Mentor Interview: Drew Morin, Banker at Chase Bank
I met Drew by chance in a New Testament class and then, by chance, the next semester we were in the same Old Testament class. Now he's out there in the world of finance! Drew is a good friend and an excellent mentor. Drew's the kind of guy that brightens your day and you know that your friendship is valuable in his eyes.
What did you major in and how did you get your job?
I majored in Business, but finance wasn't my emphasis. I was a marketing emphasis. It's a long story to how I decided to do business and eventually become a banker. As a kid I always thought that I was going to become a doctor, namely a dermatologist. I attended a 10 day medical forum my junior year of high school at UCLA. It was cool, but after that I thought, "Ya know, I don't know if this is what I really want to do." So I took some business classes my senior year and liked them. My mission further confirmed my love of working with people. I loved meeting people and offering them something that would better their life. I saw a lot of parallels between that and business so I was driven to something in the business area. My brother majored and business and became a banker at Wells Fargo in Utah. My mom is a financial analyst in Montana and she told me one day, "Drew, you need to consider this." I've thought a lot about that, and I went and shadowed my brother at Wells Fargo. I also did an internship with an investment firm. After college, I thought I'd go down and start working with my brother at Wells Fargo. That didn't quite materialize, so I was left without a job. I applied at a few different places, and got offers at U.S. Bank and Chase. I went with Chase. The industry is financial services, but the part I enjoy about it isn't the technical side, it's working with people. Sometimes at night I'm anxious to go to bed so I can wake up and go to work in the morning.
What are your plans for your future?
I can see myself doing a couple of different things and it's still wide open. The first thing, and the most probable, is to work at Chase for two or three years and transition over to being a financial advisor. My brother and I are thinking that we may take over my mother's clients in Montana when she retires. I would need to become a Certified Financial Planner, which would add another feather to my cap of things I am certified in. Another option would be to pursue an MBA. I would want to focus either on corporate management or business consulting. I've always had this dream of being a professional speaker though. I took a couple of speech class at BYU-Idaho and I loved it. I've started working on an investment 101 presentation to deliver to a younger audience.
Where do you think the industry finance is headed?
I feel the industry of finance is an industry of constant change. There has been a lot of regulations from the government over the past 10 or 15 years that have shaken things up a bit. For example, the Patriot Act, instated after 9/11 requires me to ask customers more questions to make sure that we're not sponsoring or allowing illegal activities through the bank. Technology has also been a game changer. You can take a picture of your check and deposit it into your account without having to leave your house! You can deposit money into your bank account at ATMs. So many things are making it convenient for the customer, but the worry is that less and less people will come into the bank. No one really uses checks anymore, except for something like tithing or paying rent. As the world develops and technology advances, so will the finance industry. I think there will always be a need to come in and talk to someone about finances face to face. Sure, there's things like Scottrade and E-Trade, but there will always be some clientele that will want to meet in person.
What advice do you have for me as an undergrad?
Learn new things every day. Always continue to learn. Take advantage of every opportunity you have to learn, so when you leave college, you can carry that habit with you. Wherever you are you can always try to better yourself. Understand once you get in your job, it's not always roses. There's good days and bad days. But if you've found a job that there are a lot more good days than bad days, then you're in a good place.
I'm planning on dentistry. What do you think I should do my emphasis in: Marketing, Supply Chain, or Finance?
I feel that majoring in business is going to serve you so well. I admire you for that. Marketing is by far the easiest emphasis. Unless you want to be a financial analyst for Goldman Sachs, I feel that the finance emphasis may create more stress than it's worth with all of your other classes. I really enjoyed consumer behavior (a class in the marketing emphasis). You get inside the mind of a consumer and it's kind of like a psychology class. Everybody is a salesman. Teachers sell info to their students. Bankers sell credit cards, accounts, and loans. A potential employee sells himself in an interview. We all are trying to sell because we all are trying to make money. Supply chain is very analytical, and I wouldn't recommend for what you want to do, unless you're going to be a purchaser for Wal-Mart or something like that. If you're not going into a technical business field, I would do marketing. After all this being said, the best thing you can probably do is to ask dentists what business classes they wish they could have taken.
What did you major in and how did you get your job?
