Blog
May 3rd, 2021
The End of the Journey
Wow. I cannot believe this year in ISM has almost reached the end. This is my very last blog for the year, and I cannot believe my eyes. It feels as though I just began this journey not that long ago, and within one blink of an eye, here I am writing my final blog. Looking back at when I first began this ISM journey, I remember the struggles I faced, and the constant number of times I doubted my ability to continue in this course. I feel so proud of my perseverance throughout this course and the fact that I was able to grow and learn so much throughout the past year in ISM. The growth that I have experienced is unbelievable to think back on, and all of the skills that I learned are ones that I am so proud of learning, and that I had never expected to be skilled in before. The experience that I was able to gain over the course of this year is unbelievable, and it is so amazing to look back on. I cannot believe that I have completed my mentorship too, and I have learned so much on my topic of wealth management this year. Of course, my journey is not over, as I plan to take ISM 2 next year with a different topic. While I look forward to that completely, it still such a satisfying feeling knowing the way I completed this school year in ISM with such odd conditions like being alone in a virtual environment, and having virtual mentor meetings, and yet, I was able to gain so many skills, which makes me even more excited for next year to get a true experience even better than this year. Now, after a year of blogs, I can finally end my blog with the statement, “I feel proud for accomplishing these goals and I look forward to another amazing and indescribable experience in ISM next year.”
​
​
Approaching the End of the Road
April 19, 2021
This week in ISM was surely a hectic one. My final product was due at the end of the week, and it hit me that I was so close to the end. I have been working on this project all of second semester and it was crazy for me to think that it was approaching an end. I worked hard all week to make sure that all of the details of my project were lined up and ready for submission. I had worked hard this semester to make sure that I finished my project early enough to have time to peacefully and calmly look over it and check over the details so that I was not stressing over finishing at the last minute. Of course there were a few things that I had not noticed before that I looked over last minute, but it was nothing too significant or stressful compared to when I completed my original work. I feel very satisfied with my final product and I feel so accomplished that I was able to create something so original and so unique that successfully displayed and showcased all of the experience and knowledge that I had gained throughout the past year, not just semester. I felt so proud of myself that I had accomplished all of my goals that I had set for myself for the semester and that I had successfully achieved something I have been working on for so long. My goal is to continue where to knock my final presentation out of the park and successfully complete it with flying colors. I look forward to accomplishing the school and putting my year and ISM to an end.
​
​
April 5, 2021
Oh! Where Has the Time Gone?
This week I was really able to start seeing the fact that I do not have that much time left before my final product will be due. I have made a lot of progress on my project, but this week I had the realization of how little time I have left. I've been staying on track and I have a plan to where I will finish in time and have time to fine-tune my project, but I had not realized the shortage of time before the actual due date until this week. Me and my mentor were not able to meet this week because she had a very busy week at work, but I was able to look over the project on my own and also conduct some research that I will be putting into an informational video as part of my project. This was a great week for me to get a feel for my project on my own and make sure that I was fully understanding it so that I have an understanding of what to present to my audience on Final presentation night. This week my goal was to finish my work early and I was successfully able to accomplish this goal, and I was also able to complete extra work to get further on my track. My goal is to have pretty much my entire project done within the next week, so that I have a little bit of time left to go over the small details. I look forward to accomplishing this goal and to completing my project that I know will be successful because of the amazing mentorship and experience that I am gaining currently.
