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I'm a 16 year old from Canada trying to map his life. I enjoy finance, math, economics and that sort of stuff. A couple of months (9) ago I read Michael Lewis's The Big Short and have been obsessed with Wall St dealings ever since. I would really like to become an investment banker for some sort of financial institution, preferably (but does not have to be) on Wall St. I'm just looking for some advice from people who have worked at financial institutions to see if this is even possible as a career path.

Just for context, I'm 16, live in Canada and go to a pretty regular High School. At said High School, I take all the recommended courses for university and all the advanced math I can. I will not attend a Ivy league school and will go to university in Canada. I know a lot for my age about the 2008 meltdown, and the most advanced thing I've done on this subject is read through a CDO prospectus.

If I asked this questions in the wrong site of Stack Exchange, please let me know. Any information is greatly appreciated.

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  • Make sure you keep your doors open - finance can be hard to get into straight from university, without other business experience. Accounting in Canada will be in desperate need of new graduates for at least the next 5 years, in my opinion, and it can provide you with relevant experience to get where you want to go. Keep as many options open for yourself, for as long as you can. You may find that you have new interests over the next 6 years, and preparing to take advantage of those interests is important. Dont be blind to other careers because they do not fall in line with your exact dream job. – Grade 'Eh' Bacon Jan 11 '17 at 14:39
  • I had a similar career path to what you're looking at, and I'd be happy to offer advice. This site is not really the best place for career discussion - please send me an e-mail at GradeEhBacon@gmail.com, I'd be happy to lend an ear. – Grade 'Eh' Bacon Jan 11 '17 at 14:40
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Apply for a job/internship to get a first impression of what it means to work in investment banking. Go to a tier one business school and try to get an CFA. Most importantly: work, work, work... Get practical experience as much as possible.

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    @SamtheMan Note that this advice is very US-centric; "Tier-1 Business School" does not really apply to the Canadian setting. Most schools are on par with eachother, more or less (some are better or worse of course, but rarely in an overall sense). Where you go will depend more on specific programs than 'general prestige'. – Grade 'Eh' Bacon Jan 11 '17 at 14:41
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Since you are only 16, you still have time to mature what you will do with your life, always keep your mind opend. If you are really passionated about investement :

read 1 book every week about investement, read the website investopedia, financial time, know about macro economic

be good a math in school, learning coding and infrastructure can also be interesting since the stock is on server.

learn about the history, you can watch on yoube shows about the history of money.

learn accounting, the basic at least

open a broker simulating account online ( you will play with a fake wallet but on real value) for 6 month, and after open a broker account with 100 real dollards and plays the penny stocks ( stock under 3 USD a share).

after doing all this for 1 year you should know if you want to spend your life doing this and can choose universtity and intership accordingly.

You can look on linkedin the profile of investement banker to know what school they attended.

Best of luck for your future.

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    I would caution against playing penny stocks (even on a free tracking website) without having some fundamental financial knowledge first. Without that perspective, it is basically gambling, and may give an incorrect idea about the nature of a finance career. – Grade 'Eh' Bacon Jan 11 '17 at 14:43
  • i wrote to read a lot, and to play with fake wallet before playing with real money in order to learn. please read a post before making a comment!! – Dupond Jan 12 '17 at 0:57

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