Chief Financial Officer

When thinking about my career options I have always been wavering from business,

computer science, or even at one point mechanical engineering. It wasn’t until I read a book

recommended to me by a friend called “Principles” by Ray Dalio. My first thought was who is

this man and why is this book so huge. After reading the first part of the book describing his life.

I knew what career path I wanted to continue down for the time being. This was/is the plan to get

a business AS and then go to school for Business Finance. I am in the final semester at SLCC

for my business AS. Excited to be transferring to the UofU soon.

Job Description

The job I have picked is CFO(Chief Financial Officer). A normal week for a CFO can

vary incredibly. This is because sometimes as a CFO in small companies the tasks of HR,

Training, and other obstacles can pile up. Just like it does for AAIM CFO Ron

Martin(Fontinelle). A normal week for Ron is putting in 60 hours a week at AAIM, while

another CFO for Nexxt put in 40 hours a week because his company is larger so his

responsibilities weekly are less. During the workweek for both, they go over overanalytical

metrics to check multiple categories for progress. Then they cross-check it with year-to-date

metrics to see if they are behind or ahead of past years(Fontinelle). For the rest of the day, they

can see themselves meeting with multiple groups to make game plans and options for them to

reach the success metrics. This is where the two split off a little, the CFO of Nexxt does more

preparing for meeting with large board members and senior members of the

company(Fontinelle). While the CFO of AAIM does more hands-on work in HR and training.

Both of the CFOs mentioned spending lots of time out of work time making presentations and
projections for meeting with higher-ups yearly and quarterly. They include budgets and goals set

for that period and expectations for the next period.

General Career Path and General Education Experience

The current path I am on is to graduate this semester with an AS in Business. I am

looking into going right to the U of U from here but am worried about paying tuition. With that

said, I do think I will find a way to go there for 2 years to get a bachelor's in financial analytics.

From here I was a little foggy before doing my report. Now I know either a master's or an MBA.

I am leaning more toward the MBA and slowly getting my master's overtime while working for a

company doing my due time in the lower ranks.

Average Salary

The average salary is about 128,000 a year with possibilities of up to 200,000 a

year. In addition CFO with MBAs get on average 16% higher pay(Quantic).

Career Outlook

According to the U.S. Bureau of labor statistics, the field of financial advisors has a

median pay of 64.1$ an hour, with a 17% job outlook for 2020-2030(U.S). This is great news for

me if I do continue to want to go down this career path. This is almost 10% bigger than that

average job outlook, with averages sitting at 7.7 percent.

Bio of someone in the profession

One of my idols and reasons for wanting to pursue anything in finances and business

stems from Ray Dalio. I know he was not a CFO and he was a hedge fund manager, and the

creator of Bridgewater the largest hedge fund in the world handling more than 200 billion

dollars(Sismanis). One major reason I choose Ray Dalio as the topic of research for me is that his
book “Principles” has influenced my life heavily. Ray Dalio started out with humble beginnings.

He found his love for the stock market at the very young age of twelve, having his father pick up

the newspapers so he could get the stock sections(Dalio). When he got started they didn’t have

the stock market like we have today. The major difference where that he had to mail money and

in return, they would mail him back paper stock(Dalio). Fast forward past his education at

Harvard Business School and then working on the floor of the NYSE. You get to the start of

Bridgewater Associates. The name comes from the common saying water under the

bridge(Dalio). During this time in the early days of Bridgewater, they had many ups and downs.

The most painful time was from 1979-to 1982. This was caused by an unprecedented market

crash and then one of the most volatile reversals. What played into these factors is very

complicated but to sum up some major points oil boom from the fall of the Shah of Iran to

Mexico defaulting on their loans made many including Ray believe that more than one country

was also going to be headed down that road(Dalio). This in fact did not happen as Ray Dalio puts

it “ I was dead wrong…U.S Economy enjoyed the greatest noninflationary growth period in its

history”. Bridgewater eventually did pick the winning horses in 1995-2010. Something more

important than picking the correct direction of the stock market happened in Bridgwater over

those years, this was the creation of the work environment that Ray Dalio built. This is one of the

major reasons I respect him so much and the reason he has changed my mind on how to look at

coworkers, friends, and even family. This was the creation of his baseball cards, now this was

just the first step in workplace management that really caught my eye. The idea behind these

cards was the show people their strengths and weaknesses. You were given your card that was

created by someone else(This did not sit well with some employees) and it showcased you as you

are. It helped them put teams together for projects when something had to be more analytical
rather then creative you would give that project to those who would be best to tackle the job. The

principle is that if you are able to look at someone objectively and they are able to do the same

for themselves two things happen, one is that you get the best person for the job you require.

