Thoughts on investment banking as a career

[Alexanderr]

 

[Alexanderr]

For those who don’t know what an IB is or does.

 

[Enfant terrible]

If do this you will have no free time.
Like these people have no life outside of work.

 

[Deleted member 11292]

drop out and turn to a life of crime

 

[Deleted member 11292]

i dont know how to read or write

 

[Alexanderr]

If do this you will have no free time.
Like these people have no life outside of work.

This is true, but the same goes for essentially any high paying job. You’ll have to trade in your time and skill for money. Either, do this for a decade, save up & invest and retire early or have a normal job and work until you’re 70.
Granted, spending your 20s working isn’t for everyone.

 

[ScreaM]

you will have 0 life or free time in your 20s and prime years, you will basically be a super wage slave working Mondays-Sunday with the odd Saturday off.

However if you will probably be a millionairemaxxed 30yr old and you can enjoy the rest of your life rich af, but you sacrifice your prime years.

 

[Alexanderr]

i dont know how to read or write

So did you just think of this comment and it automatically came into being on your device?

 

[Alexanderr]

you will have 0 life or free time in your 20s and prime years, you will basically be a super wage slave working Mondays-Sunday with the odd Saturday off.

However if you will probably be a millionairemaxxed 30yr old and you can enjoy the rest of your life rich af, but you sacrifice your prime years.

I want to do something in finance but simultaneously not give up my prime years, I’ll probably end up working as financial analyst in a company with relatively normal hours and just passively invest some of my income. I won’t be retired by 30 then but maybe 50.

 

[Deleted member 14323]

Sounds like a future roping

 

[Alexanderr]

@n0rthface dont let me take your reactions away too

 

[Alexanderr]

Sounds like a future roping

The job involves a lot of stress, there’s often millions, tens of millions of dollars (with really big firms it could be hundreds) at risk. High stakes, but also high pay.

 

[ScreaM]

I want to do something in finance but simultaneously not give up my prime years, I’ll probably end up working as financial analyst in a company with relatively normal hours and just passively invest some of my income. I won’t be retired by 30 then but maybe 50.

maybe look into becoming an actuary. You get to enjoy your prime years because you will still be studying for exams and working at the same time, but also make lots of bank.

 

[Alexanderr]

maybe look into becoming an actuary. You get to enjoy your prime years because you will still be studying for exams and working at the same time, but also make lots of bank.

Sounds good, will do, thanks.

 

[Deleted member 5189]

For those who don’t know what an IB is or does.
View attachment 1377778

@n0rthface you probably did IB in college

 

[Deleted member 5189]

drop out and turn to a life of crime

Done

 

[sytyl]

pays well but high stress, relatively hard to get into and nobody stays in ib for more than a few years (because of the stress aspect) (though this mostly applies to top firms idk how it is for mid tier/low tier ones)

 

[Prettyboy]

It’s probably the most looksmining finance field there is due to the sheer amount of the working hours, from what I know it really takes toll on people’s body (even worse than being an auditor at a BIG4)

The pay and status it provides is of course fantastic, but you have to live in high living cost finance hubs like London, Paris, Frankfurt or Milano if we are talking about Europe.

Not gonna live I am eyeing with it but would be much happier if I could land a job in other finance fields like management consulting or venture capital. More interesting work with better schedule and lots of travel in consulting’s case

 

[sytyl]

This is true, but the same goes for essentially any high paying job. You’ll have to trade in your time and skill for money. Either, do this for a decade, save up & invest and retire early or have a normal job and work until you’re 70.

not true, there are jobs that pay just as well and demand less hours
some of these guys go in at 7am and finish at 9pm, it's a cut throat environment too, check out turnover rates for ib

 

[Deleted member 11292]

So did you just think of this comment and it automatically came into being on your device?

no, i typed it.

 

[AlwaysHaveQuestions]

pays well but high stress, relatively hard to get into and nobody stays in ib for more than a few years (because of the stress aspect) (though this mostly applies to top firms idk how it is for mid tier/low tier ones)

i keep hearing that too but wtf they do after then

 

[sytyl]

i keep hearing that too but wtf they do after then

anything they want unironically, if you can prove you can survive something like ib for a few years you can pick up any other finance related role or even managerial

 

[Deleted member 9670]

Jewish

 

[Alexanderr]

not true, there are jobs that pay just as well and demand less hours
some of these guys go in at 7am and finish at 9pm, it's a cut throat environment too, check out turnover rates for ib

Which jobs? Tech?

 

[Prettyboy]

i keep hearing that too but wtf they do after then

Many of them go into other highly sought after finance fields, like equity, venture capital, hedge funds etc.

