What is the career path to a successful career in finance?

My career in finance has been focused on investing in privately owned companies that are not available via the stock market. Hundreds of thousands of companies are privately owned, ranging from local stores and restaurants to major international companies such as Toys ‘R’ Us and Outback Steakhouse. Before giving any company an investment, I need to understand how a business works including a review of customers, employees, the products or services they provide and places they are offered.

Looking back on high school, I found that the combination of math classes and English classes helped me later in college and in my career. These core skills helped me in college and are now an important foundation for my job. While math is required to analyze a business and see how it makes money, the ability to write clearly is extremely important in communicating with dozens of people at the same time. When I look back, though, I found that participating and eventually running extracurricular clubs at school offered the best way for me to see how a company. Working with my fellow students to raise money for field trips or negotiate with administrators for permission to conduct various programs at the school were the best window to see how the working world actually works.

A successful career in finance really starts with two things: 1) the right motivations and 2) knowing what you're getting into. In other words, even as a high school student, you can do a lot to learn about the industry to find out what people really do, what types of problems they encounter, and how the entire financial system works (it's all interconnected!). Newspapers, blogs, websites, and most importantly people in finance can help shed some light on what is a very confusing business. In terms of motivations, wanting to be rich often doesnt lead to being happy but can make you rich. If that's your sole goal in pursuing finance, then you're likely to feel a lot of disappointment along the way. If you like the financial rewards but are also driven by the intellectual curiosity/challenge of the business, you'll likely be more successful in the long-term.

In terms of career path, you can wait til college to get a "real" internship at a finance firm but it doesnt hurt trying things that are somewhat related (even if unpaid). Working at a local bank or financial adviser's office can give you a flavor for what it might be like. As you go to college and build a stronger network of alums and upperclassmen to leverage, you should think about trying to get into a more established internship program as a summer or school-year intern. The name of the institution certainly has some influence on your career but often, following the right people vs. firm will help you much more (ie find someone who will take you under your wing vs. just looking for the biggest firm).

From high school and beyond, it's all about creating a story for yourself. Do things that show interest in finance and allow you to learn, building knowledge and function skills (ie Excel, PPT, etc). You certainly need to be persistent as there will be many no's along the way. And always, you need to be mindful of maintaining good relationships. It's not easy because there are plenty of difficult personalities in finance. But it's important to know that burning bridges can have consequences at various points in your career. Approaching it all with a long-term mindset and a bit of humility goes a long way.