[2026] IB Hours Ranking
1. Lean boutiques (Gordon Dyal & Co, Tidal Partners, M Klein & Co, Ducera Advisors, AEC Advisors, Allen & Co, Lion Tree, etc.): you are getting absolutely soul crushed. Very little support across the firm, highly lean teams on often big deals. Completely private, many barely have a website, and the reputation and publicity is irrelevant to them. You will be worked very hard, but certainly rewarded for doing so. Top of street compensation. Low base, very high bonus, but varies between firms. Avg 75-90hrs/week, with the exception of Dyal known for 100+/week.
2. Elite boutiques (Centerview, Evercore, PJT, Moelis, Lazard, PWP): still getting completely grinded, working on $B M&A and RX with also very lean teams, but at least you have the marginal support of a graphic design team to help with slides or sometimes outsourcing work to a coverage group if applicable, although rare. More well known in industry and a few are public companies so the reputation of culture and junior experience matters a little more. Top of street compensation as well. High base, high bonus. Avg 75-90hrs/week.
3. Grindy BB’s (GS, MS, JPM): staffed on a high volume of deals that are mostly large-cap. Tons of support with a high number of people on a team (can backfire with too much hierarchy though). Comes with an overhired amount summer analysts, graphic designers, back office, all tons of assistance. Typically middle/bottom of street total compensation in exchange for “brand name” outside of the finance circle. High base, low bonus. Avg 65-80hrs/week.
4: Middle Market + lower BB (BofA, Citi, HL, Jeff, Barc, UBS, etc): you’re still working long hours, it’s investment banking after all. However these firms are very public facing and tend to have policies such as “protected Saturdays” and no Friday night emails and all types of other nonsense, although sometimes ignored. Balance sheet banks have steady deal flow and everything is pretty in check. Avg 55-70hrs/week.
Interned at a lower BB last summer and I wish i had a 55 hour work week. Average is 70+ minimum assuming ur not the worst analyst in ur group
jeff at the bottom lol
Wish this was more detailed/group specific
Heard those “no name” boutiques are literally 9-2am every night but VP’s are routinely clearing $600K-$1M.
pointless list as everything is group dependent
At a mid tier BB and all of my friends at EBs work way less than me/better culture outside of a few groups at evercore
Sounds like ur friends are bottom bucket
“If you want work life balance go work at Jeff” 💀
Yes everything is group specific but this is actually a good descriptor at a high level
Any specific insight on Qatalyst?
lol was recruiting and the guy told me the best analysts are ones that can stay till 2-3 am and come to work the next day by 9 with a smile on their face
lmao this list is ass
you forgot the wells fargo anchorage branch. Assistant branch managers regularly clear 46 hours (including daily paid 1 hour lunch.) You know what they say though.
anchorage bro
My experience is if you're good and have the right attitude, banks will try to get as much out of you as physically possible no matter what you're doing.
More resources like graphics, back office, etc., doesn't mean less work. It just means you'll be on 4 deals instead of 3.
The fact that GS isn't in the top tier (but rather the third tier), says everything you need to know about the legitimacy of this list.
I can assure you on average across all groups the elite boutiques are working more than GS. FIG/TMT are the outliers but this is standardized across all groups which includes capital markets. Bimbo.
As someone currently in the TMT group, the IND group makes us look like heaven lmao.
this list is backwards
Where does FT Partners fit in this. 140k base btw
FT base is 110
Not true I actually hear Allen & Co and AECA have very good cultures / hours.
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