​
​
A Week on the Grind
March 29, 2021
This week in ISM I was able to really work on my final product more than I had been in previous weeks. In the previous weeks I have been using more for reflection and brainstorming. But this week was one of the first in a while but I was able to really get to work and be productive and move regarding my final product much more than normal. I had a mentor meeting this week. It was one of the most successful Mentor meetings that I have had so far. We had a set plan of what we wanted to accomplish, and it made the meeting ran very efficiently. This meeting was very productive and we got a lot done in little time in comparison to the previous week's and the previous mentor meeting. During this meeting we were able to finalize the wealth Outlook which made up a major part of my final product. Along the way my mentor taught me lessons about wooden aspects of each part of the wealth Outlook and I was able to learn a lot of lessons and gained a lot of real-world experience regarding how well that looks are used in in real life for financial advisors and their clients. I felt protected that a major part of my final product has been completed and that I was able to understand and comprehend fully what it took to create this portion of my project. I feel that understanding the significance and importance behind each aspect of my final product is important so that not only am I able to explain it, but I'm able to be sure of the knowledge that I have gained from it as well as the experience. This week my goal was to finish my work early, I was able to accomplish this goal successfully this week, and the school carries on to the future weeks as well. I also hope that by the time the next two weeks arrive, the majority of my final product is done so that I have ample time to go over and fine-tune my project to check for small details, which I was not able to do as easily for my original work. I look forward to accomplishing these goals and gaining more experience and knowledge from my mentorship this year and ISM.
​
​
March 22, 2021
An Orthodox week...How Unusual?
This week in ISM I had one of the most normal and Orthodox weeks that I have had in a long time. This week was more of a time for me to work and catch up on assignments also get ahead. I hadn't had a week where all I had to do was a couple of assignments without anything coming in the way or anything disrupting my progress in a long time. I meant our visit this week got canceled as my mentor had a very busy day at work the day we were supposed to me. Although At first I felt a little bit put back because I felt this would put me behind, I realized I had ways to make up for the missing of this Mentor visit. in order to fill my satisfaction, I conducted some research towards my final product and I also started working a little bit on my own on my final product. I have done a lot of work on my final product but majority are there has been with my mentor so it was nice to do some alone work as well because that is a major part of my final product. This week of my goal as always with to get my work done early, I successfully am able to say that I was able to achieve the school. The same goal carries onto next week and the week after and I feel confident that I will be able to achieve it. I also want to be done with two-thirds of my final product by the beginning of April and that is the goal I'm going to strive for these next few weeks. I look forward to achieving these goals and learning more about wealth management as well as gaining more experience throughout these last few weeks of Addison. It is mind-blowing to me how fast time has gone in this course and how little time I have left, so I plan to really soak in these last few weeks and really gain the experience I can.
​
​
March 15, 2021
When It All Starts to Settle In…
These past two weeks have been a little bit different due to the fact that my school was on spring break. The week before spring break, I was able to get ahead and really catch up with ISM work because I knew that I was travelling over spring break. I knew that I would not have as much of a chance to catch up on work after spring break, so I took advantage of the time I had before break. I started the week of strong with a mentor meeting on monday. We covered some good information in the meeting. We went through the risk analysis part of the client information. She taught me about its significance. My mentor taught me about how my choices represent my risk taking abilities and how that survey affects the financial decisions generated for me. We then went over some research I had done. At the end, we said our goodbyes, and created a plan for the next meeting. I learned a lot about the importance of how risk analysis and client information affects a client's financial decisions made by the advisor. This meeting was important to me because I really felt the fact that I was getting first hand experience. Over spring break, I did not have much available technology to do much physical work. However what I was able to do was reflect on the progress I have made so far, and also sort of develop a faster pace plan for the next few weeks since I have already been moving ahead fast. I find that there is no harm in finishing my final product early, so I can make sure I have a good amount of time to fine tune it as well. I cannot believe how much time has already passed, and how much progress I have made with my mentor, and I also cannot believe how much little time is left in ISM this year, when it feels like I just started this class as a new student. It feels surreal, and it is starting to settle in. I look forward to following this plan and also gaining more first hand experience in the wealth management world, but also I plan to really enjoy these next few weeks and really let all of my knowledge, experiences, and most importantly, memories sink in.
March 1, 2021
The Catch Up Game
​
This week in ISM, was a catch up week more than anything else. After being hit by the snow storm in Texas last week, all of our technology and work for the previous week was questionable, and many were not able to be completed. This week was my time to catch up on all of those assignments and also get any problems fixed, so that I could get back on track for ISM as normal. Last week, my mentor visit got cancelled due to the snow storm, and this week, I was again not able to have one due to the fact that my mentor had to straighten out some stuff that needed to be fixed because of the previous week. Even though I did not have a mentor visit this week, I was able to get in some very valuable research that can go towards my final product. I was able to research more about the Gamestop Insanity which I had been wanting to learn more about. I was also able to learn more about how the youth struggles financially and how that is getting especially worse because of the Coronavirus. This week my goal as always was to finish my work early, and I was able to do that for some assignments, but for other assignments I did not complete them as early as I would've liked to. I felt very satisfied with the research I was able to conduct this week, and with the work I was able to complete and catch up on. I look forward to incorporating this research effectively into my final product for ISM this year.
