informational | Inside The University of Melbourne

Mar 13 2023

Living Below One’s Means

I tend to see a trend amongst the social media-addicted crowd these days. The focus on materialism and showing off seems to stem deeply in the crux of their image.

Show off your watch, show off your new car, or the holiday you spend your bonus on. Doing it for the ‘gram has become the holy grail for a generation whereby short-sightedness overtakes the long term build up of wealth. Is it much of a surprise that nearly half of Australians live pay cheque to pay cheque?

So what would you do differently? I understand the current economic environment is a tough with rampant global inflation and a threat of a recession hampering confidence in most.

Here are a few things I’d recommend doing to improve your financial position in the medium term.

Invest in yourself

Most people, especially early on in their careers will complain they don’t earn enough. This is fine, so what I would recommend is think about the career path you’re on and what courses, skills, and attributes that you need to grow and develop to be in a role you want. If you’re in a graduate scheme or progression track weather its CA, CFA, Law or Medicine, then put in all your effort to passing those exams.

I know its hard especially with the long hours of work but delaying the gratification and giving yourself small rewards is the best way to get through the tough times. Having a set goal and lure of a better role, and salary is often the light at the tunnel that keeps most people motivated.

Build up a budget

Nothing standard, but it’s the best way to understand your status quo. There’s dozens of apps, spreadsheets, and sites that can help you devise a budget. Be sure to divide up your expenses as essentials and disposable income so you can figure out where you’re able to make cuts.

Cut down on expenses

Once you’ve made a budget, go through your list and shop around on making sure you get the best deal. Whether its your phone, broadband, insurance, there’s dozens of price comparative websites that can help you ensure you get the best deal.

Always save

A portion of your income, put it away to build up an emergency buffer, my recommendation is 3-6 months of living expenses. Get into the habit of always saving a % of your salary, many banking apps these days can help you do this in an automated manner.

Invest

Then once you have built up your rainy-day fund, think about investments, I’d probably start off with Index Funds initially. Have a flick through videos on YouTube or even Reddit. But basically start investing early on in your life to maximising the impact of compounding later on

Feb 18 2023

2 Comments

Financial Services, Informational

Investment Banking – Questions and Answers

I get questions from readers about Investment Banking based on earlier posts where I mentioned work related matters.

So I thought I would provide some answers to the FAQs:

What is Investment Banking?

The definition is something along the lines of helping companies raise funds through debt or equity and broadly advising clients on investment opportunities.

Most of the time in Junior ranks you’ll be editing slide decks and helping with the materials for client meetings and communications. Once you’re a bit more senior you’ll be building out and reviewing models and managing teams

Does it pay well?

In short, yes.

These days I’d say $150k base is fairly normal starting out (Again this varies widely between front and back office, team and bank) bonuses can be as big as your base depending on performance

What are the hours like?

I’d say 12-hour days are the norm for most Analysts, however if you’re working through a complex M&A and the project is at a critical stage you could do more than 16 hours. Think worst for me was an 18-hour day. Also, on average I’d say one weekend a month would be expected.

What are the exit opportunities?

There are heaps of options. Many people try to continue the long hours but trade up for more pay by going into Private Equity. Some go work at clients and do in-house Corporate Development / M&A work. Others move into Technology companies and work in areas like Strategy. It’s a fairly broad spectrum of opportunities with the skillset you acquire.

If you have a good reputation with colleagues and clients there will regularly be opportunities coming up in conversations, but as you understand yourself more and realise what you like and don’t like – you’ll end up being far pickier with roles you’ll consider.

Do you need to go to a Top University?

It won’t hurt if you do. If you’re in Australia, given how small the intakes are, it would be a lot harder to get into an Investment Bank as a graduate from a lower tier University. Overseas in places like the UK or US, it’s a bit more open given there’s a much larger in-take. You can also move into banking as a lateral hire given the right employment background.

What are the different ranks?

Analyst -> Associate -> Vice President -> Director -> Managing Director

Is it for me?

if you’re a driven person whose interested in markets and corporate life you could enjoy it, however, there comes a sacrifice with the hours you’ll do in the job as well as the stress that can have harmful impacts on your health.