I majored in Business, but finance wasn't my emphasis. I was a marketing emphasis. It's a long story to how I decided to do business and eventually become a banker. As a kid I always thought that I was going to become a doctor, namely a dermatologist. I attended a 10 day medical forum my junior year of high school at UCLA. It was cool, but after that I thought, "Ya know, I don't know if this is what I really want to do." So I took some business classes my senior year and liked them. My mission further confirmed my love of working with people. I loved meeting people and offering them something that would better their life. I saw a lot of parallels between that and business so I was driven to something in the business area. My brother majored and business and became a banker at Wells Fargo in Utah. My mom is a financial analyst in Montana and she told me one day, "Drew, you need to consider this." I've thought a lot about that, and I went and shadowed my brother at Wells Fargo. I also did an internship with an investment firm. After college, I thought I'd go down and start working with my brother at Wells Fargo. That didn't quite materialize, so I was left without a job. I applied at a few different places, and got offers at U.S. Bank and Chase. I went with Chase. The industry is financial services, but the part I enjoy about it isn't the technical side, it's working with people. Sometimes at night I'm anxious to go to bed so I can wake up and go to work in the morning.
What are your plans for your future?
I can see myself doing a couple of different things and it's still wide open. The first thing, and the most probable, is to work at Chase for two or three years and transition over to being a financial advisor. My brother and I are thinking that we may take over my mother's clients in Montana when she retires. I would need to become a Certified Financial Planner, which would add another feather to my cap of things I am certified in. Another option would be to pursue an MBA. I would want to focus either on corporate management or business consulting. I've always had this dream of being a professional speaker though. I took a couple of speech class at BYU-Idaho and I loved it. I've started working on an investment 101 presentation to deliver to a younger audience.
Where do you think the industry finance is headed?
I feel the industry of finance is an industry of constant change. There has been a lot of regulations from the government over the past 10 or 15 years that have shaken things up a bit. For example, the Patriot Act, instated after 9/11 requires me to ask customers more questions to make sure that we're not sponsoring or allowing illegal activities through the bank. Technology has also been a game changer. You can take a picture of your check and deposit it into your account without having to leave your house! You can deposit money into your bank account at ATMs. So many things are making it convenient for the customer, but the worry is that less and less people will come into the bank. No one really uses checks anymore, except for something like tithing or paying rent. As the world develops and technology advances, so will the finance industry. I think there will always be a need to come in and talk to someone about finances face to face. Sure, there's things like Scottrade and E-Trade, but there will always be some clientele that will want to meet in person.
What advice do you have for me as an undergrad?
Learn new things every day. Always continue to learn. Take advantage of every opportunity you have to learn, so when you leave college, you can carry that habit with you. Wherever you are you can always try to better yourself. Understand once you get in your job, it's not always roses. There's good days and bad days. But if you've found a job that there are a lot more good days than bad days, then you're in a good place.
I'm planning on dentistry. What do you think I should do my emphasis in: Marketing, Supply Chain, or Finance?
I feel that majoring in business is going to serve you so well. I admire you for that. Marketing is by far the easiest emphasis. Unless you want to be a financial analyst for Goldman Sachs, I feel that the finance emphasis may create more stress than it's worth with all of your other classes. I really enjoyed consumer behavior (a class in the marketing emphasis). You get inside the mind of a consumer and it's kind of like a psychology class. Everybody is a salesman. Teachers sell info to their students. Bankers sell credit cards, accounts, and loans. A potential employee sells himself in an interview. We all are trying to sell because we all are trying to make money. Supply chain is very analytical, and I wouldn't recommend for what you want to do, unless you're going to be a purchaser for Wal-Mart or something like that. If you're not going into a technical business field, I would do marketing. After all this being said, the best thing you can probably do is to ask dentists what business classes they wish they could have taken.
Finance Today
What is the role of finance in a typical business?
Banking is a combination of quantitative and people time. Corporate finance, it depends on what you specialize in, will determine whether you're in excel, in meetings, trying to obtain money for financing activities of the company, etc. There is really quite a spectrum to the world of finance. You can be marketing oriented account officer, or an analytical numbers cruncher. Corporate finance: Works for a large corporation in finance department. There are probably the most jobs in the financial world. Corporate finance has two main categories: the treasury function and corporate finance in general. Treasury deal with sourcing funds, what comes in and what goes out. Questions to ask, "Do we launch this product, or a different one? Do we buy this company or not? Is this is the best interest of our shareholders?" Venture capital, or financing new companies. Start-up companies are more risky, so they have to go to different sources of capital before they can move over to bank financing. Venture capitalists have to be very good at sizing up businesses. Retail finance: stocks and bonds, insurance, etc. In and out of the office, quantitative work and people work. Giving people money is a positive thing and it's fun. You're able to help people realize their goals and vision, which is a positive thing. How does financing work? Where are we going to obtain capital, where are we going to invest capital? Higher the risk, the higher the potentially large profits, and large losses. Pick a company that is going to invest in you. There are always opportunities for good people. There is sometimes more opportunity in turmoil than in a calm stable market. For those who are good, you can get a job.
