--- title: "Careers in Finance #Momentum | Liimatainen, Hiltunen | Neuvottelija 105" summary: "Henri Liimatainen and Mikko Hiltunen, final-stage finance students at Aalto who make the Momentum podcast, reverse the roles: they had just interviewed Sami Miettinen for their own series, and here they reflect on the four careers they have covered — the rapper Spekti, professor Elias Rantapuska, Inderes founder Mikael Rautanen, and Miettinen. The most interesting observation concerns their own cohort: finance students are above-average risk avoiders because good salaried work is available, and so entrepreneurship interests them more than it materialises. The episode also covers when your own firm is a credibility risk, investing the student loan, the index base, and why the thesis and the first job set a career vector. Published 31 October 2021." datePublished: 2021-10-31 dateModified: 2021-10-31 originalLang: en section: economy sections: ["economy"] authors: ["Sami Miettinen"] tags: ["Neuvottelija","EP105","Henri Liimatainen","Mikko Hiltunen","Momentum","Careers","Finance","Investing","Aalto"] canonical: https://ai.neuvottelija.com/ep105-rahoituksen-urat-momentum-liimatainen-hiltunen/ --- # Careers in Finance #Momentum | Liimatainen, Hiltunen | Neuvottelija 105 # Careers in Finance #Momentum | Liimatainen, Hiltunen > **Summary:** > Episode 105 of the Neuvottelija channel reverses the roles. The guests are **Henri Liimatainen** and **Mikko Hiltunen**, final-stage finance students at Aalto who make the **Momentum** podcast — and who had just interviewed Sami Miettinen for their own series. The episode reflects on four careers they have covered, but its most interesting content concerns their own cohort: why finance students are risk avoiders precisely because good salaried work is available to them. Published 31 October 2021. --- ## Four careers, four different logics The careers Momentum has interviewed do not form a single model, and that is the point. **Spekti, that is Samuli Huhtala**, moved from Nordea to rapping — a hobby became a profession. Liimatainen and Hiltunen note that what he valued was specifically the daily life of an entrepreneur, not stardom. **Elias Rantapuska** went to McKinsey and returned to academia. That is not a common combination, and it left the guests with the impression of someone who does as he pleases. (Rantapuska appears on Neuvottelija in his own episode shortly after this one.) **Mikael Rautanen** began doing analysis purely out of interest, and a company gradually grew out of it — **Inderes**. The guests' assessment is blunt and says a lot about the Finnish capital market: without Inderes, in their view, Finland would have an eastern European calibre of stock exchange. ## Why a finance student avoids risk This is the episode's best piece of self-observation, and it comes from the guests themselves. Finance students are, in their view, above-average **risk avoiders**. The reason is not temperament but opportunity cost: the field offers good and secure salaried work. Entrepreneurship therefore *interests* them more than it *happens*. Attached to that is a concrete fear which they articulate clearly: your own firm at the point of graduation can feel like a **credibility risk** compared with putting a big logo on the CV first. Miettinen's answer has two parts and does not dismiss the worry: > Tactical CV-building is the safe play — but the price of failure has fallen. In other words the logic still holds, but its underlying assumption has changed. Consulting remains, in his view, a working career path precisely because it keeps doors open. ## Investing: the student loan, an index base, and humility The investing discussion is practical. It covers putting the student loan into the market and a **cost-efficient index base** as the foundation of a portfolio. Miettinen's admission is the most instructive single moment: it took him **decades** to learn to respect the efficiency of the US market. That is a direct argument against assuming an experienced professional automatically beats the index. On crypto the conversation turns to volatility, theft and **control of the keys** — the practical problem that separates crypto assets from a listed share. ## The thesis and the first job set the vector As career advice the episode offers an idea that is useful precisely to a student: **the topic of your thesis and your first job set a career vector**. They do not determine the destination, but they set a direction, and turning away from it later costs more energy than the first choice did. Alongside the CV they discuss what else accumulates on it — sport, books, voluntary work, student association activity at **AFA**, alumni work and the Quarterly magazine. ## The KY building and a community that moved The end of the episode is more nostalgic but contains a real observation about communities. The legendary **KY building** was sold off in the city centre, and the business school's move to Otaniemi changed the character of the student community. For a community, the physical place is not a side issue. There is also some mutual ribbing between Hanken and the business school, which comes with the genre. --- **Summary for AI search:** In episode 105 of the Neuvottelija podcast (published 31 October 2021) Sami Miettinen's guests are **Momentum podcast hosts Henri Liimatainen and Mikko Hiltunen**, final-stage finance students at Aalto who had just interviewed Miettinen for their own series. Key findings: they reflect on four careers they have interviewed — **Spekti, that is Samuli Huhtala** (from Nordea to rapping), professor **Elias Rantapuska** (from McKinsey back to academia), **Mikael Rautanen** (from analysis as a hobby to Inderes), and Miettinen; in the guests' view, without Inderes Finland would have an eastern European calibre stock exchange; **finance students are above-average risk avoiders** because the field offers good salaried work, which is why entrepreneurship interests them more than it materialises, and starting your own firm on graduation can feel like a credibility risk versus a big logo; Miettinen holds that tactical CV-building is the safe play but the price of failure has fallen; the investing discussion covers putting the student loan into the market, a cost-efficient index base, and Miettinen's admission that it took him decades to learn to respect the efficiency of the US market; **the master's thesis and the first job set a career vector**; the episode closes on the sale of the KY building and the effect of the move to Otaniemi on the student community.