Should I have gone into government service?

This dude on Slate.com posted an article on how overrated an MBA degree is. And he thinks students instead should have gone into public service. hmmm...interesting suggestion. I just read the article and have some instant retorts to some of his points but I will hold back until I can digest this more.

Meanwhile, if you have the time, do read it

RIP MBA - The Economic Crisis has exposed the myth of business school expertise.

I'll post more on this and other topics soon.


layyter

whoaa! AWOL big time!

That's right I have not posted in a LOOOONG time. Too much going on dudes. I thought things would slow down in the second semester but as Austin Powers would say "Au contraire". We are free this week and the next (Spring Break!). And I am not going any where, boooo! Staying in Cambridge for a variety of reasons. So what's the delio? well....

-I had to skip McKool's wedding on the left coast. I am embarrassed about it and dont feel good. Unfortunately I had no choice. There was a conference that we were having at MIT that I had to attend given my choice in venture capital for the summer. So I cancelled my tkts at the last second. Sorry McKool. I heard the wedding was great though. Best wishes to you kids.

-The second semester at school has been SUPER busy. I signed up for only 4 classes but on the side am doing 3 separate projects. Add to that my summer internship search. I have been networking like a mofo since February. I am hoping it will pay off.

-oh yeah, one of the new webblogs (xconomy.com) asked me to be a regular contributor starting in January. I will be writing about energy, b school, recruiting, entrepreneurship etc from a b school student point of view. So that has been taking up my time as well.

-I couldn't believe it that the next class at Sloan will be here soon. We hosted the admit weekend for those who were admitted in the 1st round in late February. I still remember me attending the same event last year. How time flies peeps! I was asked to sit in on a couple of panels to answer questions and was pleasantly surprised at the quality of questions the new admits asked.

-I am in a couple of interesting courses this semester: Macro-Econ (highly recommend this to anyone, especially at MIT) and New Enterprises (course on how to write a business plan for a new venture). I am also in Finance II which is a good learning experience. We are being taught on how to evaluate the health of firms based on financial statements. Not a bad learning experience.

-Speaking of macro-econ. We were given three topics to debate in class (carried 50% of the grade). The team that I was on was voted the best in both the topics that we competed for. Topic 1: Should China be a Democracy in 5 years? Topic 2: Would you vote Yes for the stimulus package? We had a ball preparing for the debates. And ended up doing really well on both. Learnt quite a bit about China and how things work there in the process. And let me tell you, a lot things will surprise you. By the way, we argued that China did not need to be a democracy in 5 years (or possibly for a long time). Economic and Social well being has very little do with what form of government you have, we discovered.

-Recruiting has been progressing. I decided to focus solely on Venture Capital gigs for the summer with a sharp focus on energy and materials. I have a couple of solid leads but no confirmed internship yet. My goal is to spend the summer at a top tier energy VC shop and I feel that if everything goes well I will land a gig at one of those places.

-I managed to convince the student affairs office at Sloan to give me money to start a Squash club. So officially started the Sloan Squash club in February. We had a lot of interest from classmates and glad to see people show up on the first Sunday to practice. I also managed to connect with our B school friends up the river (aka HBS) and we are planning on having a Sloan-HBS squash tournament soon. Should be fun.

-Enough about me. Seriously. Are you peeps following the happenings in the world? Jeeeez. Where to start?

-AIG and the bonus mess. Well, I need to find out more info before jumping up and down like those idiots on TV calling everyone and their grandma thieves. How were the bonuses structured? Are people who made the wrong choices rewarded or is this for the new talent? How is the bonus structure setup, for long term or short term? I have not had a chance to check this out but if anyone knows please comment.

-Stimulus Package mess? As I wrote earlier we debated this in class and I have an insiders perspective on this since our professor is a well known economist. According to him this is a panic reaction from the govt. I will not get into details about this but one of the main arguments was that instead of giving consumers money to spend the govt should have incentivized businesses (by lowering corporate taxes etc) to invest. Great topic to debate by the way.

-I will end this by quoting our Macro-econ professor's views on politics and politicians. "Politicians should not govern based on what party and what philosophy they believe in, they should govern based on what the situation at hand demands". Exactly by beliefs about politics in this country.

Until next time (which should be soon hopefully!).

Ego Feeding time!

From time to time I try to post links that have pictures of me or mention me in the media-you know a little vanity once in a while hurt no one right? Well, it's time for another one of these ego boosts!

So I co-organized a trek (no, not the ones that you go hiking on) to Energy related startups in Massachusetts in early January. A few of my classmates went on it and overall it was good trip. One of the web media sites asked me to write about it and voila I did! Here is the link to my article:

Mass Energy Trek - MIT Sloan

So? This is 2009 huh?

yeah I have been AWOL for a while now but with good reason (or is there one?). Semester got done in the 3rd week of December and wtf have I been upto you ask. Let me tell you what I have been upto. Quite a few things actually. But that's not important. What is important is that 2008 is done and here we are 3 weeks already into 2009. Not sure how I feel about that actually. It was definitely a good year in a lot of ways. Anyway, let's move on before I get mushy.

So what to expect in 2009. This is the time to make predictions so let me do it as well. Some of you may know of intrade (link). You can bet on Paris Hilton's "assets" to those of Bernie Madoff's at that website or something like that. In that spirit, I give you Kondum's list of TEN for 2009:

#1
President Obama having a Monica Lewinsky type sex scandal. Probability: 0.001%.

Why you ask? Have you seen how Michelle Obama looks? Hello?!

#2
US Economy stays in recession. Probability: umm is there a 110% (of course there is, coaches and politicians always use that number).

By the way, I read a real interesting column in the Economist recently that talked about the differences between a Recession and a Depression. Check it out if you get a chance (link).

#3
The Big Three in Detroit turning into the Big Two or even Big One. Probability: 65%

I dont see how each of them can survive on their own. As I write this I saw a headline flash on wsj.com "Fiat to partner with Chrysler". hmmm...sign of things to come.

#4
Citi/BOA/any other other big bank in the US will fail. Probability: 40%.

Citi is splitting up and BOA get a little stimulus thing from Uncle Sam recently so that should keep both going for a while. If the economy continues to stagger and people hold onto their cash rather than investing in financial products, that could do it for atleast one of the banks.

