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Studson
08-07-2005, 01:51 PM
Hello all

I am interested in peoples qualifications if any and invite everyone, for the benefit of all STer's which of the many possible paths, you have taken. I ask as I am about to embark on a graduate diploma in Finance due to my interest (fostered initially by ST:D) in share markets. Completed a BSC in 99. Never touched on the subject formally but have strong interests in many areas of finance and am pretty excited to have the opportunity to get the ole grey matter up and running again. If you have no formal qualification we would be just as interested to know how long you've been in the game and the attention you have given your investments since.

Thanks to all :)

wns
08-07-2005, 02:58 PM
Hi Studson,

I'm one of those people who is quite intrigued to know about other posters as well, such as their background, what they do, how long they've been investing, age etc etc. I've seen a couple of threads along these lines already so you will find some info about others in those. Good luck with your course.

Anyway, in response to what you wrote...

I have a Bach of Eng (Electronic) and Bach of Computer Science double degree - chose that as a naive 17 year old and for some reason stuck with it! Did programming for a year out of uni and hated it!! Been in a technical sales role for the last 6 years.

I'm self-taught with regards to finance and investing, and that's what I'm interested in. Biggest influence on my approach to investing in the share market is Warren Buffett, except I like high dividend yields as well as healthy EPS growth.

zyreon
08-07-2005, 03:09 PM
NZIM CertMgt, NZDipBus. Both pretty useless, though diploma had a few useful things e.g. tax, company law etc etc

though now am cuttin the bull crap and goin hard to finish a Bachelor in Business Studies with massey...extra mural. Majoring in Finance of course. Ideally I'll do some post grad. Eventually want to get into forex as a career, probably end up in a bank graduate program.

Studson - what university u doin the grad dip at?
If it's massey feel free to email me, i've done quite a few finance papers etc there (had initially started with a graddip in personal financial planning but credited over to full degree.

Studson
08-07-2005, 03:41 PM
Thanks guys. Keep it coming.

Like you wns, I have a degree that is not particularly useful, nor which I want to persue, although I enjoyed learning about them there fundamental building blocks, but really only see the possibility of a tech sales role to pull a decent salary [xx(]. You may understand me more so, if you have a science background although this is not always the case and good paying employment opps do occasionally come up in this field.:( Also like you, I was 17 when I enrolled and stuck it out. 27 now (you were right rocking! [B)])and need some more direction and I have found it!! [:p]

Zyreon, I think the papers will offer me a swag of useful, tools, models and skills which I am anxious to employ. I'm studying at the Uni of Waikato starting Mon 18th and dropping the work hours back. First papers are L2 Electronic Finance and L3 Portfolios and Markets more or part time in the B semester and full time over summer and next years A semester. All over and done with in 12 months. Sweet. If its ok I'd still appreciate the offer you made wrt (with respect to) emailing you if I have any questions re my papers?? I will probably post the tricky and more interesting questions/problems on ST to give others the opportunity to show their skills - could be fun!.

Good luck with your degree!. Education and re-education is where its at my friend, be it formal or informal!! :):)

Good weekend to all. Outta here like Kerry Packer!!! [:p][:p]

Lizard
08-07-2005, 04:09 PM
B. Tech, 1987. 10 years in Food Industry, 8 yrs rocking the cradle and playing the shares. Currently doing Massey extramural Dip Bus Stud. (Financial Planning) to fill a few gaps.

Lizard
08-07-2005, 04:11 PM
i.e. Bored Housewife ;)

08-07-2005, 04:37 PM
Two advanced trade certificates and a Diploma in Life

Dazza
08-07-2005, 05:36 PM
studeson, do u tink it is really worth it?

im currently doing a BPHARM, at Auckland, was thinking of doing a gradate dip in finance..

howeva looking at my sisters papers... nearly 3/4 of the papers are junk ... as i wont be working at a bank etc etc.

what we want is investing skillz , to be honest ur beta off buying books on teh subject as i have found.


although i am tinking instead of finance, to do management and marketing , it will come handle when i apply to manage a pharmacy :D

Halebop
08-07-2005, 06:13 PM
I've got a pair of threes.

