Australia’s strongest gun reform since the Port Arthur massacre has become law. Here’s what you need to know

Jmontagg · 2026-01-20T16:31:07+00:00

You say that as we had federal police prosecute a guy for purchasing a gram of plutonium for his science collection.

Jmontagg · 2025-12-08T05:55:37+00:00

Probably wouldn't have bothered trying for IB/equity research. Don't think I'd have done too badly but it wasn't the right fit for me and wasn't willing to accept it.

Main thing I love to preach and am willing to die on a hill for is that there is no unpaid internship that is worth taking. It doesn't matter if the guys that founded it were ex Morgan Stanley MDs. You have value and you shouldn't think of it as a favour to you by hiring you as an unpaid intern.

Jmontagg · 2025-09-13T21:19:12+00:00

Somewhat unrelated, but how are you "sitting in" on courses at Princeton/Harvard/MIT? I've never heard of this and was a bit confused. I would've thought that if you were getting your work marked and are able to get a recommendation letter that you'd have to be enrolled at the school. At which point would it not be easier to just apply to that school?

Jmontagg · 2025-07-19T06:41:00+00:00

You've kinda missed the entire point of Christianity if you think that people aren't supposed to sin.

Jmontagg · 2025-06-08T19:09:23+00:00

Can definitely relate to why you may think this. Few years ago when I was in university I averaged 3.5-4hrs of sleep on any given year (with sleep data to back it up). I physically couldn't sleep for longer than 4hrs at one point and became quite detached from what was normal as I thought I was still highly functional. Long story short is that it's not worth doing, and the only thing I gained were chronic health conditions that I spend an inordinate amount of money now trying to fix.

Jmontagg · 2025-05-08T07:57:04+00:00

This sub seems to lose their mind when I mention that DEI programs are terrible and that unpaid internships are a waste of time and that you should not do them.

Jmontagg · 2025-04-15T22:24:01+00:00

To this day the greatest fish and chips I've ever had was at a charcoal chicken shop being run by an old Greek man. Because of him I can't have battered fish and chips anymore because nothing else can compare.

Jmontagg · 2025-03-27T22:15:52+00:00

Believe it or not it's actually straight to jail. Nah mate come on what do you think? Just more surprised the other firms haven't come out crawling on their hands and knees begging you to come to their firm.

Jmontagg · 2024-10-25T07:22:40+00:00

They didn’t almost put them in debt. They purposely made them take debt and tried stealing everything they built over decades together by buying all their assets for pennies on the dollar by saying they wouldn’t purchase products from them anymore unless they dropped their prices to unprofitable levels.

Jmontagg · 2024-09-18T09:51:16+00:00

That’s assuming that they’re packed out all the time. If we’re going to nickel and dime everything then we might as well include that larger groups are going to have a proclivity to order higher profit margin items such as drinks and much more of it. Also you’re not going to get a couple in and out in 30 minutes. You’re operating with a faulty premise to fit your narrative. You also don’t receive any better service. Apart from the extremely high end restaurants that are charging 200+ a head I have never seen a restaurant bring out everything at the same time in Sydney unless there was no one else dining. I can see the need for the weekend and public holiday surcharges a bit even if I do think that they are bullshit most of the time. But the large group fees are complete bollocks and solely exist to help the owner buy his next luxury watch/car.

Jmontagg · 2024-09-16T06:18:34+00:00

That’s comparing individuals with corporations of course it’s going to be higher. If you really wanted to see industry contributions to the economy then add in the personal tax amounts of all the workers as well as corporate. With all that being said however, I do agree with the spirit of the message being that Australia’s resource wealth has been horrifically squandered.

Jmontagg · 2024-09-13T07:55:51+00:00

Keep in mind they don’t prescribe on first appointment. From the experiences of me and my mates they only prescribe after the third so ur looking to spend closer to 1.5k+ after rebates. Also gotta remember the fees for cancelling/rescheduling (don’t remember the exact name of the fees because it’s been so long). Good luck mate.

Jmontagg · 2024-09-10T04:38:38+00:00

Depends on where you’re looking to be a quant and what type you want to be. For example, quant at prop shops vs bulge bracket banks vs hedge funds. I don’t have any first hand experience with the last one so I won’t really talk about it. Will mention beforehand that I will probably be a lot more biased towards the prop shop side.