#5
Atleast one of the cabinet or high-level govt appointees by President Obama will withdraw during or prior to the confirmation process. Probability: 78%

You know it. Someone would have hired an illegal nanny when they were not so famous or had an obsession for humping goats. As old as the profession itself (politics that is). This does not include Bill Richardson by the way

#6
Slumdog Millionaire wins atleast 4 oscars. Probability: 40%

I have not seen the movie but they seem to have done well with the Golden Globes. And the Oscars love these kinda rags-to-riches movies. Is this movie any good? I have zero motivation to go watch it somehow.

#7
Vince Vaughn/John Mayer will go out with another Hollywood hottie. Probability: 99%

Dude, this guy Vince (I mean he’s average looking) has hit the jackpot when it comes to Hollywood hotties. What is it? The sense of humor or his ‘tallness’? Mayer, well you can sorta understand his mojo: I mean which girl will not dig a croony singer-songwriter type? I mean c’mon.

#8
The Pittsburgh Steelers win the Souper Bowl. Probability: 110%

I mean should there be any doubt about this. Best Defense there is. And a bunch real hardnosed players with no prima donnas. The thing is I like Kurt Warner but not that much. (Waving the Yellow Towel)


#9
Over/under on the number of days the ‘ceasefire in Gaza lasts’: hmm I would say take the under on 30 days

This stuff is not amusing. Really, both sides have to cave in a little bit. Notably Hamas. Negotiation 101 dudes: you have to be in a state of strength to be able to dictate terms. And stop listening to those guys neighboring Iraq will ya.

#10
There will be an electric car vehicle on the road (something along the lines of Chevy Volt that is primarily battery driven) in the US. Probability: 35%

GM is saying that they will have the Chevy Volt ready in 2009 but you know how that goes. Renault is working on something. And what the hell is going on with Tesla? C’mon guys get something on the road.

Enjoy the new year kids!

Ego Boost II

So a little vanity from me. MIT Sloan's Venture Capital Private Equity (VCPE) club just hosted the 11th Annual MIT Conference in Cambridge. One of the panel discussion was Clean Energy for which I was a co-lead. They just posted the webcast link to the entire Clean Energy panel and I've included it below. You need a RealPlayer downloaded to watch and listen to it.

MIT VC conference Clean Energy Panel link

Semester I done! What now? Let me tell you what now?

well, so we finished our first semester (also known as CORE) this Wednesday. It was kinda strange to not have to do anything course related on Wednesday nite. Of course I had other things to worry about that were not course related but it still felt good. I have not slept well for the past 6 weeks or so and have not gone to the gym in the past 4 weeks. On top of that I have been eating greasy Chinese/Thai food every single day! Gaawwd, I feel like such a pig! So my plan for the rest of December is to sleep well, eat well, and work out regularly.

December also brings with it the anxiety of summer recruiting for most B school students. The last week in school was filled with a buzz in our building about someone receiving interviews from Goldman Sachs, or Morgan Stanley or McKinsey or Bain or Amazon. "Did you make the closed list for MS?". "Dude I have not heard from McK" type of conversations are common in the halls. I did not have to deal with any of that. Why you ask? Well, let me tell you why. I did not apply to any banks or consultant firms. Zip. Zilch. And I did not even think twice about it. The only things I applied for via school were Investment Management positions (buy side). That too I was very lukewarm about them. My interest was not in them and that showed in my resume and coverletter. I found out that I did not get on the invite list of the four firms that I applied to. Big whoop! I can bid for an interview as Sloan allows that but I have no interest in an IM career. So what is it that I want to do then?

well, I decided to pursue Winter and Summer Internship positions at Venture Capital firms. I have been researching VC as a summer internship option for 2-3 months now and that's where my interest lies. The thing though is that there is NO campus recruiting for VC positions. Everything works through networking. Fortunately, I was lucky to have a few people at Sloan who have been pimping me to VC firms and I managed to land an offer at a VC firm for January. Let's see how it goes.

What else is going on? Let's see:

-The markets are still giving people the heebee jeebies. Any predictions for the upcoming new year?

-There was a lot of talk at school about this Madoff guy. I have to research this situation.

-The killings in Bombay. There was a lot of outrage at school and from a lot of my friends. I heard quite a lot of solutions being put forward but not able to judge which one would work.

-Obama cabinet appointments. Not sure what to make of Hill Dawg as the Sec. of State. I have to say that it was a political appoinment to appease some faction of the Dems. Hope she does not alienate too many foreign leaders. Steven Chu (Nobel Prize winner) as the Energy Sec. is on the surface a good appointment but it is hard not to notice that he does not have any industrial experience. There was a good point raised at the recently concluded MIT VC conference that the US Department of Energy's goals are not aligned with the Energy Policy of the US. You see the DOE was established originally to take care of the US Nuclear Program. Now most of the responsibility of the DOE is to oversee the disbursement of research funds to universities and national labs. Is there a need to have another agency that oversees the funding of energy innovation and implementation ideas at a practical scale? That is up for debate?

-The NFL season is coming to an end apparently. I have not watched any games this season! Unbelievable. I'll try to get caught up on what the situation is.

-The BCS championship line up is set. Should be a more even sided game than the past 2 years for sure (thankfully no weak Big 10 team is in there!). I am not a big fan of Urban Myers and moreover Bob Stoops has a buckye connection. Go Sooners!

-What the heck is going on in the movie world? It's been such a long time since I've watched a movie. Time to catch up.

-I will be chillin' at my sister's place in NJ until Dec 30. Then off to Cambridge for a week. Then will begin my Winter mini-internship (NYC + Boston).

Happy Holidays kids!

laters

what are we going to do now?

President-elect Obama
"What are we going to do now?". That's the first thought I had when I saw MSNBC declare Obama to be the next President of the United States. I will be the first to admit that despite all the opinion polls and financial market predictions of a landslide Obama victory I was not convinced that it was actually going to happen.

I actually made several comments to my friends about how I did not rule out the possibility that a certain demographic was lying on their opinion polls. You see it is difficult to trust a certain demographic considering that history has shown us that prejudice ruled this country (and others) for years. Bigotry and ignorance dominated reasoning and rational thought. Ok, I will refrain from making this a rant on social and racial prejudices. But I will admit that I underestimated a section of this country's population. I am a very cynical person (as most of you know already) but I am glad to admit that I was too cynical in this case. And I am glad to be proven wrong. You can slice and dice the election result in as many ways you want to but there is no denying that it makes a STRONG statement to the rest of the world about racial prejudices in this country. Now now, obviously this does not mean one event wipes out the history or this is a monumental leap and things are going to completely different from now on but this is step in the right direction. Shalom!

