VP? Senior Associate? MD?
I'm curious when it was that you were able to look and say "I did it", and not have to constantly be at every MDs whim, and lose sleep over every edit turn, and answer every email immediately. When did you hit the point where you finally hit cruise control and enjoyed the money?
| +166 | Investment Banks Ranked By Your Divorced Blue Collared Uncle | 17 | 54m |
| +156 | Think Twice before Recruiting for HOUSTON IB!! | 65 | 2d |
| +136 | UBS Exits 2026 | 37 | 7h |
| +57 | Congrats on the ROs. I Still Don’t Know Which One You Were | 8 | 5h |
| +40 | Mid-Level UBS Departure for another BB (Grass Isn’t Greener…) | 31 | 3d |
| +39 | Did not get a return offer due to headcount, but happy to move on. | 8 | 16h |
| +37 | IB RO Discussion | 6 | 3d |
| +32 | GS - Low Bonus | 23 | 22h |
| +29 | Lied about bonus to future employer | 16 | 4h |
| +28 | Early VP promo timeline | 15 | 1d |
Career Resources
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
Have you met any MDs? They are not on cruise control at all. Might be even more stress than an analyst because they are under actual revenue generation pressure. Once you retire, I guess? Even then, I think a lot of retired people feel unfulfilled.
IMO you have to find this balance yourself. Don't answer emails immediately. When you go to sleep, phone goes in another room, and you don't let yourself think about work once you're logged off. Might not win you popularity points for hardest working if you stay in IB, but if you spend your entire career looking for a finish line you're going to spend the entire time making laps around the racetrack.
Yea, thats fair, but then that makes me wonder if VP is maybe the ideal spot. are you in a perfect little comfort zone of high pay with enough authority to not stress the little bullshit that makes IB difficult?
regardless, you're right. at some point you just gotta treat this shit like what it is: a job
Meh. VP is a hard spot too, VP1/VP2 especially, because you are transitioning from checking every little detail as associate (and having to learn to give up control over every last thing) and also expected to generate revenue for the first time. Also on a way higher number of deals than associate, plus you lose the protections afforded to juniors (vacations no longer protected, can't tell an MD to kick rocks if they ask for work on a protected weekend). I've seen VPs working more hours than analysts trying to get it all done.
I don't think there's any awesome spot to be in IB. It's why the attrition rate is crazy high - the stress and hours continue all the way up the chain.
You guys have been getting protected weekends and vacations??????
And yea, that makes sense. Cant expect anything to be low on stress in this industry
Eveniet qui impedit voluptatem vel molestiae natus ut. Tenetur praesentium quia doloribus maxime ipsam aperiam quo. Voluptas vel earum est. Dolor maxime molestiae dolores ullam similique error aperiam. Non repellat quo qui et voluptates ut debitis. Et et aut consequatur explicabo.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...