Feb 01 2023

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Financial Services, informational, Straight talk

5 Things to do ahead of the expected recession

Build up an Emergency Fund
With unemployment expected to rise, and massive layoffs in many major companies recently. It makes it obvious to have money stashed away for emergencies (e.g., Losing your job, medical emergencies and so on). This is not money tied up in the stock market or in property, it is purely cash, the most liquid asset! This could be something along the lines of 3-6 months of living expenses for people currently employed full time and if you’re self-employed, 6 months for living expenses and 6 months of business expenses. This will give you that piece of mind during the period where cost of living is increasing.

Avoid high interest borrowing
Interest rates are rising, and the cost of borrowing continues to increase. So, it’s important now to be paying down on your existing debt. Weather its car loans or credit cards, now is the time to be paying down these outstanding loans. You’ll be getting a guaranteed return on your investment; you’ll be saving on the interest that you no longer need to pay!

Don’t realise them losses
The stock market is quite unstable and has dropped considerably since 2021 in numerous sectors. It hurts waking up and noticing the investments going from Green to Red and it’s tempting to wanting to end it all and cash out before it gets even lower.
But do not panic sell! I’ve seen smart, talented people in Finance succumb to this, when the times are tough – all logic goes out the window.
If you’re investing money that you don’t need and have a good emergency fund, it makes sense to have those diamond hands. Look at March 2020, those who sold when we had the first lockdown dip are regretting their choices. Markets came roaring back and history has shown us time and time again that after a dip and stagnant period, the market corrects itself and improves over the long run. Look at the 1979 crash, the dot com bubble, the GFC and so on, they were all overcome. It’s all about time in the market, not timing the market.

Buy now
In conjunction with the last point, when quality stocks are discounted, you should go in and buy up. See it as a sale. I look back at some of my recent gains, and the biggest capital gains I achieved were from stocks I bought during 2020 when the world was in panic mode.

Diversify income streams
It’s always handy to have a few side hustles that you can attain some income from. Weather its selling digital content or monetising a hobby – having fall back options and diversity in income helps when times are uncertain and can help provide you some piece of mind in the event you lose your day job.

Have you made these mistakes before? Don’t sweat it. Don’t dwell on the negative. Don’t spend too much time thinking about past mistakes, you learnt from them. He who clings to the past has no present, and compromises his future.

Jan 23 2023

1 Comment

informational

The one tactic that always helped me study.

These days students are often distracted continually. Whether it be social media, Netflix or Gaming, the ability to keep attention on one topic for prolonged periods of time is rather hard. The dopamine frenzy young people are often exposed to these days are at levels that people of yesteryear would be astounded by.

I often wondered whenever I had a big exam to study for, what was it that drove me to study? Was it the comfort of knowing I had understood the content and would be ready? In my case no, it was Fear of failure. I would always think about how horrible it would be if I failed. The hours of energy put into re-doing something and making sure everyone knew I had failed would be enough of a deterrent that the thought of it would often make me feel guilty that I wasn’t studying hard enough.

Couple the above with very clear boundaries for things I would hope to achieve, and I had a recipe that generally worked rather well. I also made found ways to reward myself as I got closer to achieving the goal and of course after meeting it too.

However, this worked for me and everyone is different, so I’m sure there’s variants of this people adopt that gets them through.

Dec 16 2022

2 Comments

informational

Destiny is real

Sometimes I wonder how people end up where they do. What things had to fall in place for them to get there. What ideas they needed to conceive. What environment they needed to grow up in.

I often introspectively wonder the same for myself. So many things needed to work out, and through sheer chance or luck, ideas came to me that happened to shape the direction of my life. Weather it’s a big choice I made, a person I met or a goal that I set out to achieve, often there are numerous influences around me that got me there.

You could sit there analysing all these in extensive detail and writing them down, but a part of me stays fatalistic and feels rather glad that some things “just happen”. I often feel that maybe I’m a passenger in a greater universe and that my destination is often out of my control, I’m a vessel working hard, but ultimately there’s a pre-defined set of trajectories that are meant for me.

There are often many limiting factors for outcomes in one’s life, weather its genetics, wealth, environment, or ambition, these are often hard to break free from, and I’ve seen numerous individuals go above and beyond what those around them were able to achieve. That’s something special and worth savouring for sure.

Whatever faith you come from I’m sure there’s an element of fate and destiny in most peoples’ beliefs and I feel incredibly comfortable and grateful at where I’ve ended up so far.

Also, don’t miss out on any posts by following MUB’s Twitter

Sep 30 2022

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informational

Damaged Goods

As a man, you’re expected to protect, love and care of a woman, at times resulting in your own suffering.