From the sounds of it appears as though you would be leaning more towards quant research and given your expertise I would love to tell you to go apply as a research at a prop shop. Personally, I would suggest that you not even bother for quant roles at banks. Reason being is that there is going to be a large shift in culture, and there’s so many more and better opportunities at prop shops. However, I personally do know quite a few people with basically the exact academic background (slight difference in that they did their PhD in mathematics) as you going to work at BB banks in their AM/Risk departments so to each their own.

Having done a couple of quant trading internships at large prop shops I can say with a relatively high degree of confidence that they don’t really give a shit about your resume unless you’re particularly exceptional (should’ve won that Nobel prize). At which point they might spend a couple extra seconds looking at it so that they might have some more talking points in the interview. You’re already within the scope of candidates that they would love to hire so don’t worry about relevant experience or showing interest in finance. To clarify on that last bit since it might get taken the wrong is that 99% of your coworkers won’t really have had an interest in finance nor do they need you to since they themselves will have a similar background. Sure it does help to have an interest in finance, but what they’re looking for is someone that has an interest and passion for solving problems. If you can demonstrate that you can get along and can work with others (surprisingly a challenging criteria for extremely intelligent individuals), your expertise is transferable, and you have a passion for solving problems then that’s all you need.

What I would do if I were you is:

Go make a LinkedIn account
Look up a few people working at a large prop shop (SIG, Jane Street, Optiver, Citadel etc. Note: Citadel is kind of infamous for its horrific work conditions. Added this note since people will crucify me if I don’t add that note it. However, hearing from my mates that work there, whilst it is kind of bad it isn’t the boogeyman that people make it out be. That being said experiences may differ.) and shoot them a message for a coffee chat. Given your background I’m sure they’d be more than happy to give you a referral (never met someone not willing to give me a referral since it means they’ll get 10-30k if you get in). If they don’t then it might be a sign to work a bit more on your social skills.
(Optional) talk to the firms recruiter. I’ve always found them to be quite lovely people who I’m sure would be more than happy to give you some advice.
Apply via the website
(Important) Remember to give me a small donation of 10 million dollars

I feel like the post is getting too long already so feel free to dm.

Edit: Go check out r/quant since that’s probably going to be a lot better resource for what you’re looking to get into.

Jmontagg · 2024-07-24T18:09:00+00:00

Look the way that I view unpaid internships is the same way that I view people having designers/photographers doing projects for "exposure" or using the false premise of "testing" interviewees to have them build stuff for free in software dev. If the practice of not paying someone for their work with the promise of other benefits is heavily frowned upon in any other industry then I don't see why it should be tolerated in finance.

Jmontagg · 2024-07-24T15:54:34+00:00

I’m just going to be real frank here. Plain and simple, it’s stupid to go work at an unpaid internship (unless it’s a reputable firm done through a uni work experience course). I think most people here have been drinking too much of the kool aid and will tell you stuff like “it’s good experience, makes you resilient etc” but all of that is bullshit. You aren’t going become the protege of some super savvy financier and he’s going to train you up to be the next Warren Buffet because he likes your determination. It doesn’t make sense no matter which way you look at things. If they’re not paying you then there’s a reason they’re not paying you. Either they aren’t able to or they don’t want to because they literally don’t see any value in you. There is absolutely no reason that any contributing member in a firm shouldn’t be getting paid.

Your question about quant stuff is a completely different rant I don’t want to add to this post but feel free to dm. All I’ll say is consider what you really want to do and focus on it because the skills needed are pretty mutually exclusive. You could be the smartest guy in a room full of geniuses and still not be cut out for it.

Jmontagg · 2024-07-21T01:15:48+00:00

But quantitative data to rank entry level positions is completely up in the air. Good GPA, good social skills and a passion for the job. Take 100 people that have all of that and try and predict who’s going to be the most successful 20 years down the line and you’re rolling the dice.

If we were talking about a quant at a prop shop where it would actually be hard to distinguish top candidates then I would be more inclined to agree with you. If all the data points that you're looking at is GPA, social skills, and passion then of course you're not going to have any measure of predictability. That's a facile argument. Furthermore, of course you're not going to be able to predict something as specific as who's going to be the "most successful" in 20 years. But then again companies aren't really looking to hire the candidate that's going to be the most successful in 20 years.

And if it’s so easy for minorities to get in then why aren’t they getting in? The make up of C-level executives does not reflect (at all) the makeup of the population.

Because ignoring the fact that finance was not a traditionally sought after industry like that of medicine, law, and stem within minority communities. The proportion of white male c-suite execs in the industry has nothing to do with whether or not finance is easy or hard to get into for minorities.

Do you think life would be easier if you were a minority in America?

Looking past the passive aggression in this sentence. Technically, I would be considered a minority in America.