Sky Tower
08-07-2005, 07:51 PM
Halelop: poor hand
Dazza often having an interest (sharemarket) quite separate from your profession (dispensing drugs to the unsuspecting :D ) is a good idea.
Studson: great thread

Me: a Bachelor of Commerce and Management from Lincoln University - the best little University in the world. Oh and did I mention a Diploma in Drinking as well (it was a busy few years :D )

08-07-2005, 08:37 PM
Sky Tower Drinking What(I assume you don't mean water)

Halebop
08-07-2005, 09:34 PM
quote:Originally posted by Sky Tower

Halelop: poor hand

Dammit I might be bluffing.

Sideshow Bob
10-07-2005, 05:53 PM
quote: Originally posted by Sky Tower:

Me: a Bachelor of Commerce and Management from Lincoln University - the best little University in the world. Oh and did I mention a Diploma in Drinking as well (it was a busy few years )


Ditto - BCM. Hasn't done me a whole lot of good, but learnt how to drink.

Studson
11-07-2005, 09:23 AM
Thanks guys (have you folded yet Halebop??)

Dazza

Yea, I think its worth it alright otherwise I would just read books to increase my knowledge base (which I do anyway, but not content with that alone), however the papers I am doing complement each other very nicely but could be just as useful on a stand alone basis.

Doing the following:

Electronic finance
Portfolios & markets
Corporate finance
Business analysis & valuation
Personal financial planning
Small business finance

Its only a year and it gets me out of my terribly boring job into something I will enjoy so yea, its definantely worth it. I would like to do some econ papers but may have to settle for gleening info from books and the net for that. Management and marketing for your business goals sounds like a wise idea. As I progress through this dip, I will revisit this thread for advice with problems and to enlighten other posters what I have found the most valuable up to that point.

Sky Tower
11-07-2005, 07:34 PM
what are you doing now SSB?
apart from drinking trhat is

miner
11-07-2005, 08:11 PM
My "first" grey pubic hair[:0]:([V]:( BUT shssss DON'T tell anyone[:o)];).

Sideshow Bob
12-07-2005, 04:49 PM
quote:Originally posted by Sky Tower:

what are you doing now SSB?
apart from drinking trhat is

Marketing manager. Unfortunately out of practice, and the hangovers feel worse when you get older. Couldn't do too many consecutive nights down at Bob's anymore.

What years were you there??

SSB

Sky Tower
13-07-2005, 11:32 AM
SSB 1989-1991 What years were you there?
Are you still in Bolivia or which part of New Zealand are you in?

Sideshow Bob
13-07-2005, 05:23 PM
Sky Tower,

Ah before my time. I was there 1992-1995 and now based down south. During my time Licoln changed quite a bit (IMO). Less influence from the Aggies & more from the Parks & Wreckers and tree-huggers.

Orientation first year was great - toga party with poeple sliding around naked in beer, vomit & urine - classic. By the time I left was none of that and Bob's was dead.

Last time I was passing (about a year ago), they had turned the footie fields at the end of the road past the rec centre into a golf driving range!!

Sky Tower
14-07-2005, 07:26 PM
Doesn't sound good at all. In my day....

Packersoldkidney
15-07-2005, 01:54 AM
quote:Originally posted by Sideshow Bob

Sky Tower,

Ah before my time. I was there 1992-1995 and now based down south. During my time Licoln changed quite a bit (IMO). Less influence from the Aggies & more from the Parks & Wreckers and tree-huggers.

Orientation first year was great - toga party with poeple sliding around naked in beer, vomit & urine - classic. By the time I left was none of that and Bob's was dead.

Last time I was passing (about a year ago), they had turned the footie fields at the end of the road past the rec centre into a golf driving range!!




