Guidance for an undergrad...

R

rybe

Hello all,

Sorry in advance if this is not the right sub to post this in.

I will be finishing my statistics degree next May, my main areas of interest are in statistical learning methods, modeling, and analysis. With that said I have been using my free time working through some financial modeling and automated trading books with R. I am looking for some guidance into what topics I should be focusing on, what books explain topics at an undergraduate/graduate level, and what resources to use through my journey.

Thank you all for your time!
 
If you want salability (which is not a bad thing)... then hit the current crop of financial/portfolio/econ journals, and catch their primary tools.

If you want to go where they *should* be going, conjoin linear algebra with mathematical biology/ecology -- things like population models, generations/cohorts modeling, Leslie matrices.

The thing that *should* push investments is expectancy -- P(success)*$$Success - P(fail)*$$fail.

Most fail to know expectancy, and create models based mostly on wishful thinking.
The better you can model a cohort of investments through age/immigration/emigration/birth/death?? The better your expectancy(s).
 
rybe said:
Hello all,

Sorry in advance if this is not the right sub to post this in.

I will be finishing my statistics degree next May, my main areas of interest are in statistical learning methods, modeling, and analysis. With that said I have been using my free time working through some financial modeling and automated trading books with R. I am looking for some guidance into what topics I should be focusing on, what books explain topics at an undergraduate/graduate level, and what resources to use through my journey.

Thank you all for your time!
More...
Good for you. Congratulations! You got some nice advice from McGinnis above. I'll give you advice of another sort, and valuable as well. If at some point early in your career, either in the context of further studies or a first job, and you are faced either with making a lot of money but being left more or less on your own, or making much less money but working closely with an experienced mentor, possibly someone well known in your field, do the latter. In the long run, what you will learn will more than compensate for the difference in remuneration. There will be plenty of time later to make money.
 
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piezoe said:
Good for you. Congratulations! You got some nice advice from McGinnis above. I'll give you advice of another sort, and valuable as well. If at some point early in your career, either in the context of further studies or a first job, and you are faced either with making a lot of money but being left more or less on your own, or making much less money but working closely with an experienced mentor, possibly someone well known in your field, do the latter. In the long run, what you will learn will more than compensate for the difference in remuneration. There will be plenty of time later to make money.
More...
Thank you very much. It has been a grind but I am ready to start putting what I know to use! I appreciate the advice. I have been looking for a mentor type situation but haven't had any luck as of late.
 
piezoe said:
Good for you. Congratulations! You got some nice advice from McGinnis above. I'll give you advice of another sort, and valuable as well. If at some point early in your career, either in the context of further studies or a first job, and you are faced either with making a lot of money but being left more or less on your own, or making much less money but working closely with an experienced mentor, possibly someone well known in your field, do the latter. In the long run, what you will learn will more than compensate for the difference in remuneration. There will be plenty of time later to make money.
More...
tommcginnis said:
If you want salability (which is not a bad thing)... then hit the current crop of financial/portfolio/econ journals, and catch their primary tools.

If you want to go where they *should* be going, conjoin linear algebra with mathematical biology/ecology -- things like population models, generations/cohorts modeling, Leslie matrices.

The thing that *should* push investments is expectancy -- P(success)*$$Success - P(fail)*$$fail.

Most fail to know expectancy, and create models based mostly on wishful thinking.
The better you can model a cohort of investments through age/immigration/emigration/birth/death?? The better your expectancy(s).
More...
tommcginnis said:
If you want salability (which is not a bad thing)... then hit the current crop of financial/portfolio/econ journals, and catch their primary tools.

If you want to go where they *should* be going, conjoin linear algebra with mathematical biology/ecology -- things like population models, generations/cohorts modeling, Leslie matrices.

The thing that *should* push investments is expectancy -- P(success)*$$Success - P(fail)*$$fail.

Most fail to know expectancy, and create models based mostly on wishful thinking.
The better you can model a cohort of investments through age/immigration/emigration/birth/death?? The better your expectancy(s).
More...

That is a very interesting take and I'll have to try combining some disparate data sets together to see if there are correlations between those variables. Thank you for the advice! Looks like I have some work to do...
 
IMHO; you are off to a good start, but you want a job in the industry and since 2008 it's very competitive, so education is critical. I'd follow on with: Graduate degree Masters of Finance (more than an MBA) from a good school - "good" meaning one where major banks/HF are hiring - ask for a 3 year list of job listings and hiring firms from the placement office - do this before you choose a school; they will show you all the fancy facilities but never the most important place that makes going into debt worthwhile (in fact call HR at every place you want to work and tell them your situation and ask where they hire their entry-level graduates from and nail down their requirements - the people who answer you, you will want to stay in touch with) - add in some coding skills which you can do on your own (back-end - C#, Python; front-end - HTML/CSS; databases - SQL). If a graduate degree is too much and you want to learn while you work seriously consider a CFA to round out your financial knowledge. Finally, your first job often defines your future roles to HR managers, so don't settle for a sales or operations role if you want to be on the firing line (assuming you have the aptitude and are passionate about the markets).
 
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