​
February 22, 2021
The Catch Up Game
This week in ISM, there was a sudden turn of events. Although no additional work was planned for the week, besides the basic weekly assignments and tasks I needed to complete and a mentor visit, the snow storm that hit Texas this past week set all of those plans back. Since I could not complete the majority of my work, due to power outages, this was a great time for me to reflect on my progress in ISM so far this semester, and also to brainstorm and plan some more for my final product. When it comes to the product itself, I have already finalized my plan, but there are many small details in my project that were still to be decided and that I needed to think about. For example, in regards to my client information section of my final product, I needed to think about the answers to many of the questions regarding my client’s financial situation and also the answers to their questions in the risk analysis section. I also began brainstorming ways I was going to format my final product and put it all together. Last semester, I put all of the documents in a folder, but that was quite boring, and I would like to discover a more unique way to display my project for the end of the year. This week my goal was to finish my work earlier, but obviously with power restrictions I achieved this goal to the best of my ability. My goal this week was also to have a planned schedule for my mentor visit, and I did create this plan, but I did not have my mentor visit this week. With this time to reflect and brainstorm, I feel even more confident going into this next week and I feel prepared for the knowledge and experience I am going to gain this week. I look forward to gaining more information on wealth management, especially through my mentorship, and accomplishing the goals I set for myself.
​
​
February 15th, 2021
Take a Deep Breath
This week in ISM was a week for me to catch up and get back on pace. These past few weeks of mentor visits have caused the past few weeks to feel very rushed and anxious, in a sense, and this week was a time for it to slow down. Even though I had a mentor visit, it was earlier in the week this time, on a monday, which allowed me to have time to catch up on things that needed to be done, but also have time to reflect on my mentor visits and the information and experience I have already gained from them. This week my goal was to finish my work earlier in the week as always, and unfortunately I was not as successful in completing that goal this week. I finished my work on time, but I did not complete it earlier than I had the previous week. My goal for next week is to redeem myself by completing my work early. Another one of my goals is to have another structured plan for my mentor visit. I have noticed that having a plan of what to do allows my meetings to run so efficiently. I also want to conduct some research on different financial goals and statuses, so that I can have a clearer idea of what kind of characteristics I want my hypothetical client to have. Then my mentor and I can enter that information into the system, and we can move onto the next part of my final product. I feel very good and confident though because we have already made such good progress early on regarding my final product, that I should have much more time than last semester to make detailed tweaks on my project, and truly make sure it is completed to the best of my ability and understanding. I look forward to gaining more knowledge and experience on wealth management and achieving these goals.
​
​
February 7, 2021
Newfound Confidence
​
This week was another progress week in the second semester of ISM so far. The past few weeks have been stressful getting the mentor process started, and it feels so satisfying to finally know that I have this process on the road, and I already have so much knowledge and experience gained even after only two mentor visits. I also have realized that even though these mentor visits have both been virtual so far, due to the coronavirus restrictions, I have been able to still get a good experience from the mentor visits. I am still able to practice skills such as eye contact so that I can gain more professional skills. This week I accomplished my goal of having an established plan crafted for my mentor visit for the week. I had a schedule of the things that I wanted to accomplish, and that allowed for the meeting to be so much more efficient. I also was able to finish my work early this week, and that made me feel satisfied as well, since that is a continuous goal. These two goals will continue on throughout the rest of the year in ISM, and I truly think that I can accomplish them. I have a newfound confidence regarding my final product and knowledge I will gain throughout the rest of this year after these first two mentor visits, and I look forward to seeing this take place.
