Dow 20,000
- Thread starter Louigi
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I won $100 on a bet that the market wouldn't tank within a month of Trump's election. It is ironic that every time I told my friends that everything wasn't hunky dory with the economy, their response was look at the market under Obama. Now that the market continues to rise, their response is that it has nothing to do with the President. You can't have it both ways. Personally, I think the President's impact on the Market is pretty limited, other than the effect he has on the confidence of the American people.
I agree about buying land. There is a finite amount of good land.
I have no idea what's going on in this thread. Stocks and all that shit make no sense to me. It's all Greek to me, summed up by the space alien language in this poast:
So what exactly do you plan to do with a masters in accounting?
I'll find it eventually.
In all seriousness, the whole point of UNC's MAC (Master of Accounting) program is to take candidates from non-accounting backgrounds (you literally can't have more than 12 hours of undergrad accounting credits or else you're ineligible) and teach them everything they need to know to be a successful accountant in either tax or audit.
It's a nationally ranked (top 10) and respected program, so I guess they know what they're doing. But yeah, I don't know jack shit about stocks and the DOW
You have fun with that shit. I hated my accounting and tax classes. I did get 100 on one of my finals in an estate tax class. Had to complete a 706 and 709 by hand with gifts throughout several decades.
The funny (ironic?) thing is that the "Greeks" are variables in stock option pricing models.
THN11 --
Word of advice from someone who has a Masters in Accounting -- figure out pretty quickly what you intend to do with it. If you want to become a CPA, I would HIGHLY recommend registering with the state to sit for the exam, and study for the exam concurrently with your classes. Most of my friends who went through this and got their exam wound up preparing themselves to sit for first (of four) sections of the exam within the first month of graduating...you'd need to make sure to get the appropriate transcripts to the state immediately once they are available. If you want to be a CPA but wind up procrastinating, I promise this will be immensely more difficult.
I have always been more of a rebel / against the grain type, and when I was in school, I was already being recruited by one of the Big Four firms in Richmond. I talked to a family friend, who runs an auditing firm, and he strongly advised me to stay far away from those accounting firms -- it's nothing but an assembly line. They say, "give us four years, we'll turn you into an expert in one accounting field, and then you're off to do your own thing." The result here -- let's say you go in and wind up in the Tax Department -- you'll come out of there with all the necessary knowledge of taxes, and you can open your own firm, etc -- but you would have virtually no knowledge, at all, of the other fields (other than what you memorized for the CPA exam, which you've probably forgotten all of by this point). Personally, I wanted to be more well-rounded than that and felt I would have a lot more options that way, and I've never looked back. But, not everyone thinks that way.
Figure out right away if you want to be in public accounting or not and go from there.
Word of advice from someone who has a Masters in Accounting -- figure out pretty quickly what you intend to do with it. If you want to become a CPA, I would HIGHLY recommend registering with the state to sit for the exam, and study for the exam concurrently with your classes. Most of my friends who went through this and got their exam wound up preparing themselves to sit for first (of four) sections of the exam within the first month of graduating...you'd need to make sure to get the appropriate transcripts to the state immediately once they are available. If you want to be a CPA but wind up procrastinating, I promise this will be immensely more difficult.
I have always been more of a rebel / against the grain type, and when I was in school, I was already being recruited by one of the Big Four firms in Richmond. I talked to a family friend, who runs an auditing firm, and he strongly advised me to stay far away from those accounting firms -- it's nothing but an assembly line. They say, "give us four years, we'll turn you into an expert in one accounting field, and then you're off to do your own thing." The result here -- let's say you go in and wind up in the Tax Department -- you'll come out of there with all the necessary knowledge of taxes, and you can open your own firm, etc -- but you would have virtually no knowledge, at all, of the other fields (other than what you memorized for the CPA exam, which you've probably forgotten all of by this point). Personally, I wanted to be more well-rounded than that and felt I would have a lot more options that way, and I've never looked back. But, not everyone thinks that way.
Figure out right away if you want to be in public accounting or not and go from there.
I also have a Masters in Accounting, and this is really good advice, especially the part about studying for the CPA exam concurrently with your classes.
I worked for a regional firm in Knoxville after I graduated. The truth is most accounting firms of any size are hierarchical in nature, meaning when you come in as staff they're going to work you half to death. It's how they whittle down their staff to people who want to be in public practice for the long haul.
The question you have to ask yourself is whether that's the career path you want. Obviously, many people do. If not, the next question is how long do you stay on that track before you bail, because you will learn a tremendous amount as long as you're there, even if it means specializing in one field. The mentoring is fantastic. I left public accounting after three years and my professional growth and technical expertise took a major hit. But, I had decided that I didn't want to spend the rest of my career in a regimented, rules-driven field, so things worked out well for me because I'm in finance now and have a lot more intellectual freedom.
Read "time to waste on OOTB and Twitter."
Exactly my point. I was lucky to have had someone be brutally honest with me when I was making this decision -- I was told that if I jumped at the opportunity from the firm in Richmond, I'd go through the motions, set myself up to make a shitload of money in the near future...but likely be completely miserable and burn out within 5 years. That just felt like selling out for a few dollars, to me, and I decided against it. I wound up fluffing my resume and convinced a company to give me a chance as their Controller...purely on potential. I stuck it out there for 4 years, and I learned - and got the valuable experience - with compliance, audits, taxes (corporate, payroll, etc), financial reporting, etc...I had the keys to the car (so to speak) b/c I was the only one running things there.