You've described my time at uni fairly closely, and you've almost got the dates, as well. I was on a residential area that had a curfew, no alcohol allowed, and had a religious slant. (it was cheap) In the first week after a toga party one of the 'monitors' saw me walking around the hallways naked with a sheet over my shoulder, a stubbie of VB, knocking on certain females doors at 3 in the morning.

They gave me a second chance.


Ten days later, after I'd been kicked out of the place for good, I realised what a great chance I'd missed. It was only then that I realised that there was a pub up the road from the residences, and no need to drink with the local reprobates in the car park.

pimpit
15-07-2005, 12:03 PM
I have Bachelor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering best university in NZ (The University of Auckland )

Doesn’t help much with understanding those financial reports etc, but hey its not rocket science.

Studson
19-07-2005, 09:39 AM
Thanks for the input so far. More info, give me more info!! Who has done what? There are about as many people that have not had a finace related education, as people who have, that have participated in this thread. Im really interested in what areas of finance people have found particularly useful in their walks of life and would appreciate further insight if you could afford the time.

Thanks in advance.

Sky Tower
19-07-2005, 03:47 PM
Studson given the nature of replies to some postings there are some very highly qualified people use ShareTrader - very few have bothered to reveal their qualifications.

I still believe a University qualification is a passport to a good career.

As the organisation I work for has got bigger and bigger one thing has become more important is networking and building relationships. When you have a problem being able to contact that 1 person in the organisation, whom you know, who is on your wavelength and can instantly fix the current problem you have is invluable. You can talk to half a dozen other people and they won't get it, speak to your regular contact in that dept who is on your wavelength and the problem is fixed - so satisfying). Is having those contacts within a professional organisation...

I remember one organisation I used to work for (I lived in ChCh, head office was in Wgtn) if I contacted someone over the phone to help me sort out a problem they were too busy to help. If I got on a plane to Wellington, did a meet and greet, took them out for coffee then they would do anything for me (assuming the coffee was good). Interesting: they were too busy to talk over the phone but never to busy to go out for coffee. Naturally I took quite a few trips in those years.

Studson: Whilst qualifications are essential its all about contacts, networking, and coffee!

Studson
21-07-2005, 09:31 AM
Appreciate your points thanks Sky Tower, am still a little puzzled at peoples apparent reluctance to share with us what quals they have. After all the forum is about sharing info, ideas, opinions, for the benefit of all ST'ers. Is this any different?? Just a thought.

Good day all

KJ
21-07-2005, 11:58 AM
Studson-this topic has been done before-probably more than once-so people possibly cannot be bothered.

Studson
21-07-2005, 02:28 PM
Fair nuff then - point taken. I guess its the ole case of 'its not what you've got that counts but how you use it', so I'm sure I will be pleased with the way things evolve from here! [:p]:D

cheers

Snagage
21-07-2005, 02:46 PM
I've only been out of university for a year-and-a-half with a Bachelor of Information Technology. I do IT 2nd/3rd level support and project work in my day-to-day job, specialising in the area of web technologies.

I really don't have any meaningful financial based qualifications except an accounting and a couple of economics subjects at uni.

stephen
21-07-2005, 02:59 PM
Ah, what the hell.

I have a dizzying array of incomplete qualifications, because I was good at a lot of different things academically, but had no particular driving interest, other than sheer curiosity. So I have half an LLB, a BA with majors in German and Music (composition), a diploma in Computer Science, and a few other bits and bobs.

If I had my time again, I wouldn't have gone to university so young (17). I would have left home and got a job, and done some travelling, and then made a choice when I'd figured out how I wanted to live. As it was, I wasted a lot of time and a lot of opportunities because I didn't know what to do with myself. (I'd also go back in time and give myself a stern lecture on the miracle of compound interest. And tell myself not to get married to that girl. And a few other things ...)

After I left university my career went from technical writing, to user support, to programming, to the wide IT field. Since most of my IT work has been implementing solutions for business people, I've learned a lot about business through my employment, particularly how big organisations work.