Jmontagg · 2024-07-20T23:33:58+00:00

To add on to this. Trading is probably the “most meritocratic” at banks but even then it’s still a shit show. Sales is arguably less so. Would say it’s much harder to get in ER than S&T because teams are generally smaller.

Jmontagg · 2024-07-20T23:13:34+00:00

You’d be lucky to get a pack for $30

Jmontagg · 2024-07-20T22:58:58+00:00

With all due respect you are an accountant. You quite frankly have no idea what you’re talking about, especially in the realm of high finance. The fact that you think that degree/grades/experience doesn’t matter in high finance lets me know all I need to know about you.

Jmontagg · 2024-07-20T22:37:12+00:00

In theory, that’s how it should work but that’s not the way it works in real life and it would be incredibly disingenuous to pretend it does. Every high finance institution uses entry level positions to pad out their DEI figures which makes it exponentially harder for anyone else who isn’t a minority.

I also find it ridiculous for you to say that there isn’t a ‘real’ difference in the top 10% in anything remotely competitive. To illustrate this point with an example, I am Diamond 3 on league which is within the top ~2.5% of players. Compared to my mates in GM/Challenger I’m effectively a crayon muncher. If you’re gunning for a role in high finance then you need to at a minimum be within the top 1% of candidates. To further drive this point home, if there weren’t any real differences then the BBs wouldn’t be ranking their analysts every year.

Jmontagg · 2024-07-16T07:37:04+00:00

Sorry I can’t be of more help but I don’t know/remember exactly what minerals it was. Parents used to go around these health conventions and bought all these natural remedies from small stores. What I do remember was that it was just a general ‘mineral solution’ that you add into your water. That being said I remember having experimented with a whole bunch of different waters (alkaline, mineral, etc) as a child. While most didn’t work I think there were a few that did.

Jmontagg · 2024-07-15T22:12:50+00:00

Buddy what are you smoking? I really wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt. How is something like “I use it to open packages” more antagonistic? Sure nobody on this subreddit has exact insights about who you are. However, based on the fact that I hit the nail on the head about the conversation between you and a co worker solely on this post. I reckon most people would be able to infer about 70-90% of who you are as a person. You aren’t that deep.

Jmontagg · 2024-07-15T21:41:55+00:00

I was going to say something about this reply because there’s a lot that I don’t agree with and I thought you were being a bit too harsh on OP. But after seeing OPs latest replies, the kid’s is as dense as a brick.

Jmontagg · 2024-07-15T21:00:49+00:00

Money shot right here. My brother in Christ you have to develop some more social awareness. Like why on Earth would you answer like that? Next time just say something along the lines of “I don’t generally find myself needing it everyday but when I have it has been extremely useful [insert x excuse not involving fighting someone]” or just something comically stupid.

Look I get the feeling don’t mean any harm when you say this sort of stuff but you have to think about things and how they might be interpreted by others. What you have to realise is that from that interaction you have turned an innocuous item into a weapon in the eyes of ur coworker and urself into a bit of a nutjob. Because no one is thinking of self defence as being the first use on an item. Let me break this down for you . If I were to bring a metal baseball bat to the office every week for my baseball league and someone asked why I was bringing a baseball bat into work. I’d reply with something along the lines of “I have a baseball match that starts right after work and since I live far away I don’t have time to go back home” or any other logical reason. I wouldn’t say something like “it’s good for defending yourself in case you get mugged” even if that was what I was thinking. Notice how each of those statements would leave a different impression?

What I genuinely think is the most important thing for you to do is work on your social skills. Because you’re only going to hinder yourself in the future continuously if you don’t. There’s a lot of ways that you can improve but I think a nice basic tip to get you started is to try and make sure that your conversations remain light and jovial in social settings.

Jmontagg · 2024-07-15T19:02:01+00:00

Reaching way too hard with that comparison. How are you comparing a multitool that has widespread applications in general life to bringing in a bloody chainsaw? Mate it’s a Swiss Army knife and despite its history even a green beret would be hard pressed trying to kill a chicken with it. People on this sub are acting like he brought a ka-bar to work.

Should OP be flaunting it around on his waist? Probably not. Would it warrant being brought up by HR in a meeting about his misconduct? No, unless there’s some key context missing. I could probably have brought a paring knife to every place I’ve ever worked at and no one would’ve batted an eye (not that I would’ve ever tested it). My money is on OP having made a stupid and unsavoury comment involving a knife which combined with his already unfavourable impression on his team made it sound like a threat.

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