quant finance

I quit my job at Santander working in model risk management. It was 6 fun years where I learned a lot however due to some corporate restructuring and a better opportunity where I would have more responsibility, I am moving on.

In this episode I talk about interviewing at other firms as well as how to view different offers. How much money you are being paid is usually a main driver but don't forget to think about responsibilities. Building a resume with new skills can help you later down the road.

The decision to work in the industry vs academia is a hard one to make. Years into a career in the quant finance industry and I still wonder if I should go back to academia. My passion for education, training, and research is still strong and often the industry seems to be against these three ideas. Making money and focusing on the business takes precedence over education and learning even when the long-term profits would be lower. Making money in this very moment seems to consume businesses and especially banks.

So is the grass really greener on the academic side? In this episode I discuss the pros and cons of academia in contrast to the industry.

Welcome to Season 4 of Talking Tuesdays with Fancy Quant!

I'm really excited to be back here on the podcast and back on YouTube. While I was taking a mental break from content creation I ended up finding an amazing job offer with some unique risks. I ended up not taking the offer due to legal risks however when valuing a new job there are a lot of different angles to consider from the dollar value of salary and bonus to the equity options and benefits (healthcare, PTO, working from home, and other freedoms). Quantitative finance has been a very interesting career as the industry is growing into the cryptocurrency world. Where does finance end and decentralized finance (defi) start?

The Private Capital Industry Soars Beyond $7 Trillion
Over the past twenty years, the number of companies listed on the US stock market has almost halved. The world’s largest, most liquid public equity market would appear to have lost its shine.

Institutional investors have been piling into private markets instead, in particular venture capital, private equity and private debt. The Financial Times reported last week that the size of the private capital industry has now reached $7.4tn, fifteen times the size it was in 2000. The industry is expected to reach $13tn in the next four years.

On top of this, a boom in share buybacks, where companies purchase their own stock as an alternative to paying dividends, has further reduced the number of shares outstanding from the remaining public companies. Historically low interest rates have compounded the trend, tempting companies to raise cheap debt rather than to sell equity.

So what has happened to all of the stocks and what should investors do?

Steven Davidoff Solomon Paper https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2400488&rec=1&srcabs=2310441&alg=1&pos=6

Private Equity: The Emperor Has No Clothes By Nicolas Rabener:  https://blogs.cfainstitute.org/investor/2018/12/03/private-equity-the-emperor-has-no-clothes/

Patrick's Books:
Statistics For The Trading Floor:  https://amzn.to/3eerLA0
Derivatives For The Trading Floor:  https://amzn.to/3cjsyPF
Corporate Finance:  https://amzn.to/3fn3rvC

Patreon Page:  https://www.patreon.com/PatrickBoyleOnFinance

Visit our website: www.onfinance.org
Follow Patrick on Twitter Here: https://twitter.com/PatrickEBoyle

Patrick Boyle - YouTube

Machine learning, deep learning, and AI aren't as new to finance as many people think. I have a great conversation with Agus about his career and journey into quant finance. He provides some great insight on career advice as well as some of the issues he sees with using machine learning especially in finance.

Some of the important takeaways from this conversation are:
- Be nice to everyone you meet.
- ML is a localized method.
- Technical skills such as statistics can be applied to many different careers.

I interview Ali Masoumnia all about running a successful quantitative finance club at a university, how to approach professionals, the advantages of target schools, and are standards important in quant finance as well as life. 

Video Version:
https://youtu.be/S09aiwz3dbY

Ali's currently reading: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (my affiliate link)
https://amzn.to/3pyeIxY

Risk management seems to have lost its meaning. After the 2008 financial crisis banks have started labeling every department as risk management in some way. While it would be great if every department understood the risks they create or manage to any company, the over use seems to have diminished its actual value and meaning. The skills required to work in "risk management" vary greatly depending on what area you want to work in. Someone who might work in model governance or a first line of defense risk manager might require a business degree and experience using Excel. Other jobs such as model developer or model validator might require a Masters or PhD along with experience in statistics, mathematics, and computer science. The easiest way to figure out where in risk management you might fit would be to look at job postings and see what skills are required.

To make matters more confusing, the investing side views risk as VaR and ES. Don't get me wrong, there are some advanced firms out there with well developed risk departments and processes however there are a lot of firms with over simplified understanding of risk management as a big picture concept that should be applied to an entire firm.

YOUTUBE Version:
https://youtu.be/BVmUnn2gX08

SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:
Quant t-shirts, mugs, and hoodies:
https://teespring.com/stores/fancy-quant

Connect with me:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dimitri-bianco
https://twitter.com/DimitriBianco

☕ Show Your SUPPORT and Buy Me a COFFEE ☕
https://ko-fi.com/fancyquant

Being a Quant in the finance world is not all brains and riches as many think. Being able to talk openly about the industry hasn't been an easy task as I don't want to burn bridges and offend people, yet I feel it is important for those wanting to work in quantitative finance to really understand what you will face. This was originally a video I recorded a year ago however I felt like I highlighted too many negative aspects without a full picture of why they existed or how they impacted me personally. The idea of trying to express many of my frustrations with the industry is an undertone of my YouTube channel where the focus is to improve the industry through education. In this podcast I lay out a few realities:

1) The industry is full of average people
2) Conflict and burnout are common

Help SUPPORT this channel:
https://ko-fi.com/fancyquant

Connect with me:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dimitri-bianco
https://twitter.com/DimitriBianco

Buy "Talking Tuesday with Fancy Quant" mugs and other gear!
https://teespring.com/stores/fancy-quant