"Soooo...How much DOES an Investment Banker Make?"
Don't answer this. Now or perhaps ever?
It's a trick question. One you've heard countless times in conversation and in some long ago past desperately wanted answered yourself.
What I want to know is how you respond when this question is asked?
You see I've noticed something pretty odd over my years of world travel, something that (yet again) reminds me how much America is not only a country, but a world unto itself.
Whether it is Europe or Asia, the sands of the Sahara or the beaches of Brazil...
People are quite comfortable discussing money and earnings in great detail.
Even though most foreigners rarely discuss their profession within the opening lines of a conversation, most have no problems disclosing their income if asked politely.
Not so in most glorious nation...U.S of A.
Things are very different here. It is pretty damn tough to get through and introductory conversation with anyone in America without the spectrum of jobs coming up.
Especially in New York City.
The following words can usually be heard bare minutes if not seconds into a conversation with a newly met stranger:
So...What Do You Do?
Think about it the next time you are out and meeting new people. Count the number of sentences it takes before those magic words are spoken. Regardless of environment, I am sure it will be a pretty low number in most cases.
This brings up the inevitable and uncomfortable...
How much do you make?
In the case of Wall Street meet and greeters sleekly packaged as the title of this thread.
It interests me to hear how you guys deal with this question.
I have noticed over the years that the higher the net worth of the American in question, the more nervous the expression, the more wayward the gaze and the more hasty the urge to hit the eject button.
Let's also keep in mind that it is often not a question, sometimes it just comes up in conversation or during the development of a relationship.
Some of you guys have yet to encounter this uncomfortable moment and some of you have recently woken to its realities.
What do you say to people?
How do you play this taboo hand?
As you may have noticed, I am real curious lately about the industry's overall attitude towards money. Since you guys are the future of Wall Street, I find the answers a lot more intriguing than those of the current crop of BSDs.
I also find it wonderfully comical that the absolute nail in the coffin for Wall Street interviewees is to say: I am in it for the money.
Yet once you are in it almost becomes forbidden for you to talk about how much money you make...
Do you guys see this as sort of the "unspoken rule to playing the game" ?
How much does the weight of your paycheck effect how you talk to people in public and do you feel uncomfortable discussing money with people in general?







Comments
not enough.
not enough.
I'm not in the US and I think
I'm not in the US and I think it's a little taboo/rude to discuss how much I or the other person makes, especially if we just met. But that said I have no problem disclosing it to my friends if they ask. Amongst people I'm familiar with I don't think it's a big deal at all, I just find it a little awkward to discuss with an acquaintance.
As to how I've dealt with it, I just give the figure (ball parked to the closest thousand) and leave it be, I think avoiding or acting coy just makes things more awkward and makes you seem a little more douchey....
Lol at blastoise's response,
Lol at blastoise's response, that's a good one to use too...
Wall street bankers talking
Wall street bankers talking about how much they make is like porn stars talking about their dicks. Everyone knows it's huge and it lets them fuck a ton of women, but talking about it won't make it get any bigger and just pisses off those who aren't as well endowed.
If people ask, I tell - given
If people ask, I tell - given that I spend the majority of my time with arty/marketing/media/music type people it is normal for my salary to be 4/5/6x multiple of theirs, but they wouldnt swap the glamour of the non-financial world for the money I earn and I wouldnt swap the mind numbing hell that is finance for a shitty salary and undoubtedly an equally depressing existence.
Definitely an interesting
Definitely an interesting question. And I can definitely agree Midas... I've actually been in bars in a suit after work and been asked "So where do you work?" before being asked my name. Not even "What do you do?"... the superficiality extends to brand name, and you better believe the random cougar/b&t girl/random hottie has her standards on what name is en vogue. Fortunately, when people extend superficiality in attempts to valuate your worth as an individual, it can be wholly satisfying to return serve with a matched level of your own shallowness...
I usually answer "How much do you make?" with "What's your cup size?" then judging by the facial expression and whether or not they are "cool enough" to realize that I'm trying to banter in order to change the subject, I follow with an "oh I'm sorry, I thought we were just asking really awkward questions right now..."
It just seems tacky to give them a number on the spot... no matter what, once you do the mystique is gone. It's sort of like when you are the first to give a number in a negotiation, the locus of power shifts. I like to keep it a bit of a mystery and let them wonder... If I know them well enough and they still want to know I will tell them...
