Quote from Ur My Wages:
ok im 18 and i am doing a Economics & Finance ( 1st of 3 yrs ) degree in UCD in dublin, Ireland. Now today i saw Goldman Sachs and JP morgan looking for people in their penultimate yr and final yr but that got me thinking what do they look for? and now if i know what they look for and do it i will be successful. What mistakes do people make from 18 - 23. BTW i have a life so i dont want to take away from the holidays i go on every yr but any advice for the next few yrs would be great and what are the pitfalls?
I have learned this lesson THE HARD way. I will tell you what to do right now.
First off, save and invest whatever you can even if its just a few hundred dollars. There are mutual funds, savings bonds, stocks, etc. You can go to a site like
www.sharebuilder.com and you can buy stocks or etfs for only $4. You want to build a portfolio right now.
You will want to save as aggressively as possible until you are about 30 years old. Whatever you do, whether it be picking up garbage or elected to a political office, you want to save and start immediately. When you get out of college in 4 years, you want thousands in the bank rather then thousands owed to credit card companies.
As for Goldman and JP, all of these Wall Street jobs require golden resumes. You can find all these people on google by typing the right words. Everyone looks for a GPA above 3.0. Internships are very helpful for most any business. You want to develop strong connections and be able to drop a name or two. Outgoing and confidence are also key. You also want to know as much about the finance industry as you possibly can.
The most important aspect is what I said in the first part of this post. Save up now. Always think about the phrase "Either I can save up right now or pay later" You dont want to pay later on in life when your 30 or 40. You dont want to have to "catch up". When your over 30, you want to go to work each day with the thought that if your fired that you can live without work for a few years.
Catching up after not paying now is extremely hard to do. As you get older, you lose energy and motivation. So my advice is to pay right now. . .