On April 29 we officially welcomed our Master in Finance graduates of 2020 to the GBS Alumni Network!

The virtual graduation ceremony was opened with a warm welcome by GBS Managing Director Dr. Christian Jansen. In his commencement address, GBS Alumni Council member Stephan Kiene, Head of Corporate Development & Strategic Planning at Degussa Bank, described why "life itself is management" and elaborated on the relevance of learnings from the program beyond only from a professional point of view. Faculty member Dr. Björn Imbierowicz was recognized with the "Excellence in Teaching Award", which was presented on behalf of the graduating class by Master in Finance alumna Stina Zacharias. During his acceptance speech, Dr. Imbierowicz encouraged graduates to "stay curious! Keep asking questions!". Class Speaker Kai Dressler delivered a heart-warming speech, in which he thanked family, friends, peers and the GBS team. During the ceremony, the academic achievements of Goethe scholars, Beta Gamma Sigma nominees and FIRM Award winners were also recognized. The ceremony closed with a final, official welcome to the Alumni Community by Alumni Council member Maraja Fistanic.

We hope our graduates and guests enjoyed the virtual graduation ceremony and video as much as we did. Our congratulations to our students once again on having successfully completed the part-time Master in Finance program!

This interview was featured in the last newsletter of the Faculty of Economics and Business at Goethe University, Frankfurt that was published April 29.

We asked members of the GBS student team who participated in the CFA Research Challenge how they experienced their research journey. Our Master in Finance students were satisfied with their results and gave helpful advice for future CFA Research Challenge teams. 

What was your motivation to participate in the challenge?

NICOLA: My academic background is in physics and I am currently working in the IT sector. So maybe I am not the typical type of person participating in the CFA Research Challenge. However, when I signed up for the Master in Finance, I promised myself that I would take all opportunities to enrich my knowledge and gain a better understanding of the financial world. In my eyes, the challenge represented an incredible opportunity to do that. The prospect to apply theory, learn through hands-on practice, and the mentorship seemed very promising. Indeed, it was a great learning experience for me, which I will benefit from for the rest of my life.

JULIA: My motivation to participate was driven by the wish to challenge myself and to find out whether I would be able to translate my learnings, achieved along my master studies and CFA exam preparation, into a practical real-life case. Further, it was a fantastic opportunity to get some highly privileged practical training that could greatly contribute to the knowledge needed for my aspired future career path. Most of all, it seemed like a great chance to expand my professional as well as personal network by working and collaborating with fellow students as well as with the faculty advisor and industry mentor.

KAI: The challenge was an excellent opportunity to deepen my skill set of theoretical knowledge and practice even more. Especially the process of applying educated theory into practice is the main idea of the CFA Institute Research Challenge. Applying knowledge, learning commonly used approaches when it comes to research tasks and executing them together while increasing my network and exchanging new and different ideas with different people - all that combined in a once in a lifetime challenge atmosphere was an opportunity I was willing to take.

That sounds tough and exciting! But how did you manage work, social life, the part-time Master program and the CFA Research Challenge, especially during this very unusual time?

JULIA: Time was the second big "challenge" to manage, for sure. To be honest, I had already prepared myself to fully devote the 3 months from November until January to study, work and write the research report. I knew that my social and private life would suffer the most. However, due to COVID-19, it was clear that those cold winter months and especially Christmas would be anything but normal this year. That is why I was actually glad to have a lot of things on my agenda and to not feel that lockdown depression, loneliness and boredom that many of my loved ones had to struggle with. Of course, it was not always easy, but I tried to remind myself that this would at least be a way to spend that difficult pandemic time meaningfully and efficiently. Nonetheless, setting up a thoughtful and most importantly realistic study plan was the key in order to survive and to not stress out at the last minute. Even if that meant 5 waking up early on weekends to study and research or having calls with my teammates on Christmas eve morning.

KAI: First of all and most importantly, my employer supports my ambitions in academic and professional development. The support of my employer enables me to set up a time management plan that is sufficient enough to develop myself through a master, CFA program and the CFA Institute Research Challenge.Unfortunately, due to corona lockdown, most of my social life was reduced to the minimum around Christmas time. However, the support of my family and my friends has been strong during this intensive time. Third, the work with my team members Julia Hartmann and Nicola Reinhard was wonderful. Every moment where we worked as a team was great: their ambitions and attributions were excellent as was for example holding deadlines or the high quality of their analysis. Right from the beginning of the challenge it turned out to be the start of a new friendship! Last but not least, the collaboration with our academic advisor Prof. Dr. Uwe Walz and our industry advisor Heiko Backmann, CFA was very helpful. They supported us as much as they could by being flexible in arranging meetings and giving us advice. I think the combination of all the mentioned factors made it possible to face the challenge successfully and well prepared not only regarding time management.

NICOLA: Actually, I think that the challenge helped me get through the lockdown. A lot of my time was absorbed by it, the Master program and work, so I did not have time to worry about the pandemic that much. I also did not miss any social events, because our research team was amazing. We worked together remotely on the report basically every day. Of course we were very focused but there were also a lot of moments of fun and time to engage socially. I believe that took my mind away from the difficulties that are going on in the world.

So, in three words: How would you describe the overall CFA Institute Research Challenge experience, especially since you have made it into the German Finals?

KAI: Demanding, Detailed, Elevating

JULIA: Fun, Educational benefit, Committing

NICOLA: Challenging, Educational, Elevating

What would your advice be for the next GBS research group?

NICOLA: It is very important to work together as a group. Not only because we learned a lot from each other, but also because there is so much work and everything and everyone is interconnected. So it is really important that everyone knows what is going on and where we stand with the report and the numbers. Also, it is good to be curious and to question the things written and calculated, which helps to achieve the best results.

JULIA: It is necessary to have a thorough plan with strict deadlines. Communicate issues early enough to your teammates. Try to stay focused and really stick to your schedule. It is helpful to set up regular meetings in order to discuss the current progress and next steps that need to be covered. Make sure 6 to split the work fairly and efficiently where necessary, but also keep everybody on board and review each other’s work. Discuss and work together on the things that are the fundamental basis for your research in order to derive a common reasoning for the final recommendation. Last but not least, do not forget the fun while putting all that hard work into the challenge and to get to know the people you are working with. Take the chance to build real connections with your teammates. Become inspired and enriched by new ideas and ways of thinking along that journey and benefit from the advice and support of your faculty advisor and industry mentor.

KAI: (1) Be willing to hand in your report. (2) Be prepared to invest a lot of time. (3) Structure and organization of your time and your report is key. (4) Discipline to stick to your structure and organization. (5) Don’t forget to have fun with your team members and your advisors during the challenge.

Thank you all for this exciting interview!

If you have questions or want to know more about the CFA Research Insitute Challenge experience, enrolled Master in Finance students are invited to join an exclusive information session on July 15, 2021 at 6PM via Zoom. More information on the event will follow soon.