From LinkedIn, to old high school friends making it in corporate America, to licenses and certifications, to Financial Risk Manager. Let's take a look. The Global Association of Risk Professionals. I like it so far...
The certification of Financial Risk Manager is likened to a Master's Degree based on its specific and comprehensive curriculum, the website explains. Alright, let's look into the requirements.
After 50 pages of the Learning Objectives, I take them at their word. With the download right next to me, let me sum up the 2 Part Exam by sections. Btw, the pass rate is around 40% for Part 1, 60% for Part II, and you also need 2 years of "applicable" experience after that. Still, I wasn't discouraged in the slightest at this point.
The subjects are broken down by books and relevant chapters. I thought, "alright, I can just adjust my upcoming books to these."
Part I:
Foundations of Risk Management, Quantitative Analysis, Financial Markets and Products (I'm still loving it at this point), and Valuation and Risk Models (hold on...).
Part II:
Market Risk Measurement and Management, Credit Risk Measurement and Management, Operational and Integrated Risk Management, Risk Management and Investment Management, and Current Issues in Financial Markets (my favorite section)
The texts range from 2005 to 2017 including books and short articles. The objectives break down key concepts, questions, and interpretations to be drawn from the literature. I saw a lot of familiar topics, and I was sincerely interested for probably a whole hour after reading.
"Information Gluttony"
I love to research and learn new things. When I read about options trading, I want to trade options. I want to perfect my iron contours, my straddles, my calls and puts. I want to utilize all the lingo. I want to be able to write the same story the author is telling me, but better. I want to understand volatility vs. implied volatility. I want to know my delta, gamma, and oh yeah theta (time decay) for all my stocks.
When I read and listen to value investors I want to do it better than them. I want to catch up with them, understand financial statements better. I want to be able to laugh at Benjamin Graham and say his strategies are out of date. I want to COMPETE. It creeps up on me after everything I read.
When I read about automated trading, I say, "yeah, I'll go ahead and dedicate a year to analyzing data, creating models, tightening up my programming... Yeah I don't understand half the vocabulary here, but surely, I can do it. It's all a matter of time."
When I read about healthy eating and marathon runners. "Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and train for this stuff." I actually have done a lot with eating plant-based, and I broke 100 miles in a month (102 I think) after doing more and more each month for the last couple years. I do love jogging. The point is the same:
The journey has enticed me to the point that I've changed direction to satisfy my desire to learn or explore until the newness wears off. Besides my physical and mental conditioning, all explorations into subject matters have had this effect on me.
When I read about retiring in 15 years ("How to Retire Early"), I developed a spreadsheet and started filling in goals and current information to keep moving in that direction. I'm thankful for the availability of information and my passion for learning. It's brought me to this point of realizing that I've been greedy and less focused due to the information overload of our time. The fault also lies in my own propensities and predispositions, to be clear.
"Trader"
After my reflections on the certification, I edited my LinkedIn profile to the simple title, "Trader". Who's my audience? People who want the things I want and feel the way I feel.
Fuck the information if it's not bringing me closer to my goal. I'm the reader who doesn't have to finish a book anymore (There's still a little hesitancy when I say that). What's my goal? To make money. To be self-employed. To match my salary with capital gains in the next 2 years. What's going to get me there? Actions, not simply reading.
Filtering information is like a mouse going through a maze. Anecdotes, key words, authors, credentials, and results are all indicators I use to keep going in one direction or another. I can spot a wall coming, and I tell when I'm going in circles. I have to be critical with the authors and with myself. Instead of getting caught up in the anecdotes, digging holes in the ground, remain agile and tread softly, plant intentionally, and keep it moving.
I fight the urge to compete, knowing that in a marathon, sometimes you slow down and enjoy the scenery, sense the world outside of yourself, smell some flowers, converse with someone along the way, notice the sunrise, sunset, feel the breeze, whistle a tune because you're not out of breath.
So yeah, I'm joining the race of traders. Financial Risk Manager sounds nice, but it sounds like a lot of things I'm not trying to do right now. What I will do is mark a few of those publications and books to read later this year.
"The Innovator's Dilemma"
-Clayton M. Christensen
This is the book I'm starting this week. It's been on my shelf for months now, which is too long. I'm excited to share this with you. I go pretty fast through texts nowadays. I expect to get a few managerial tips, learn about some famous people, and who knows what else. Following this text will be more focused literature on options trading I'm thinking.
Meanwhile, I'll also open up MetaTrader this week and get back to it. So that's it for today, thanks.
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