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I am currently doing a Master of Science in Financial Engineering (MScFE) with the WorldQuant University (currently they operate tuition free, you can apply via https://wqu.org/) I am in my third course out of total of 12; running into my fifth month out of 18 total months for the MSc.
It has been a very pleasant experience. I found it more structured and rigorous than the non-free MBA I did with a European university. So, if you are interested in the world of quantitative finance and investments, I would say you should give it a try. Just know that getting in is not a walk in the park and the program is very demanding -- you'll do lots of advanced calculus, some python and R programming, some finance and lots of mathematics.
Last year, I finally got inducted as a chartered stockbroker upon completing the intensive 1 year exams. And due to a pact CIS Nigeria has with UK Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments, I was able to do just one ethics-type exam and become a member of the UK Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments. So I now use the designations ACS and ACISI (UK) in front of my name. And more importantly, I have achieved one of the milestones to my goal of setting up a financial securities trading and investment company.
I hope to use the MScFE to learn the skill of building financial investment products and improving my securities analysis skills.
I have been taking a more structured approach to my investing. I now do a monthly allocation of my ex-expenses disposable income to different asset classes:
- 20% to Real Estate
- 50% to Stocks
- 10% to Money Market
- 20% to Cryptocurrencies
In addition, all my online USD income goes to my US equities account.
The needed push to taking this structured approach to having a portfolio that spans these major asset classes came from the learning in the MScFE course 1 (Financial Markets). So no more thinking asset class A vs asset class B, but how much of asset class A and how much of asset class B.
This year I hope to see more improvement in my personal finance and investments as I learn more from the program and put those learning to practice.
 with the WorldQuant University (currently ...){kind=link}
4 months ago, I saw the trends in the crude oil prices and took a loan from my office cooperative (at 10%PA in NGN), converted to USD at the prevailing rate (around 380) and stuffed everything in Eurobonds and PE offerings. The Eurobonds are doing ~10%YoY growth, and have promised not less than 6%, with the fund manager reallocating the portfolio in pursuit of B+ rated instruments.
ReplyDeleteMy thesis was that I needed to borrow from my future earnings to limit my exposure to the Naira and the loss of purchasing power that came with inflation+devaluation.
Now, I am paying back the loans as monthly deductions in Naira.
Nowadays, I am trying to clear my table and take the side hustle thing more seriously. Financial Independence and the choice to do what I want is what fuels me.
You have great content on this platform.
Thanks for your article. You have really achieved a milestone. The sky is your limit. I am interested in studying financial engineering in WorldQuant. The setback I have now is that I don't have a PC. I only have an Android phone. I recently graduated from UNIBEN awaiting NYSC. So I am not working to raise money for PC.
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