​
​
The Mentor Meetings Have Begun
February 1, 2021
This week in ISM, was a milestone. After some planning and patience, I had my first mentor visit. It was a virtual meeting of course, but I still was very excited about it and I think I had a great outcome. The meeting was virtual but I still found myself figuring out that I needed to have a set plan of action for the meeting. I was successful in doing that for this meeting, and I am going to make sure that continues for every mentor visit from here on out. I also felt a lot more confident on the level of work I am going to create for my final product even after one meeting with my mentor. We were able to plan out so much of the ways we are going to prepare and create my project, along with all of the resources that she will be able to provide me. It made me feel very excited to work on my project with a mentor, because I underestimated the amount of experience and knowledge that would be gained from it. I have a new goal of always having a set plan for each mentor visit, so we can stay on task without distractions or hesitations. My goal for this week was to finish my work earlier and unfortunately, I was not as successful this week with that goal. However, that gives me motivation to work even harder next week to redeem myself. I look forward to accomplishing these goals, creating more, and having more mentor experiences throughout the rest of this year in ISM.
​
​
January 25, 2021
The Start of Clear Progress
​
This week in ISM I was able to take a major step towards the beginning of my final product process. I had been brainstorming ideas for a while after completing my original work. But this week, I was able to come up with a full proposal of what I am going to do for my final project this year. After all of my brainstorming, I decided that I am going to create another hypothetical client, client information sheet, risk assessment, and an investment portfolio like I did for my original work. However, there will be some major differences and changes between my original work and this final product. I will be incorporating a lot of the common financial problems and struggles that many people are experiencing during this coronavirus global pandemic, and I will be using them to create a realistic, relatable project. I truly think that this project will not only showcase my ability to solve these problems and prove my knowledge of my topic, but it will be a chance to educate society about the financial and economic crisis going on in the world right now. I am proud of myself for not only being able to plan my project so early in advance, but also for being able to create a rough idea of a plan so that I can stay on task for the next twelve weeks. My goal has been to finish my work early, and this week I did finish my work earlier. It was not as early as I could have, but it was progress and I can improve from here. I believe that there is always room to improve, and my goal for next week is to finish my work even earlier. I also hope to discuss my final product ideas with my mentor in a mentor visit by the end of the week. I look forward to accomplishing these goals throughout the next week and the rest of the year.
​
​
January 18, 2021
Progress in the Making
This week I felt back into the pace of things again. It felt nice to have some time to get back into the routine of ISM again, but now that I am back in that routine, it feels good. My mentor’s background check got approved, so I finally feel like my mentorship is moving along, and it is off to a great start. I am proud of the progress I have made, and now I actually have a true mentor who was approved by the district. I have moved on to the next step now that my mentor was approved by the district, and I am so excited to schedule a first mentor visit with my mentor, Mrs. Aceves. There is so much that I can learn from a professional in wealth management and I am really looking forward to getting this process started with. I am working to be much more efficient with my work. This week I finished my assessment early and I felt very satisfied with myself. I was very proud of myself for working towards this goal and making progress. I am going to strive to keep making more progress towards this goal of getting my work done early and efficiently. Another goal of mine is to maintain a sense of strong professionalism with my mentor and I am going to work to reach this goal as well.
​
​
January 11, 2021
Easing Back Into the Process
This week in ISM I like to think of as time to ease back in. After two weeks of feeling satisfied and accomplished with my first semester of ISM, my goals being accomplished, and my original work being completed, along with time to reflect, create new goals, and plan out my mentality for this next semester, I was finally ready to get back into it. I was not assigned much work this week on top of a blog, but I did a few extra things to make the process of coming back to ISM more smooth and efficient. I contacted my mentor to complete her background check, and that made me realize how much I have grown this semester. I started off not even sure about what topic I want to study and now I have a professional mentor who I am going to learn about the real world of wealth management from. I also created a schedule with all of the upcoming due dates, so I can plan ahead and plan accordingly to finish all of my assignments early, and finish my work more efficiently than I did last semester. My main goal for this semester truly is to not procrastinate and get what I need to get done accomplished way before I am required to. That was the main problem I had last semester and I will strive to improve and change that this time. I look forward to accomplishing not just this goal, but many others along with it.
