Standard modern male failure script (horrifying) [MUST READ NOT CLICKBAIT]

[Seth Walsh]

Long hours.
Long commute.
High rent.
High cortisol.
High aesthetic polish.
Zero intimacy.
Zero compounding.
Zero meaning.



Not a personal attack. But this lifestyle is pure substitution.

• commute replaces community
• gym replaces intimacy
• salary replaces security
• image replaces identity
• grind replaces purpose
• consumption replaces connection

A 5am wake up, idealizing day to day drift and mundanity, back office in an IB. home at 9.15pm exhausted. Here's the meta analysis. The person who made this video meta analysed to the point he's using his REAL life as a way to build a YouTube audience, and hence, another income stream, diversifying his time and optionality.

This is ingenious, and I predict it'll be the new hopium content sold to youngsters (in place of Andrew Tate / Hamza type content).

Investment Banking is never worth it.


A man can sit in a glass tower in Canary Wharf and still have no life trajectory, just motion.


This is not front-office upside.
It’s not high-risk/high-reward finance.
It’s not a wealth engine.
It’s not a family-building environment.


It’s a prestige treadmill: looks impressive from the outside, empties a man from the inside.

• no partner
• no romance
• no legacy
• no long-term arc
  = stagnation dressed as success.

Avoiding this is simple:


1. Don’t sell your life for prestige.
2. Don’t chain yourself to environments with no upside.
3. Don’t mistake motion for direction.
4. Don’t build a life optimized for strangers’ admiration.
5. Build for compounding, intimacy, autonomy, and long-term stakes.

 

[almostAverage]

allat money and hes still ltn

 

[knightgtb65]

 

[Seth Walsh]

high iq ^

 

[knightgtb65]

high iq ^

W post man although skipped through the vid i understand the point tho, its a repetitive lifestyle and you cant really break out of the loop otherwise you will fall

 

[decadouche57]

Long hours.
Long commute.
High rent.
High cortisol.
High aesthetic polish.
Zero intimacy.
Zero compounding.
Zero meaning.



Not a personal attack. But this lifestyle is pure substitution.

• commute replaces community
• gym replaces intimacy
• salary replaces security
• image replaces identity
• grind replaces purpose
• consumption replaces connection

A 5am wake up, idealizing day to day drift and mundanity, back office in an IB. home at 9.15pm exhausted. Here's the meta analysis. The person who made this video meta analysed to the point he's using his REAL life as a way to build a YouTube audience, and hence, another income stream, diversifying his time and optionality.

This is ingenious, and I predict it'll be the new hopium content sold to youngsters (in place of Andrew Tate / Hamza type content).

Investment Banking is never worth it.


A man can sit in a glass tower in Canary Wharf and still have no life trajectory, just motion.


This is not front-office upside.
It’s not high-risk/high-reward finance.
It’s not a wealth engine.
It’s not a family-building environment.


It’s a prestige treadmill: looks impressive from the outside, empties a man from the inside.

• no partner
• no romance
• no legacy
• no long-term arc
  = stagnation dressed as success.

Avoiding this is simple:


1. Don’t sell your life for prestige.
2. Don’t chain yourself to environments with no upside.
3. Don’t mistake motion for direction.
4. Don’t build a life optimized for strangers’ admiration.
5. Build for compounding, intimacy, autonomy, and long-term stakes.

How do you get into trading without doing investment banking

 

[Seth Walsh]

W post man although skipped through the vid i understand the point tho, its a repetitive lifestyle and you cant really break out of the loop otherwise you will fall

It's more a lesson that you need to put yourself in systems that compound you, and compound for you.

The bizarre reality I was trying to get people to realise is that this guy needs to create a YouTube channel to try and glamourise middle/back office Investment Banking grind.

He flaunts his flashy BMW, Canary Wharf office. But the reality is, he is on 55-80K GPB per year all-in comp with a burn rate that likely exceeds his net take home.

A YouTube channel is a compounding vehicle he could get payoff out of, and that's why he set it up.

No compounding, and he's chained and forgotten.

The opportunity cost of being single with a prestige role catches up. Decisions need to be made before time does the rest.

You're either stagnating or compounding. What mode are you in?