Information from interview with James Taylor found on I-learn
Finance Careers
1. Financial Analyst
2. Real Estate Portfolio Manager
3. Business Analyst
4. Investment Banker
5. Stock Broker
6. CFO or Chief Financial Officer
Key Finance Terms
ROI- Return on Investment
Net Present Value- the sum of present values of the individual cash flows of the same entity. (Excel has a function for this)
Stocks- the original capital paid into or invested in the business by its founders
Bonds- Certificates that represent money a government or corporation has borrowed from other entities
Stockholders- individual or corporation that owns stock
Government Securities- secures a trade, or lending that is backed up by some other asset other than money...I think.
Mutual Fund- professionally managed collective investment that pools money from investors in order to buy securities.
SEC- Securities and Exchange Commission. Regulates the securities industry.
Stock Markets- a public entity used for trading the stock, or shares, of companies at an agreed price.
Initial Public Offering (IPO)- stock sold to the general public for the first time
Venture Capital- financial capital provided to early stage, high potential, high risk, growth start up companies.
Interest Rate- Rate at which borrowers of money pay back more money than they borrowed in the first place.
Dow Jones Industrial Average- Index that shows how 30 large companies in the U.S. have traded during a duration of time.
References
Wikipedia. The James Taylor interview on I-Learn.
Banking is a combination of quantitative and people time. Corporate finance, it depends on what you specialize in, will determine whether you're in excel, in meetings, trying to obtain money for financing activities of the company, etc. There is really quite a spectrum to the world of finance. You can be marketing oriented account officer, or an analytical numbers cruncher. Corporate finance: Works for a large corporation in finance department. There are probably the most jobs in the financial world. Corporate finance has two main categories: the treasury function and corporate finance in general. Treasury deal with sourcing funds, what comes in and what goes out. Questions to ask, "Do we launch this product, or a different one? Do we buy this company or not? Is this is the best interest of our shareholders?" Venture capital, or financing new companies. Start-up companies are more risky, so they have to go to different sources of capital before they can move over to bank financing. Venture capitalists have to be very good at sizing up businesses. Retail finance: stocks and bonds, insurance, etc. In and out of the office, quantitative work and people work. Giving people money is a positive thing and it's fun. You're able to help people realize their goals and vision, which is a positive thing. How does financing work? Where are we going to obtain capital, where are we going to invest capital? Higher the risk, the higher the potentially large profits, and large losses. Pick a company that is going to invest in you. There are always opportunities for good people. There is sometimes more opportunity in turmoil than in a calm stable market. For those who are good, you can get a job.
Information from interview with James Taylor found on I-learn
Finance Careers
1. Financial Analyst
2. Real Estate Portfolio Manager
3. Business Analyst
4. Investment Banker
5. Stock Broker
6. CFO or Chief Financial Officer
Key Finance Terms
ROI- Return on Investment
Net Present Value- the sum of present values of the individual cash flows of the same entity. (Excel has a function for this)
Stocks- the original capital paid into or invested in the business by its founders
Bonds- Certificates that represent money a government or corporation has borrowed from other entities
Stockholders- individual or corporation that owns stock
Government Securities- secures a trade, or lending that is backed up by some other asset other than money...I think.
Mutual Fund- professionally managed collective investment that pools money from investors in order to buy securities.
SEC- Securities and Exchange Commission. Regulates the securities industry.
Stock Markets- a public entity used for trading the stock, or shares, of companies at an agreed price.
Initial Public Offering (IPO)- stock sold to the general public for the first time
Venture Capital- financial capital provided to early stage, high potential, high risk, growth start up companies.
Interest Rate- Rate at which borrowers of money pay back more money than they borrowed in the first place.
Dow Jones Industrial Average- Index that shows how 30 large companies in the U.S. have traded during a duration of time.
References
Wikipedia. The James Taylor interview on I-Learn.