The Hardest Pill to Swallow About Investment Banking

ok? lol we know

>prospect in IB-M&A

ahhhh

I mentioned this in that incel thread but the piece of the puzzle is that with the semi-remote work environment it no longer has the lifestyle and experiences you were hoping for. A lot more company socials, client meetings, etc are still remote now, so instead of a mahogany table you’re on a Zoom call. 

+1 for the Baby quote

Bro i cant tell if this is a troll post or not. No shit it’s just a job, and almost everyone in the industry knows that. It’s the weird WSO college kids that idolize the job and fantasize about “prestige” that have this idea that working at a bank will suddenly make their lives perfect.  

If you’re willing to sacrifice your time for money and a relatively reputable career, it’s a good gig. Nothing more, nothing less.

There’s more to life than your job. Just remember to get out of the bubble. Nowadays WSO is like the finance version of college confidential (where they think getting into some hypsmlgbtq is the end all be all)

I hope you’re trolling bro. What did u expect exactly? You’re told you work in an office for 80 hours a week on excel and PowerPoint. It’s an office job except you’re working on larger deals. Plus not be a dick but you’re a freaking intern. Why would u be sitting in with an MD? Why would doing anything less than grunt work?

It get reiterated on here a lot but kids don’t listen. It’s just a job and there’s more to life than your job title and LinkedIn title.

x

Anytime you see a post like this just remember that this is the generation that got into finance because of Wolf of Wall Street

Not sure if the post is serious, but I will give a serious answer based on the very limited experience I have from my internship and plenty of friends in the industry.

1. The prestige isn't as high as I thought it was. No one outside of investment banking knows or even cares what it is. The only people who will be impressed by you working in investment banking are finance students. 

2. Objectively, the job should be similar to going to heaven. You are better paid than pretty much anyone else your age, your wage development will be superior to pretty much any other industry, your exit opps are incredible, you're working on deals which will end up on the front page of the newspapers etc. In reality, you're feeling like you hit the bottom. Even though you made it into one of the most prestigious industries on earth, you will be working on tasks that feel totally meaningless most of the time. Moreover, your mental wellness will take a hard hit, unless you're a total freak or work at a shitty bank where you don't put in a lot of hours. The most surprising thing for me though was that most of the tasks are completely braindead. I did not feel very stimulated at all in IB as you're most often given very clear directions from seniors on what should be done, and your only job is to figure out how to get the information onto a slide. Also felt meaningless to spend lots of time formatting stuff in excel that would only be used as an internal source for a few graphs. Obviously, you're going to be doing more and more meaningful stuff the more senior you get. 

3. With that said, IB has its benefits too. There were times when I got to listen in on calls with very senior MDs hammering out the equity story together with the CEO. There were times where I got to see my work getting reviewed by management in drafting sessions and hearing their view on the company and its strategy. There were times where I got to participate in meetings with MDs determining the negotiating strategy for a M&A deal. While these moments probably made up less than 5% of my internship, those moments is what made IB worth it for me. The senior exposure you get towards MDs, CEOs, senior consultants, senior lawyers etc is incredible. Moreover, the people in IB are extremely dedicated. You truly have the feeling of being in the trenches with your team. Everyone is working extremely hard and people are often very helpful. I can't think of any other industry where you can ask your seniors a question at 2am on a holiday and get a response within 5 mins. 

"High finance" is a job not a personality.  It's PART of a personality, just like a plumber's job is, but just a part.  The echo chamber that is NYC can be brutal and pretty negative.  Social media makes it worse.  People need to get outside and touch some grass.  I think a lot of twenty somethings eventually realize that on their own timeline, which is natural, and good.  Some don't though, and often times they're the loudest.