 

[Seth Walsh]

How do you get into trading without doing investment banking

Both are completely different industries.

 

[knightgtb65]

Long hours.
Long commute.
High rent.
High cortisol.
High aesthetic polish.
Zero intimacy.
Zero compounding.
Zero meaning.



Not a personal attack. But this lifestyle is pure substitution.

• commute replaces community
• gym replaces intimacy
• salary replaces security
• image replaces identity
• grind replaces purpose
• consumption replaces connection

A 5am wake up, idealizing day to day drift and mundanity, back office in an IB. home at 9.15pm exhausted. Here's the meta analysis. The person who made this video meta analysed to the point he's using his REAL life as a way to build a YouTube audience, and hence, another income stream, diversifying his time and optionality.

This is ingenious, and I predict it'll be the new hopium content sold to youngsters (in place of Andrew Tate / Hamza type content).

Investment Banking is never worth it.


A man can sit in a glass tower in Canary Wharf and still have no life trajectory, just motion.


This is not front-office upside.
It’s not high-risk/high-reward finance.
It’s not a wealth engine.
It’s not a family-building environment.


It’s a prestige treadmill: looks impressive from the outside, empties a man from the inside.

• no partner
• no romance
• no legacy
• no long-term arc
  = stagnation dressed as success.

Avoiding this is simple:


1. Don’t sell your life for prestige.
2. Don’t chain yourself to environments with no upside.
3. Don’t mistake motion for direction.
4. Don’t build a life optimized for strangers’ admiration.
5. Build for compounding, intimacy, autonomy, and long-term stakes.

tldr avoid prestige driven environments and instead opt for building a life focused on autonomy intimacy and long term compounding

 

[knightgtb65]

It's more a lesson that you need to put yourself in systems that compound you, and compound for you.

The bizarre reality I was trying to get people to realise is that this guy needs to create a YouTube channel to try and glamourise middle/back office Investment Banking grind.

He flaunts his flashy BMW, Canary Wharf office. But the reality is, he is on 55-80K GPB per year all-in comp with a burn rate that likely exceeds his net take home.

A YouTube channel is a compounding vehicle he could get payoff out of, and that's why he set it up.

No compounding, and he's chained and forgotten.

The opportunity cost of being single with a prestige role catches up. Decisions need to be made before time does the rest.

You're either stagnating or compounding. What mode are you in?

fair point on compounding, i guess the hard part is figuring out which system actually compounds for you versus what just looks good on the surface

 

[Seth Walsh]

tldr avoid prestige driven environments and instead opt for building a life focused on autonomy intimacy and long term compounding

Yes!

And I want to fucking hammer that home to youngsters.

He's essentially performing stability for himself.

The car, the flat, the gym, the skyscraper—all compensate for the absence of:

• intimacy
• purpose
• compounding trajectory
• real freedom

When a man knows deep down that his path is unsustainable, he creates content that reframes it as aspirational. Younger viewers see Canary Wharf, skyscrapers, gym, car, clean meals, physical discipline and ignore the void beneath it.

This is just as dangerous as Andrew Tate type stuff. And I know the creator of the vid isn't malicious. But, this is a blackpill forum so the truth needs to be out there.

This life does not inspire upward mobility, it makes a cage look like a lifestyle. The only difference is that it only works on men who haven’t lived long enough to feel the trap.

I hope you all see through it.

 

[Seth Walsh]

fair point on compounding, i guess the hard part is figuring out which system actually compounds for you versus what just looks good on the surface

That's what you need to be thinking about, then working on relentlessly.

No compounding means you'll drift and stagnate. That impacts your life the most. Making decisive decisions and learning to apply game theory/payoff on your own life will serve you like none else.

Trust your gut, always.

 

[knightgtb65]

Yes!

And I want to fucking hammer that home to youngsters.

He's essentially performing stability for himself.

The car, the flat, the gym, the skyscraper—all compensate for the absence of:

• intimacy
• purpose
• compounding trajectory
• real freedom

When a man knows deep down that his path is unsustainable, he creates content that reframes it as aspirational. Younger viewers see Canary Wharf, skyscrapers, gym, car, clean meals, physical discipline and ignore the void beneath it.

