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There was this time when all I wanted was to be rich. I stumbled upon fool.com and discovered the stock market about the time of the dotcom bubble where 5% gains every day were a normal matter. It was my eighth grade and I was money hungry. I was that kid who thought about everything as a business growing up. Mowing lawns, lemonade stands, running errands for money, it was all about profit for me. I was always adamant that I wouldn't be a mere stock broker (for those were just fancy salesman), I wanted something greater, something bigger (and richer presumebly). I still wasn't entirely in the know about how the market really worked and the behind the scenes jobs. I was a zombie for CNNFN and MSNBC back in high school. I still remember the day Krispie Kreme's IPO went out (I was home 'sick' from school) and they were giving everyone free doughnuts on wallstreet (which would explain its huuge performance that day). I started one of those fake portfolio's and did pretty well (but who didn't back then?). So there it was, I decided I would study Finance. It was so good to be the minority in my school who knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life and what he would study in college. I based my entire college decision on what school had the best finance/mba programs. I ended up going to UF which has a very respectable finance program. Spring semester of my freshman year my friend Marvin and I stumbled upon the Investment Club. I knew one of the officers because I had taken frisbee with him in the fall (yes they do offer frisbee at UF). One afternoon, while taking a break from skating with the then president of SIC, we sat, munching on fries, and started talking about the market and what his interests were. He mentioned Underwriters, the people who help decide what a company is worth, how many shares should be issued and the best timing to release them on the open market. Immediately I loved it and from that point on (of my freshman fall semester) I told people that I was going to be an Underwriter.