But what happens when the woman you’re putting all this energy into, is the one causing you indefinite amounts of pain? What do you do? Do you turn on her and call her out on the pain she’s giving you?

Or maybe you persevere in the hope that things will improve and will be back to where it was previously.

Or perhaps, you realised that she’s Damaged Goods that simply isn’t worth loving anymore.

When a man leaves a damaged woman, he’s shamed for it, called selfish.
“You left her when she needed you, you selfish bastard!”

Yet when a woman leaves a damaged man (Which most women are attracted to), she’s praised
“You go girl, you deserve better!”

They say, “You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time around”, now if your partner is one and suffers from episodes of manic depression and emotional instability, think about how quickly that average will be brought down. Yet people persevere for years upon years, hoping and wishing for things to return to where they were, and in the process, becoming lesser versions of themselves. The bitterness of being a shadow of your former self is one that’s hard to swallow and resentment towards the partner only grows, until you become so damaged that eventually it makes sense to split.

COVID was an interesting period. I came across numerous individuals that went through nasty divorces and splits during the lockdowns. So many issues that were often brushed under the rug or drowned out by the noise of day-to-day life were now under the spotlight. Sharing space with someone you were resenting became so much harder without an escape route every day.

A friend of mine recently caught up with talking about how his ex-wife is now going through the same issues that he faced during his marriage with her new partner. A part of me wondered if “Damaged” individuals can ever recover to a state in which they are able to sustain healthy relationships. Or just require someone who is willing to put up the problems until they cannot anymore. Being a cynic, I realise people don’t often fully change, and it’s generally just incremental changes at most and even that becomes more difficult with age.

So, if you’re in a difficult phase with someone Damaged, consider the usual routes like Couples counselling, or a well-calculated break as means to try to address the issues at hand but don’t feel bad about calling it quits when nothing works. Often, it’s women that do the leaving, but Men shouldn’t feel too guilty in doing the same. Just think, would you want to put up with this for another 10, 20, 30 years?

Jul 10 2022

4 Comments

Informational, Straight talk

Do people really change?

Think about all the things that made you who you are. The years of character building experiences. The way you were raised. The way people treated you. The way you perceive yourself. These all culminate into creating who you are now.

I always wonder if people do change.

Do they?

Well, I think sometimes you have life altering experiences or trauma that can change you permanently. Weather its a near-death experience, or something like a loss of someone close to you, these can leave you a different person.

But what about character “Flaws”.

Well, these are a bit harder, the deeper you get into your life, the harder it becomes to change. You get more in-tune with yourself and more stubborn. It’s a lot harder to change a 40 year old than a 18 year old.

I was thinking the other day, have I changed much?

Yes, I’ve lived around the globe and experienced so much, but who I am as a person, that’s still fundamentally in-tact. I know of this girl I used to date way back, we always used to fight, always. Ultimately, she was raised in a family where she had absent parents and constantly needed attention. I was early in my Banking career and was fairly focused on work. It was just mayhem, despite her being in University whilst I was working 70-80 hour weeks regularly, the nagging would not stop, literally, never.

Oh, you bought me a gift? But your handwriting on the card looks messy.
You worked 3 80 hour weeks back to back didn’t organise three dates this week? You don’t care!
You didn’t drive 45 kms from the other end of the city in the opposite direction to your house in peak hour traffic to pick me up from my workplace? You selfish prick!

And that for me was a pretty pathetic relationship, besides the constant bangs, there was nothing in it for me. A leftover skank that had ridden the carousel, with a naggy attitude. So I wore that out, dumped a ton of creampies into her, and discarded her like the 20 odd guys before me.

Then a few years later, whilst abroad, another invisible child. Parents are an ATM machine that give no love. And here comes the problems, nag about this and that and so on. I knew this was one of those so I cut my losses and ended it fast.

It got easier and easier to identify the ones that I would have problems with, I just spoke a different love language, wasn’t into neediness and had expectations. They unfortunately never met them, so no hard feelings.

But did I change much? No, I noticed I just struggle with girls that weren’t raised by loving parents who gave them attention. The expectations of their partner seemed excessive, and of course I got heaps of attention when I was younger so it felt unnatural to me to be that missing “father figure” to them. Some people love it (See them creeper old dudes pulling off their ddlg kink for example).

With experience, I got to know myself better.