​
​
Some Much Needed Time to Reflect
January 5th, 2020
These past two weeks consisted of winter break for me and my fellow peers. It was a great time to unwind and soak in all of our achievements and success from the year so far and it was a great time to relax. However, I was able to make time to fit ISM into my break of course, and I began setting a few expectations and predictions for this next semester. Since we did not have any assignments due directly when we returned, it was a great time for me to brainstorm some goals that I would like to strive to achieve in these next two nine weeks. I began by reflecting on my last semester and using those reflections to figure out what I want to change. Last semester, I had a hard time completing my work early, and found myself using the last possible moments to finish my work, instead of planning ahead and being able to finish my work early with a feeling of satisfaction. I want to change that this semester and allow myself to be more organized with my work to lead to less stress and chaos, and allow me to stay calm. This semester I also want to be more open to discussing my ideas with others, and be less shy in the area of professional communication. I will be forced to do this in a way because I have a mentor who I need to communicate my ideas with. Lasty, this semester I hope to find more enjoyment in my work. Although I had fun creating my original work last semester, I found myself often forgetting the reasons that I chose this topic in the first place. I look forward to reaching for these goals throughout the rest of my year in ISM.
​
​
December 14th, 2020
The Week That has Been Long Awaited
This week was an extreme week. It was full of challenges, obstacles, chaos. But it was also full of satisfaction and achievement. This was the week my original work was due. Although I had been working on this project for so long, the final week still found its way to make itself stressful. I also encountered sudden challenges like my entire portfolio’s numbers switching around, and a lot of my data not saving in Yahoo Finance. However, I was able to fix everything before it was too late, and I feel satisfied and proud of my ability to do so. It was so different to work on a project for over three months. I had never had experience with that and it was a great journey this semester. This week was basically the lead up of all my goals. All of my work this semester had led to this week. I felt such achievement and success in the fact that all of my hard work, research, and planning had come to an end for this semester. My goal for this week is to finish all of my work early, before it needs to be done. My goal is to also have my mentor confirmed by the end of this week, or by the end of this weekend. I look forward to the next semester and experience of ISM.
​
​
December 7th, 2020
The Journey before the Final Destination
​
This week I would consider a week full of knowledge. I spent the whole week finishing up the research and planning for my original work project so that next week all I have to do for my original work is work on the final formatting. One thing I felt proud of this week was the fact that I was able to be productive. My goal was to finish all of my research and planning by the end of the week and I feel proud to say that I accomplished that goal. Another one of my goals was to finally finish my interviews and I am happy to say I have finished my required amount of interviews, and even got in touch with a few extras to schedule more. Even if I don’t use them as a mentor, any form of information regarding my chosen topic for the year in ISM is helpful so that I can successfully think like a wealth manager when completing any form of work for this class. My goal for this week is to finish my final original work project early in the week so that I am basically ready to submit before the actual due date. I also hope to plan who I am going to choose for my mentor and plan the conversation before the end of the week as well so that I can officially ask them this weekend or next week. I feel confident in myself that I can accomplish these goals, and I look forward to achieving all of my goals throughout the rest of this year.
​
November 30th, 2020
A Week of Knowledge
​
This week I was able to really focus on my original work. I researched investment portfolios, more specifically how advisors choose investment plans for their specific clients, and used that article for my research assessment for the week. Throughout Thanksgiving break, I was able to really start laying out my original work project, and I began on forming the final thing after completing the majority of my research. I learned how much research goes into original work before actually completing the physical project. I had to look into so many topics because there was so much that I was not even knowledgeable about. Since my original work project is a hypothetical stock portfolio, I needed to find a platform that I can form a portfolio on. After doing some research I found a few different options, and I am leaning towards using Yahoo Finance to form my portfolio. I also started picking out some of the stocks that I am going to use in the stock investment part of my portfolio. These last two weeks my goal was to finish my work early and I was able to finish my work earlier than the previous weeks. That same goal will carry on to all of the weeks that follow these past two. My other goal is to have my original work almost completely finished by the end of this week so that I have all of next week to make edits and final touch ups. I look forward to accomplishing these goals.
