Have you taken CFA? Hi Dheeraj! I need some advice. I am a 20 year old living in New York, and extremely interested in Investment Banking. I have already read some books on it, and tried some demo websites for it as well. I still want to know if there is any specific study material that i should refer to learn more.
Any advice would be gratefully received. Hey Caesar, A good way to start is to take this professional training program on Investment Banking. This clearly gives me the clear picture of the pros and cons of being in investment banking. Thank you so much. Just inquisitive to know if the atmosphere at investment banks is of work politics or the seniors do help their collegues when in some serious work related problem. After reading this I realise being an investment banker is something not for me..
Pulling all nighters and then being present next morning again to concentrate on the work is a big challenge actually and I totally respect the investment bankers and feel what they are paid is quite worth it. Hi Ainsley, I am sorry if i scared you Best, Dheeraj. I discovered about your blog about a week ago and its been a great read. Really interesting articles and have gone through quite a few of them. Keep writing and providing us knowledge. Your email address will not be published.
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Forgot Password? Investment Banker Lifestyle You must have probably heard a lot about investment banking About Investment Banking Investment banking is a specialized banking stream that facilitates the business entities, government and other organizations in generating capital through debts and equity, reorganization, mergers and acquisition, etc.
Why people become investment bankers? A typical day in investment banker life Myths and Facts of investment banking The Downsides of an investment banker life When to quit investment banking?
Why become an Investment Banker? Psychological Attraction I would not be wrong to say that the candidates today are quite mesmerized by the image of an investment banker. Earn a lot of money There is no doubt about this particular reason being the biggest motivating factor for people to get into investment banking Investment Banking To get into investment banking, know where to begin with, understand how investment banks recruit, master investment and technical banking skills, and work on your soft skills along with the required degree and knowledge.
Myth 1: Investment Banking is a very dazzling industry, and my work will be full of handing demanding transactions and deals. Myth 2: The job gets better with time and position. Myth 3: Investment Banking is not as hectic as people fuss about.
Myth 4: Advanced Mathematics skill is a must Truth: The majority of the stuff you do in investment banking is going to be simple in terms of the mathematical skills you use. Myth 5: Investment banking is only for males Truth: this cannot be regarded as a complete myth as Investment banking has been male-dominated. Comments Thank you sir, that was really informative. Hi Dhanush, I have covered this extensively in Do have a look at this article. Thanks, Dheeraj. Hi Jac, Obviously, there are chances that you can get into IB.
Hi Taavi, You will find politics in all organizations and Investment Banking may not be very different I am glad you find these articles useful Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published.
Please select the batch. Cookies help us provide, protect and improve our products and services. By using our website, you agree to our use of cookies Privacy Policy. Careers Career Advice. Key Takeaways Even with education, experience, and enthusiasm, investment banking might not be for you.
Lack of work-life balance is one reason to avoid becoming an investment banker. Investment bankers must also be able to manage high-pressure situations.
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How Does a Checking Account Work? I already saw the am sales article. Asset management can be good, sure, but the hours are still long and plenty of people do burn out. Pay tends to be lower than at some hedge funds you can find salary surveys but the lifestyle and hours can be a bit better as well. But in buy-side roles, it really comes down to your performance individual and fund more than anything. I think the guy who wrote this thing has no idea on how other professions work.
You have to be constantly updated on the new set of crap the industry puts out. As more and more Vcs invest in more and more tech companies they turn out different softwares and your skills get old just when you think you learnt it. What I would not give to be paid 10 times that I make to do a repetitive job even flipping burgers is repetitive and it is not highly paid.
Overall banking is a paradise for many folks. Other professions are not as easy as the author thinks. And there are people who work are way smarter and do miraculous work and are grossly underpaid when compared to banking.
Not the full thing, even a short summary is fine…. That is why we do not get into a detailed discussion of software developers, tech start-ups, etc. Yes, there are smart and hard-working people in other industries. Many of my friends from undergrad worked at companies like Facebook and Google pre-IPO and I saw what they went through… but with that said, they still did not work the hours that bankers do.