But did I change, in what works for me? Definitely not.

Apr 24 2022

2 Comments

Informational, Straight talk

Career Choices: Health Vs. Wealth

Ambition and Safety are the two opposites that factor into many career choices. Given the stage of your career and life, answers to which one you should prioritise will differ.

Ambition (Wealth):
Say you’ve just graduated from University or are in that 1–5-year range of commencing your first full-time role, you most likely have all the motivation in the world as the corporate grind hasn’t worn you down just yet. The corporate “perks” still seem like a novelty and furthering yourself through “learning and development opportunities” and “growing your CV” are probably factors that feature high up on your career agenda.

For this stage, ambition is perfect, go on, slave out that role in Investment Banking for a few years, do the equivalent of 8 years of work in 4 years and leverage those skills to find a “cushier” job once you’re ready, or ride up the ladder and stick it out until you no longer want to.

I’ve also come across people who choked hard after university then managed to cover it up with some better roles a few years in, most of these types had a major chip on their shoulder as they struggled to land anything decent straight out the gate and felt the need to prove themselves, so they did, just years later compared to everyone else.

Upsides:

You’re wanted and in demand in many more companies across different geographies and industries.
Financially you’ll likely be able to command much better remuneration, if not already, then in the future.
Pivoting into less demanding roles and industries is much easier than vice-versa, you’ll have a solid work ethic and your expectations of yourself will be a lot higher compared to those around you if you decide to take a step back.
The network you build will be with some of the most accomplished people you know. This becomes much more important later as you can get a lot of “favours” from the right people.

Downsides:

You will work like a dog and potentially lose some of the best years of your life slaving away late into the night and working weekends.
All that stress will very likely impact your health, especially considering you’ll struggle to sleep well and wake up in the middle of the night thinking of work.
Aging is a real tragedy when you work a job that you always need to be “switched on” for.
Work becoming such a huge part of your life will take a toll on your personal life, many relationships die because one or both parties aren’t able to put in the time, effort, and commitment required to maintain them.

Safety (Health):

Perhaps you’ve done your years slaving it out in Banking, Consulting, or in a top-tier Technology company where you’ve made a bit of bank and cashed out your stock options. The burn it took on your health started to add up and you’re looking for a more cruisey role so you can at least enjoy some time outside of work or focus on relationships/family/hobbies. It would make perfect sense at this stage to prioritise Safety.

However, some people, finish university and do this from the start, sometimes by choice, other times through necessity. There’s nothing wrong with this at all, but to coast from Day 1, when you could do so much more, one must wonder where all that extra energy goes?

The upsides and downsides are basically the opposite of what was written earlier. Less money, more time, better health, lazier network, harder to pivot careers/move abroad, and potential for better social and personal life.

I remember coming across this quote from the Dalai Lama which I feel is relevant to this discussion:

The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered “Man! Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

So consider wisely..

Dec 26 2021

2 Comments

informational, Majors, Straight talk

Advice I would give to students today

It’s been a while since I finished school and university, and in that time things have changed drastically. We’ve gone to just about every school using personal laptops, we’ve been forced to adapt to remote learning due to the pandemic, and what used to be abnormal, is now normalised.

Here are a few pieces of advice in no particular order I’d give to students today.

Don’t just rock up to class and leave
- Don’t be like everyone else that just simply turns up to class, zones out, then leaves. If you really care about topics, make that time to speak to teachers, tutors and do some background research and express your views on the findings.
Balance out useful subjects with easy electives
- Everyone knows breadth/elective subjects are largely a joke. I’d recommend taking easy subjects when you have semesters that you know that will have a tough time, but also don’t be afraid to put in the time to take on something useful when you’re able to. Some of the skills you’ll pick up might actually come in handy in the future. I’ve had a few friends take coding subjects as electives and now the type of work they do is more focused on that rather than what they actually majored in.
Embrace the student life
- As someone that blazed through a 3 year undergraduate degree and ended up in the world of banking and consulting, I do look back at the whirlwind that was University. It’s a great space of time in your life where you’ll have the time to pursue hobbies, build great friends and learn. Enjoy it, it probably won’t come around in the same form again.
Keep in touch with people after graduating
- Friendships and networks are like plants, they need watering and maintenence for them to keep growing. So instead of slowly losing touch with everyone once you hit the real world, make the effort to maintain connections with people. Go on that coffee catch up or lunch meet up. Don’t be afraid of being the person to follow up on unreplied messages. I can assure you that there’s been so many times where someone I know has ended up introducing me to other people that have been really beneficial for me both on a personal, profesional or social level.
Don’t be afraid of the real world
- So many students (Commerce students in particular..) are so fearful that they will not find a job after University. There’s no real need to be afraid. People I know that struggled after university and did basic jobs for a year or so managed to find something more meaningful and climb the ladder just as fast as someone that got straight into a graduate program. Everyone has their own pace, so don’t be afraid to struggle at the beginning because there’s many paths to achieveing success.