​
​
November 16th, 2020
Reconnecting With My True Self
This week was tougher because I felt stuck in a way. The past few weeks in ISM have felt so chaotic and it felt not only weird, but it felt wrong to not be doing that much. But I realized soon enough that I needed that time to figure out a few things. I wanted to start figuring out which stocks I was going to use in my original work project, and I had already done a bit of research, but I did want to dive a bit more into it. So I researched an article regarding some of the best stocks that are not only successful right now, but are almost guaranteed to be successful in the future. I used this article to write my research assessment for the week, and I gained plenty of information regarding these stocks. I think that this really gave me a boost to my original work project. This week my goal was to finish my work earlier in the week than last week. I accomplished this goal! I was able to finish my work earlier than the previous week. I felt very accomplished and satisfied with myself. I did not accomplish my goal or finish my interviews. However, that is okay. I am working on it and with that I feel accomplished with myself. My goal for next week is to finish my work earlier than the previous week, as always. Also I have the same goal of finishing my interviews. I also am adding a new goal this week. I want to take the extra mile to finally feel passionate and enjoy what I am doing. Sometimes I feel lost, and my mind gets taken over by the academic chaos. This week, I want to indulge in the enjoyment of this. The true reason I worked so hard to take this class.
November 9, 2020
Working Hard to Keep Ahead
This week was a hectic one. I had to prepare my research speech, record it, present it, as well as conduct an interview, and finally write an assessment on it. Although it was a crazy week, I was able to be taught some very valuable lessons, and I was able to get a lot of practice on my communication skills. Recording a speech was something I am not very familiar with, and it was definitely a learning experience for both my classmates and I. However, I learned how efficient it is to record a speech and simply play it for the class. It also made the speeches go by a lot quicker as well. This week I interviewed Jeniffer Aceves who is a client associate at Merrill Lynch. I had an hour long interview which is longer than any interview I have had so far. She went into such deep details with me and it was such a pleasure to interview her, and I am so grateful for the opportunity. This week my goal was to finish my work early. I tried hard to work ahead, but with so much, it was hard to get it done as early as I would've liked. However, I did get it done early and I am proud ot say I accomplished my goal. My goal for next week is the same thing, to be on top of my work and get finished early. Also I want to have another interview done by the end of the week. I look forward to gaining even more professional experience.
​
​
November 2, 2020
A Week Full of Chaos That Led to Goals
This week, I had a tough time staying on schedule. I got my work done but barely. I was so crammed with school and I went out of town that I did not finish my work as early as I had planned, which was my goal. However, I was able to gain some very valuable information on investing at a young age when researching for my research assessment. This was my second week researching this topic, as I researched this last week as well. But, I felt that I needed to learn more, and to be honest, I do not think I am done learning about it. However, I think that the way that I will learn even more is through a mentor, that can actually teach me about it one on one. I think this personal experience is what will truly allow me to finally understand the details of investing. I also know that it will take a long time for me to learn enough about investing to execute my path, and I do not think I will be able to master that in one year, or even in high school itself. My goal for next week is to complete two professional interviews, to make up for last week and also to finish my required three. I do think I will conduct more than one interview though. My goal is also, the same as every week, to finish my work early in the week. I feel that I have done a good amount of research to execute a fantastic research speech, and my last goal is to work hard on my speech, and speak like I know I can do.
October 26th, 2020
A Professional Experience
​
This week I learned a lot of valuable information especially from my interview with a professional from Merrill Lynch. Since it was my first professional interview, there were some flaws but also some great achievements. I struggled making eye contact especially with it being online, and I kept on getting distracted. However, I feel that I communicated very well with the professional, and I got some very valuable responses as well. I was able to write a very well developed assessment as well. I also learned a lot about investing at a young age. I think that investing early is such a great choice because it will benefit me so much in the future. I will be able to build money starting at a young age. I also gained some valuable information about Roth IRA accounts from my teacher Coach Goff. This week my goal was to finish my work early, and it is safe to say I accomplished this goal! I finished my work as early as I could and it was much earlier than I had the previous few weeks. I was very efficient this week and I was very satisfied with myself. Next week my goal is the exact same thing, and I think it will be the same goal for the rest of the year. I also hope to have another interview scheduled by the end of the week. I look forward to diving more deep into my topic throughout the year.