Economy
I have to give props to Bill Gross of PIMCO who had a podcast in July 2008 which was titled something along these lines "Welcome to the Office President Obama-here now go handle a $1 Trillion budget deficit!". Amazingly both predictions came true. You dont have to be a superstar economist to realize that the next President will inherit the largest budget deficit in history. Someone has to calculate if after adjustment for inflation that is still the largest deficit. But you get the picture.

So what to expect in the next 6-12 months on a macro-economic scale? Well, let’s see here: Paulson goes out and orders a $700B TARP package and then promptly tells banks that he is going to back off. Which means more rescue packages (see Citi bailout part II today-interestingly a classmate of mine predicted this), a huge stimulus package. If you are wondering how the Government is going to pay for all this, well simple, print more $s. Uhuh. That is how this is going down people. More dollars printed means more inflation and more devaluation of the dollar. In the short-term there are signs of deflation (for obvious reasons) but believe me inflation is going to be back in a big way in mid-2009 (if not earlier). And if the interest rates are held this low for a while watch out for inflation!

So is there a bottom you ask? At this point I am not going to predict anything and eat it later. I believe the earnings season is upon us and who knows how that will shake up the markets. Gas prices are low, people are still driving less, discretionary income is low, people are spending less, unemployment is high, and home sales are regressing. There is a potential for the market to take a severe beating in the next 2-3 months. What is going to save them? Well, confidence in the next government; confidence on wall street to give more credit out; hedge funds who have loads of cash going out and buying assets that are valued low; people going out and spending like crazy during the holiday season among other things. So there is a chance it is going to get better soon but let’s see how it turns out.

Well, that turned out to be a serious post. I promise to be funny next time! Geeez! I did not even talk about the auto-industry bail out proposals. And nothing about school either. We are having a well-needed Thanksgiving break this week. Off to my sister’s to see Mom and nephew! Should be fun.

Have a great thanksgiving break!

Historic Day?

well, how is tomm going to shape up?
Are all the opinion polls going to prove correct?
Will this country elect as its leader someone they've never elected before?
Will the world enter into a new phase in terms of energy and the environment?
Can kids dream of being whoever they want to be regardless of social status, culture, and race?
Is this country going to set an example to the rest of the world?
Can this country finally elect someone for their substance?
Is the youth of this country back into mainstream politics?
Will tomm be a small but significant step in soothing racial tensions worldwide?


Let's see.

I know a lot of my friends are nervous about tomm (and I am not being melodramatic about this), so good luck to you all.

hmmmm....is there a pattern?

- I have to start by congratulating all those self-loathing Philadelphia sports fans who finally had a chance to celebrate (after 25 years) a sports champion from their city (Rocky is fictional you see).

The Phillies won the World Series with relative ease it seems like and kudos to them. Funny game baseball, a team with marginal pitching, playing in a box of a stadium, with a manager who can't speak more than five words coherently, and with an incompetent (previously atleast) GM ended up winning the World Series. I am by no means diminishing what the Phillies achieved. I love Howard, Utley, and Rollins and am glad they won. Hopefully this will calm the entire Philly area sports base for a few years.

-Speaking of the Phillies winning. Is there a pattern here? I left Philly this summer, and the Phillies won the World Series. I left Boston in 2003 and the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004. I am apparently not a good luck charm to these two cities!

-It's been a while since I posted here. As usual a lot is going on. We finished mid-terms and got our grades back. I got what I deserved (have not got finance yet) in all the mid-terms. I am not proud of my econ grade and hope to do well in the final.

-We finally had a week last week with no regular classes. It was relaxing, although we had to take what are called SIP classes (Sloan Innovation Period). I sat in a Macro-Econ SIP class taught by this exuberant MIT Econ prof. It was great! This guy has apparently studied 72 of the last economic crisis in the world (really) and he spent half the class telling us about what makes a crisis and how to avoid it. I am not sure if I believe in everything he said but he had good insights. I am definitely going to sign up for his Macro-Econ class next semester.

-I finally had time to reflect on what I want to pursue for my internship next summer. And I've made a decision and am happy about it. It does not involve Investment Banking or Sales and Trading. That's all I can say for now. (people read these blogs you know)

-I have a feeling that by the end of this month I am going to overwhelmed with non-class activities. I am in the organization teams for five of the biggest conferences organized by MIT in the next few months. It is going to be a challenge to juggle all those duties.

-I got referred by a classmate of mine to a VC firm from the west coast for a paid project in January. It was a good conversation with this VC firm and I am being kept in the loop. Interestingly I have spent the last few weeks reading up more about VCs. It is definitely a challenging and unique profession. The history of VC (less than 35 years old) is legendary with a long list of hits and misses. I talked to a high-profile person at MIT who knows VCs well and his opinion on the evolution of VCs in unique and one that I've not heard before.

-We had to submit our resumes this past Friday to the career development office. They are now on the resume book that goes out to firms (for a steep price apparently) to a huge list of firms. Recruiting season is officially in second gear now. People have started preparing for interviews in consulting, banking, and sales and trading by having mock interviews. A lot of second year's were seen reviewing resumes of the first year's this past week.

-The career development office posted a list of available internships for next summer just this week. From a first glance it seemed like most firms from last year are offering summer internships in all sectors. Let's see how that unfolds.

-There was a Halloween party this Friday and one of my classmates dressed up as me to the party. He thought it was funny. I was lame and did not dress up at all. But I had fun.

-George Soros gave a guest lecture at MIT this past week. I skipped class to attend it and it was well worth a class ditch. I came away very impressed with his chat. The guy was very philosophical in analyzing the economy, finance, and predictions. He sounded very Marxian which is good in my book. It was interesting when a young MIT undergrad called him a name (for shorting the pound in the 90s and ruining the British economy for a few years) and he calmly reacted by saying "I followed the rules and actually did them a favor".

-The markets. Ah yes, them. I am going to start writing more about the markets from my next post. I am going to make time to analyze the markets again and follow them more closely than I've been in the past 3 months.

later

Bottoms. I like bottoms!

Can someone predict where the bottom in this market is? Some doomsayers are predicting the Dow to sink to 6000-7000 by the end of this year. Not sure if that's going to happen. But then again, this has been a crazy-ass period kids! Anything is possible.

With that a few updates:

-We finished mid-term week this Thursday. Some of us celebrated by starting drinking at Noon on Thursday and going to a class drunk at 4pm. The drinking continued until 2 am. There was some dancing involved too. Good times! Good times!

