TRANCHED: Life after CDOs, Week 11

23 July 2008

3 minute read

I have decided I need to get away from it all, to see a new horizon and get a fresh angle on things. It sounds ridiculous I know, I haven't entered an office for over three months, but I am beginning to feel boxed in.

It has got to the point where I have investigated so many avenues in search of a new job that things have begun to blur - the search needs to be reprioritised and given a renewed discipline. I need to shake the etch-a-sketch in my head and start with a clean slate, ready to move forward and out of the rut that has begun to form.

Ironically, this week has been the most positive period since I was made redundant. It included a number of interviews and calls for second interviews, plus some movement on leads that I thought had gone cold. It may seem very stupid to step away from the process at this time, just as things are beginning to heat up.

However, three and a bit months at home have begun to produce a definite bout of cabin fever. Obviously, there have been weekends away and days out, but I feel I need to step out of the process for a week and take in a different view. So next week the whole family is leaving the hustle and bustle of London and heading for the countryside.

Quite frankly, I would just like to disappear for seven days without access to the internet or the newspapers: every time I walk past a news-stand it seems to have some fresh financial disaster plastered across it in large letters. After 15 months of credit crunch related doom and gloom, I would like to look away for a moment and forget the state of the banking industry.

Everyone, it seems, lays the blame for the current turmoil fairly and squarely at the feet of the banks and the overpaid and irresponsible bankers who made hay while the sun shone. I am fed up with constantly being told by people from outside banking and so-called experts in the press that the greed of bankers lies behind this entire mess.

I am not saying that greed wasn't a factor in our current sorry state of affairs, but greed was far more widespread than in the City or on Wall Street alone. What exactly do the people who believed that it was feasible for house prices to rise 15% a year in perpetuity and who therefore borrowed exorbitant amounts of money, sometimes fraudulently, think they were motivated by?

The entire system was based on the idea that in terms of asset values the only way was up and the more you borrowed the more you would make.

Now, as we continue to see the consequences of this enormous greed-fest unwinding, those who borrowed to join in the game stand beside their 'For sale' signs vilifying those who leant them the money. They are no more innocent than the overpaid bankers who were left holding the toxic waste when the music stopped.

AUTHORCDO Joe

Insider Comment

Ax
Axesss
28 July 2008
Henry 7, just taking a constructive approach, I am keen to know where to get information on these '2 weeks projects' in Brazil or wherever. Suggestions?
I am quite keen to do something useful although torn between the temptation of taking contract work (to show some continuation in CV) and doing things that I would like to do (travel, exploring new cultures etc). If I get to do something which takes me to a new place and just covers my cost and can be shown as a useful experience (for future jobs), I 'll grab that ... Thoughts??
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Ja
Jamestein
25 July 2008
How come nobody says "got fired"? Is "made redundant" the only way?
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Le
Leveraged guy
24 July 2008
It is really annoying to see people having lack of compassion for others. How would these people like to be treated if they were to make redundant? I suppose the way they treat other people: with a bit of inhumanity. It is so easy to target someone when he is weak. At the beginning of my career in leveraged finance, I faced a lot of arrogant people who were reluctant to hire people because of a supposedly lack of experience or because of non attendance to a top business school. I can tell them now that they were stupid enough to miss talented people and their ego just reflects a lack of confidence or a bit of humanity. Not sure how they manage to look themselves everyday in the mirror. CDO Joe, your sincerity does honour you. Do not lose your confidence. You deserve better than this market situation. Leave it for a couple of months and come back stronger. Best of luck.
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Ju
Jub135
24 July 2008
I have been there and empathise. This does not mean that I have found the last 11 weekly posts interesting.... the markets are depressing enough!
PS - B, I think you meant to spell "lou" as "loo"
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He
Henry 7
23 July 2008
Stop wallowing in this self-pity and just get on with it. At the end of the day neither you nor me are that important. All this intospective stuff about "cabin fever" and your need to "step out of the process" is self-indulgent and to some, insulting.There are plenty of people who are far worse of than you (which I know you've probably heard a million times) and nobody really gives a toss.
Instead of "going to the country " why don't you get on a flight and help people in Brazil or South Africa and do something useful [aren't you lucky that you can go to the country for a break]. There are plenty of short term two week projects. This may well provide the perspective you are seeking instead of going to the pub in the country, quaffing a few pints of speckled hen, ordering your steak medium rare and boring your Mrs for the umpteenth time about your problems. Your next problem could be that your Mrs divorces you because all you bang on about is yourself and your blog.
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