Weekly Blog #18

Due: January 26th, 2015

By: Matthew W. Blair

               This last week was not great. Half way through the week my mentor informed me that he did not receive permission from his compliance officer to mentor me and because of that he was unable to be my mentor. This was some frustrating news to hear, but I will figure it out. I have emailed a gentleman at Goldman Sachs and another gentleman that was another students mentor but the student had to drop the class to meet necessary graduation credits.

       Aside from losing my mentor the last week consisted of the usual workload. I am in the midst of finalizing my Original work, and it has become something that I will be very proud of when I am done. I just printed my charts and will do my final analysis this evening. In said analysis I will record all the changes that occurred during my recording and how the stock changed from December 23^rd, 2014 to January 20^th, 2015.

       For this next week I hope to hear back from both gentlemen and I hope one will agree to be my mentor so I can get back on track.

Weekly Blog #17

Due January 19^th, 2015

Matthew Blair

            This week we worked on a couple of things, but most importantly we worked on our original works. I am a week or two away from finishing mine and I think that I will be able to use this as an example of my knowledge for years to come.

            Also this week I worked on my first semester evaluation paper. In the paper we had to talk about our mentorship, our goals for this year, and any ideas we have for our final product. As I stated earlier, my mentor is Mr. Travis Taylor who is a Vice President and Administrative Manager at Merrill Lynch. He oversees numerous financial advisors and I hope to learn from his management skills more than anything as I see myself in that position of leadership in the future.

            This weekend I got my wisdom teeth removed but I am on a quick recovery and it should not interfere with any of my classwork. In other news I have officially decided on attending the University of North Texas, I hope that I will be able to use some of the knowledge that I gain from Mr. Taylor to help me at college next year.

Weekly Blog #16

Due: January 12th, 2015

By: Matthew W. Blair

       This week was a good one; I didn’t have to work much, school went by fast, and I finally got a mentor. ISM is going well and the independent nature of the class is really starting to pick up with everyone finding their mentors. My mentor is Mr. Travis Taylor, VP and Administrative Manager at Merrill Lynch. We met on my ninth interview when I was starting to lose hope. Initially I was restricting myself to just the Hedge Fund side of finance, and I was going to deep too fast. I skipped a lot of steps and I decided to “zoom out” a little, which is why I chose Mr. Taylor. He oversees 100+ financial planners all over the Dallas area, and has a wealth of knowledge within the field of finance. I look forward to working with him this year. In other news, I have been working on my Original Work twice a week and it is coming together nicely. I simply fill out a form reporting the ten stocks I am reporting with their Open, Close and % Change. I will have to conclude my reporting on the 26^th of January so I can write up my final report on the changes I saw.

Weekly Blog #15

Due: January 5th, 2015

By: Matthew W. Blair

         I have been off for Christmas Break and have not had time to blog away. It was a great two weeks off from the school routine, although I worked 50 hours at my job at J.Crew. I had an interview with a Mr. Travis Taylor who is a VP and Administrative Manager at Merrill Lynch, and I will soon ask him to be my mentor. As well over break I worked on my Original Work.

Weekly Blog #14

Due: December 8th, 2014

By: Matthew W. Blair

            This week we had two goals that we were emphasizing: our student teacher conferences and preparing for the winter showcase next Tuesday. The winter showcase will take place Tuesday night at Heritage High School. It will house Independent Study Mentorship students from various schools across the district with topics ranging from Finance to Fashion. The showcase gives students the chance to show off their research thus far as well as talk with members of the community to discuss their progress and goals for the future. The event is a great way to see how you may match up to other students across the district and also serves as a great networking opportunity because you never know whom you will meet.

       Our other focus this week was our student teacher. I met with Mrs. Secord on Monday during class and it was a successful meeting. In the meetings we went over our portfolios, discussed our progress and where we were in the mentor process, and just checking in with how we are doing. My portfolio is current and always well kept; everything is edited when received and immediately put into its place. I look forward to this upcoming week.

Weekly Blog #14

Due: December 8th, 2014

By: Matthew W. Blair

       This past week I have done a decent amount of work, mainly finding interviews/someone to be my mentor and research assessments. Recently I also toned down my topic from specific to hedge fund management to general finance, but I am looking to get on the marketing or investor relations side of the industry. I have an interview this afternoon with a man who does direct marketing for Merrill Edge under Bank Of America for which I am very excited. As for my research assessment last week, I looked into what it takes to have a job in finance as a whole in this day and age. Its much more demanding and requires much of its participants compared to what it used to be. I hope to find someone, like I said earlier, in the marketing and/or investor relations’ side of the financial industry. I changed my mind because when I had my interview at BBT Capital I met with someone in that department and he really spoke to me. I liked what they did and what they did for their job. Trying to read and connect with the consumer is fascinating to me, but so is finance, so put the two together and you have what I’m looking for.

Weekly Blog #13

Due: December 1^st, 2014

By: Matthew W. Blair

       This last week Frisco ISD celebrated the holiday of Thanksgiving by giving students and faculty the week of as usual. I celebrated the holiday by sleeping in and hanging out with friends. I did some minor ISM work over the holiday break like finding more people to meet with for a potential mentorship. Also I have decided to pull back my topic from being so specific to hedge funds, but to just general Finance.