"24" (and I don't mean the tv series)

With about 4 1/2 months to go before I leave for Oxford, I'm doing everything I can to ensure that the brief year I'm there for is as productive as possible. I want to leave as little up to chance as possible. I've already begun my post-MBA job search, including pre-filling my job applications online to save me time later in the year when I'm buried nose-deep into my macroeconomics textbook trying to figure out the relevance of a logarithmic function when constructing a marginal utility curve.

When not solving quadratic equations, I always thought it made good business to model your behavior after others that you admire, or aspire to be. For example, after businesss school, I thought about returning to Citi to work as an investment banker at Citi Capital Strategies. Since all of their "I-bankers" were previous financial advisors with their Series 24 Principal license, I decided to muster up some courage last week, and ask my boss to sponsor me for the Series 24 exam, which he did!

While not as glamourous as a guest role on the TV series "24" with Jack Bauer, within the world of Wall Street, it is impressive. I have to climb-up 3-wrungs on the corporate ladder before I find another person who holds the Series 24, so it's a big honor, even though right now there are few jobs to be had.

So, now I'm busy studying. I plan to take the 3 1/2 hour exam in 4-weeks so that I can clear the way for studying for the CFP exam in mid-July. Thankfully, Lisa agreed to look the other way when I posted up my white board near our computer desk to help organize myself. I'm going to need to make the most out of my 24-hours over the next 4 1/2 months!