by Willy Franzen on December 16, 2009
Yesterday I was talking to a friend who is convinced that everyone in Chicago is a consultant. I know a lot of consultants here, but my take is a little different. I’m pretty sure that every guy that I’ve met here who is between the ages of 23 and 32 is a “trader.” They never tell you what they trade unless you ask—it almost seems like they’re being evasive. Maybe it’s all about creating a mystique about being a trader. Anyway, one of my “trader” friends happens to work at Jump Trading (he likes it), a high-frequency trading shop based here in Chicago. From what I can tell on their website, Jump Trading is less concerned with what they’re trading and more concerned with how they’re trading. They put a huge emphasis on technology, and they’re trying to take advantage of the fact that “the world financial markets are becoming faster, more complex, and more automated every day.”
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by Willy Franzen on August 24, 2009
This morning I was reading a New York Times article about how some of the “super rich” are being hit hardest (at least in terms of total dollars lost) by this recession. A lot of this has to do with heavy investments in real estate. As we all know, real estate has not been the place to be lately. The good news about the bad real estate market is that it’s leading to all kinds of innovation. There are a ton of cool real estate startups, and I just came across another one called eRealInvestor. They’re based in San Francisco, and they offer a suite of tools that allow those who still have it in them to invest in real estate to be much smarter about it. Since I’m not a real estate investor, I don’t fully understand what all of the tools do. However, it’s hard to argue with a data based approach to buying and selling real estate.
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by Willy Franzen on July 6, 2009
I was lucky enough to graduate from college without having had to take out any student loans, but even if I had needed to take out a loan, at least it would have been before the “credit crunch.” These days it’s a lot harder for students to finance their educations than it was just a couple of years ago. Credit in general is extremely tight right now, and beyond that, lenders are being very picky about whom they lend to. For students with no credit history, getting a loan can be a big pain in the butt. People Capital is a New York City based startup that is aiming to change that through what they call a “peer-to-peer lending platform.” They’ve developed a Human Capital Score “to assess the creditworthiness of those just starting their credit histories,” and they’re now building out a network of borrowers and lenders to bring the idea to life. It’s kind of like Kiva for education, but with a for-profit incentive keeping things efficient.
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by Willy Franzen on May 5, 2009
Let’s be honest, as a new or recent college grad, you probably don’t have much wealth to manage. That’s why you’re looking for a job – so that you’ll be rich one day and have somebody else look after your finances. Wait! So, if wealthy people don’t manage their own money, then who does? Wealth management companies, of course. That means that you can get a job managing wealth without having any wealth of your own to manage. Ok, this is starting to sound like some too good to be true scam – my bad. Seriously, though, if you’re smart, have the drive, and are interested in all things financial, a career in wealth management could be worth a shot. Wealth managment is actually a pretty cool field – it pulls from a variety of disciplines that include banking, estate planning, tax advisory, investment management, legal advisory, and, of course, financial planning. If that sounds like something that you might like to do after graduation, then you should check out Wayne Hummer Wealth Management, a Chicago based firm that was founded in 1931.
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by Willy Franzen on April 21, 2009
Who would have thought that you could build a whole startup off of a Wiki? I mean, I know that Wikipedia is wildly successful, but they’re run by a non-profit called the Wikimedia Foundation. Building a real business off of that same idea almost sounds too easy, but that didn’t stop the founders of San Francisco based Wikinvest from trying it. It all started when two Harvard students were day trading in their dorm rooms during the height of the Internet bubble. They were making money, so they thought they were smart investors. When the bubble burst, they realized that they weren’t nearly as smart as they thought they were. As they tried to educate themselves, they noticed that most financial websites leave a lot to be desired (kind of how I noticed that most job search sites leave a lot to be desired). Instead of building a team of salaried experts, the guys who started Wikinvest decided to crowdsource their content through a Wiki. So far it seems to be working well for them – they raised $2.5 million in a first round (although that was 18 months ago).
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by Willy Franzen on March 26, 2009
After I graduated from college, I decided to take a responsible approach to my personal finances (I wish I had taken the same approach to my job search, but I didn’t, which is why I’m here teaching you how not to be a loser like I was). It took me a while to get my act together, but once I did I started investing in the stock market through Scottrade, an online discount brokerage company that is headquartered in St. Louis, MO. (And before I go on with more information about Scottrade’s jobs, I need to give Ramit Sethi’s book, I Will Teach You To Be Rich
, a plug because it just came out and is the best personal finance resource for young people that I’ve come across.) So, Scottrade allows me to buy and sell stocks at 7 bucks a pop. They also have a solid web interface that gives you access to all kinds of information, and they have 399 branches with helpful employees to answer you questions and get your accounts opened. If you’re interested in opening an account with Scottrade, let me know at willy@onedayonejob.com and I can give you a link that gets us both free trades. If you’re interested in working for Scottrade, keep reading, duh!
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by Willy Franzen on June 24, 2008
Every day I take it upon myself to tell thousands of new college grads about exciting entry-level jobs. You’d think I’d pay enough attention to notice a company that does a ton of college recruiting, has a great work culture for young people, and is right in my “backyard.” Apparently I don’t. I came across a job listing for Bridgewater Associates and was intrigued because they are located in Westport, CT – the town where I went to high school. I figured I must have heard of them at some point and since forgotten about them. My curiosity continued, and I checked out their location on Google Maps. Then I saw this photo tagged for their location, and it hit me. This company is located on the banks of one of my favorite trout streams! Any good job searcher should know to never ignore the opportunities that are right under your nose. So, right off the bat, we know that Bridgewater’s people get to work in a beautiful location and have a great way to spend their lunch breaks if they’re interested in piscatorial pursuits.
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by Willy Franzen on May 24, 2008
Although giving away money isn’t usually the first thing on people’s lists of things to do if they ever get rich, people who actually are rich seem to enjoy donating what they have. Since you’re reading a site about entry-level jobs, we’re going to guess that you don’t have vast financial resources to donate to charity. Still, it would be fun to give someone else’s money, now wouldn’t it? That’s what the Carnegie Corporation of New York does. The corporation was founded my Andrew Carnegie, himself, in 1911 with a $135 million. Since then the goal has been to put the money to use in ways that “promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding” for perpetuity. What is perpetuity? It’s forever. For many new college grads, making money last forever means until the next paycheck. At the Carnegie Corporation, they really mean forever. Their endowment was worth approximately $3.0 billion last year, and with a giving rate of “5.5 percent of the average market value of the endowment during the prior 12 quarters,” it’s not getting any smaller.
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by Willy Franzen on April 1, 2008
We’ve been thinking for months about ways to trick our readers for April Fools’ Day. We considered writing about six figure entry-level jobs or telling you that we are selling out to the evil Monster.com, but nothing really seemed all that funny – or believable. The web is rife with great pranks on April 1st, and we’re just going to stay out of it. Instead we’ve found a company that is not only relevant to today’s holiday, but is also hiring new college grads for entry-level positions. We’re talking about the Motley Fool, a company that aims to “educate, entertain, and enrich” its customers with excellent financial advice. What company could be better to feature on April Fools’ Day than the one that owns Fool.com?
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