I come from a family with zero background in anything finance related, and so everyone (including myself) was a bit shocked to discover how much I loved all of the business and maths subjects at high school! While all my friends were asking for phones and hair straighteners, I asked for shares for my 16th birthday. I remember the excitement of reading the glossy annual reports cover to cover the day they arrived in the mail and going to the ATM to bank the dividend cheques vividly!

After high school I moved from my small New Zealand hometown to Auckland to study a Bachelor of Commerce. During university I worked part time in a small accounting practice where I spent most of my time scanning and e-filing cupboards on cupboards of old paper records; and though I loved the subject, it didn’t take long to realise becoming an accountant was definitely not my dream job.

One day in a lecture I overheard someone talking about equity research analysts, and after a thorough Google, I decided that this in fact was ‘the dream’. It was the perfect intersection of accounting and finance, current events, and interacting with companies and investors. I was fortunate enough to be offered an internship role at Credit Suisse and moved to Sydney soon after. Two years on I still absolutely love my job and in my spare time am studying towards my CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) designation.

Anna Milne, Equities Research Analyst