My ability to read financial statements was gained when I was engaged to write training materials for credit union directors. My interest finally awoke six or so years ago when I was involved in a startup, and had pressing personal reasons to learn a lot about business as fast as I could. After a divorce from my spendthrift spouse left me at 31 with bugger-all assets, I decided I needed to put some real effort into regaining financial parity with my peers.

I started very simply by reading low-level self-help books by local authors (Roger Moses, Martin Hawes, etc). This helped me get a grip on budgeting and household management.

Then I moved on to introductory books on shares. I decided on shares fairly early on. I reckon I'm still young enough to go broke once more; I like the liquidity, and as a contractor with an uneven income it's important for me; and for family reasons I need to move around and don't want to own fixed property.

There have been other threads on good books etc. Basically, books + online resources + a fair few mistakes have been my investing education.

Things I studied that have stood me in good stead:
- contract law
- basic stats
- computer science (basic programming is so useful for many finance-related tasks, and the practice at thinking logically).
- clear writing. I worked hard at varsity on developing a plain prose style. When you have to write reports for other people, or decode the crap other people have written, a firm grasp of English becomes very useful.
- philosophy. No, really. We all hear a lot of bull****. If you want to tell the logical from the bull**** it is a big help to have some formal training in reasoning. You don't really want to be investing on the basis of "mmm, sounds good to me!"
- music performance and debating. A confident manner takes you a long way. Or at least a lot further than another person with the same abilities but less stage presence.

It's funny that you're embarking on the grad diploma - I've become sufficiently interested in financial analysis that I've been thinking about formal study myself. What pushed you over the edge, where are you studying, and why did you choose them?

Studson
21-07-2005, 04:37 PM
Thanks for your reply Stephen - enlightening!, how old are you?? 134??:D. Fortunately for me I am out of the work place on Fridays (you beauty!) and Mondays (god bless!) getting away form the day to day head banging activities of Health & Safety work, for a large listed coy. So I just have time for a quick reply.

What pushed me over the edge is H & S work - I hate it, (but more than that I have come to enjoy finance). I could go on and on about the bureaucracy behind big company mentality (can some one else please do it??;);)), but I see a tonne of money wasted, productivity dropping off, and IMHO I think there is a global issue surrounding lost productivity and I think shareholders are kept in the dark. On the other hand no-one should have to go to work and be at risk from hazards. The hard part is making everything idiot proof. Because if you are trying to do this, then by definition training them is going to be like trying to give Humpty Dumpty a PhD rocket science. It just doest work. Over the last 12 or so months I have become more and more interested in equity markets. Here I can learn things and they are useful forever (the exception I guess being law - something H&S work hinges on)tools, skills, models that I can use time and time again. I ma analytical also which I think will be a great personal attribute. The other thing is that there is a ladder that I can climb and progress in within the finance sector, whereas in NZ, an individual in H&S is seen as an appendage to the management structure, with little or no authority, usually a small budget and very little room to excel into a new area. Most Coys play lip service to their obligations under the HASE act. Nuff bout that! [xx(][xx(]

Studying at the Uni of Waikato, a) because I did my BSc there i.e familiarity b) because its 10Kms from home i.e I can work and study piece of p*ss & c) because it is my understanding that the Management school has a good rep outside of the Waikato. I seen one article about a guy who studied at Waikato, worked on Wall St and said that he felt he was at least as well equipped as the other brokers - even with a change in economic environment. Very interesting.

I'm loving it, finally I can stop saying to myself "I wonder how this really works?", and just get on and learn it. I recommend to anyone to at least investigate formal study further if you have even the slightest inkling of a desire to take it to the next step.

Chow for now :)

Bit longer than first anticipated. Got carried away sorry fellow posters.[:I]

stephen
21-07-2005, 04:46 PM
134? Only another 99 years to go!

limegreen
22-07-2005, 01:02 PM
Or maybe people don't reply because they're too embarrassed to share.

I have a Piled Higher and Deeper in the social sciences, and work in a university as a research scientist. It's a fantastic and interesting job, and I love it, but I'd quite like to be in a position where ultimately it's not my core source of income.