October 19th, 2020
Marking Period Crunch Time
This week I would say I learned a lot in comparison to the other weeks. Not that I did not learn much in previous weeks, this was just an increased amount. After conducting all of my alumni interviews I was able to gain a lot of valuable information and I finally felt like I was understanding my topic and original work project. I also worked on planning out my original work some more and was able to become more aware about exactly what I needed to do. Last week my goal was to get my work done earlier, however, with it being the end of the marking period, my week was jam packed, and I did not complete my work as early as I wanted. My goal this week is to get my work done much earlier in the week, by Tuesday or Wednesday. I hope that with this being a new marking period, the workload will even out. My goals for the future are also to get my three interviews done by next week. I look forward to conducting more interviews, and gaining more experience learning about my topic, and I am excited to work with a mentor to really dig deep down into my original work by the end of this semester and final product at the end of the year.
October 12, 2020
A Great Zoom Experience
This week I had one of the best experiences I have had in the class yet - the business symposium. It was so great to be able to work on my communication skills with professionals, and even though it was over zoom, it was still such a great learning experience. I think that it is so important to learn the basics of communication and interviewing before starting the process of your real interviews. Even with the interviews being on zoom, I was still able to practice skills like making eye contact, thanking the professional, asking questions, etc. The professionals gave constructive criticism that I will be sure to use in my future. This week my goal was to get my work done earlier, and to be honest that did not happen. With it being the end of the nine weeks, I had so many assignments that I was not able to finish as fast as I wanted to. I will make it a goal of mine next week to complete my work earlier. Next week another goal of mine is to use the communication skills I learned in the symposium, when talking to professionals in wealth management. I am so excited to use these skills and put them into action throughout the year.
​
A Fulfilling Idea
October 04, 2020
​
This week was one of the most fulfilling weeks for me so far. Even though I did not have many assignments or anything along those lines this week, I came up with something that I felt very proud of. A great original work proposal. After discussing it with my teacher I decided that I am going to create a fictional client (based on myself in the future) and a hypothetical stock investment plan for them. I felt so excited after coming up with this idea because I feel like it is so original and will be such an amazing experience to base my client on myself in the future. My goal last week was to get my work done earlier, and to be honest, I did not. This week was extremely tough workload wise, and I pushed my work too far back. I finished on time, but I could have definitely done it earlier. My goal for next week is to actually finish my work on time, however, next week is also very tough so I will work my hardest to do the best that I can. I also hope to start finding contacts and reaching out next week to professionals, to begin the process of finding my mentor. I am very excited to keep looking into my topic of wealth management and I am feeling so motivated to begin my original work project to showcase all of my knowledge in an interesting, original way.
​
​
A Reminder of Passion
September 28, 2020
​
This week was less intense than the previous two. Although yes, I had assignments due, none of them were as vigorous as the previous weeks. That was good because I needed some time to reflect on the past two weeks and start thinking about my original work. While writing my topic proposal I remembered why I got interested in my topic of wealth management in the first place, and I was reminded of my passion for it. That was a good refresher because I felt like I had already forgotten it, which is not a good thing. I brainstormed a few ideas for original work. Some of these include a hypothetical client, or company, and a hypothetical stock investment plan for them. I still need to look more into these ideas to see if they are doable and if I will be able to pull them off successfully. This week, honestly, I did not complete my work as early as the previous weeks. I sort of laid back this week to relax, which was not totally right as I could have done my work earlier. The same goal of getting my work done early will go forward to next week, and probably to all weeks in the future. Another one of my goals for this week is to talk with my teacher deeply about my original work ideas, and see what she has to say about them. Any type of criticism or advice is always helpful to me, and I am open to suggestions and her help. However, even though I was not as successful with my time management, I am proud of the fact that I was reminded of my passion for my topic while writing my topic proposal. I consider that an accomplishment. I am excited to further expand my goals and gain more knowledge on this topic, especially now that I have been reminded on why I chose it.
