MBA 2H07 Progress Report & Year End Guidance

You all hold stock in my future. Because I believe we all are connected in the world by some higher force, and whatever I do has a ripple effect that influences so many peoples' lives. And whatever you do has an indirect effect on me. Therefore we all hold stock in one another. And as companies issue guidance and earnings reports, this is summary of the first half of Year 1 MBA programme at IESE.

Past:
The first few months were extremely hard for me. I struggled not only with the change of living in a very different country, but exactly where I was going in life. Uncertainty abound.
-I couldn't speak Spanish well
-I felt like I could never measure up in class
-The workload was horrible & I couldn't understand a thing
-My personal life was a mess
-I missed home & salsa
-I didn't know if I wanted to stay in Spain or go back to the US, and I came here to settle down in Spain
-I was trying to run away from Banking
-I had no purpose in life; I was not transcendentally motivated

Present:
I guess the turning point was Jan Simon's Capital Market class, which was run like a boot camp. It snapped me into shape. To him I will always be thankful.
-I decided to go back into Banking, from Corporate Finance to Sales & Trading
-The expertise I had in that Capital Markets & Managing People actually made me feel I was contributing something substantial
-The same people I always thought I could never measure up to were telling me that I am smart
-Mi ex novio de Colombia me dijo que "te felicito porq q tu espanol va super super bien!"
-I decided to abandon ship on my personal life (no need to be unhappy all the time!)
-I decided to concentrate on my career in Banking... I am very excited about the possibility of working in London! And for a great bank with integrity, client-focus, professionalism and a great work environment... I have a few in mind!

1Q08 Guidance
So what are my goals for next quarter?
-Solidify intermediate term career path (meaning next summer) with an internship in Sales & Trading. (I hope to be a Managing Director & Head of a Sales desk someday...)
-Increase confidence by speaking up more in class. I must let go of this fear that what I say is insignificant.
-To not be afraid to submerge myself into Spanish. This may be my last chance to live in Spain.
-To not be afraid to let go and let the "career river" take me along for a ride. Not everything has to be planned.

By the way, don't read the text in italics if Finance bores you...

Proposed Investment Strategy for next term:
If you had to invest in my life, this is what I would suggest, from an insiders' perspective ;-)
1) Go long the underlying on my professional life. It's a great investment, stable cashflows, and bound to be very bright.
2) Write a naked call on my personal life. I don't expect this to go anywhere, with next semester expected to be harder than the first, and I don't want to deal with all the drama. If anything DOES happen in my personal life, it will most likely not be good, and the underlying will shoot down, rapidly increasing your profit. If nothing happens, you make the premium.
3) Take a bottom straddle option position on my performance in school. Basically, this is betting my performance will stay constant throughout the term. I can already see classes I can excel in, and classes that will be like DA to me... althrough there will be advances in the learning curve, all gains there will be taken by the fact that next semester will be more quantitative than the last...

There you go... the guidance report.
The last day of finals was today. IESE has a tradition to clean out the bar of their entire stock of cervesas after the last final. It was nice to see my friends from Section C and B all together. I stayed at IESE writing my MPO paper with Gonzalo after a few beers. The annual Christmas Party is tonight. And tomorrow, I hop on a plane back to the States. I am excited to be back home, but a part of me is missing Spain already.