1/2 of the WSO Bash Brothers
"Licensed to Ill It"
We all know Bro J did it...
monkeysama wrote: Wall street
Wall street bankers talking about how much they make is like porn stars talking about their dicks. Everyone knows it's huge and it lets them fuck a ton of women, but talking about it won't make it get any bigger and just pisses off those who aren't as well endowed.
This.
I would just say I make a
I would just say I make a good living for the hard work I put in. If they pry anymore, I will direct them to the direction facing away from me.
This thread should be labeled
This thread should be labeled "So, how much does a nerdy college kid THINK an investment banker makes...."
HFFBALLfan123 wrote: This
This thread should be labeled "So, how much does a nerdy college kid THINK an investment banker makes...."
haha, right?
1/2 of the WSO Bash Brothers
"Licensed to Ill It"
We all know Bro J did it...
I just answer them. People
I just answer them. People are stupid about money, I don't get why its such a secret. If anything, people would probably make a lot better choices in life about their careers if everyone was more open about money. I don't go around telling people, but if people ask, I tell.
Some (usually marketing/media types) stand in awe that any mere mortal they could be standing next to outside the meatpacking district could make such a princely sum, others are like "that's it? I thought you guys made waaaay more" but most are in the industry and trying to figure out if they are getting screwed.
Besides salary isn't jack shit really. Its your net worth that really matters.
This is a question that would
This is a question that would get you run out of France on a rail.
You never, never ask a Frenchman what he does for work, and asking him how much he makes is akin to asking permission to put it in his wife's butt.
This is both a function of societal norms and the oppressive tax system here. French politeness (oxymoron?) dictates that you never ask what someone does because that implies judgment. Additionally, the tax rate here is so ridiculous for high earners that it's not unusual to see a SocGen MD tooling around Paris in a 15-year old Yugo to throw the tax collectors off his scent.
I dont really think we are
I dont really think we are that much at ease about speaking of our salaries in Europe either. I personally consider my salary part of my private life, I would never consider revealing a number, wether big or small to a stranger.
Just the sheer fact of a person asking for how much you earn displays his/her intellectual capability (dumb-ass) and his/her social status (peasant/ money digger). I would try to pull out a line similar to the bra one to avoid this kind of topic in a conversation.
Vivons heureuxs, vivons cachés.
HFFBALLfan123 wrote: This
This thread should be labeled "So, how much does a nerdy college kid THINK an investment banker makes...."
bi-winning
It's what you put into it
For the record, for those of
For the record, for those of you who, rightly, believe that people from certain Asian countries are much more open about both nonchalantly asking about your salary and disclosing their salary, it's most often the case that they are straight lying to you with any number they disclose...hence, it's much easier in those cultures be "open" about such things (when nothing is really actually being said.)
I don't ever really hear the
"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed."
Theodore Roosevelt
monkeysama wrote: Wall street
I usually deflect the
- Capt K -
"Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham
I don't see a problem with
Well what do you do is just a
LOL - monkeysama, that was
For my aspiring Entrepreneurial Nomads, check out my blog.
I tell them that I am the
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Edmundo Braverman wrote: This
YOU JUST GOT TROLLED
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People who know me well know
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I HATE when people ask me,
--
"Those who say don't know, and those who know don't say."
I don't have a problem
Wall Street leaders now understand that they made a mistake, one born of their innocent and trusting nature. They trusted ordinary Americans to behave more responsibly than they themselves ever would, and these ordinary Americans betrayed their trust.
MMM, every single one of your
Status_Quo wrote: MMM, every
looking for that pick-me-up to power through an all-nighter?
I pull a Patrick Bateman in
"Well make more fuckin' money. This is America. You don't make money, then you're a fuckin' douchebag." - Mr. French
Most IB'ers I know make a
how many guys actually say
haha....I got a lot of
my coworker used to tell
I need a crib, a big estate, I need a boat and that need a lake, I need some salmon that need a plate, that need a chef so I feed my safe
From trading equities to slanging wine in Latin America
A ship is safe in harbor, but that is not what a ship i
no one has ever, ever asked
i dont know where you got the
I don't accept sacrifices and I don't make them. ... If ever the pleasure of one has to be bought by the pain of the other, there better be no trade at all. A trade by which one gains and the other loses is a fraud.
monkeysama wrote: Wall street
I blurt out 10 million!!!
It’s no mystery that ass has always been tits’ greatest enemy... It’s almost like a Muslim-Jewish thing, but with tits and ass.
I usually just use something
A twist on a very well-known
For the record, I just want
great topic. Some of my
"Just enough to stop me from
monkeysama wrote: Wall street
fdba Emory Blaine and BBA or otherwise trying to find the perfect pseudonym.
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