That route isn't something I would advise unless you have a tremendous work ethic -- it is NOT a 9-to-5er. But I would take the route I took over the traditional accounting route everyday and again on Sunday. I've gotten the opportunity to be Controller (once with a major corporation in DC) for three companies and two stints as CFO and have started two companies of my own.
It's all about what you want for yourself, and having to go in dressed in a suit every day to push a bunch of tax forms, day in and day out...that just wasn't for me, and I knew it...even if the path may have been easier.
It is my understanding that this UNC program does a tremendous job of holding your hand through the process and makes you decide very early on if you want to do tax or audit, and once you pick, you stick with it because they tailor your education toward that end.
Additionally, UNC has beaucoup networking opportunities. My classes start in early July. By September, I'll be on campus in Chapel Hill, meeting with many recruiters from firms of varying size throughout the state of North Carolina. Early on, as you select whether you want to be tax or audit, you also decide what state/city (if not North Carolina), you want to be located in and they hook you up with firms from that city/state.
I'm pretty excited about all this. Plus, I'm kind of a big deal. Firms will be fawning over me.
There was about a five minute period when I thought becoming an auditor would be cool. Then I realized that I was seriously thinking about becoming an auditor and smacked myself upside the head.
Seriously -- good luck. Make sure you have a passion for it and go for it.
Look for internship opportunities while going through courses. You'll need - and want - the hands-on experience. Food for thought.
Well I don't have a passion for anything that can translate to a career, so I opted for this route for three reasons:
1. The UNC MAC program has a 98% hiring rate upon graduation. Gooooooood.
2. One of my strongest skills, I've learned, is catching mistakes, even when on a tight time crunch. It's partly because I'm cautious and OCD about accuracy (journalism training), but it's just always been a thing for me that I look for / notice inaccuracies and discrepancies when others seem to not. I've got good attention to detail.
3. Like I said above. I don't really have a passion that translates into a career (tailgating, drinking, and video games don't lend themselves to a job lol), this opportunity arose, and it's even unique because I don't have to have an accounting background to do it, so I jumped at the chance.
You're "required" (but they don't explicitly say that) to do a ~3-month internship as part of your education in the program.
I appreciate all the advice, fellers.
I also have an extremely close friend from Carolina who already did this program a few years back, immediately upon graduating from undergrad, and now is a senior (something or nother) at a Big Four in Charlotte.
I picked his brain a lot while considering this.
I picked his brain a lot while considering this.
That is understandable. When I finished high school, my only passion (in terms of a career) was meteorology (storm chasing, specifically). Then I went into Business Management / Entrepreneurship as my major. I took one accounting course (Accounting 101) b/c it was required to get my undergrad. I had no intentions of doing anything in accounting until I was (strongly) advised to go back and get my Masters in Accounting b/c that field had such a high demand.
You'll find your way...good luck (seriously).
Do you plan on coming back to Georgia or are you going to use this as your excuse to get out of here?
Bitching about Carolina fans doesn't translate into a career?
Oh you best believe I'mma
You've been here, what, 6-7 years? I've been here for 23 of my 27 years. I'm doneee
Oh you best believe I'mma
You've been here, what, 6-7 years? I've been here for 23 of my 27 years. I'm doneee
Exactly my feelings towards Virginia.
Been here almost 10 years now. I just didn't know if moving that far away from your family would be an issue. Some people, like me, don't have a problem with it. Didn't know if that would be an issue for you.Oh you best believe I'mma
You've been here, what, 6-7 years? I've been here for 23 of my 27 years. I'm doneee
I don't hate Atlanta but that's because I've always lived out in the burbs or on the fringe of the city. If I actually lived in O4W, or Midtown, or Decatur, I'd hate life.
And nah moving that far from home ain't a problem. For one, Charlotte is only 4 hours from Atlanta. Additionally, I have family the following distances from Charlotte:
Charlotte (10 minutes, depending on where in Charlotte I am)
Gastonia (15 minutes)
Rockingham (1.5 hours)
Clinton (3.5 hours)
Warsaw (3.75 hours)
Wilmington (3.75 hours)
And of course, Carolina is only 2.25 hours away. I'd love to be able to see my family in Clinton/Warsaw more regularly than I do. I love that side of my family to death. The Gastonia family......meh
Moving away from family can be a big decision. Hated to leave my Dad and 2 of my kids in 2009. And we moved 1500 miles. Tough now too since I have 4 grandkids in NC. Will finally have one here in June.
All mine is in eastern NC and most of them are within a six hour drive. Close enough to drive, but not close enough for a day trip. My wife's family is from that area too. I think it's been harder for her. Especially now that we have kids.
That drive from Atlanta to Eastern NC is no joke. Atlanta to Clinton is a hard 7 hours.
We travel thru Kansas City, St. Louis, Louisville, Charleston WV going home but the worst traffic we encounter is the Raleigh traffic. Absolutely hate it.
Well it goes without saying that the drive from Nebraska to North Carolina is way worse than Georgia to North Carolina lol. And your comment about Raleigh reminds me about something I meant to say on my Moo rant on the OOTB basketball thread. Kindly follow me over there, all.
I would kill for Raleigh traffic. Raleigh traffic would be considered light traffic here.
I wasn't gonna say anything and be "that guy" but yeah lol, I just bite my tongue when people complain about traffic in Charlotte and Raleigh. They just don't know like we do!!