Yes, sure, sometimes they had to work at nights or on weekends, but that was more in the early days of the company e. So thanks for your comment, but next time please try to do to at least a few minutes of research before you start making assumptions.
Hello Brian I have been reading couple of your articles and others in the website and found them quite helpful. I am a recent graduate with finance major but without any internship. The investment banks always intrigued me but i guess most of what I perceived was superficial info. This article does give a more comprehensive realistic insight of the practicality of the lifestyle and expectations at investment banks.
Yet, I still want to pursue my career in this field to start of as an analyst. Also you mentioned the job is likely to take a toll on the social lifestyle outside of work and i do understand that considering the long hours that this job entails. My concern was how many hours do we have to work on the work days? And is this like this every day or just certain times of the year or during live deals? And depending on the market you are aiming at, additional language skills maybe useful.
Some days maybe slower than others, but all nighters are not uncommon. Most likely during deals, but sometimes you may get staffed on a ton of different deals, especially if the season is busy and the bank is a famous one.
First of all, thank you for this insightful article crafted without the veil of political correctness. It is precisely the raw truth that I require and need, and it is hard to come by. I am a young undergraduate BBM majoring in Finance and Operations Management looking for a career path that provides practical remuneration and some degree of enjoyment. I am certainly not looking for the million dollar job but one cannot hope to survive on a career purely based on passion.
I have a strong interest in video games and I did an internship with a video game MNC as a business analyst dealing with big data. In all honesty, the only thing keeping me from joining this company and industry is the pay and lack of true meritocratic progression.
However, I also discovered that I liked an intellectually stimulating job that are project based as opposed to business-as-usual. From there, I decided to look for lucrative jobs and hope that it grows on me on the basis that I like intellectually stimulating jobs.
With the assumption that jobs in the finance industry were well-paid because they were difficult jobs for intelligent people, I looked for my 2nd internship in that area. Today, I am in a large well-known bank working as a corporate banking intern. I am thinking of doing a 3rd internship and moving into consulting before finally exiting into a large video game company to circumvent the entire issue of pay grade in starting from a video game company after graduation.
This way, I get the sufficient pay grade I so desire, while also working a job that I at least have a passion for in the subject matter. What are your thoughts on this strategy and what advise do you have for a person like me? If you do the internship and like it, sure, go ahead — but if you are lukewarm on the idea, I would skip full-time consulting roles and just go straight to the gaming company.
Something time and sleep has to go if you want all that money that investment banking gives you. I spoke to a trader once in my bank and he told me something that I felt resonated with me very deeply. It all depends on how badly you want to go in. You will claw your way in to where you want to be. Having said that, I came up with a workaround to help me get there by sacrificing my earlier years in life and putting in the hours so I can end up in that position where I am given a good enough pay and a job I enjoy.
In essence, I aim to improve my pay grade using consulting, then subsequently capitalize on the exit opportunities to break into that industry. You brought up how you are unsure why I am heading into consulting. There are 2 reasons, one being the above mentioned attributes of a career in consulting Money and Exit Opportunities that will eventually allow me to get to where I want.
The 2nd premised on how I believe, on a balance of probability, consulting is an intellectually challenging job where you are brought in to fix problems no one else could. Who knows, I might actually stay in there at the end of the day. I had a taste of what it is like to work in consulting by taking part in a case challenge, but I am not sure how reflective that is of such an experience.
I feel that all the networking, research and asking around did little to tell me more about the job and nothing compares to going into it first hand. I hope this does not turn into another case of me working as a corporate banker once again. Thank you for your insight. I am a graduate management consultant that has recently started in a boutique firm 17 locations worldwide and consultants. I have previously interned at a fortune company as an internal strategy consultant and the experience was so exhilarating that I decided to take a consulting job over banking.
However, I have found my job to be quite different to what I expected. The office atmosphere is terrible and there are lots of face time even when we have completed all out work. I was just wondering if this could happen to any consulting firm and I just had bad luck with my case manager. Also, would it be difficult for me to find a new job since I have no other experience and have only worked here for 5 month p. I have not had my induction yet and my training was simple 2 powerpoints on formatting conventions and Microsoft office tools.
