of this year, as Apple will release Leopard in Oct it will be a more fair comparison