I watch a lot of online shows these days, much more than I watch of broadcast or cable television. (In fact, it’s probably my biggest distraction from studying for the GMAT) One of the things I really enjoy doing is browsing through Hulu and looking for interesting shows that catch my eye. Wall Street Warriors was one that I found while browsing for personal finance shows.
Now don’t get me wrong, I really don’t have much of an interest in beginning a career on Wall Street. Even though it does seem exciting and there would definitely be a lot to learn, I still find the tech industry much more interesting and a better career fit for me.
Watching the show is both extremely entertaining and somewhat depressing. While I don’t want to emulate these people, it’s still a fun experience to watch a documentary style portrayal of Wall Street. It’s rare to find shows that present what is essentially “work” in an entertaining fashion.
The depressing part comes in when you realize that you already know how the story ends (and why the show got canceled). One perfect example, among the many different people they profiled, Lance and Jim, who were two “experienced” stock brokers, basically bet their entire careers on one stock: Sandisk. Lance even called it legalized gambling. During the taping of the show in 2007, the stock was trading up to $58 a share. Now it’s three years later. The stock price of SNDK is around $34.
Now obviously, the market crash in 2008 and the Great Recession had a lot to do with this. But this doesn’t absolve the fact that they bet their whole careers on the possibility that a random tech company would perform well, something they weren’t even remotely sure about. They only made this bet because it was something they knew they could sell over the phone.
Anyway, despite my misgivings about some of the ethical undertones of the show, I’m hooked. I’ve watched about four episodes so far. I’ll probably watch the remaining 12 episodes before I”m done with the GMAT.