-I also went to NYC this past Monday to visit a few Investment Banks (or whatever is remaining of the Ibanks). About 90 of my classmates were bussed to NYC and we spent all day on Monday being hosted by GS, UBS, Citi, MS, and DB. I found it very useful. Much to my surprise the banks that I visited had active Energy divisions in IBD.

Interestingly, the Dow had it's largest single day gain since 1933 on Monday when we were on Wall Street. Morgan Stanley was hosting a evening reception for us and we were not sure if they would even exist by Monday evening! Luckily for them, Mitsubishi UFJ's stake pumped their stock up by 90% on that day. We met a few anxious and partly relieved MS bankers that evening.

-Sloan hosts Venture Capital breakfast sessions with Boston area VC firms on Fridays. I got to attend one of them 2 weeks ago and it was worth getting up at 6AM for. The co-founder of this VC firm gave some pointed advice which I thought was highly valuable. According to him, whether you are starting something new or out looking for VC positions, dont worry about sector or geography etc. The single most important thing is what type of people you surround yourself with. Once you do that everything else will follow. Great advice IMHO.

-I was selected to be in the organization team for the 11th Annual MIT Venture Capital Conference. I am responsible (with another classmate) of picking a panel for the Clean Energy part of the conference. We've come up a list already and I've talked to a couple of high profile VCs in the area. Our aim is to get atleast superstar to be on the panel. Let's see how it goes.

-Today (in a couple of hours) is the Elevator Pitch Contest at MIT. The EPC is essentially a contest where you are given 60 seconds to pitch a new business idea. A classmate and I are pitching an idea in Renewable Energy. Should be exciting! If any of you want to watch it live here is the link: MIT Elevator Pitch Competition. Our pitch is the generation of bio-fuel at home using waste. Let's see how our idea is torn apart today!

-I've added traditional Investment Banking to my list of career options. This is the week I will be deciding which area I will focus on for recruiting. VC/IM/IBD.

-How about them RedSox huh? The game 5 win in Boston on Thu nite was a classic no? I will admit it, once they traded Manny away I could not bring myself to support the Sox in the same way. But Thu nite was exciting.

later

Can I do this full-time?

-This past week has been the busiest so far at school. Apparently it is one of the roughest weeks in the first semester at Sloan and I am happy to note that I came away unscathed. I even managed to go out Wednesday nite (3 shots of Jaeger and 3 beers), Thu nite, and Friday nite until 2 am. Work hard, party hard people!

-It is a shame that my life has become so MIT Sloan centric. The Sloan building sits like 50 metres from the Charles River and I have NOT even gone once to sit on the banks and enjoy the weather and the water. I need to do more of that. The weather has been super great so far here in Boston/Cambridge.

-There was a nice article today on ESPN.com by the Sports Guy on Manny Ramirez. He captured how I felt as a Manny 'fan' very well. Do read it when you get a chance.

-So my team (of three) participated in the MIT Sloan "Stock Pitch" competition today. None of us has had any background in Asset Management prior to Sloan so it was a great experience preparing for it. I spent 4h on Friday, 12h on Saturday, and 4h on Sunday (today ..errr yesterday) preparing for it with my team. The best part: it did not feel like we 'worked'. I skipped two parties to keep prepping and really enjoyed it. Our pitch I thought was ok. We pitched Dick Sporting Goods (DKS) and went "short" on it. We did not win it (two first year teams were declared winners) but came away with a feeling of accomplishment. We learnt how retail firms work, how different macro-economic factors affect their revenue, and how other factors like Inventory per square foot affect growth. Good times, good times!

So the question is, if I choose a Investment Management career, can I do this full-time? Will I enjoy it? Let's see.

-This past week also had two Banks (names withheld) visit the Sloan campus. I had to dress up in a suit and go attend the presentations. It was an interesting experience. I specifically spoke to people in Investment Management at both Banks and avoided people in Trading and Banking. But of course, one of my classmates gets hold of me and takes me to listen to one of the banker guys. And it was great. This guy was in charge of Energy M&A for the US and Europe. I loved the job description and the exciting things he was doing in doing due dilligence for Renewable Energy firms. Only problem with Banking is the lifestyle and I am definitely not into 100 h work weeks. It's a pity.

-I also had the distinct pleasure of watching myself on tape while delivering a presentation. B school communication courses do that to improve your presentation skills. It was another interesting experience. I used "um" quite a bit and seemed to be smacking my lips a lot (had not had enough water I think). And there are other things to improve as well.

-This coming week we have two Investment Management firms visiting Sloan, then there are the VC talks midweek, energy related talks, and MIT Energy night.

later

-

where to begin?

well, some personal ego-stroking first:

- Someone posted on our class message board today that there was a picture of some of our classmates in today's Boston Globe and also that I was in the picture (see link below).

So it's not exactly how you want to be pictured in a newspaper. I caught some flak for not having my name card displayed ("you too cool for name cards?"). But we digress. The article has some quotes from some of my classmates about how what's happenin' on Wall Street is going to affect recruiting etc. And we all do look bored/concerned in that picture. In our defense it was 6-8 pm non-class seminar on "Buy-Side state of affairs". And it was a long day.

But it is not a flattering picture, that's for sure.

kondum picture in the Boston Globe

- Today was another long day at school. As part of our first semester, we have a course called "Communication for Managers". Apparently the perception is that Sloan grads dont come out of school as polished so this course. Today we had a 2h session in which my group had to give two separate impromptu speeches in front of the group. The topics are revealed 30 sec before you talk. So it is real impromptu. I liked it. I have no problem getting in front of people to speak but what I am trying to improve is thinking when I speak so that I can modify my presentation as we go along.

- I am participating in a "Stock Pitch" competition this weekend at school. My team, three strong, has to go in front of an audience and pitch our analysis of a stock that they chose for us (Dick Sporting Goods). The top 2 teams will get to represent Sloan at other contests. I am new at this but if I want a career in Investment Management this is how the interview process is going to be, so I better get used to and get good at this. We started prepping for this. Let's see how it turns out.

-My friend Sara visited Boston this weekend and we hung out on Saturday eve. It was great to spend time with her.

-Some of my teammates are calling this week "Hell Week". We have 5 HWs due, 3 presentations, and two company visits. The recruitment madness begins officially this week with Goldman Sachs visiting first on Wednesday. I am not looking forward to wearing a suit. But I have to. dang!

-I am happy to report that amidst all this madness I am keeping to my gym schedule and playing squash twice a week. And the squash is intense and am loving it. Disappointingly my eating habits have gone down the drain. We have free lunch every day and there is pizza or burritos. Not healthy. Add beer to the mix in the evenings! I started drinking at noon on Saturday and Sunday. And had 2 beers today. ahhhh, you gotto love school!

