Weekly Blog 22

Due February 23^rd, 2015

Matthew W. Blair

            This week I didn’t have as much work as I previously had, however I still had quite a bit and a very small time to do so. I had work Tuesday through Thursday until close and was sacrificing a lot of sleep this week for schoolwork. I had to make and prepare my Original Work speech by Wednesday and present it that class, which was a success. I ended up with an A, however there were a couple minor things I would have changed if I had to give it again.

            Also this week I worked on my final product. Mr. Allen said I should familiarize myself with the lingo that goes along with dividends: Dividend, Ex-Date, and Record Date. Simple enough for a whole week, however also we had to decide whether we were going to use Bloomberg.com or attempt to use their Bloomberg Terminals. After testing both and emailing back and forth we found that the terminal would give us better results and more to work with. I plan to learn how to properly report back to a client in my next couple visits.

Weekly Blog #21

Due January 16^th, 2015

Matthew Blair

            This week went well. I wrote my first primary learning Evidence of Learning and worked very hard on my Final Product. I accomplished the homework that my mentor assigned me, which was to find an ETF for each asset class to put in to our portfolio. I have divided my Final Product into sections and assigned due dates to each section, and as of right now we are right on track with my plan; If all goes according to schedule then I will be done mid to late April. Today (Friday 13, 2015) I am meeting with my mentor, Mr. Allen, and we will hopefully physically construct the portfolio in Bloomberg. I have worked ahead and divided up our portfolio according to the percentages that were given to me by Mr. Allen. I have $25,000,000.00 to invest for Client A. Client A has a moderate risk profile and Mr. Allen and I have catered his portfolio to that. I look forward to my meeting with Mr. Allen this afternoon and I hope to learn even more. For my Final Product I predict that I will have a lot of detailed and valuable notes to type up and be able to look back upon/use.

Weekly Blog #20

Due January 9^th, 2015

Matthew Blair

            This week was great. We had a lot of work, but I had my first mentor meeting and it went great. I was able to meet with him on Friday and I learned a lot. We started working on my Final Product and he taught me a lot about asset classes that they invest in. He even gave me homework to do; I’m pretty sure that this was one of the only times I have been excited to have homework. We decided to create an ETF portfolio and we are excluding the private sectors meaning Private Equity/Debt, Hedge Funds and Core Private Real Estate. Although I might have a good ETF that tracks the Hedge Fund Sector that I will ask my mentor about.

            As for next week I plan to start allocating assets and picking how much money I plan to invest in which sectors. I have broken up my Final Product into different stages with due dates on each so I can finish it promptly and with time to spare. I will meet with Mr. Allen again on Friday 13^th, 2015 at 2 PM.

Weekly Blog #19

Due Date: February 2^nd, 2015

Matthew W. Blair

            This last week was great. As you know Merrill Lynch’s compliance officer prohibited my last mentorship, however upon meeting with Mr. Taylor Allen at Goldman Sachs I am back in the game.  I am extremely excited to work with and learn from Mr. Allen. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the field that I hope he will share with me. His personality type reminded me a lot of myself and I look forward to his mentorship.

            So now I am in the process of catching up and getting ahead. I have to make my mentor bio tonight, which should be quick, and just some other work and I should be caught up.  Something new that happened this week was that instead of printing off my research assessment article I took it out of a magazine. I recently subscribed to The New Yorker and found a good article so I cut it out and annotated it. It’s a nice touch from the black and white in my portfolio.

            I should be meeting with Mr. Allen this Friday and hope that it will be the beginning of something great.