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Thoughts on Bitcoin Investing

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Bitcoin is a currency based on blockchain technology. The key words here are “based on.” This is important is because Bitcoin itself can fail (i.e. have its price fall to 0) while blockchain technology can simultaneously thrive. For investors, this is a critical distinction that they need to be mindful of, as that is what fundamentally drives the decision to invest in Bitcoin instead of another type of blockchain tech like Ethereum. I will first explain briefly what Bitcoin is, and the technology that underpins it. Then I will discuss what it means to actually invest in Bitcoin as opposed to other blockchain technologies. Bitcoin explained: A) Blockchain and decentralization Bitcoin was created to be a decentralized currency system that isn’t reliant on banks or institutions to govern its stability. For example, if we transacted money, an institution (ex. Paypal, Chase Bank, etc) would be the arbiter of these transactions. But what if we wanted a system where the very
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Best 4 Credit Cards for the Average Consumer

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There are lots of great annual fee credit cards out there with big spend bonuses and perks but for the average consumer who either doesn’t have the time or expertise to take advantage, there are enough great free cards that should cover all bases. For someone who mostly spends on Restaurants or Travel (taxi, flights, hotels), and Amazon for just about everything else, my spending habits can be captured with the following 4 cards: Uber Visa, Citi DoubleCash, Amazon Store Card, Chase Freedom These 4 cards will allow you to average 2-5% cash back all of your purchases, and best of all – no annual fees! Uber Visa: 4% on restaurants, 3% on hotels/airfare, 2% on online purchases (Uber included), 1% on everything else. No foreign transaction fees! Chase Freedom 5% on categories (up to $75 back) - only use during the quarter that is relevant (Q1 gas stations and commuter transportation, Q2 grocery and drugstores, Q3 restaurants and movie theaters, Q4 Walmart and department Stor
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Don't Rush into the MongoDB IPO

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MongoDB (MDB), one of the biggest names in NoSQL databases has gone public! Investors rejoice as the stock shoots up over 30% in its debut on the NASDAQ last week, putting it’s market cap at over $1.5 billion. In a CNBC interview with CEO Dev Ittycheria on IPO day, he claimed that MongoDB sees itself as a partner to cloud giants like Amazon and criticizes traditional database technologies as archaic. The company also touts the Stack Overflow survey of 64,000 developers that reported MongoDB as their preferred database to work with. For the average retail investor potentially looking to jump on the MongoDB ship, there are a few contextual points you will want to understand with regards to these comments. Unless you work with both NoSQL and traditional relational databases (RDBMS) on a daily basis, there will likely be knowledge gaps you will want to fill before deciding whether or not to invest. First, a three sentence description of SQL and NoSQL . SQL - involve
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My Most Difficult Interview

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I interviewed with Palantir - $20 billion valuation as of this writing. It is a company that produces software and largely works with governments and institutions in areas ranging from cybersecurity to financial fraud detection. It was co-founded by Peter Thiel and in his book Zero to One, coauthored by Blake Masters, Peter reveals his favorite question. What is something you believe in that the majority of the world does not? Had I read the book prior to this final round I would have been much more prepared. The exact same question was asked to me – a wondrous example of when reading books about the industry in general can help tremendously. In an interview, you want to begin answering a question before the “awkward time zone”, defined loosely as the time it takes before responding becomes late and creating an impression of not knowing what you’re talking about. I believe 10 seconds of silent thinking is the limit before one enters the zone. 10 seconds is usually sufficient t
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Thoughts on Interview Strategies

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There are many useful guides out there that give information about how to prepare for interviews - smile, research the firm/position, send follow-up emails, among others. I would agree that these are all important steps but the reality of today's job market demands much more than simple heuristics. The job markets I will speak to in this post involve analytics, consulting, business and finance at a general level. I originally prepared this information for a volunteer speaking event done for UniCareer - a career development organization targeted towards international students, but these tips and methodologies are universally applicable in today’s job market. From my peers and first-hand experience interviewing at financial services, consulting, technology, and marketing firms, there are a few predominant practices and categorizations I find helpful to distinguish. I believe the most useful initial breakout of an interview is behavioral vs technical. Broadly speaking, behaviora
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Thoughts on Personal Finance

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Personal finance is a tricky subject for young workers, as it is often a scary and unfamiliar path. Whether or not you took personal finance classes in college, it will definitely be something you need to prepare to deal with, as your actions (or inactions) will have drastic consequences. With current interest rates, putting money in a traditional savings account is akin to stuffing money under a mattress. Here I seek to highlight alternative methods of saving that will preserve and grow the value of your money. Why does preservation of capital matter? For simplicity sake assume you graduated in 2013 and have been working for the last 3 years taking home an average of $100K a year. According to U.S. Inflation Calculator , you effectively lost $6.6K over that time just due to inflation (2.2%). Another way of putting it, the average prices for goods and services have increased 2.2%, thus eroding your purchase power. So what exactly are these better uses to grow your savings? The foll
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