The Road to Wealth (part 4 — €60k): Finding a Job

Welcome to part 4 of The Road to Wealth series, where I try to earn myself a way into financial freedom. To be exact, I want to have €200k in assets as soon as possible.

I have been hard at work trying to find a job. My projections (see part 3) assume that I will find a job between now and the start of 2023. That’s conservative to say the least, and getting a job sooner than that will be a great way to beat my own expectations and reach my €200k goal faster.

I am trying to find a job at a listed equity fund because that is what I love and also what I have experience with (9 months as an intern, 6 months as a junior analyst). Unfortunately there aren’t many such funds where I live, and an even smaller portion of those are recruiting.

There are many private equity (PE) funds, though, which is also a really interesting field, but it’s nearly impossible to get your foot in as a non-intern who doesn’t have previous PE experience.

Therefore, my strategy is this:

1. Apply to every single listed equity (or credit) fund I can find in my city (only found six such funds so far). Landing a job in this sector would be the optimal outcome because that is where I want to be in the long term.
2. Because the chance of me landing a buy-side job in listed equity is slim, I will be applying to other jobs at the same time. My only requirement is that it is either (i) buy-side (e.g., pension funds, venture capital, PE — doesn’t really matter) or (ii) sell-side but related to listed instruments.

Most likely, if I end up with a job that isn’t in listed equity or credit, I will just continue my job hunting process while working full-time. That way I am building a career, making some money, and also working towards my dream job.

Anyways, here’s a little progress report:

• I have updated my CV.
• I’m almost done writing a pitch for a stock that I am personally invested in to use as a ‘sample research’ document to send along with my applications to public equity funds.
• Meanwhile, I’m sending out applications, writing cover letters, searching for interesting positions, etc.
• I have bought some professional looking clothes: a suit, a bunch of ties, dress shirts, a set of shoes, etc. It cost me more money than I generally like to spend, but it was necessary!

That’s all for now. Of course you will be notified when I land a job.

Thank you for reading!