Who am I? Part 4

With all the news lately about the Silicon Valley Bank collapse and ensuing uncertainty and panic about more impending bank runs/failures, it makes me think back to my own experiences back to I think what is being called the "Great Recession" or "Great Financial Crisis" in 2008.

• My first job out of college was at a Big 4 Public Accounting firm in the Second City (you can figure out where that is). Can read earlier posts to see how I put off starting there but I eventually made it there in September 2005. I was fortunate enough to end up in exactly the group that I wanted to be in - Financial Services focusing on Hedge Funds and Mutual Funds. I was always more interested in finance and originally wanted to go into investment banking but didn't think that I would make it there right away given the school I went to. Accounting was always the second option but at the time, I felt fortunate enough to get placed in this group which to the young naive 22 yr old me, it felt like the next best thing.

• I went through the usual entry-level auditor crap but eventually, began to show some aptitude/strength/interest/motivation/hunger whatever you want to call it and grew to become the valuation lead for many of the largest hedge fund clients. Not signing off on audits, just the second year auditor in the back doing all the grunt work - valuing securities on the bloomberg terminal, testing inputs, calling brokers and counterparties to confirm valuations, running models like monte carlo analyses etc. Keep in mind, this was 2005-2007. I remember calling a broker once to confirm the value of a CDO (Collateralized Debt Obligation) comprised mainly of subprime mortgages. As those guys usually are, he was pretty blunt..."that shit hasn't actually traded hands in years but sure, it's worth what you're trying to confirm". This was one way of valuing these products that no one really understood but common sense might say was risky.

• Needless to say, I started to get uneasy and wanted to jump ship. I applied for the Peace Corps (which is something I always wanted to do) and got accepted to start in the 2nd poorest country in the world (at the time) in West Africa in July 2007. I told the recruiter I wanted to go to Asia, Eastern Europe or South America and did not want to go to Africa (because I was young and cocky and dumb and thought I knew everything which I didn't then and still don't). I got placed in West Africa. Also, if we're being honest, I didn't just join the Peace Corps because I had foreseen the future - in reality, it probably had more to do with a girl and running away. I've realized that despite whatever I tell myself, my decisions are based more on emotion than logic.

• Anyway, all that to say that when the Great Financial Crisis finally hit in 2008 - Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns collapsed, stock market crashed, real estate market tanked, everyone declared bankruptcy - I was under the stars in the Sahel...where the Sahara Desert meets the forests/jungles. Oh man, I thought I knew everything and was a real oracle. In a lifetime of douchebag moments, I did one of my douchiest then and sent a picture of myself next to a donkey's ass to bosses/partners/coworkers at said Big 4 firm gloating and saying I told you so (and bcc'ed said girl). In hindsight, I really was a cocky bastard. I wonder if I've changed now but I'm certainly more cognizant of my own failings and shortcomings.