This is just as dangerous as Andrew Tate type stuff. And I know the creator of the vid isn't malicious. But, this is a blackpill forum so the truth needs to be out there.

This life does not inspire upward mobility, it makes a cage look like a lifestyle. The only difference is that it only works on men who haven’t lived long enough to feel the trap.

I hope you all see through it.

the lifestyle is packaged as aspirational but doesnt really lead anywhere long term, without finding a partner and settling down due to overfocus on his career, he will likely not have offspring to pass on his experiences too and continue what he worked so hard for, instead he will wither away slowly and steadily into the abyss and be forgotten by his IB peers

 

[Seth Walsh]

the lifestyle is packaged as aspirational but doesnt really lead anywhere long term, without finding a partner and settling down due to overfocus on his career, he will likely not have offspring to pass on his experiences too and continue what he worked so hard for, instead he will wither away slowly and steadily into the abyss and be forgotten by his IB peers

Think of it this way.

If you aren’t inside a compounding system, you become the product of someone else’s.

 

[inversions]

Don't the majority of people only work in IB for a few years and then exit into something with less hours?

 

[Seth Walsh]

Don't the majority of people only work in IB for a few years and then exit into something with less hours?

If they're in front office and are smart then yes.

 

[knightgtb65]

Think of it this way.

If you aren’t inside a compounding system, you become the product of someone else’s.

if u arent in a compounding system youre irrational as you are purposely opting for no forward development in your career etc and are pursuing a blank objective with no benefits to yourself

 

[mvpisafaggot420]

That's what you need to be thinking about, then working on relentlessly.

No compounding means you'll drift and stagnate. That impacts your life the most. Making decisive decisions and learning to apply game theory/payoff on your own life will serve you like none else.

Trust your gut, always.

damn, probably the most high iq shit ive read on here

 

[inversions]

If they're in front office and are smart then yes.

I feel like it's worth it tbh

It's what I'm trying to set up to do anyways

 

[Seth Walsh]

I feel like it's worth it tbh

It's what I'm trying to set up to do anyways

Good stuff. What are you studying?

 

[cursedpaki19]

Long hours.
Long commute.
High rent.
High cortisol.
High aesthetic polish.
Zero intimacy.
Zero compounding.
Zero meaning.



Not a personal attack. But this lifestyle is pure substitution.

• commute replaces community
• gym replaces intimacy
• salary replaces security
• image replaces identity
• grind replaces purpose
• consumption replaces connection

A 5am wake up, idealizing day to day drift and mundanity, back office in an IB. home at 9.15pm exhausted. Here's the meta analysis. The person who made this video meta analysed to the point he's using his REAL life as a way to build a YouTube audience, and hence, another income stream, diversifying his time and optionality.

This is ingenious, and I predict it'll be the new hopium content sold to youngsters (in place of Andrew Tate / Hamza type content).

Investment Banking is never worth it.


A man can sit in a glass tower in Canary Wharf and still have no life trajectory, just motion.


This is not front-office upside.
It’s not high-risk/high-reward finance.
It’s not a wealth engine.
It’s not a family-building environment.


It’s a prestige treadmill: looks impressive from the outside, empties a man from the inside.

• no partner
• no romance
• no legacy
• no long-term arc
  = stagnation dressed as success.

Avoiding this is simple:


1. Don’t sell your life for prestige.
2. Don’t chain yourself to environments with no upside.
3. Don’t mistake motion for direction.
4. Don’t build a life optimized for strangers’ admiration.
5. Build for compounding, intimacy, autonomy, and long-term stakes.

God I do not want to imagine life after 20 years old

 

[Seth Walsh]

damn, probably the most high iq shit ive read on here

Thanks man means a lot. Just me in rage mode lmao.

 

[inversions]

Good stuff. What are you studying?

Right now in school: math fm bio chem econ

y2 ill drop down to math bio econ and probably apply to cambridge land econ / oxford e&m

it's either IB or consulting for me tbh

 

[mvpisafaggot420]

If they're in front office and are smart then yes.

im glad i dont have to put up with this kind of grind bc i have a trust fund. im just locked in on my startup without having to worry about funding, expenses etc

 

[Node]

Improov

 

[Seth Walsh]

im glad i dont have to put up with this kind of grind bc i have a trust fund. im just locked in on my startup without having to worry about funding, expenses etc

Fucking hell, you're sorted

 

[Seth Walsh]

@Foreverbrad

 

[vaso]

Long hours.
Long commute.
High rent.
High cortisol.
High aesthetic polish.
Zero intimacy.
Zero compounding.
Zero meaning.