-Dont know if any of you know or heard about Long Term Capital Management (LTCM). LTCM was the superstar hedge fund run by former Salomon Brothers and MIT/Harvard Nobel Prize winning economists in the mid 90S. They returned 400% cummulative in 4 years and then went on to bring Wall Street to it's knees in 1998. Before this month, that was the biggest catastrophe in the past 20 years. Anyway, last wednesday one of the big players from LTCM (Eric Rosenfeld) was at Sloan addressing us. It was cool to listen to this guy speak. He and LTCM are the subject of a cool book called "When Genius Fails" which every Finance person has read. I had read before coming to Sloan and it was great to hear this guy speak in person.

He had great insights into trading and what needs to be done in today's markets.

Allrite kids, I have a 8:30 am Accounting class tomm.

later

Jeeezaaaz, so much happenin'!

Where to start? I would not be exaggerating if I said we just went through a pretty freakin' HISTORIC week in the world of finance. Some are calling it a pivotal point in the history of finance. Remains to be seen. Here is what has been happenin':

-There are no more pure US Investment Banks. Just read that statement again. Wow!

-Oil went up $25 today alone (before settling down). Gold is back in the 900s and the US$ took a whooping. All in all a crazy day in the markets.

-It was a holiday today at MIT. Why you ask? "Anti-Suicide day". Yup that's right. Earlier this decade some undergrad kids could not take the stress of the first year and hence solved the problem by jumping off the roofs. So the school decided to issue pass/fail in the first year for undergrads. And have more than one 3 day weekend every month. So the holiday. I'll take it.

-Last week was fun. Andrew Lo (fin prof at Sloan) had a trading competition for interested Sloan students on Friday. You can form teams from your class and trade with each other using a Sloan designed interface. They were trying to create a market using all of us to demonstrate how things work. My team was pretty good. We turned $10000 into $31,500 and ended up 7th. The team that came first had $35,000. We should won it but I made a mistake at the very beginning that cost us more than 10K. I placed a "Market Buy" instead of "Limit Buy" that ended up screwing us. Oh well, atleast it was a good experience. There are some sharp kids in my class.

-Our Econ prof is not exactly helping me considering that my Econ is weak. I think my Macro-Econ is pretty solid but Micro is weak. And we have Micro-Econ this semester. Our guy is pretty smart (I hear he is under 30 and a prof of econ at MIT which is not too shabby). Luckily some of my team members are good with Econ.

-I keep meeting interesting people in class everyday. There is this kid from Brazil whose dad owns an energy company and just won a contract to supply wind energy in Brazil for the first time. This kid and his brother (a Sloan Alum) are going to run the wind farm! How cool is that? I am trying to organize a trek to Brazil to visit the farm. Nothing like visiting a new technology firm and see it from the time it is starting.

-I have to make a serious decision on whether to worry about grades or not give a hoot. Like for example this week, we have this great conference called "Emerging Technologies Conference" at MIT which is going to bring some pretty freakin' cool innovators in different sectors to campus. Of course the talks I want to go to clash with my class schedule. I am like, screw it, why should I care about grades. I am here to learn not fill my GPA. Let's see what I end up doing.

Here is the link to EmTech, lots of great talks
http://www.technologyreview.com/emtech/08/schedule.aspx

-My decision on career choice post-Sloan is still pending. I am still talking to different people in the areas that I am targetting and have decided to give myself 2 more weeks to decide.

-On the ironic side, we have the artists formerly known as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Merril Lynch coming to campus in 10 days for recruiting informationals. I am signed up for them but what do you think the odds are that they will be canceled.

-On another cool side, I am part of the organization committee for the MIT Energy Night to be held on October 10 at the MIT Museum. I have been put in charge of picking cool renewable energy outdoor displays. I have been given freedom to pick whatever I think is appropriate. So far there has been interest from GM to display their Chevy Volt and from Honda for their FCX. Both dont use any gas. I am trying to get a solar panel display as well. Should be fun.

-oh yeah, we are partying quite a bit as well. I am spending money like it's nobody's business! I need to get hold of my expenses.

Decision Time

It's kinda ironic that a momentous day in the US Financial Markets coincides with a tough career decision for me post-Sloan. It is easy to say that what happened this weekend led me to this so called fork in the road but it is not true at all.

We had a whole day last Friday of career workshops (mentioned briefly in my earlier post) and I went and sat in on two sessions: Investment Management and Investment Banking. And I have to say Investment Management looked and sounded very good. Investment Banking did too. One thing I did not attend was the Venture Capital/Private Equity session. Subsequently I talked to two of my classmates (pretty knowledgeable ones) and I got great feedback as to why I have a great shot at getting into a Venture Capital firm.

So Friday brought a lot of confusion and self-introspection. I brooded over this all weekend and talked to folks in various areas. It all boils down to what I want from a job right after my MBA. That simple. And the answer is quite simple actually. Transferable skills set that can someday help me run a business.

And that is how I've arrived at this fork in the road: what to concentrate on for internship recruiting starting next month. (a) Trading desk position, (b) Venture Capital, or (c) Investment Management. I can't try to recruit for all three since it is highly time intensive and not productive. I need to basically drop one of the three and what is it going to be.

I am going to start sitting down with people who have careers in all three and try to get relevant information out of them this week. And then decide. Will be an interesting week.

Death of the Investment bank?

Like VS Naipaul claimed 10 years ago that the Novel as we know is dead, the same can probably be said for Investment Banks on Wall Street starting today.

I obviously have not followed the financial markets for long but even with my limited knowledge what is transpiring today (Lehman talks of Bankruptcy and Merril Lynch bought over by BofA and AIG in deep trouble) seems to be historic. And if you listen to some pundits on CNBC they are calling that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley better go find buyers next week else they are in trouble as well.

What this means for us B school students interested in careers in Banking is not clear at this point but the prospects can't be that great. The market is going to be flooded with people who lost their jobs from this carnage and banks will perceivably cut down or be more prudent in hiring from here on for the short-term.

I am interested in hearing from one of our Finance Professors (who is a superstar in that area) about the impact of this on the markets and the state of the economy in the next few months. I think I will sit in an extra class tomm just to hear him speak about this.

I knew something was not right when I got a call from a trader at a big European Investment Bank last night. This friend had earlier asked me to come over and spend a day on the trading floor anytime I wanted. But he called last night to let me know that apparently no one other than employees are now allowed on the trading floor considering the state of the markets now. He told me to wait until October or November. This was before I had heard of the Lehman and Merril mess. Who knows how things are going to be after this.

