Setting Up the Big Short (w/ Danny Moses)

TL;DR

Danny Moses shares his journey from tracking stocks as a child to becoming a key member of the team behind one of the biggest financial calls in history.

Transcript

JUSTINE UNDERHILL: Welcome to How I Got My Start in Finance. In this episode famed investor Danny Moses tells Larry McDonald how he made his break and joined the team that made one of the biggest calls in financial history. Moses' experience even played out on the big screen in the movie The Big Short. DANNY MOSES: So my dad was a finance professor... Read More

Key Insights

• 🏑 Danny Moses's early exposure to investments and finance shaped his interest in the field.
• 🌍 Interning at CNN made Danny consider a career in sports broadcasting, but the opportunity to join his friends in New York redirected his path.
• ✳️ His experience at MBIA and witnessing the Orange County crisis heightened his awareness of the risks in the financial industry.
• 👻 Joining Oppenheimer and later FrontPoint Partners allowed Danny to work with influential figures in the finance world.
• 💦 Danny realized the importance of analyzing credit and understanding the balance sheet while working with Steve Eisman and Vinny Daniel.
• 🐕‍🦺 The financial services sector often requires studying financial engineering to uncover underlying risks.
• 😫 Danny's knowledge from his early mentors and experiences set the foundation for his success.

Questions & Answers

Q: How did Danny Moses develop an interest in finance?

Danny Moses grew up around investments and finance, tracking stocks as a child and later exploring what different companies did.

Q: What led Danny Moses to pursue a career in finance instead of sports broadcasting?

While interning at CNN, Danny's friends moved to New York to pursue finance, which inspired him to try it out instead of going to the Midwest for sports broadcasting.

Q: What was Danny Moses's first experience with a financial crisis?

As a municipal bond analyst at MBIA, Danny witnessed the Orange County crisis in 1994, which exposed the risks of lending money to entities with questionable operations.

Q: How did Danny Moses become part of the team featured in the movie "The Big Short"?

Danny Moses met Steve Eisman, Vincent Daniel, and Meredith Whitney at Oppenheimer before they all joined FrontPoint Partners, where they made the significant call on the subprime mortgage market.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Danny Moses grew up with a father who was a finance professor and developed an early interest in investments.

• Initially, he wanted to be a sports broadcaster but decided to pursue a career in finance and became a municipal bond analyst.

• He met Steve Eisman, Vincent Daniel, and Meredith Whitney at Oppenheimer and eventually joined them at FrontPoint Partners, where they made a significant call on the subprime mortgage market.