Not a personal attack. But this lifestyle is pure substitution.

• commute replaces community
• gym replaces intimacy
• salary replaces security
• image replaces identity
• grind replaces purpose
• consumption replaces connection

A 5am wake up, idealizing day to day drift and mundanity, back office in an IB. home at 9.15pm exhausted. Here's the meta analysis. The person who made this video meta analysed to the point he's using his REAL life as a way to build a YouTube audience, and hence, another income stream, diversifying his time and optionality.

This is ingenious, and I predict it'll be the new hopium content sold to youngsters (in place of Andrew Tate / Hamza type content).

Investment Banking is never worth it.


A man can sit in a glass tower in Canary Wharf and still have no life trajectory, just motion.


This is not front-office upside.
It’s not high-risk/high-reward finance.
It’s not a wealth engine.
It’s not a family-building environment.


It’s a prestige treadmill: looks impressive from the outside, empties a man from the inside.

• no partner
• no romance
• no legacy
• no long-term arc
  = stagnation dressed as success.

Avoiding this is simple:


1. Don’t sell your life for prestige.
2. Don’t chain yourself to environments with no upside.
3. Don’t mistake motion for direction.
4. Don’t build a life optimized for strangers’ admiration.
5. Build for compounding, intimacy, autonomy, and long-term stakes.

modern SLAVERY

 

[Napoleon1800]

Long hours.
Long commute.
High rent.
High cortisol.
High aesthetic polish.
Zero intimacy.
Zero compounding.
Zero meaning.



Not a personal attack. But this lifestyle is pure substitution.

• commute replaces community
• gym replaces intimacy
• salary replaces security
• image replaces identity
• grind replaces purpose
• consumption replaces connection

A 5am wake up, idealizing day to day drift and mundanity, back office in an IB. home at 9.15pm exhausted. Here's the meta analysis. The person who made this video meta analysed to the point he's using his REAL life as a way to build a YouTube audience, and hence, another income stream, diversifying his time and optionality.

This is ingenious, and I predict it'll be the new hopium content sold to youngsters (in place of Andrew Tate / Hamza type content).

Investment Banking is never worth it.


A man can sit in a glass tower in Canary Wharf and still have no life trajectory, just motion.


This is not front-office upside.
It’s not high-risk/high-reward finance.
It’s not a wealth engine.
It’s not a family-building environment.


It’s a prestige treadmill: looks impressive from the outside, empties a man from the inside.

• no partner
• no romance
• no legacy
• no long-term arc
  = stagnation dressed as success.

Avoiding this is simple:


1. Don’t sell your life for prestige.
2. Don’t chain yourself to environments with no upside.
3. Don’t mistake motion for direction.
4. Don’t build a life optimized for strangers’ admiration.
5. Build for compounding, intimacy, autonomy, and long-term stakes.

Niggas think investment bank they’ll end up like Patrick Bateman or Jordan Belfort but end up a corporate stressed out slave it’s brutal

 

[mvpisafaggot420]

Fucking hell, you're sorted

yeah, without my family's money id be fucked, id most likely be a complete failure. i get migraines all the fucking time so i could never hold a regular office job, thankfully got put on cgrp a few days ago, but the aura will still be there probably. life is good

My first 2000$/vial injection with CGRP inhibitors (Vyepti)

had my first IV infusion yesterday, it was very fast-acting and in the evening i could feel my senses and everything getting much clearer. background: ive been having debilitating migraine attacks, sometimes up to 5-6 times per week with very strong brainstem aura that included loss of vision...

looksmax.org

 

[Seth Walsh]

Niggas think investment bank they’ll end up like Patrick Bateman or Jordan Belfort but end up a corporate stressed out slave it’s brutal

Brutal.

 

[Napoleon1800]

Brutal.

Tbf as many corporate slaves I’ve seen, I’ve also seen rich narcy WASP types that work in banking and finance that probably go to luxury parties though tbh it’s probably through connections and family influence etc

 

[hypernormie]

Nice post, almost passable as written by a human. What was your prompt?