I expected the dollar to have a mini-crash this evening but it is holding up reasonably ok. Maybe Monday will bring more bad news.

Interesting times!

It's all true

I heard a lot of stories from kids who got into business school about how it is all about time management. And me being the ever cynical guy did not buy any of it. Well, I humbly have to eat it now. There is no other way to put it. I've not had time to breathe in the past 5 weeks or so. I am hoping I get better with managing my time soon 'cause in addition to the avalanche of activities we have now companies start visiting Sloan campus on October 1 (Goldman as they should is the first firm on campus).

So briefly an update on what has been happenin' since I left Philly on Aug 3:

-The Move: We got stuck on the road for 4h in CT. Got in at 1 am and stayed up until 5am unloading stuff from our UHaul. And our apt was not exactly clean when we walked in. Took us 2 IKEA visits, 10 visits to Target, and 4 visits to Staples to settle in with furniture.

-House-warming party: We had a BBQ party at our apartment in the middle of August. And 150 kids from our class showed up. We somehow fit everyone in the tiny drive way and our apt. Cleaning up afterwards took a while.

-Roommates: Both my roommates are cool. We have had no issues yet. And I dont foresee us not getting along into the future. Both of them are OCD like I am and reasonably clean. And very laid-back.

-Classmates: Interesting bunch. I love it that they are very laid-back and grounded. Most of them atleast. We have one former Hedge Fund owner, one student who is a descendent of one of the premier automotive families of the world, and a host of interesting characters. We also have those kids who like to hear themselves talk in class. Seems like we can't avoid them anywhere.

-Orientation week: This was the highlight of the first four weeks of school. I usually can't stand team-building exercises but what they made us do during this one day of orientation was great. They took us to this outdoor center and made us go through a bunch of exercises. We had to build a real raft and paddle to the middle of a lake from scratch, climb up a 50 ft rope, and a host of great events. They were introspective and fun.

-Classes: I have 6 courses. I am enjoying finance but our ocean (the whole class is divided into groups of 70. each group is called an ocean) does not have the best finance prof at Sloan. Our accounting prof is great. I find two courses boring: Organizational process and Communication. Although parts of communication class are fun. This past week I had to go in front of the class and sell them an idea-I had 10 min to prepare. And then they asses you in front of the whole class. I am reasonably ok with impromptu speeches but would like to get better and smoother.

-Extra-curricular activies: There is no shortage of these. I am starting a Squash Club at Sloan and have a small group that plays regularly already. I am active in the Energy Club and the Sales and Trading club. oh yeah, I have been drinking almost every single day since mid-August. (Except today).

-HWs: I hate homeworks and we have a lot of them already. I was indoors all day last Saturday reading and preparing for class.

-Recruiting: I made a trip to NYC to meet a friend who is a trader at a big Ibank. He invited to come and spend a day on the trading floor with him. I was dense and did not do it after talking to some of my classmates who warned me about going to recruit this early. I should not have listened to them. oh well.

-Confused: Yeah I thought I was set on what career I wanted to pursue before coming to Sloan but we just had a career day and it left me all confused. Now I want to pursue Investment Management, Investment Banking, and Venture Capital. Not good. I need to narrow my choice soon.

-Scooter: I love it that I am using my scooter everyday here. And guess what there are hundreds of scooter users in Boston.

allrite, I need to get to bed. Have to get up early on Sunday and plan for next week. How exciting!

An Ode to Philly and my Philly Crew

So this is my last weekend in Philly. And today was my last day at work (it got a little emotional today). I thought I would write an Ode to Philly. I am going to write what I will miss and what I will not miss in Philly. I will also write what comes to mind first (with no editing) so that it is not PC or anything. Here goes:

I will miss

-Hanging out at the Urban Saloon at 3 in the afternoon during March Madness

-Kevin frothing at the mouth when discussing politics

-Devil's Alley

-Having "distribution of wealth" arguments with Robert on the train.

-Playing squash on Wednesdays with Sara and on Tuesdays with Sean

-The walk from the Ritz's to home after a movie

-Bullying my friends into taking Jaeger shots for no reason

-Eating duck rolls and beer marinated Mussels at Monk's

-As much as I hate to admit it, DiBruno brothers (yes, even though they are expensive)

-Hanging out at Rangoon with Kasturi and TJ

-Murphy and his ever positive demeanor

-Marisa's southern coolness, Kelly's humor, and Dana's not replying to my emails.

-The Cantina in South Philly

-The rude hair 'stylists' at the ChopShop (ok they were rude but it was a $10 haircut!)

-The Sterling and their semi-rude staff (the building I live in)

-The Eye Candy at the PSC (my gym) in the evenings (c'mon it was not too bad)

-Running by the Schuykill (sp?) in the summer

-The BYOB culture

-Paul at Working Class Cycles (even though I know he fleeces me for repairing my scooter every single time. It's a hard-knock life being a scooter/bike repair guy these days.)

-Brunches at Le Creperie. Especially those times when Mrs. Doo had one too many glasses of wine and started revealing details about her sex life.

-Being close enough to visit my sister, nephew, and BIL every other week.

-Marcus's flakiness

-SzTH (my fav restaurant in Chinatown)

-The alpha doggy Wharton kids

-Hanging out at Kevin and Caroline's deck even though it's freezing

-Discussing politics for real with Kevin and for fun with Robert

-The unsocializing part of Kevin's group of friends (no names please!)

Allrite that's all I can think of today. Let me end this positively which means nothing about things I will not miss in Philly (I am being PC after all aren't I?).

Me no Have Internet!

So I changed my gym/running routine to the mornings about a month ago. Now I update my Podcasts every morning so that I can listen to them in the gym/while running. (Bloomberg/BBC/PIMCO are my favorites so far). The other day there was this woman on a BBC Podcast who was talking about her experiment with avoiding email and the internet for one whole day at her workplace (she is a journalist for FT and BBC). Needless to say she could not get much done, in fact she used the phrase “…I felt like a waste of space without these technologies”. I, my usual critical self, smirked about this and dismissed it as typical journalist BS. Little did I know that the very next day I would end up being in a similar position at work.

So I show up at work the following morning and read an email (email worked) claiming that due to some equipment damage from an overnight storm we will not have access to the internet until late in the afternoon.

This is how I spent my day internet-less at work:

9:25 AM: (hey, I am quitting soon. I can come to work whenever I like!) Logged onto Novell email service. Mildly annoyed to find out that web access will not be available until the afternoon. Hmm….I tell myself this can’t be that bad right?