A Retry
September 21, 2020
​
This week was very similar to last week in the way that I gained knowledge through my assessment. Last week, I chose an article that focused on the negatives of wealth management and I used it to learn about what I need to face, such as wealth managers taking illegal shortcuts for their clients to be able to avoid paying taxes. After writing my article I realized I did not look deep enough into it. I needed to look more and come up with a solution of exactly what I am going to do when I face these situations. So this week, I wrote my assessment on the continuation of that article to see if I could do a better job. At first, it was difficult to figure out these questions. I knew questions I needed to ask myself but I did not understand how to respond to them, as I am not a professional wealth manager and probably will not know how to deal with these illegal situations before actually experiencing them. However, what I was able to come up with was a few plans of how I would avoid these problems. Some of these include sitting down with a client and discussing my morals and values with them before beginning business or letting my clients know that I cannot get too involved in their personal lives. By learning where the issues originate from, I was able to figure out a solution of how to try and avoid them. My goal last week was to get my work done earlier, and once again I got it done earlier than the week before, but it still could have been done even before that. My goal for next week is to have more time management and create a schedule to get my work done. However, one thing I was very proud of that I did this week was look beyond the article and ask myself serious questions about my future. This was something that I did not do very well in the previous weeks. Next week, I hope to keep that up. I want to learn more about the actual facts of how wealth managers deal with these illegal situations next week, so I can come up with more factual solutions.
Understanding the Flaws to Understand the Success
September 12, 2020
This week was almost just as eye opening as the previous one. I found myself stumped again when trying to research and write my assessment. I had many questions and many things I wanted to look more into regarding wealth management, but none of them felt like what I really needed to learn this week. That is when the idea came to me. Before learning about all of the pros, benefits, and glories of wealth management, I need to understand the flaws. I need to understand the things that other people would see as “wrong” or “bad” when thinking about wealth management. I was hesitant to start researching this, but I soon realized that I need to be prepared for what I might face in my future professional life, and this was the best way to start learning about it. I ended up finding the article “Inside the Secret World of Elite Wealth Management” and wrote my assessment on it. It was so interesting to learn how the author trained to be a wealth manager simply to learn about the behavior of the people involved in the field. I will admit, it was tough for me to read all these negative things about the ignorant wealthy clients, but instead of making me discouraged, it made me motivated to be ready to face these kinds of challenges in my future. Last week one of my main goals was to be more on top of my work. Although I did not finish my work as early as I was hoping for, I finished earlier than last year which is an achievement. My goal for the next week is the exact same, to manage my time better and be more on top of my work. I still want to research further into the same questions I had last week. I am looking forward to achieving my goals and looking more into my topic of wealth management throughout the year.
The Eye Opening Experience
September 07, 2020
This week was a definite eye opener for me personally. I learned the amount of time and work I need to put in ISM in order to be successful. I will admit, I was stressed at first, as even though I have taken difficult classes in the past, they have all been very different from ISM. However, I quickly understood how much this class will benefit me, and will help me for the future, so I started getting back on track and made a plan to word hard. I was very nervous to write my first assessment because I had no idea where to start. I knew the basics on wealth management, but that was about it. I did not have a starting point to research. So, I began to brainstorm ideas of questions I had about the field that I could look deeper into. One of the things that I had honestly always wondered about was how clients can trust financial advisors with such large sums of their money. I did some research and ended up writing my assessment about an article on client relationships. It was very interesting to me because I did not expect for there to be so many factors that go into managing a strong relationship with a client. After writing my assessment, I felt like I had learned so much already, even though I had only really learned about a small corner of the Wealth Management world. It made me slightly frightened but also quite excited to realize that there is so much left to learn about my topic. Next week, I am going to work hard to be more on top of my work. Although I completed my work this week, it could have been done earlier. Therefore, my goal for next week is to manage my time better. I brainstormed some questions I have to inspire my assessment next week such as: How do advisors choose which stocks to invest in? How do they gain business? And finally, what do they do if the client ends up losing money? These questions will hopefully be answered in my research throughout the upcoming weeks. I am looking forward to diving more into my topic these next few weeks, and throughout the rest of the year.