Elise Rose ⋅ Homer, AK ⋅ 2 years experience

Hi Matt,

I would encourage you to look through the Advisor+ Directory (on the righthand side of your screen), and send a private message to Advisors who have some of the experience that you're looking for. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions!

Spencer Lopez ⋅ Hopatcong, NJ Mediacom ⋅ 8 years experience

I will send you a connection request on LinkedIn. I can introduce you to a contact at PIMCO. While obviously not a hedge fund, they employ traders and analysts. They have offices NYC and CA also overseas in many of the areas you mentioned. We can see if he can introduce you to some traders there at least to get some advice. I attended a workshop in June at PIMCO that was sponsored by the IAVA, so they are certainly military friendly.

I have experience in the financial service industry, but not in the areas you are looking to transition to. But any acronym after your name (CFA, CFP, CPA) is like gold in that world. Adds a lot of credibility to your resume even if you don't have experience, so good luck!

Tom Cal, CFA ⋅ San Francisco, CA Army Veteran, Investment Manager ⋅ 25 years experience

also see: http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~jhasbrou/Miscellaneous/JH_Quantitative%20finance.pdf

and some old guy in the Mid_west once wrote: "Investors should be skeptical of history-based models. Constructed by a nerdy-sounding priesthood using esoteric terms such as beta, gamma, sigma and the like, these models tend to look impressive. Too often, though, investors forget to examine the assumptions behind the symbols. Our advice: Beware of geeks bearing formulas."

Tom Cal, CFA ⋅ San Francisco, CA Army Veteran, Investment Manager ⋅ 25 years experience

Organizations that offer networking, mentoring and educational opportunities include the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Institute, cfainstitute.org) and QWAFAFEW (the "Quantitative Work Alliance for Applied Finance, Education and Wisdom", see qwafafew.org . Both have LinkedIn groups.

Regarding Quantitative Finance, it is a broad field, and can involve everything from trades held for milliseconds (high-frequency trading, perhaps a form of "automated market-making") to investments owned "forever" (certain value-oriented investors that utilize "quantitative" screens and other "quant" techniques.)

Some recommended background reading, somewhat but not exclusively quantitative:
1) http://theinvestmentsblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/buffett-three-chapters-investors-should.html

"* Those three chapters are 8 and 20 of The Intelligent Investor
(Benjamin Graham, 1949) and chapter 12 of The General Theory of
Employment, Interest, and Money (John Maynard Keynes, 1936).

-Chapter 8 in Graham's The Intelligent Investor is "The Investor and
Market Fluctuations."

-Chapter 20 in Graham's The Intelligent Investor is "Margin of Safety
as the Central Concept of Investment." -Chapter 12 in Keynes' General
Theory is "The State of Long-Term Expectation."

2)
I like Dr. Shiller's work, speeches, interviews, etc. quite a bit:
e.g.
http://www.worldcat.org/title/irrational-exuberance/oclc/42980281&referer=brief_results

http://www.worldcat.org/title/finance-and-the-good-society/oclc/761851056&referer=brief_results

3)
http://www.worldcat.org/title/when-genius-failed-the-rise-and-fall-of-long-term-capital-management

4)
http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=where+are+the+customers+yachts

Tom Cal, CFA ⋅ San Francisco, CA Army Veteran, Investment Manager ⋅ 25 years experience

Matt, message me directly and I'll see if I can help with networkign and advice. - Tom

Samantha Calonita ⋅ Savannah, GA Samantha Calonita Coaching ⋅ 4 years experience

Hi Matt,

Thank you for your service. If you are interested in working with a Mentor when you are back in the States, I would encourage you to apply to ACP's Veteran Mentoring Program. We work with many of the major Investment Banks such as JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Citi, Barclay's and Goldman Sachs. In September, we also started to work with our first hedge fund, Och-Ziff. Feel free to check out our website and if you have any questions just send me a message!

Happy Holidays,
Samantha

www.acp-usa.org

Matthew Mueller ⋅ Boston, MA U.S. Air Force, Captain ⋅ 7 years served

Thank you very much for the input thus far. Is there anybody else in the community who might be willing to mentor me?

Regards,

Matt

Matthew Mueller ⋅ Boston, MA U.S. Air Force, Captain ⋅ 7 years served

Thanks Chris, I am just beginning on my search so any possible connections will be helpful. I appreciate your reply.

Matt

Christopher Coutu ⋅ Taftville, CT U.S. Army National Guard, First Lieutenant ⋅ 17 years served

Things work out?

I have some connections in NYC. So reach out if you like.

Chris

Matthew Mueller ⋅ Boston, MA U.S. Air Force, Captain ⋅ 7 years served

Spencer,

Again, thank you very much for your assistance.

Matt

Matthew Mueller ⋅ Boston, MA U.S. Air Force, Captain ⋅ 7 years served

I should add, I am also fine with London, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, etc. International is not a problem for me. Texas and Florida could also work if my wife has the possibility of finding work in her field. Wherever the opportunity is great.

Matthew Mueller ⋅ Boston, MA U.S. Air Force, Captain ⋅ 7 years served

Probably New York City/Northern NJ/CT, but not opposed to most locations on the eastern Seaboard from DC - Boston, or the Bay Area. I lived in Boston from 2010-2012, but currently in the Middle East. Chicago would be a tougher sell to my spouse, but I understand it is definitely a trading town.

Spencer Lopez ⋅ Hopatcong, NJ Mediacom ⋅ 8 years experience

Matthew where are you located or looking to locate?