Hey guys, I have 2 big questions, and if anyone here could take the time to help me out, that would be much appreciated. I recently had an interview with a Credit-Asset Money Manager, and they called me back for their second round interview, their Superday. My first question is: 1) How do I prepare for a Superday? Any differently than from a regular first round interview? I've been told that 1st rounds are more of a "Do I like you" and 2nd rounds are more of "Are you competent, will you get the work done that I assign you". I know that I can just go read websites like Mergers & Inquisitions, but I figured instead of sifting through a lot of "noise", I can ask you guys what you found most important in an interview/what made someone stand out in a positive way/negative way. 2) I am trying to learn a little more about this company. From what I've been told after calling them, their assets lie in three main areas, in order of importance: a) Long-Short Hedge fund b) Long-only products--> index based, try and beat the index c) Collateralized Loan Obligations (CLOs) I have also been told about where their focuses lie: a) High-Yield Bonds b) Equities of Levered Companies c) Capital Structure Arbitrage I'm trying to learn a little more about those three focuses. Where would you guys recommend I go for information on those three focuses (High-Yield bonds, Equities, Capital Structure Arbitrage). I went in to talk to a Professor today about some of this, and I was lent Fabozzi's The Handbook of Fixed Income Securities. It's proving to be a little helpful on learning about High-Yield Bonds, but not (b) or (c). If anyone could explain some of these things in more detail I'd really appreciate it--the job market is a tough one, and I'd really like to go into this interview at least a little prepared on what they might be doing so I can nail it. Again, any help here is much appreciated. I'd be more than happy to pay you back with a drink or ten if I'm able to get this and am in NYC for the summer. Just a little incentive....
Hedge? I'd say it's rather a way for studios to finance their budgets by selling CF of the first four weeks of the movies. By doing this they can basically up their advertising budget. I don't know what fraction of the box office is made in the first four weeks, but if it is outweighed by the return of finding extra financing for ad campaigns, I can see the logic of it. Means they can probably underprice it as well.
Insider trading. Give the knaves some way to screw each other over. The problem with companies like Enron is that it simply does not pay to defect. Give them a financial incentive to do so and the market prices will start to reflect that information.
I've recently started an independent consulting business and act as a finder on private placements. I have had a few deals go through and been payed a percentage on the total amount funded. I don't currently have any licenses. I came upon this article: https://jmf-law.com/uploads/Unregistered_Finders_-_The_SEC_Begins_Enforcement_Action.pdf. I work with small investment firms and small companies, do I really have to worry about working without a license, since I'm such a small player? Are there any other avenues I can take without having someone sponsor me for a Series 79, for my protection. My ultimate goal would be to do much larger PIPE deals which is probably where things get more complicated. Any feedback is greatly appreciated. What should I know, etc...?
Yes, hedge. Right now studios are outlaying huge amounts of money for what is essentially an idea. At multiple stages in the project there are variables that can have a massive affect on returns (moody director, actors not clicking etc). Currently it is all or nothing, once the process has started and it isn't going smoothly the studio can either keep pouring money into it (Apocalypse Now) or pull the plug (Halo). The Exchange will offer a new alternative to this. Previously Studios could take the punt on a movie when during production it appeared unlikely to succeed because the back end returns in owning the property long term (TV rights etc) were decent. Currently the future of these returns for a movie that flops are far less guaranteed. The Cantor fills this gap perfectly. I don't disagree with your point, but I think funding a potentially successful film will be far less of a concern against hedging a film for which they are a few hundred million in the hole, especially when they have far more perfect information than the market. * Note: I am far from an expert on Hollywood and freely accept any flaws in my logic.
From what I've been reading, I'm okay with doing a couple transactions, acting as a very loosely defined "finder", instead of a "private placement broker". If I do intend to make a legitimate business out of this...it will cost me a minimum of 50k for a basic broker-dealer registration. Yeesh.
Um. Dude....almost every major Hollywood studio is opposed to the idea and they are currently lobbying Congress to pass legislation to ban the Exchange. I agree with you on substance, but that certainly isn't how the studios see it.