Some good thoughts in this thread but mostly its sad to see people thinking this is just a job; and that is the reason so many people are unhappy in this industry. Any job is just a job.  How about a little perspective?  If I'm working at Subway making sandwiches I'm going to be the person studying every single detail of the business. Shipping, opening, closing, process, systems, hours, staff, margins, peak times, seasonality, Point of Sale systems, operations, supply chain, inventory, etc... By the time I'm done I'll probably know more about the business that the owner. Apply that same logic to Banking. But now we're talking about real businesses and opportunities to create generational wealth. No other "job" gives you this sort of access.  So you can sit there and make the next turkey club down the line or soak up every single shred of glorious insight you can get your grubby hands on when working on deals and with some of the smartest people in the world.  Good luck and hope you find a "job" where you can thrive! :-)

It's just a job, my dude. Seek happiness and fulfillment outside of employment, otherwise you are in for 40-50 years of soul-crushing misery trying to find it in an office.

I'm not sure this will answer your question, but I will throw out some items to think about. It also feels like you're trolling a bit based on that last sentence, but i'll respond either way.

• Yes, it is just a job. However, it's a pretty good one that allows you to learn a good bit and, most importantly, provides you with a wide array of exit opportunities that would be harder to achieve otherwise. For example, I work in corp dev and really enjoy it. I get to work on deals / it's intellectually stimulating, I like the people at my company and have plenty of free time to enjoy my hobbies
• Prestige is highly overrated and, as someone else mentioned, most people won't really care that you are in investment banking, private equity or whatever else. You know who's cool in those conversation? The person that took a really odd path or is doing something impactful - started a business, was a pilot in the air force, etc. - and this isn't that
• Determine what your goals and priorities are in life, because that will drive how you spend your time. My job is cool and all and it pays the bills, but my hobbies / passions are way more interesting and provide me with a lot more satisfaction 

Your mistake for thinking the work was complex. You could train a monkey to be a banker.

Hardest pill for me to swallow was the first time walking into the toilet at a BB during my internship on the first day, feeling like the most prestigious guy in NYC and hearing a chorus of different people shitting and farting aggressively.

I couldn't believe this was happening in a BB for some reason (happened at every company i've worked for since), out of one of the stalls came a semi popular guy that has a wikipedia page about him, whom most of you probably know or have heard of, and I used to look at like some sort of legend with his lips pursed and avoiding eye contact while he washed his hands and other people were still shitting hard in the background. 

Thats when it dawned on me that it was just a job and we're all just people and prestige is barely a real thing, its all gritty office work.

I'd say that's with any job, the biggest problem is people fantasize that this job is "way" better than this job, or this job is perfect and the one you have is completely horrible. 

It's like pro sports, a lot of people look at pro golfers and say "must be nice playing golf for a living", but they say that because they think guys on tour play basically the same way you play on saturday with your buddies. In reality, that couldn't be further from the truth, you're sleeping in you bed every week and drunk by the turn, where as, pros shoot -20 for the week and lose by 1 stroke, then have to go hit wedge shots for 10 hours a day to find a way to pick up one stroke. 

Point is, everyone thinks bankers show up on day 1 and they give you a yacht and country club membership, then Jordan Belfort makes you his best friend. As said above, at the end of the day, its really just a business. When things are just a business, you hear about the crazy things that happen one time, or once every 3 years, but you don't hear about the mundane 18 hour days. 

What did you think it was gonna be? It only pays ‘well’ because you have to sacrifice almost everything else to get the work done. Banking isn’t supposed to be some amazing experience dude.

Delete.

Welcome to reality :) It is just another job. And no one outside of your immediate family really cares about where you work and what you do. Like any other job, it comes with its own pros and cons. The biggest pro being that investment banking is one of the highest paying jobs in the current job market which if you keep at it will put you in the top 1% of income earners globally. The biggest con being that you really have no work life balance to speak of. You have to ask yourself why you would want to personally do this. Is this to provide for a family that you love (gf/ wife/parents/ siblings), enjoy a certain minimum lifestyle that the pay provides (maybe stay in fancier hotels on vacation, buy nice clothes and shoes) or maybe get the attention of girls working in the corporate world who actually have heard about investment banking and know the higher potential pay of a man working in this space (this would probably be 10% of the women population).