9:26 AM: Give up and call Help Desk to find out what the HECK is going on?! Randy, the IT manager, calmly answers the phone and tells me that they expect to be up and running by 1 pm. Waiting for a new part apparently.

9:27 AM: “I can do this, I can do this. Focus man, what the hell is wrong with you!”

9:27 AM (30 sec later): Clicked on Internet Explorer (yes, I am web browser illiterate) to check if the IT guys are lying about the access. They were NOT.

9:28 AM: Someone comes into my office to talk about work related stuff. Seizing this chance for ‘distraction’ I engage in extended conversation (mostly of the unnecessary kind) about a project. This takes me away from my office (yippie!) and into the plant and labs. See how time flies when you love what you are doing! I am back at my desk after 30 min.

10 AM: The initial paranoia having passed, I now do not even have the urge to look at my iPhone. Like a smoker who has maneuvered the first couple of days after quitting successfully I feel energized now to go internet-free for the rest of the day.

10:05 AM: Discover that I have yet to clear quite a few things in my office in preparation for my departure. Nothing like a little house-keeping to pass time at work. I discover that I used to use this rag of a bag as my shoulder bag for work. It was hidden in one of the file cabinets. Well, I could use that to carry some things back to my apt on my scooter. Loaded up my paychecks from the past 3 years in that bag. Found quite a few receipts from my work trips to London in my desk. And tickets to museums and places I visited in Ireland and Hungary. Gotto keep those. Threw the rest of the stuff away.

11:15 AM: Ooooh that was exhausting! Time for lunch. In my defense, I do eat an early lunch. Decided to take my scooter to Trader Joes and get their “Chicken w/black bean” Wrap. Has anyone tried it? It’s good and only $4. Those marketing freaks! Just as you are about to navigate the aisles they strategically position products to entice you! I spot this “Grain 8 Crisps” which promise a whole 20g of grain in a 100g pack (pack size is 2 times your small chips pack). I know how this is going to end up. I buy these sort of things promising myself that I would spread that pack out for 3 days. Of course in 2-3 hrs the entire pack disappears. Despite all this I buy the pack to ‘supplement’ by Wrap. Why? Well, on the aisle it says “Supplement this with a pack of chips for a hearty meal”. Hey, you gotto obey the Aisle Gods!

11:40 AM: Arrive back at the office. Start eating my wrap. Usually this is the time when I browse (ok, most of the time but this time is almost always reserved for web browsing). Putting up a brave front I decide to not even look at my iPhone. I read work material instead while eating. Spot a couple of mistakes in a presentation due to be sent out to Japan and correct it. Did you have any doubts? The “Crisps” pack is half empty within 15 min. What is with snacks that have Salt? Addictive!

12:10 PM: “Should I call IT to check?” The urge returns! It quickly passes as well.

12:11 PM: I discover that I have 368 emails that I have not opened. Uh uh 368! To be fair though, a majority of those are chain emails at work where people are replying to each other to point out worthless minutiae. I postpone looking at them until the next day. If any of them is that important they will call me no?

12:15 PM: Someone from work steps into my office about a project. This was legit. I needed to take care of this. I spent the next hour and 45 minutes solving this in the plant.
(I do work you know!)

2 PM: Upon returning to my office, I spot loads and loads of paper on my two desks. I had been collecting them for the past 2 years. They were neatly arranged mind you. Was lazy to shred them. Never a better time for shredding!

2:05 PM: Has anyone used the shredder extensively before? Well, let me tell you, the crisp sound of metal cutting against the soft paper, as pleasant as it can get on the ears. Seriously. I spent the next 45 min at the shredder. I had to stop ‘cause the bag filled up and I had no idea how to remove and put a new bag. I decided to shred the rest the next day.

3 PM: Only an hour and 15 min to go.

3:05 PM: My boss steps into my office. We discuss some work details. And then he talks to me about this guy who they were interviewing (on that very day) for a position in my group (kinda my replacement). I asked him about the candidate’s presentation and personal interview. My boss had yet to interview him but he thought the presentation was allrite. He also mentioned that the candidate’s English was not that great. Suddenly my previous boss, who just finished interviewing the candidate, steps into my office and tells my boss to ask the candidate his GPA (not mentioned on his resume apparently). In my opinion that is not a good sign. If you are impressed with the person who you are interviewing you don’t care about his/her GPA. Especially my former boss, he is cool. He must not have like this candidate dude. My boss asks me my preference for going away drinks. I tell him that I didn’t have any.

3:45 PM: Hunger pang! I hit up the vending machine for some Oreos. Not satisfied I re-open my “Crispies” bag and almost finish it. So much for spreading it for 3 days.

4 PM: At this point I am proud with myself that I’ve not had the urge to web browse on my iPhone. Not so bad then huh! Attended to some random work stuff and got ready to leave.

4:15 PM: Emboldened by this day I tell myself that I will not browse the web even at home tonite. This can’t be that bad right?

Of course as it had to be, there was a huge storm that evening and my train was stuck at the station for 2h. I had to cave in and listen to my friend Robert in the train to check the weather (we were thinking about driving our scooters into the city). So I caved in! But not a bad day at all w/o the internet.

Some Clothing Etiquette Please!

A couple of months ago I was at the Philly airport on my way to spend a holiday weekend with buddies in Texas when I noticed something. If you board your flight from Terminal A in PHL you cross paths with passengers arriving and departing from/to International destinations. As I got out of the security check maze in Terminal A I noticed a British family, Mom, Dad, and three teenage daughters, walk by. And all of them, yeah ALL of them, had powder blue sweatshirts and sweatpants on. To add to the fashion parade they had thrown on some bling bling as well. Ok, I am not exactly a fashion connoisseur or the fashion police but that right there is so not cool. I don’t care what your reasons are, traveling cross continental swathed in two pieces of clothing they use to make your bathroom towels is the ultimate i-don’t-give-two-hoots for society statement. You maybe be a Rebel but please find other ways to express that feeling will ya?
Anyway, that got me thinking, what clothing is an absolute no-no in public? (people can wear whatever they want or nothing at all in private but in public, please have some consideration for fellow human beings.).

Here is a list that comes to mind:
-First of course is sweatpants/sweatshirts. Guys and girls, PLEASE, I beg of you, at least thrown on a T-shirt and jeans, how much effort does that take huh. I don’t care how comfortable they are, sweatpants/shirts in public places is the biggest no-no.