 

[Seth Walsh]

Tbf as many corporate slaves I’ve seen, I’ve also seen rich narcy WASP types that work in banking and finance that probably go to luxury parties though tbh it’s probably through connections and family influence etc

They're all placement nepotists. Potemkin village carveout "Business Development" departments with shadow roles and dynastic trust funds. If you don't have that, you won't replicate it. It's either full merit, skill and eventually freedom and autonomy; or corporate slavery.

 

[Seth Walsh]

Nice post, almost passable as written by a human. What was your prompt?

Nah I actually wrote it haha. I make it look like ChatGPT to drive engagement from the posters who always comment "stop using ChatGPT" on my posts.

I'm diversifying my stylometry to farm max engagement,

 

[Napoleon1800]

They're all placement nepotists. Potemkin village carveout "Business Development" departments with shadow roles and dynastic trust funds. If you don't have that, you won't replicate it. It's either full merit, skill and eventually freedom and autonomy; or corporate slavery.

Yeah nepotism is brutal in this type of work

Tbh if you think about it someone like mark zuckerberg is the ultimate incel hero (kind of). He was high iq sperg and he did go to Harvard but at the same time he did become a billionaire despite being truecel

Tbh entrepreneurship is probably one of the hardest things you can do and the chances of failure are very high but it’s probably the only way to truly escape wage slavery in the long term, by being the owner yourself

 

[Seth Walsh]

Yeah nepotism is brutal in this type of work

Tbh if you think about it someone like mark zuckerberg is the ultimate incel hero (kind of). He was high iq sperg and he did go to Harvard but at the same time he did become a billionaire despite being truecel

Tbh entrepreneurship is probably one of the hardest things you can do and the chances of failure are very high but it’s probably the only way to truly escape wage slavery in the long term, by being the owner yourself

True, I totally agree.

Doing it from nothing is what's completely legendary.

 

[hypernormie]

Nah I actually wrote it haha. I make it look like ChatGPT to drive engagement from the posters who always comment "stop using ChatGPT" on my posts.

I'm diversifying my stylometry to farm max engagement,

Yeah buddy sure you are

 

[Glorious King]

@Jason Voorhees gotta read this banger

 

[placedink]

high iq post

 

[Foreverbrad]

Unfortunately this seems to be the kind of guy you have to be if you want to bag a HQNP girl, from what I’ve seen. They usually aspire for one of these guys.

Meanwhile for me:

Long hours. I only really work 15-20 a week for my “full time” job.
Long commute. Does my commute even exist if it’s exercise?
High rent. Live with parents.
High cortisol. Yep.
High aesthetic polish. Nope, not needed.
Zero intimacy. Yep, girls don’t want a “loser” like me.
Zero compounding. 100% of salary into stocks but no path for professional development or entrepreneurship.
Zero meaning. Still yep.

Tbh an IB guy can probably have the same saving rate as I do while still enjoying life due to FAR higher income despite a higher burn rate. He will also not be seen as a loser so he can do what he wants in his albeit limited free time while I’m a social outcast due to my lifestyle.

It may not be an ideal life but I still think it’s better than most. He can at least make an instagram about it whereas mine is so mundane and pointless that nobody would care.

 

[Seth Walsh]

Tbh an IB guy can probably have the same saving rate as I do while still enjoying life due to FAR higher income despite a higher burn rate. He will also not be seen as a loser so he can do what he wants in his albeit limited free time while I’m a social outcast due to my lifestyle.

Forget your savings rate. Your blocker is not having compensation progression and your job/role not being tied to PnL metrics.

You can save 100% of your salary but if you don't switch careers you'll never make enough money for independence.

You need both, low burn, early consistent investment, and a career that compounds relentlessly.

You want to envisage your LinkedIn to look like a Champions League players Wikipedia page.

2017-2020 - Manchester City
2020-2022 - PSG
2022 - 2025 - Bayern Munich
2025 - present - Real Madrid

That signals high skill and high autonomy,

Most people benchmark their salaries and cope and say they're not bottom tier. Their "Wikipedia" is like
2017 - present - Maidstone United

and cope with savings, deferring action and justifying stagnation. Not realising that there may have been a point in the past where they could've jumped into a better league, despite not realizing better comp immediately.