Yes it can be challenging but it is doable. Good morning Nicole, I have a difficult decision to make within the next year and was hoping you could offer your intellectual insight.
I currently work at a wealth management firm have been working there since I was 18 now 21 and summer is looming around the corner. I have struggled with deciding whether independent wealth management or investment banking is the path to forgo. My work-life balance is great right now but I will admit that sometimes work gets very stale and the office environment is not always exciting.
Wealth management would require me to attain clients and at a young age it would be extremely difficult. In addition, most of my pay would be based on commision, so paychecks would be quite inconsistent in the first 5 years.
With investment banking I feel the environment would be more exhilarating and fun and challenging, although work-life balance would severely lack. Pay would also be much better at investment banking up front and be more secure than wealth management. However, my boss is the sole owner of his company and looking for someone to succeed his business in the next 15 years when he retires.
So my question to you would be how do I possibly decide between the two? And which one do you prefer? Please post your comment only once on our website to avoid duplicate comments. If an interesting opportunity comes up in IB, you can take it.
Even then, I think its good to gain some IB experience if you have a chance. Thanks Brian, great article and it came at the perfect time as I have been thinking a lot about this recently.
I like this quote, and try to think about it when deciding what career path to take:. Make it last. Make it worth every heartbreak, every smile, every tear, every memory. This is your life, your destiny, your fate.. You mentioned management consulting, but what about IT consulting? Could you break down the trade-offs? If you like valuing equities and want to be closer to the stock market this maybe a great choice for you; hours can be long.
Great article. I am trying to break into finance from the healthcare sector. What are my options. Not really interested in healthcare consulting etc.
Hi Brian, Thank you for that great article. Its very useful for people like me who have very little experience working in corporate. I have done B. Can you tell me what opportunities are available to me in finance as well as business in America. Thanks in advance. I understand lower level positions — such as anyalsts, etc.
I understand these positions are extremely hard to reach no matter where you live, but it would be great knowing that they are there in the first place, and I want to live in California. Yes you can and yes there are. However California is more tech focused so if you want to do tech IB being in California maybe more useful to you.
Hwy Brian ,I am an electrical engineering student and was wondering what a good route would be to get into investment management. Any advise on how I should make the switch from engineering to finance?
I have a B. I just turned 30 yesterday and have run my own companies since graduating college. Now after 8 years of being an entrepreneur, I need to start over and get a job to pay the bills. Would you be so kind as to help a fiercely independent, deeply analytical, idea focused entrepreneur find some kind of new direction in the finance world?
If I want to spend my time valuing companies and building valuable skillsets, while still having some time to work on my side ventures, is PE the best option or should I try to get in with VC great interview posts- read both parts or something else?
Hi Nicole — I was wondering how hard is it to come to Banking after 3 or 4 years of entrepreneurship? Do you think it is doable? This is a wonderful article. I am a college senior, Math and Eco double majors. So now i am rethinking about my career direction. I also like teaching. I want a career that have good life-work balance.
Besides this option, do you have any suggestions about careers that fit me? Thank you very much! Very good article esp. Would corp development at a tech company like facebook, google, microsoft or apple be good preparation for developing your own tech start-up? Seeing that a lot of tech start-ups are acquired by these companies and I think being able to work in corp development would give a person a more in depth knowledge of the industry? Yes, I think so. Thanks a lot for the advice! I am really in a dilemma right now, I am not sure what I want to pursue after I am done with school.
I am really fascinated with technology and dream one day after I gain some work experience of doing a startup or working in venture capital. Jimmy, the best way to go about this is to gain experience in tech and finance. Perhaps you can start networking with people via LinkedIn or cold calling?
Taking an internship maybe the first step. What about attending tech conferences? This may increase your knowledge and broaden your network too. Is it so impossible given the peer pressure, or are there people who are able to do it. Some people can do it, most may not given peer pressure and influence from banking culture. It can be challenging to save in NYC, especially if you like to eat out, go out, shop.