Some do an MBA along the way and goes into managerial positions.

Having a few years of experience on your CV at a major investment bank will literally set you up for the remaining of your life.

 

[Enfant terrible]

i keep hearing that too but wtf they do after then

they roped

 

[Alexanderr]

pays well but high stress, relatively hard to get into and nobody stays in ib for more than a few years (because of the stress aspect) (though this mostly applies to top firms idk how it is for mid tier/low tier ones)

Though, I do wonder, isn’t there often a resignation penalty involved? You get a shit ton of bonus as stock options but you’re only allowed to sell those 5 years after getting them and if you resign, you lose all of it.
Granted, I believe this is only for the positions a bit higher up and you won’t be offered this at the start.

 

[Enfant terrible]

Btw it might be good for connections maxxing

 

[Deusmaximus]

A friend of mine is working in a boiler room call center that sells stocks on the phone. He does 100s of calls everyday. He sometimes earns between 10 and 30k per month. His boss drives ferraris and bentley.

 

[Alexanderr]

Though, I do wonder, isn’t there often a resignation penalty involved? You get a shit ton of bonus as stock options but you’re only allowed to sell those 5 years after getting them and if you resign, you lose all of it.
Granted, I believe this is only for the positions a bit higher up and you won’t be offered this at the start.

@Prettyboy I think I watched a video on this, they essentially lock you in by doing this. I imagine if they didn’t, their turnover rates would be much higher.

 

[cvzvvc]

I have multiple friends who are in this in NYC. I almost went the corporate attorney route which is comparable, but opted out.

Do you like working 80-100 hours a week?

Do you like making a lot of money at the expense of having almost no free time?

Do you like being dunked on by seniors and C-suite executives?

If the answer to those questions is yes, then it's a good choice for you.

 

[Enfant terrible]

Also no slaying as banker

 

[Prettyboy]

Though, I do wonder, isn’t there often a resignation penalty involved? You get a shit ton of bonus as stock options but you’re only allowed to sell those 5 years after getting them and if you resign, you lose all of it.
Granted, I believe this is only for the positions a bit higher up and you won’t be offered this at the start.

It’s all planned. Nobody is expected to be stuck in the low level IB limbo for more than a few years. At that point they either become Vice Presidents at the firm, go and do an MBA or simply leave for another finance field.

In a way for those few years you are the firm’s workhorse and are expected to do the hard work. After that, you can move up the ladder.

Its called Up or out, you move up in the ladder in the expected timeframe or you’ll be gone. Similar schemes exist in other finance fields e.g. at MBB (management consulting)

Up or out - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[sytyl]

Which jobs? Tech?

some tech, some medicine/dentistry, teacher (idk how it is in europe but here being a teacher is a good deal)
I just think investment banking is one of the few fields where it'll be guaranteed to be stressful, whereas other fields it depends where you work

 

[Enfant terrible]

some tech, some medicine/dentistry, teacher (idk how it is in europe but here being a teacher is a good deal)
I just think investment banking is one of the few fields where it'll be guaranteed to be stressful, whereas other fields it depends where you work

like school teacher
lol

 

[sytyl]

like school teacher
lol

highschool teachers in canada make a good amount of money and have like 3 months off each year

 

[Prettyboy]

I have multiple friends who are in this in NYC. I almost went the corporate attorney route which is comparable, but opted out.

Do you like working 80-100 hours a week?

Do you like making a lot of money at the expense of having almost no free time?

Do you like being dunked on by seniors and C-suite executives?

If the answer to those questions is yes, then it's a good choice for you.

It’s also good to keep in mind that even tho its similarly high status everywhere, IB pays much less (less than half to be precise) in Europe than in the US. (if I remember @Alexanderr is from Benelux)

A London banker’s salary is joke compared to one working at Wall Street despite the two doing the exact same work and living in similarly high living cost areas.

 

[cvzvvc]

IB pays much less (less than half to be precise) in Europe than in the US

Had no idea. Fuck, I'd rather eat a bullet than do that job for less than half of the US going rate. That's absurd

 

[Deleted member 8202]

Imagine waging in 2021. There's so many easy ways to make tons of money without wagecucking, as long as you have starter capital

 

[Prettyboy]

Had no idea. Fuck, I'd rather eat a bullet than do that job for less than half of the US going rate. That's absurd

Yeah it’s horrible. Not only high finance but all jobs in general. Take tech’s FAANG’s for example, there are niggas in the Bay area that make 100+k$ a year out of college - that’s purely a pipedream for European programmers. Even later into their careers 50k€ is not trivial.

The amount of taxes in this socialist shithole continent is also suifuel.

The only upside is having “” free “” healthcare from your taxes