If it helps, I can speak about myself as to why I chose to NOT pursue investment banking when I got a chance to do so and instead chose corporate banking where I work on an average 40-50 hours a week and have much lower pay but better WLB. In my 20's I had cancer so I have to focus much more on health and ensure that there are no relapses in the near future. I have many hobbies and not limited to travel, reading, writing, working out, singing, watching and critiquing movies. I connect with friends and family at every chance that I get and am focussed on mentoring my brother to achieve his true potential. Most of these things are not really compatible with a hectic lifestyle that investment banking entails.

So I hope this helps you in sorting out the reasons of why you should or should not pursue investment banking as a career now that you have begun to understand that its just another job :)

Good Luck

Bro I’m sorry to burst your bubble but IB is not prestigious. Personally I’m more impressed with a unicorn entrepreneur, superstar VC investor or bestselling writer than a good banker. 
 

Sure, there are certainly certain qualities you need to develop in order to provide (“hopefully”) fullproof work produducts and be able to communicate in an articulated manner with C-suite of F500 companies before potentially at 21 years old. Sure, some of your transactions will end up on the front page of the Financial Times (while most of the others will be on topics so obscure your parents will have no clue what you worked on). 
 

That said it’s just a (high-paying) job and you’d better have other things that you enjoy in life than banking. 
 

You may be able to show off in front of drunk college chicks though. 

I’ll bite. I was in a similar situation as you when I was in college. Growing up in a middle class family where vacations were non-existent, I thought finance was the golden ticket / NBA draft. Now in my late 20s, I still feel this way albeit coming from a more experienced viewpoint. The job takes so much of your time, especially when you’re at the bottom of the totem pole. Everyone jokes about it & you don’t really understand until you hit full time. You will miss out on social events and see your friends traveling the world (not sure how most people fund these extravagant trips to this day) while at the desk for the 80th hour of the week working on a deal that very well not make it to the finish line. This is where you have to sit back and think about your own values and meaning to a fulfilling life. Money is not everything but for me, the main goal is reaching a nice upper class life for my future family, being able to give back to my parents for all the sacrifices they’ve made, and enjoying myself along the way with experiences that I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to afford. I consider myself lucky to be able to work at a job that I find interesting (70% of the time) and being able to learn about a variety of different sectors and businesses I had no idea existed while being paid an exorbitant amount compared to a lot of people working demanding hours for much less. Now on the PE side, I am enjoying the day to day work more than when I was in banking but there is a trade off on a variety of things career wise which can be found on the forum pretty easily. Hope this perspective helps & best of luck!

Am I the only one that thought investment banking was going to be similar to Office Space just with excel sheets?

Most people I tell that I do banking, respond by asking if they can get a loan.

They don't know your prestigious, and they don't think Gordon Gekko or Wolf of Wall St. They think all banks are like retail banks, only slightly above an insurance salesman, and think you hate your life for being stuck in an office being someone's bitch all day. I told one friend I do IB at [BB name], and they responded "one day I see you making it to Chase Manhattan" as words of encouragement.

Nothing is as good as it sounds in a movie or book, but just make sure you enjoy what you do day-to-day and don't set expectations too high. You switch jobs and it will be the same thing at your new one, but with less pay. IB is a pretty good gig man, but it's not paradise for everyone like these almost interns write in their cringy posts.

Okay listen. We build this idea up of investment banking as if it’s a workplace filled with the yuppies of the ‘80s. As if everyone’s talking snow and wearing suits.

Used to be “you don’t wear gucci loafers unless you’re a VP at least” and now it’s just polos and sneakers.

If prestige is a number then sure you’re in the right place- maybe the tech guys, tik tokers, YouTubers, and many other industries have you beat but you’re still top of the food chain.

If prestige is a yuppie wasp nest then you’re late, it’s been transformed into something unrecognizable.

You have an amazing opportunity to make a lot of money. Love how you want in a few years - but don’t think investment banking is more of an aesthetic than it is work.