Second, you get that person aware of their flaws(Dalio). Imagine someone has something in their

teeth, they most likely don't know about it so how can they get it out, very simplified explanation

of if someone is aware of their flaws then they can work towards getting better, fixing, or

adapting to better suit that challenge. During this time of great growth for Ray Dalio's company

he also searched out other ventures, one was philanthropy in the mid-2000s. He and a Junior in

high school started up a fund to get life-saving procedures to children in china. The procedure

only cost 500$ and would save a child’s life(Dalio). This was the start of Ray Dalio's dive into

philanthropy as he and his wife were thrust into the mindset of a fun day out or a child’s

life(Dalio).

Pros and Cons

When it comes to the Pros and Cons of this job it seems pretty obvious. Some of the Pros

are the high growth of the field and the demand. High-paying positions and being the highest-

ranked financial official in the company are also perks. When it comes to Cons the first one that

sticks out is the schooling requirements needed to get into the job, most people get a bachelor's

in business or finances analytics which is four years, then most go on to get a master's or

doctorate, and most of the time they get an MBA after all of that. When you finally graduate

from schooling and land a job the time commitment is large and can be even larger in smaller

companies because of the tasks of HR training payroll and others can fall to you in a smaller

company with fewer employees. Stress is a large part of having all major financial choices come

down to you. In my reading of the book about Enron, the CFO is in a huge position of power,
and his messes up can/did lead to prison time. This is different from Enron as their CFO was

doing illegal documentation of debts as assets on financial documentation(Mclean). This could

also be seen as a Con, the amount of responsibility you hold can affect people’s lives who have

their pension, 401k, and retirements in that company stock. The mental stress of having people’s

livelihood riding on how well I and the higher-ups run the company does give me a ton of

anxiety but at the same time exhilarating that I am doing something that matters and can be a

great positive impact on so many.

Your “fit” with this career

To be honest I wish I could say this is 100% the one for me but right now it seems like

the best option for me. I have to change in many ways and I believe the real test will happen

when I transfer to the UofU. If I can graduate from there with a bachelor's in financial analytics

then I know that I can get my MBA and make this a reality. I truly do love people and I can get

along with 90% of people really easily, even though I am quite the introvert. Currently, at my

job, I offered to clean up their excel spreadsheets for their finances and inventory. I was politely

declined but stuff like that interests me and makes me want to fix/clean up them. Even from a

young age, I loved keeping a budget in excel and tracking my spending and income. Over the

pandemic, I started a resell company. This included purchasing exclusive shoes, clothing, and

collectibles. I made a huge multipage sheet tracking income, revenue, net worth, sales, and stock.

I enjoyed doing that way more than the average person. In addition to doing that I got into the

stock market via paper trading(I don’t trade my own money because I am still learning). This I

do every so often and I enjoy this immensely. All of these things lead to me believe I can do this

if I am interested in it. That is all I think I need to succeed, the craving for more knowledge in

something I enjoy.
Works Cited

Dalio, Ray. Principles for Navigating Big Debt Crises. Bridgewater, 2018.

Fontinelle, Amy. “A Day in the Life of a CFO.” Investopedia, Investopedia, 18 Apr. 2021,
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/professionals/051713/day-life-cfo.asp#:~:text=A
%20Chief%20Financial%20Officer's%20(CFO,and%20reconciling%20income%20and
%20expenses.

McLean, Bethany, and Peter Elkind. The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise
and Scandalous Fall of Enron. Portfolio/Penguin, 2013.

Quantic, Edu. “How to Become a CFO: Responsibilities, Qualifications, and Career Tips -
The Quantic Blog.” Quantic School of Business and Technology,
https://quantic.edu/blog/2020/06/30/how-to-become-a-cfo-responsibilities-qualifications-
and-career-tips-2/.

U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. “Financial Managers: Occupational Outlook

Handbook.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 8 Sept. 2021,
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/financial-managers.htm.

“Ray Dalio.” Academy of Achievement, 3 Feb. 2021,

https://achievement.org/achiever/ray-dalio/.

Sismanis, Nikolaso. “Bridgewater Associates' 641 Stock Portfolio: Top 10 Holdings

Analyzed.” Sure Dividend, 5 Apr. 2022, https://www.suredividend.com/bridgewater/.