pensive day

Another pensive day at work. dearie talked me through and it made me consider my dreams vs the reality, the mundane and the exciting.

He is right, we don’t always get things to go the way we dream of them to. There are many things we enjoy and wish we could do, however reality doesn’t always move in line with all that.

When I was doing my acca many years back, my dream career upon graduation was to be a tax consultant. I enjoyed tax planning modules immensely. Tax planning is like a game of working within rules. It is making the most out of whatever tax regulations that are in place and getting them to work in favour of the business as much as possible.

Well, that was my dream almost a decade ago. Truth is, I never got to practice tax after I graduated. I did apply for tax assistant positions and I remembered getting an interview back then. I wasn’t offered the job as the interviewer asked me if I knew tax assistants do the most basic jobs like filling up Forms Cs.

As I ventured into the world of finance through my postgraduate studies, I find myself particularly drawn to analysis. In the most recent assignment, we were tasked with different time frames through the last 10 years. In the given time frame, we are to construct yield curves and study what might have caused the peaks and troughts..the spikes..etc. the period my team was tasked is between Jul 2001 to Jun 2002.

In the initial plotting of the yield curves by month, it seems pretty normal. Upward sloping. Some steepening, some flattening and that was pretty normal. Nothing interesting like a downward sloping curve..or even a flat curve to be wow-ing over. Nevertheless, after we went into the observing the events during this period, there was more that met the eye. Sept 11 2001 – terrorist attacks on the World trade centre. Late 2001 to 2002, collapse of Enron and Worldcom. I was going wow.. that was quite an eventful year! I read into how MAS adjusted Singapore monetary policies to cushion the impact of the weakening global economy. How did the ripple effect from US went into Eurozone, Japan and Asia. Which economies were hit hardest and why. Which were not that badly hit and why.

The macro overview of the global economy invigorated my mind; despite the reading of 6 100-page reports was a little head-spinning. =P

It made me draw some references into the present downturn. I’m keen to read into the magnitude of this downturn and compare it with the 2001 one. Certainly both are very much different in terms of cause. I would like to compare and contrasts the different approaches the governments had adopted in the 2 different downturns. What areas of the economy did it hit? The recovery process during then and now? Are there similarities to draw? How has the business landscape changed such that what may apply in 2001 be irrelevant now? After each downturn, how does an economy evolve?

I’m curious.. and I am interested to know more! =)

I began conjuring ideas of going into academics..but I think research does not seem easy at all. My big ideas and dreams feel constrained and stifled within the compounds of my workstation. There is a pasture of learning I want to be racing through!

A hit back to reality. I still have to go about the routine, and sometimes mundane, of what my job requires me to do. Until I find something better, I resign that I still have to use a binoculars to peer into the world out there. I hope one day I can walk out of this box and experience more first-hand.

I agree with dearie that I do have to take ownership of learning. I will certainly look into doing more reading during my month’s holiday after my portfolio exam till the start of next term. It is the process of getting me ready for my next job! One thing I want to learn at my fingertips is the FRS. I want to be able to rattle off FRS easily..so I don’t get bullied by the auditors. =P

Learning is the only way to expand my capacity. It will get me to where I want to be.