Bump

OP is shocked to learn a job he idolized is still just a job lol

maybe it’s because I grew up poor but I always saw a job as a means to an end. I never understood why people have this delusion that a job is some grand journey to self fulfillment. We do this for the paycheck, let’s not pretend we’d align logos and take our clients and MDs bullshit if we didn’t need the money. Just like I highly doubt the guy who gets paid to haul away trash or fix my plumbing problem (and gets paid well to perform a damn essential service mind you) is doing it because he’s just super passionate about literal shit. Money makes the world go round, and it’s called work for a reason. I work in IB because I have bills to pay and this job helps me pay them a lot easier than the shitty back office jobs I used to have and once I’ve accumulated enough money that I don’t have to do this any more I’m not going to, I suggest you monkeys do the same 

OP, as someone 10yrs into banking/PE I was in exactly your shoes when I first started out. The posts above have described it perfectly - at the end of the day it’s just a job (albeit a good one).

So what does this mean for you? Well a few things:

- Firstly the good - as others have said, the pay is much better than the majority of other careers/industries. Also whilst there are more than a few super-frustrating moments in banking (eg having to mindlessly churn out a pointless deck at 2am) it can also be a pretty interesting/varied job at times. It’s a cliche but every day is different, and even 10yrs in I feel I’m still learning stuff (though clearly the learning curve flattens significantly compared to your first few years). So that combination of good pay + (relatively) interesting means it’s automatically better than 90% of careers.

Ok now the bad:

- Being just a job means it won’t magically solve all your problems/issues - “being a banker” won’t suddenly give you an amazing love-life, make you super-confident etc, you’ll still be the same person as before you started. If anything you’ll probably pick up a few negative traits over time - eg irritability, being cynical (there are quite a few threads on WSO covering this).

- No-one outside banking really cares - unlike medicine & law where people think they know what goes on (even if they’re completely wrong) due to the plethora of movies and TV shows, I guarantee you almost everyone outside finance will have no idea of what the difference is between banking vs trading vs PE. To most people it’s just generic “Wall Street.”

Of course girls will likely be impressed that you have a decent job, live in a nice place, have money to spend on dates etc - but beyond that they won’t care if you work in Wells Fargo or Goldman or KKR, I guarantee it (unless they work in finance). So don’t expect girls in clubs to fall at your feet when you say “I’m working at GS” (as I promise you it won’t happen).

Equally your friends etc won’t care, and why should they? They have their own lives and jobs, so beyond the fact you’re doing well in their job they won’t be interested in that mega-deal you’re working on.

- The money is good but it won’t make you a mega-baller - after taxes and the cost of living in a city, your money won’t go nearly as far as you think. Of course it will still give you a great lifestyle compared to most people - speaking for myself I’m in MM PE, make $300k+ at 30 - I’m not buying Dom P and “making it rain” in clubs, but I do live in a nice apartment, take nice holidays etc. But yeah if you’re picturing a Jordan Belfort lifestyle you’re likely to end up disappointed.

Having said all that, any job is likely to be less glamorous than you pictured in college - think being a corporate lawyer is like Suits? Hell no - it’s like banking but 10x worse. Big Tech? As a junior developer you won’t be creating some amazing new app, but be spending hours fixing bugs or adding in features/minutiae no-one ceres about.

Not meaning to be downbeat, but this is also part of your rite of passage into full adulthood/the working world (don’t mean to sound patronizing here, as I said I was in your shoes a few years back). The question you have to ask yourself is whether banking is for you long-term - again bearing in mind that the grass is not always greener.

I am still always blown away that any kid in high school could possibly ever know what investment banking is, and then want to be a part of it. The only exception would be growing up around it.

But I also know plenty of engineers, doctors, and lawyers that always "knew" they wanted to have that profession, only to get the job and realize they don't want it anymore.

My personal take is that you HAVE to want to do the hard work, no matter the profession or role. You have to enjoy the work to enjoy the result. Enough so that, even if you don't get the proverbial 1st place, you enjoyed what you did along the way.

If I could motivate you, I would encourage you to find what sort of personal growth in yourself you are achieving through the work. Maybe it is mental endurance, or learning to balance your life out, or finding how much joy you can squeeze out of the little things in life. Keep positive, because negative feelings and attitude are like a bad habit hard to break and they don't just come from a lucrative career path.