Although the above is not an exhaustive list. I would encourage students to take some of these tips onboard. Hindsight is a valuable tool so always be open to hearing other peoples advice and making the choice as to weather you would think it would be beneficial for you to adopt.

Nov 14 2021

3 Comments

Culture, informational

Classic Posts: “Unnatural Selection”

Below is a classic post from a blog that is no longer functional, LaidNYC. This post is from over 7 years ago.

Once upon a time, the harsh winter of northern latitudes brought forth a great selective pressure upon its human inhabitants. The challenges of the terrain selected for the clever, and the cold climate allowed brains to expand with little metabolic cost. The minds it shaped brought forth innovation, first benefitting themselves and their spawn. Then capital, markets, and money coevolved with agriculture and eventually developed into an Industrial Revolution to solve problems for the masses at a low price of $19.95. Now western humanity has all the comfort and prosperity that 99.9% of humans did not have throughout history, with none of the brainpower required.

Today the threats of predators, vicious weather, starvation, and sexual excess have been solved by innovations built by great minds: Temperature controlled housing, superior technology, and weaponry, mass-produced food, medical innovation. It is only with these prosperous luxuries that this generation can consider progressive arguments that would get themselves laughed out of their village in shame throughout civilized history. Indeed, being a progressive has become a way to signal just how comfortable and high status you are. Thank you for the innovations in reproductive medicine, now stay out of my bedroom while I laugh at the religious ethics that was my ancestor’s penicillin. Open your borders, disarm and share everything with the world or you’re a backward racist hick. This washing machine is great, now stop oppressing women like a caveman.

With these comforts, for the first time, the selective pressures that will shape the genome of future generations are not coming from nature, it is coming from high verbal IQ shysters within the populace. But Darwin doesn’t care. Threats to reproductive fitness can come from a bear running at you, or from a TV telling your daughter to never settle. You see the unfortunate story of a woman who spent the currency of her youth on degrees and contracepted sex with alpha males and then her IVF doesn’t take at 35. What I see is a gazelle that got eaten by a cheetah because it couldn’t run fast enough. To the universe, the result is just the same. There are those who won’t reproduce by their own carelessness or choice. It isn’t to be fought. It is an evolution in action. It isn’t sad, it is a beautiful thing to witness.

Those who are most susceptible to believe the slick liars when they preach equalism and egalitarianism and pathological altruism will see their reproductive fitness decline. Teach your daughter to be a strong independent feminist and you’ll take your death rattle with no grandchildren at the side of your bed. Embrace the blank slate and don’t say anything racist in front of your children, and your grandkids end up looking nothing like you. Refuse to extend a middle finger at the warm n’ fuzzy everyone-gets-a-trophy philosophy and your son ends up a pussy. But with evolution, there are winners as well as losers. Some will resist these pressures. Indeed, the cultural Marxists should be careful what they wish for: They’re selecting for the smartest, most fertile, most racist, most patriarchal group the world has seen.

Of course, the high-time preference underclass who can’t summon the willpower to reach for a condom in the heat of the moment will continue to spawn above the carrying capacity of their earning power. But an Idiocracy can only be supported by the grace and altruism of wealth-producing hosts. The civilized world that they thieve trust from is held together with precarious threads, not least of all being a novel fiat reserve currency. A black swan event will not be kind. When the greenback goes full Madoff and/or technological advances finally crush all the monkey-sorting-widget jobs and the parasite class must be formalized with a Guaranteed Minimum Income, you will see the flight on a massive scale. Secession, expatriation, high walls, immigration-by-genome, and no apologies.

So keep up the “progress”. Release those cheetahs and we’ll see which gazelle can run the fastest. You think each time a universal ballot or activist judge swings left you’ve won a battle when really you’re just creating more legroom for my grandkids in Elysium.