I think that is back to my original point and how the market will not exist to sustain the studio money. I think the studios are now aware of this and recanting their position, happy to be shown wrong but my understanding was studios were major initial drivers of the Cantor encouraging it to move on from the faux HSX. The exchange is also against the interest of other players in Hollywood and the studios are buckling, but in theory there is no reason the studios should object and as said my initial understanding was they drove the commercialization of a 'play' exchange.
What are people's thoughts on free trade on here? Does it really matter if we have a trade defiict with China?
As a general rule; free trade is a good thing. The problem, however, is that free trade is good given certain conditions are satisfied. In the case that certain conditions are violated, free trade, may not be optimal. Given certain imperfections, suboptimal policies might be efficient. This is also know as the general theory of the second best. Therefore anyone telling you that x is good or bad regardless of y,z,etc. is a fraud. Context is of vital importance.
Interesting Article on Students' Thesis of the CDO Market Meltdown Here's the thesis Did anyone else here of this? Also, between Liar's Poker, The Big Short--what's the best to read to learn about the financial crisis. I've heard Lewis is a heck of an author, and did a great job writing about Solomon Brothers. Heck, should I be reading this thesis over these books?
The Big Short's pretty good. It's definitely engineered the facts to make a good story out of them, but I wouldn't say it puts too much of a slant on things. You really want to understand it though? Take the time to go out and do a little research of your own. The prospectuses for all these MBS are online and publicly available. Look through the pitch book to the Abacus deal. Go find out what the ABX index was. Don't just learn what a CDO, CDS, REMIC, NIM, or a Pass-through is -- go find an example of one. If all that sounds boring, at least read a prospectus to one of these MBS everyone's talking about. Try and ignore the hindsight bias and think: would you have bet money on the worst loans in this deal paying off? Because that's effectively what you were buying with a CDO. Here's an example from a 2006 securitization: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1362075/000116231806000719/f424b5.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/ ... f424b5.htm</a>
Anybody see a pattern in this? I've heard discussions on it many times on MSNBC, FOX Business, and miscellaneous financial articles. It has been dismissed as quickly as it has been brought up. I've noticed it for a while, and disregarding February, it's held true. The dollar is dictating the Dow. The first chart is comparing the dollar to Euro (120 days). The second is the Dow for the same period.
This isn't the Dollar gaining, it is the Euro imploding. The gain in the Dow is relatively in line with Global Equity markets. I honestly wouldn't put to much faith in saying one is determining the other. This time last year the big trend was the two being inversely linked.
Depends, the price is generated by people buying and selling. So the question you should ask yourself is why are others selling and why should you buy? An asset is only worth as much as the cash flows it will generate in the future, so why do other people think it will generate less? Obviously there might be other reasons for buying and selling, liquidity comes to mind, other assets being more likely to generate a higher cash flow, portfolio considerations (correlation with other assets in the portfolio, equity vs debt rebalancing etc.) etc. What I am trying to say is that if you think they're offering you a dollar for 80 cents, you should ask yourself why. Is it really worth 80 cents or is there something else behind it?
Hoping you guys can help me. We are in the process of selling our house and moving into a bigger one. At the same time, we are just starting out looking for a new vehicle. I've heard to wait until you get your house sold and get the financing done for the new place before purchasing a car since it will affect your rates. How true is that? If it is true, does it make a difference if I'm not planning on putting a down payment down on the car and only using trade-in? For numbers sake, the cars we're looking at would be $15-20,000 (pre-trade in) and the house will be about $220,000. We will have plenty between savings and equity to put over 10% on the house car or no car. Thanks ahead of time.
Wasn't sure to post this here or in the "can someone help me" thread, and I'm sure this will sound like a really stupid question, but here goes. I'm living at home for the summer, about to move into an apartment where I go to college. I've been with the same bank for about 12 years, but since it's a credit union that primarily serves military members & dependents, there are few branches - 180 nationwide, to be specific. The branch that's closest to campus is in the town I'm living now, 1.5 hours away. The point is, I'm looking to switch to a new bank that's more readily available, so that I can make deposits more easily. Are there any criteria I should consider when choosing a new bank? Or are they all pretty much the same, as far as a college student is concerned? I'll admit I'm very ignorant when it comes to most things finance-related, so I wanted to check on here before I just stroll into Bank of America or something.