Should I be trying to replicate the NEAS results?

[NEAS: This is an independent student project. The NEAS postings are suggestions to get you started. You can construct an ARIMA model, compare two or more models for a given era, compare two or three eras by type of model of by model parameters, examine seasonality, test out-of-sample forecasts, and many other items.]

It's kind of off topic, but why not...

I agree with BOTH JoeyR and Tuba.  In theory, we really do want to apply this VEE stuff to our jobs.  However, I personally don't need to know this stuff for my job.  I'm a retirement consultant.  I know most of what we do here in my dept, and nobody uses Time Series knowledge, not really.  Most of what I need to know to do my job is in the Interest Theory Exam, about half of Exam 3/whatever letter it is, and the Fellowship stuff.  The rest is just what I have to suffer through to get my raises.

I also think Tuba is just a real sharp guy, and remembers this material better than most of us.  That's not meant to belittle the rest of us, though.  Personally, I had to cram the material in over 10 days, spit it back out on the exam, and then get back to work.  I simply didn't have the luxury of spending the time I would need to really, honestly learn it.