Freshmen year at Arizona State University

To pursue my career on Wall Street I decided to take a leap of faith and attend Arizona State University. My reasoning behind this was the great weather of Arizona, unlimited networking opportunities, and the W. P. Carey School of Business which has vastly moved up the ranks in recent years.  During my first semester I was very driven with grades and everything yet did not feel I took advantage of the networking opportunities in which I originally came to ASU for. As a result, I had a whole new outlook for my second semester. Continuing with my Finance degree I added a certificate in Small Business and Entreprenurship and decided to become very involved on campus. During the first couple weeks I became an active member in various organizations such as the Financial Management Association, Sports Business Administration, and Student Economics Association.  Continuing this theme I became involved in student government and decided to join Greek Life by rushing Sigma Nu. These were all great additions however the icing on the cake was when I was accepted to become a member of the Investment Banking Industry Scholars or what we call IBIS.  IBIS is a competitive program for 20 faculty selected students preparing for investment banking careers. Throughout the course we are trained through rigorous bi-weekly sessions in excel capabilities, business valuation, and financial statement analysis. We also engage in weekly discussions with investment banking professionals to understand industry expectations and challenges. The course has been a great resource to help build myself for the Financial world. It has helped me outline my strengths and weaknesses and given me the tools necessary to succeed. Now after finishing up my Freshmen year of college I will be off to London to intern with HSBC. This decision came late as originally I planned on working for some small capital management firms in San Francisco yet decided after working for a large Investment Banking previously it would look bad going back to a small shop. Anyways, it should be an exciting summer and check back in for updates throughout.

Career Decisions and which Path to Follow

As you know so far, my dream in life is to work on Wall Street mostly notably for Goldman Sachs. This pursuit began when I was thirteen years old. After collecting McDonalds shares on an annual basis as birthday presents I decided I could get a better return so as a result I opened up a brokerage account with Scottrade. I still can remember the day the excitement of making my first trade which was the purchase of Google at around $250. Since then I have become an avid trader learning the ins and outs of the game. I have had both my ups and downs and overall my risk tolerance has grown even though I become strategically smarter as time passes. Even though my brokerage account started as a mere form of amusement it has stimulated my passion for finance. Going throughout High School I was confused on what part of Finance I wish to pursue, for a long time I thought I wanted to be a Financial Advisor. This career seemed perfect and I was so sold that during my Junior year I emailed around and landed an internship with two financial advisors who managed around $200 million for Ameriprise Financial. Going through the year long internship I realized this was nothing close to what I wanted to pursue as a career. The job of a financial advisor was very dull and mundane, very little involvement among the markets more of a babysitter who is there to please customers and preach to them that their money was safe. Throughout the year my two advisors would ask me for stock tips and I wowed them with my individual performance within that year as my portfolio grossed 79%. Anyways now I was on a new mission to find a new career. Now I felt that I needed to work for an Investment Bank after hearing the lucrative bonuses that were being handed out. Growing up in Hong Kong I was able to network around with some high-profile individuals, one of which was the Global Head of Equity Capital Markets at HSBC. After a few sent emails I set up a spring externship with HSBC in their London headquarters. I was thrilled and instead of going on a Senior Spring Break trip I headed off to London to explore the world of Investment Banking. I can remember walking into the 50-story headquarters wowed me with the amount of traffic going on, a completely different world compared to the 20-man office i interned for at Ameriprise. During the internship I started off on ECM, meeting and shadowing all the people getting a feel of the industry. This was great and all yet on my third day my trip was made. On this day I made it up to the trading floor. The shear excitement of trader yelling and the constant chatter seemed a perfect fit for me. Leaving London I had a complete new sense of the financial industry and had a destined career in mind.

Path to Wall Street

Hi my name is James Hartje. I am a Sophomore Finance Major and Psychology minor at Arizona State University W. P. Carey School of Business. Since the age of thirteen I have been a avid follower of the stock market and have had a passion for trading. As a result, my number one goal in life is to land a job on the trading desk at Goldman Sachs. I am prepared for the commitment and full pledged to work and go the extra mile to get what I want. This blog will follow my path and hopefully help be a catalyst for what I hope to be a bright future ahead of me.