The old 8 to 5

Readers of Ahab's Whale will have made note of the fact I have only posted rarely of late. I'm in a bit of a transition right now, namely between being in Canada and not having a job and suddenly being in England and working 45 hours a week. I am presently plying my trade at Business Monitor International, an outfit that specializes in macroeconomic and business research in developing countries. Their/our customers are primarily multinational corporations looking to invest or diversify into developing economies, I-banks, academia (Lexis-Nexis), and basically any big investment fund that has a limited in-house research wing, like the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. Apparently our stuff goes out on Bloomberg too.
Anyway, I'm nearing the end of my first week as an Emerging Markets Analyst. So far, that's meant putting together news articles on the latest economic developments and trends in Asia and Latin America (I'm going to specialize in Asia as soon as they hire somebody to take L.A.; right now I'm happy playing utility). If you're really keen, check out businessmonitor.com and sign up for the daily e-zine for your favourite region. (I recommend Asia and Latin America; they're both very hot right now, but I'm especially bullish on Asia for the long-term. Mostly because that's what I'm writing on.)
I'm committed for six months, after which, who knows, I may stay on. I'm enjoying it so far. And today I've made a verbal agreement for a flat in the Herne Hill/Brixton area, which is basically a 10-minute commute from work. I figure that nets me a couple of hours of extra sleep a week. So I've got that going for me, which is nice. Somewhat ironically, BMI is located on top of Blackfriars Station, which I walked by almost every day I went to school last year. Would be nice to live there now...

Anyway, I promise to get blogging once I've got a consistent schedule. Of course, the opinions on this blog are my own and are not my employer's. And nothing I say here constitutes investment advice. Any other disclaimers I've forgotten? Actually, screw the disclaimers. Let it ride.