MBA after establishing your business...?

I remember about years 1985 to 1995 I wanted to know what the MBA degree was. I recall figuring that since a MBA degree is a business degree then MBA degreed people must know a lot about business. I remember asking MBA degreed people and executives - some vice presidents - three questions that I figured someone graduating from business school knows the answers to.

These are the questions:

1) What is the meaning of the word "inflation?"

2) What does the Federal Reserve Bank do?

3) What does a business opportunity look like? How do you recognize a business opportunity when you see one?

I recall all I heard was silence or "I don't know". What amazes me is the executives (vice presidents, directors, managers at multibillion dollar multinational corporations) that have no idea how to identify a business opportunity.

If I go to MBA school it is for entertainment and to add to my resume.
 
I have both an undergrad degree in Finance and an MBA concentrated in Finance, so maybe my perspective can add some value.

First, going back to the original question, I would say that you are going to learn almost nothing of value to your trading as an MBA student. At best, you could take part in one of the student funds that some schools have, but that isn't really trading. It's more about doing and presenting fundamental analysis of stocks and handling portfolio allocation. It's all done by mostly clueless "analysts" and "fund managers" under the guidance of a faculty advisor who probably doesn't have any real trading experience either.

Financial theory, as it is presented in the classroom, is more geared toward institutional scenarios than individual ones (I know this both from student experience and from my work helping to design and implement a "trading" class at my undergraduate alma mater). There's a lot about hedging and portfolio theory. Even the security analysis courses focus almost totally on fundamentals as techincal analysis still really hasn't gotten a good foothold in academia (behavior finance is progressing, though).

Now, if you're a career person, it's gotten to the point where an MBA has practically become a requirement. As stupid as this might sound, when I got mine I went back to work for my former employer at twice the salary and as a "senior forex analyst" rather than just the "forex analyst" which was my title before leaving for school. I don't think my 18 months in the classroom made me any better of an analyst, but it certainly paid off!

That said, if you do go for an MBA, you have to consider what your objectives are. If it's to attempt to make a jump to a higher echelon in your career, especially if it means competing against a national pool of candidates to do so, then you want a degree from a Top 25 school. If your objective is more regional, you can save yourself a lot of money going to a local university.
 
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