My career path – A wealth of common sense

“What do you want to do?”

“I want to work in a great job with cool people.”

“OK… what exactly are you doing?”

“um…well…I mean…”

This was a conversation that happened during my senior year of college with the guidance counselor.

I knew I wanted to work in finance in some capacity because I loved numbers, but beyond that, I had no plan.

Finding a job after college was difficult because I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. There were a lot of interviews in banking, but they wanted me to be in sales. That wasn’t going to work.

I eventually landed a job as an analyst at a small investment consulting firm. My boss started managing money for one of the largest hospital systems in Detroit. He was so good at it that several other hospitals approached him to manage their money.

I still remember my first day on the job when I had to look up what credit ratings were for bonds because I had no idea how they worked. I had a lot to learn.

There are generally two types of jobs when you start learning – learning jobs and earned jobs. This was a learning job because I certainly wasn’t making that much.

I was dating my now wife, but she was going back to school on the other side of the state. So every night I would get home from the office, go to the gym, have dinner and then read for 2-3 hours a night.

I read every investment book I could get my hands on. I highlighted and underlined. I took notes.¹

My boss taught me about asset allocation, investment policy statements, risk profiles and how to communicate effectively with clients.

I was still so green that I didn’t realize that those early years were establishing a foundation of investing knowledge that I would use for years to come.

Then we got married. I moved back stateside to work for the investment office at a nonprofit with a billion dollar endowment.

I joined in July 2007, just as the financial system was on the brink of implosion. Those first 3-4 years of work, living through the Great Financial Crisis and its aftermath, were formative for me as an investor.

I learned a lot about surviving a four-alarm crisis, career risk, and patience.

I was in that job for a decade, having the opportunity to work with every asset class and investment strategy imaginable – equities, bonds, commodities, hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, infrastructure, structured products and more . More learning.

I worked with smart people who were good at what they did, but I wanted to do something else. However, just like in college, I didn’t really know what that something else was.

After earning my CFA, I went back to school at night to get an MBA. One of my classmates had a blog and he showed me how to build a website. Coming out of the financial crisis, I had a lot of thoughts going through my mind, so it felt like a good way out.

On a whim, I started A Wealth of Common Sense.

For the first six months or so, no one read it except friends and family, but I discovered my love for writing. I was able to organize everything I learned to understand what I really thought about investing. It was enlightening.

Josh Brown and Barry Ritholtz were huge inspirations for the blog. I discovered them late in 2012, so I went back and read all of their most popular posts. I have become a daily consumer of their content.

After he wrote an article about hedge funds, I worried about emailing Josh about my experience in the institutional investment industry. I explained how I preferred simplicity over complexity and how the space lacked that.

Josh told me that if I really felt that strongly, I should write a blog post and send it to her. That’s what I did. I worked very hard on this. Josh liked it so much he posted it on his (anonymous) blog.

He gave me good feedback and said I should think about writing more often. I shared a link to my blog that no one was reading.

Josh became a reader and supporter of my work. Shared it on The Reformed Broker and on social media. Eventually, Tadas from Abnormal Returns picked it up as well. My audience has grown. Then came a book deal.

Everything was so unexpected. I wasn’t trying to build a brand or an audience or sell anything. I enjoyed writing about markets and investor behavior.

Josh and Barry started Ritholtz Wealth in 2013. I met them on work trips to New York City and I also met Michael.

On a phone call with Josh, as I was complaining about my career trajectory, he stopped me and asked me what I wanted to do with my life.

I finally had an answer.

I told him I wanted to work with clients of all shapes and sizes, continue to produce content, and use that content in my day-to-day work. I also wanted to work with people who shared my philosophy about the types of clients and portfolios we should be working with.

I wanted to enjoy funding more.

Josh said, “OK, come do it with us.”

The rest is history.

I have been with Ritholtz Wealth for almost a decade and the business has grown considerably in that time. When I joined as the seventh member of the team, we were a start-up RIA managing about $140 million.

Today, our team is over 60 years old (and growing) and we manage over $5 billion for more than 1,000 households and organizations.

I get to work in a great job with cool people, just like my 22-year-old self wanted.

I worked hard, but I was also lucky.

Tim Urban created this awesome image that shows the potential paths your life can take:

I think about this kind of thing a lot.

A fork here or there and my career could have turned out much differently. All the jobs I didn’t get. Risks that did not materialize. Risks I could have taken.

Giving young people career advice is always difficult because so much of your path is determined by a combination of hard work, circumstance and bad luck.

If there’s one takeaway from my story, it’s this:

Always learn. Sometimes you learn what works. Other times you learn what doesn’t work. Sometimes information helps in the moment. Other times it takes years for the right lessons to sink in.

Being a lifelong learner has been a tremendous benefit to my career.

Put yourself there. Someone once told me that blogging is sales for introverts. That checks out for you, but it was still excruciating to put myself out there.

The internet can be an unforgiving place. You need thick skin.

Many people in my life looked at me like I was crazy for pursuing a career based on a blog and relationships that were made on the web.

Leaving a billionaire family to work with some guys you met on the internet?!

It was a risk that never seemed risky to me because it was exactly what I wanted to do with my career.

Sometimes you just have to take the plunge and see what happens.

You never know when someone will take a chance.

Michael and I were live from Huntington Beach at Future Proof this week, talking about our non-traditional career paths and more:



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Further reading:
Some things I don’t want when I grow up

Now here’s what I’ve been reading lately:

Books:

¹I still have some old notebooks in my office.