So in other words, a large portion of this article is dedicated mainly to people without self discipline. I found this article extremely helpful. However, I quickly realized that financial engineering is tailored to risk management middleman , and the program will cost at least k out of my pocket. I do not have any internship or experience in finance, even though I did study finance on my own.
Granted I get admission from a top program, would you recommend taking this route? This seems like a very risky move after considering opportunity cost.
How likely do you think this will be? I am not dreaming of making half a million in five years or anything. I would sincerely appreciate your response. Unless you get into a target school like Haas it may not necessarily be useful. However, if you are, you may be able to open some doors. Hey Brian, I was just wondering, with a computer science degree from Stanford, why did you choose to work in finance and investment banking instead of Silicon Valley? It seems like right now the tech sector is hot with great pay, lavish perks, and really nice hours.
Personally, would you recommend someone like myself, with strong quant and coding skills, to continue pursuing a career in finance or to switch to tech? Keep in mind you also get a significant bonus at banks, which takes total cash compensation above those offered by tech companies. It really depends on what you want to do in the future. Finance is higher-stress, sometimes lower per-hour-pay at first, but offers a higher ceiling especially on the buy-side.
I want to be a low key franchise entrepreneur. By that I mean, buy a few little Caesars or something else and run them with managers. So I need to learn how to read financial statements and understand them inside and out. I have narrowed down some great career paths that would help me do that or at least give me some good finance fundamentals. Which one do you think that I should go for? Really love the stuff written here, consumed about articles in last few days before interview tomorrow. Feel free to link me to relevant article etc… All love from UK.
Since I had never really considered ibanking before, I have a few basic questions. There may not be too many answers out there but a newbie still needs to ask. How good are these jobs considered within finance circles? The role is as an analyst. What sort of work, pay, travelling etc would this entail? Lastly, How would this job be only to gain experience and in 2 3 years, move on to something possibly working in the Indian market?
I would rather live in India, though am open to moving for a couple of years. Also, if any Indians reading this, would you happen to know the scope of ibanking in Delhi if I want to move there eventually? Yes I think this role can open you to various opportunities in India. Would suggest you go for it but with a pinch of salt. Hope this helps. Will banks raise salaries or will people simply move abroad or will loopholes in the terms be found and exploited?
Also, is it a good idea to confess redundancy in the previous job to your new employer, or make up things like- you quit and wanted to go backpacking. Please advise. What if your only goal is the attainment of wealth?
I see no other field to fulfill my desires. I have an aptitude and interest for accounting, finance and economics courses why not pursue Wall Street? I am only posting this because I read posts on your site quite often and you seem to steer people away from IBD, PE, HF if your objective is attainment of wealth. I think they realize that they do desire wealth on a large scale in life and they have to get this through a legitimate profession and they have somewhat of an interest and aptitude for finance.
I am truly not trying to be an asshole here this is just my perspective. What I am saying here is that my main desire in life IS the attainment of wealth, I also have an interest and aptitude for it. I am not asking for one of these psychological things about money not buying happiness because I do not see how anybody has mind reading power to see what makes others happy, also I believe it is all relative to individual, some like apples, some oranges.
I know I am not going to be a star athlete, celebrity, or invent anything. I see no other venue of making multimillion dollar income? Also about how many years does it usually take to reach MD level at bulge bracket? Thank you for your feedback and comment. If you truly enjoy finance and doing deals, then please do apply for roles in IB. However, its best if you know what brings you true joy and how you can be of service to others in exchange for the wealth.
How does the buy side e. Good credentials. I really enjoyed reading this. An awesome article to get a reality check and i think everyone should read this before trying to get into IB. Except I know of no bankers or other financiers who have actually done this. Yes, it is possible. It depends on the individual. What are your thoughts on a career in corporate law? What exit opportunities can that provide?
Long-short HFs? Would managing UHNW money vs. Private banking? More private banking, or possibly some asset management do a search for both terms on this site. HFs would be more of a long-shot. Great article here. Great article thanks. I think readers may be able to give you better insights on this front. If you want to break into IB, going through transaction banking may not be the best route.
