<p>I think that the fund manager is right - everyone knows. If you don’t know it and you’re dealing with Goldman, then you aren’t doing your job.</p>
<p>When I’m going to do a transaction, business or personal, I check up on the other side.</p>
<p>Financial biz, in NYC, dstark- several locations and companies, product was equities.
MBA in Finance from NYU Stern, at night…</p>
<p>Much of what was in vogue has been de-bunked, and disasters ignored at our peril- remember Fischer-Scholes? Boone Pickens buying oil for less on the floor of the stock exchange? the early days of Warren Buffett (a client, to the extent he had outsiders involved)? the Long Term Credit debacle? I am dating myself, for sure. But lessons still apply today.</p>
<p>DID GS ever put the clients’ needs ahead of EVERYthing else? Or were things just behind closed doors…</p>
<p>The fund manager and I were talking about the person on the street.
Most of my friends who aren’t traders…are not managing their accounts…or don’t have much knowledge of GS.</p>
<p>Many people think that investment professionals have more knowledge than they really have.</p>
<p>People learn that I work in the financial industry and they tell me me wow…"You must know where stocks are going? What should I buy? Or slightly worse…they already bought something…and they ask me…"What do you think of my buy? Or “My stock is going down? What should I do?”</p>
<p>How the hell do I know? Lol…If I knew…I wouldn’t be doing what I am doing. Lol.</p>
<p>I don’t think all the clients know about GS either…well…they might know now…because of the financial crisis.</p>
<p>Peformersmom…</p>
<p>Equities is a pretty general term… :)</p>
<p>Care to be more specific? Sales? Analysis?</p>
<p>I think I remember some of the items you mentioned. :)</p>
<p>Meeting with some friends from GS later today, wonder if this will come up. ;)</p>
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<p>Many investment professionals are first and foremost, salespeople. If you’re actually managing money, you should be aware of what is happening. This is really true for any professional. I should know what the development tools are, who our competitors are, how we are doing financially and in terms of how our product compares to the competition, where we develop, how much we make in various geographies, etc.</p>
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<p>People ask me about investments and I usually suggest ways that they can educate themselves. Of course most people don’t care to do that. No different than someone
asking me about a popup window or a noisy disk or a WiFi problem in their home
because I work at a computer company - that happens to specialize in software. There’s
no reason why I should know the answer to their question though I can usually figure it out with a little searching and diagnosing which typically costs me an hour or two if I am so inclined to help someone out. People could just take their stuff to Best Buy or call the local computer repair shop to come to their house to look at it but the costs are comparable to calling a plumber for the visit and many would prefer to have someone look at it as a favor.</p>
<p>The clients really should know. You’d figure that they at least read the WSJ and maybe some forums if they work in the finance end of their companies. Of course they are dealing with OPM and maybe they’re being wined and dined and suppress their better judgement. I do know a fund manager and he’s more up on this stuff than I am - he manages a lot of money but it really doesn’t take much time to do that.</p>
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<p>We can go into the Cone of Silence area of College Confidential to discuss this later …</p>
<p>Qdogpa…and BCEagle91…:).</p>
<p>Now…when people find out what I do…and ask me questions…</p>
<p>I say, “I am a professional gambler”.</p>
<p>Their faces drop. I guess that title isn’t that respectible. :)</p>
<p>They probably don’t believe you because you don’t have the baseball/cowboy hat and really dark or mirrored sunglasses.</p>
<p>Or maybe they ask you which horse to play or which lottery ticket has the best returns.</p>
<p>Imagine the poor guy that says, “I’m a plumber”.</p>
<p>"Imagine the poor guy that says, “I’m a plumber”.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Methinks the executive director doth protest too much. Translation: “Why I am Leaving Goldman Sachs” After 10 years I have made enough money so that I can finally place my long dormant ethics above my desire for self enrichment</p>
<p>NJres, you are such a cynic. :)</p>
<p>You didn’t answer my question. What did you trade? If you don’t want to say…you can say…“I don’t want to answer that”. ;)</p>
<p>2 hours til touchdown,…The economy must be on solid ground, this flight was overbooked,and the plane is full of men with pockets of cash waiting to blow it on hoops…</p>
<p>Lol…are you going to some games?</p>
<p>No, just flying out to wager on them…</p>
<p>:)…</p>
<p>Vegas…?</p>
<p>Yes, and fwiw, every 4th person has an IPAD, i guess that might explain the stock knocking on $600</p>
<p>of course everybody has an ipad…</p>
<p>Nice to have internet access on flight…makes a lousy flight tolerable…my GS friends have landed,my guess is the partynline wil be ‘sour grapes’ on the part of Greg Smith</p>
<p>Yep…sour grapes sounds right…</p>
<p>I just made another bet…after talking to you… ;)</p>