TheBossMan
23-07-2005, 08:50 AM
Although an electrical engineer, I've been into manufacturing and IT consulting for 15 years. About to complete my MBA this year. Interest in capital markets came 3 years back when I was cashed-up and had a punt in a falling Baycorp. Got a 5% return in 2 days' time and I've been hooked ever since.

Have been reading any investment book I could get hold of, continuously learning how to analyse company reports and slowly building a long-term portfolio. In the interim, I day-trade on ASX S&P200.

bambi
25-07-2005, 07:43 PM
BSc Computer Science and Maths

Currently a software developer. Great for logical thinking and the programming helps. I'm currently thinking about writing some software for trading which should be interesting.

Mainly longterm investing so far, but starting to look at trading, TA and Elliot Waves. Also have my own house which is currently being rented out for a poor return while off on my OE.

Bambi

Snow Leopard
25-07-2005, 07:52 PM
Years, more than I would ideally like to admit to, of experience.
Also a degree, which is necessary but not important.

goingtobe
13-09-2005, 08:29 PM
I have recently enrolled in a post grad Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment, run by the Australian Securities Institute. The course was recommended by Pharedus in response to someones question about how to learn more on trading. I have only completed 1 paper so far but am loving it.

stormrose
15-09-2005, 07:00 AM
Masters in Computer Graphic Design. Undergrad study in business computing.
Worked fulltime and studied partime basically since graduating with NDBC (roughly equiv. to BIT) - never had a student loan since then either because I convinced others to pay my fees :-).

I agree with Stephen's list. I remember my Commercial Law exam (extra paper) - because I scared the examiner with a 10-min. napbreak mid-exam.

Like limegreen I'm piling on higher and deeper in my chosen field - though probably not yet to the heights that limegreen is at. I am Currently applying to do PhD in an obscure topic that I haven't yet been able to explain to my grandma. Agin, this will be work full-time, study part-time.

Starting a business too. More on that later.

No formal quals in Finance. A few papers here and there and a lot of informal study in the area. Education is an attitude, not letters after the name.

kittydashwood
15-09-2005, 11:01 AM
Had to join this peeing comp...

BA MA PHD
Religious History.

All useless.

duncan macgregor
15-09-2005, 02:15 PM
Dont laugh at old macdunk guys. I did five years working my butt off learning to be a builder. This was followed by three years being a paratrooper in kenya where I almost took up professional boxing. I later did courses in constructural engineering followed by budget advising with a course in cultural awareness. My one great attribute is that it taught me to be a completely independent thinker that looks past the crap that we are forced to endure in everyday life. I really cant complain life has been kind to me and allowed me to guide my offspring a much better chance in life than i ever had. I feel very lucky that i learned a trade when i was young and stupid. macdunk

Enumerate
15-09-2005, 02:27 PM
BSc in Physics and Mathematics; MSc(hons) in Physics; some graduate school mathematics quals.

Was a part-time University lecturer for about 10yrs while "working for the man" (Consulting firms). Now, I feel much better. Rather than marching in step I am a serial founder of software companies.

Anyone know any good Java developers?

15-09-2005, 03:16 PM
Enumerate Possibly yes if you have a couple Hundred Grand to spare for a few years

limegreen
16-09-2005, 10:14 AM
quote:Originally posted by stormrose
an obscure topic that I haven't yet been able to explain to my grandma.


Is there really any other type of topic[?] I think my mother always hoped I'd work toward a cure for cancer or something. But most people who claim such things are in fact researching some little cul-de-sac which might lead to the possibility of advancement toward cancer treatment, but find "working toward a cure for cancer" more publically palatable.

goingtobe
19-09-2005, 09:09 PM
Its interesting to note that the top 3 syndicates in the NZX share trading competition all appear to be studying finance at Massey at the moment.

marinesalvor
20-09-2005, 07:18 AM
Goingtobe - probably more an indication of who has time on their hands!

goingtobe
20-09-2005, 07:43 PM
Maybe - they have a pretty impressive lead on the other 408 entrants though.