And I believe this division does not pay as much as IB. Prestige vs IB — not comparable. Excellent post Brian, my question is more specific though. I have previous IB 1 year experience, left the job for some economics consulting and kind of became more religious in the process. What do you think? Sorry if this comment is in the wrong place.
Interesting question. Lifestyle in PE may not necessarily be better than lifestyle in IB. Yes your religious restriction may be an issue for most PE firms. However, if the firm really like you and you address this before you sign the contract, I think you will be fine. You may also want to look at teams in firms which observe the same religious day as you do. Hard to say. Depends on various factors such as the structure of the firm, the performance of the fund and your performance.
In a scalable business, you get paid for the value you create, not the hours you put in. I personally think IB is quite overrated. Anyway, just to share my own thoughts and thank you for the informative information on this site and explaining the ins and outs of IB without sugarcoating the truth.
One of the common themes I see in corporate finance, as well as careers in general, are the often conflicting themes:. Work as hard as you can, and make as much money as you can.
This gives pride and financial independence. Travel as much as you can and have as many diverse relationships as possible. This makes people happy. Sorry to bounce thoughts off you guys, it just seems like a hard reality many of us have troble realizing. Not uncommon in finance. Whether you want to adopt the beliefs or not is your choice. And not everyone in finance thinks this way. Honestly, it seems like a job that is harder, more boring, more inconvenient, more stressful than most.
But, the pay is prestige is definitely better than many other careers. Depends on your priorities and values. Its your choice. Whether its worth it or not is also your perception. Am I correct? Not necessarily. Some people stay some people leave voluntarily or involuntarily. Whether it is a great field or not depends on your values and priorities! Very insightful article yet again!
I need to make a decision. The pay is definitely better in DB to begin with, but its a tough choice to make for long-term. What would you suggest? However, DB is CIB centre in India maybe what people refer to as KPO , so even though a structurer can work sitting here on the same stuff, the exit opportunities is something I am not very convinced about.
The pay is better in DB to begin with. And now i realize that i stumbled upon a diamond. So, what can u advice? I would strongly suggest moving to a country with a better-developed system if you want to work in finance.
Can u, please, recommend any country I can move to first, and then, which one is the best for working and building a career in finance? I can speak russian and english and have bachelor degree in finace majior and accounting minor from the best university in my country where all the classes are taught in english?
So, considering this, what can u suggest? Your posts are awesome you know that already. So i would like to stick to CFA instead. I just love finance practice as well as i am good with number. Working for an hedge fund, a stock broker or some credit rating agency is my goal. First off, I want to say how much I appreciate your well-written articles. Entrepreneurship and ibanking do not go hand for hand. Ever heard of the entrepreneurship mindset??
Entrepreneurship is about innovation, solving problems and capitalizing on it. Where do you reckon I should intern to get a view of what a day of a person in finance is like? Im in South Africa, qualified civil engineer, as well as completed Chartered Accountant qualification, interested in investment banking. No misconceptions about being a millionaire or the mountains of grunt required, but, my biggest query, is where in IB would i find the most rewarding project based work?
Any insight into which of these areas might provide the most job satisfaction from a project orientated work cycle, or perhaps there are other areas in finance where my expectation could be met? Thank you for the post!
I was a little bit lured to the i-banking a while ago, and am considering consulting right now. But especially after reading this post, I figure it might also be ok if I just go to Chemical Engineering industry as a Chemical Engineering graduate student should do.
Great post, really informative and realistic. If you could give me a little advice that would be great. However, on the other hand, I do agree that there are better fits than others. Can you recommend any way you have found that will get me a good fit? I know trial and error is the only way; however, as with everyone else, I know my time, money, and others patience with me is limited.
While this may sound naive and trite, I want to do whatever I can to save wasted time. I know that the authors like to over-dramatize some quotes. However, I was wondering if someone could give me a figure about how much bankers really do save? There is no standard savings rate for bankers! Any thoughts on starting your own PE firm? Difficulties of course client sourcing? Is it worth it? Almost impossible unless you have grey hair and a long track record.
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