Have faith. It could be worse. You could have just finished your finance degree and be competing against experienced professionals. Seriously by the time you're finished we may be in a second boom.
That's what I'm doing. I have an associate's in Computer Science, a Bachelor's in Software Engineering, I'm finishing up a Master's in Finance in May, and I plan on "gutting" it one last time and getting an MBA in accounting...and all this while I'm working a full-time Software job. Yeah...my life sucks right now and I'm highly deep in student loan debt, but I also now have such a deep educational background that I should be quite set for the rest of my life and I'll have the ability to essentially pick almost any career path I want. School = tons of work but also = complete life freedom. Well worth it even if it completely sucks while doing it.
Actually people get paid a substantial portion of their total comp in stock that they can't sell until it very slowly vests over a long period of time...
The higher you are on the food chain, the more you are paid with stock options that become vested usually in 5 years or more. AKA the golden handcuff. That's why most of those bsc executives are so mad, they basically lost a portion of their bonus going back many years..
Update: Unemployed Banker Wears 'MIT Graduate for Hire' Sign POSTED: 9:37 am EDT June 24, 2008 UPDATED: 4:15 pm EDT June 24, 2008 NEW YORK -- Call it a sign of the times. An unemployed banker has taken to the streets of Manhattan -- wearing a pinstriped suit and an "MIT Graduate for Hire" sign draped over his shoulders. Joshua Persky, an unemployed financial engineer, says he'll be passing out resumes during the lunch hour all week. On Monday and Tuesday, he promoted himself in front of the Charles Schwab building at 50th Street and Park Avenue. Persky lost his job six months ago as an investment banking consultant. His wife and five kids are moving to her native Nebraska while he continues to look for work in New York.
No one is going to shed a tear for them... "Jim Rogers â who is also short Citibank and Fannie Mae â says the excesses in financial markets have been far too great. "You don't see any 29-year-old cotton farmers driving Maseratis," Rogers says. "But a lot of 29-year-olds on Wall Street are driving them. This is not the way the world is supposed to work.""
with 'deleveraging' and 'reduction of risk' you have less money for risky bonds and stocks and derivativies. no more interest only loans.
it's about time these hedge funds, market makers, and banks are regulated like retail investors/traders when it comes to margins etc.