It's all trajectory. Confidence, opportunity etc all come from your trajectory.

The point of OP is that he's actually stagnating in an IB ops role and suffocating. 35 years old and still surrenders 16 hour days for probably lower net savings than you living at home.

It's all relevant. But there's still something most people aren't doing. Which is trying to enter arenas where their skills compound their income, and cutting their environment (job, location etc) like an executioner, as early as it becomes rational. Because that's what'll stand to you in the end. All else is cope.

 

[Seth Walsh]

Unfortunately this seems to be the kind of guy you have to be if you want to bag a HQNP girl, from what I’ve seen. They usually aspire for one of these guys.

Meanwhile for me:

Long hours. I only really work 15-20 a week for my “full time” job.
Long commute. Does my commute even exist if it’s exercise?
High rent. Live with parents.
High cortisol. Yep.
High aesthetic polish. Nope, not needed.
Zero intimacy. Yep, girls don’t want a “loser” like me.
Zero compounding. 100% of salary into stocks but no path for professional development or entrepreneurship.
Zero meaning. Still yep.

Tbh an IB guy can probably have the same saving rate as I do while still enjoying life due to FAR higher income despite a higher burn rate. He will also not be seen as a loser so he can do what he wants in his albeit limited free time while I’m a social outcast due to my lifestyle.

It may not be an ideal life but I still think it’s better than most. He can at least make an instagram about it whereas mine is so mundane and pointless that nobody would care.

As corny as it sounds and I think it's true. You don't need to be a certain archetype to land a decent girl. You need to be a grown up man with a lot going for him. Obviously way easier said than done.

I'd wager the IB guy in the vid is embellishing the glamour of his "day in the life".


A good example of someone who compounded absolutely every facet of his life while being relatively unremarkable, is Pewdiepie.

He's only just turned 36. Generational wealth made and saved. Wife and kids. Made the correct choice when they were truly necessarily. Let what worked for him compound and threw capital into the vehicles that compounded the hardest. Then pretty much quit YouTube when he was the most subscribed channel for no other reason than rational self-incentivisation.

Stagnation, sentimentalisation and low execution is the origin of most people's failures. Identify edge → extract maximum yield → exit before diminishing returns → redeploy into the next higher-leverage domain.

Pewdiepie wasn't a try hard grinder. But he understood compounding and systems.

 

[Saint Casanova]

If it was a front office role, I’d say you can pay your dues for a few years and then move into VC, PE ect where the hours are less with great pay.

Back office still pays decent compared to most shit in the UK, but progression seems to be quite low and you stagnate.

 

[Seth Walsh]

If it was a front office role, I’d say you can pay your dues for a few years and then move into VC, PE ect where the hours are less with great pay.

Back office still pays decent compared to most shit in the UK, but progression seems to be quite low and you stagnate.

Spot on

 

[Seth Walsh]

Spot on

He said in the comments of the vid he's not front office.

What the IB guy is doing is packaging the optics because his career (and possibly life but don't want to speculate too much) is motion rather than direction. So he's actually doing himself a service by making the YouTube videos. But no one really sees behind the machine like that.

Also I'm just diagnosing the system, not attacking the creator.

 

[New Poster]

He’s actually htn but has managed to give himself zero appeal

 

[FutureSlayer]

5. Build for compounding, intimacy, autonomy, and long-term stakes.

Have fun trying to succeed with that in 2025

 

[FutureSlayer]

the lifestyle is packaged as aspirational but doesnt really lead anywhere long term, without finding a partner and settling down due to overfocus on his career, he will likely not have offspring to pass on his experiences too and continue what he worked so hard for, instead he will wither away slowly and steadily into the abyss and be forgotten by his IB peers

You’re fucked either way. By marrying a woman in 2025 you’re stagnatinf yourself even more and risking 10x compared to the alienating life.
Both are miserable

 

[Seth Walsh]

Have fun trying to succeed with that in 2025

Yeah very hard. But what's the alternative? Not try and never aim yourself at those things?

They're so important that's why the whole thread is about those things.

Also more anti-IB propeganda below (full Sunday workday included)