One of my most important work-related experiences are the investments that I’ve made on my own behalf. I was wondering if I should make a “portfolio” that shows off my total returns, best investments, worst investments and so on…? Do people do that?
No…
@intparent Kind of weird tbh. I mean art students show their work. Why don’t people that want to go into IB, Hedge Funds and wealth management show their work?
I don’t think its appropriate to show the actual investments. However, you could list investing as one of your activities and also show the outcome (i.e. grew portfolio x % in through options trading). I don’t know whether this would impress an AO but it demonstrates your interest is serious and gives another data point as they try to get a sense of what makes you special.
Where did you get the money to invest? Did you earn it or was it given to you? If you do talk about this in your app and it’s the former, I’d be sure to mention that.
@suzy100 In my case, I got the money from my father after he passed away. I have doubled the money within two years and it’s a rather large sum for someone my age. The reason that I want to include the actual numbers is that it’s very different to invest $100 vs. $100,000. For example, when I turned 18 I played around with $200 and had $800 after a week. It’s easy to do if you have little to lose. I want to differentiate myself from other applicants that don’t have experience handling the stress and emotion associated with larger amounts of money. If I simply write “doubled my money” then it could be going from $1 to $2.
Edit: The other issue is that I don’t want to come off as bragging, or like I don’t need a job in the first place. I really just want to convey that I am proud of my investment returns and that luck had nothing to do with it.
"Should I show off the returns on my investments ? "
Not if you are applying for financial aid.
@Publisher I am not.
Are you applying to business school or plan to major in economics ? If so, then it can be relevant to show demonstrated interest.
@Publisher I am majoring in Business Administration. The places I am applying to for an Internship are Investment banks, real estate firms and other financial corporations.
So are you currently in college? If so, go to the career resources office. They can advise you whether you should or how to put this on a resume.
Agree - talk with the career office or if there’s an older student who has had one of the internships you are interested in, s/he may be willing to look over your resume.
I don’t think that it would be appropriate to list individual investments & past investment results on one’s resume. Better to simply summarize your interest & activity in investments briefly.
Certainly luck plays a role in finance.
@CheddarcheeseMN Yes, you are right. I mean that I didn’t have one lucky trade that helped me make a huge profit, but rather I conducted my due diligence and made sound investments.
No idea but do share your best current investment ideas with us. What do you like right now? Thank you in advance and yes good look in your college search.
I suspect your own investments and growth are tiny potatoes next to the amounts an actual bank is working with. It’s not the risk level they deal with. My friend was routinely making decisions on where to put millions of dollars for a large pension fund. Entirely different research and time spans.
@PadreDe3 I am actually in the process of going into cash right now because I am happy with my profits and I am losing confidence in the markets. That being said, right now I like where $RTN and $NOC are. I got shares and a few options both short and long-term for those. Other than that, I am shorting $TSLA, but I wouldn’t recommend getting in on that right now. If the price spikes above $350 like it did a few times in the last months, then I’d short it.