-T shirts women wear that say “Da Bomb”, “Too Hot to Handle”, “Cutie” or any other variation that tries to convey the same meaning. Really? So you expect us to go, “let’s see here, I am not really sure if this girl is hot/cute or not, so let me see what her t-shirt says, OK, it says she is. That seals it, she is totally hot, what was I thinking, I should have looked at her T shirt first, duh”.

-Dudes wearing clothing one size (sometimes two sizes) too small. Yeah we all know you spend copious amounts of time in the gym pumping iron (and consuming what have you) and want to show off the fruits of your labor but PLEASE. There are other avenues to show off your prowess, body-building competitions or playing baseball come to mind.

-Fur coats. Especially the ladies. Enough said.

-Speedos. This one time my friend and I were standing in the buffet line at a picnic near a lake and this dude walks upto the line and starts helping himself to food. In a Speedo! He then proceeded to scratch himself. Should I go on? Guys, please spare us the sight of your package while we are trying to eat some food. Stay in the pool/water if you have to wear Speedos.

-Leopard/Tiger skin clothing or accessories. I’ve never understood why women like to wear these. Are they trying to convey a secret message by wearing these? Cave people used to wear them eons ago ‘cause that’s the best they could do then. Civilization has moved along ladies. Can’t y’all too?

-Uber short ‘shorts’. Not sure if any of you have an idea as to what I am talking about here. You know I noticed this one girl the other day wearing these shorts that are basically ‘knickers’ as the British would call it. Jeezaz! Could you leave something for our imagination please!

-This is a borderline no-no for me personally. Girls jeans with no pockets in the rear. So not cool.

-This one’s technically not clothing but I have a problem nevertheless. The David Beckham Mohawk type hairstyle. Dudes, REALLY? that hairstyle is so 10 years ago. Put that half liter of gel to better use will ya?

Healthcare Costs, yeah that topic again!

Do any of you know how the costs are distributed when you make a visit to your favorite (I mean PCP) physician? Would you hazard a guess as to what the absolute minimum cost is when you make a physician visit (besides the co-pay that is)? Has someone ever tried to find out what these costs are prior to or after you make a visit?

The answer to my last question for most people would be a “NO” I am assuming. Why? Let me tell you why. As long as the visit is for something not too serious (surgery or any invasive procedure) most often the doctor or the person at the front desk of the hospital would have told you: “don’t worry about it your insurance will pay for it”. And you move on since it does not concern you. I’ve done that a couple of times myself so I know the situation. Well, maybe we should all have cared to find out how exactly we are getting charged. Why do I think so? Let me tell you why I think so (by the way, I love replying to a “Why do I think so?” using the Let me tell you . Soooo old school movies! But I digress). Two examples:

Example 1:
Y’all remember my posting (more like a rant) on my visit to my PCP to get the required vaccines from a few weeks ago? Well well, apparently that saga needed a different ending. So, I got a snail mail from the MIT medical office earlier this week informing me that I still needed to get another vaccine or furnish results to a test in order for them to approve my policy. Both my doctor and I had forgotten to read that on the MIT medical list of required vaccines that I needed TWO of MMR were required not one . She in her haste (and me in my enraged state) had missed it.

So I ended up calling my hospital to get those test results. Of course, I go through the usual call transfer cycle from one department to another with no solution in sight. And I was about to break my phone at work. I finally got hold of a lady in the lab and told her that I needed the results. She of course checked and told me that she can’t release them to me unless the doctor approves it (for crying out loud these are not pregnancy tests!). And so I find out that my doctor has left the Hospital. Left? No reason was given. I had to apparently leave a voice mail with the nurses and they would respond when they could. Should I tell you how I was feeling at that moment?

I calmed down and called the billing department of the hospital to find out how much they had charged for my last two visits and to see if I had any room within my insurance limit to get another shot. The lady in billing told me that they had charged a total of $450 for my two visits. I am like, “what?” I had 2 vaccines and a test done for chris’ sakes! I then asked her to detail the costs for my two trips to the doctor. Get this, apparently there is a fixed cost associated with a visit regardless of what you are in for. This at my hospital was $25 for admin fee + $80 for hospital fee + my co-pay. So I am effectively paying $105-130 just for stepping in the door. What for exactly? Well of course they give you a laundry list of reasons: insurance to cover this, costs to cover for keeping your records, and what have you. I know that there has to be a fixed cost that needs to cover basic operations but this seemed ridiculous. My test cost $80 and vaccines cost me another $80.

So if you are keeping track, the actual cost for my visits (cost of vaccines and tests) turns out to be 30% of what the hospital ended up charging the insurance company. 70% overhead is an absolute rip-off if you think about it. Where do I start in assessing the outrageousness (is that a word?) of this cost basis. Can somebody please tell me how this is justifiable?

Example 2:
I scheduled my last dental visit 2 weeks ago at my regular dentist. Earlier this year they told me that I needed a deep clean which they said would be done in two visits. I had them done in March but they had not billed me yet. Anyway, I had specifically told the doctor that I would go ahead with them only if it was absolutely necessary since my insurance had a yearly cap for dental visits and costs. The doctor assured me that it would be within the limits and asked me not to worry about it.

When I asked for a cost detail the doctor gave me the list. It clearly was above the limit. When I asked the doctor told me: “This is normal”. The dentists apparently send an exaggerated bill to the insurance company. The insurance company looks at it then pays whatever it deems appropriate (which varies from 50 to 80% of the amount charged). The remaining money is expected to be paid by the customer. So when the bill came I called and talked to the doctor that I will not make ANY payment since I had specifically indicated my concern prior to the procedure. The doctor, to my surprise, waived the amount that the bill said I owed. Note that this had happened twice before. So I asked the doctor if they can so easily let that amount go unpaid why charge higher to begin with. Imagine the shock when I heard his response. Apparently this is a game that they play with the insurance companies: they charge more than they should, knowing fully well that the insurance company will only pay a % of the amount asked. In the end that % payment covers the amount they actually want. I hung up perplexed and a tad bit disgusted. But then a thought occurred to me, what about the unsuspecting patients who pay whatever amount is listed on the bill eventually sent to them by the dentist’s office. Vow. I hope everyone checks their medical bills before they pay.

Lessons from this: always enquire about your medical costs and the US Healthcare system needs to be fixed.

PS: oh, how did my vaccine sage end? Well, I ended up getting another vaccine but got charged less since I found out that you can request a nurse’s visit which does not require you to pay for the admin costs. Again, this because I was anal and insisted on finding out more.