From his older brother Dominic's vantage point, Christopher Ciafardini was "the ultimate stimulus junkie." At the age of 9, his fascination with bicycling inspired him to complete a 100-mile race. Then he quit biking and fixated on comics and becoming a cartoonist. During his weight-lifter phase, he presented his mother with a subscription to Muscle & Fitness magazine one Mother's Day as a way of sharing his hobby du jour; she was thrilled when he outgrew it.

Studying was never a forte until college, when his attention turned to finance. To the family's surprise, Mr. Ciafardini found a passion that stuck and carried him through graduate school at Cornell University into a real-life version of his favorite film, "Wall Street." He and his friends began living out a game called "Who Retires First?"

Last spring, Mr. Ciafardini, 30, joined Fred Alger Management as a financial analyst, and in August was promoted to vice president. He had a closet full of Brooks Brothers suits he could not wait to jump into each weekday morning and had just gotten his first passport, a hint that international finance was his next niche.

"He was one of those typical Wall Street guys who worked 18-hour days and loved it," said Dominic Ciafardini. "It wasn't just a job to him; it was his identity."