Do you know people who have stayed in IB 10+ years? What are they like?
Just wondering what 10+ years of 100-hour weeks do to a person. I haven't yet met too many people who actually did IB all the way for 10 years but I've met basically two types:
1) Military-like self disciplined super humans who somehow work from 9 in the morning to 3am seven days a week while somehow also being able to run a marathon
2) Kind of broken characters on whom the working hours really took both a mental and a physical toll; met this one guy who made it to director and then quit; today, he's in his late 40s but looks like he's close to retirement age, afaik no wife and no family and he's literally constantly sweating, don't know if it's a psychological thing or some substance abuse
Tbh, both these types don't seem super appealing to me, the first type gives me anxiety while the second type is just horrifying.
I know quite a few people, you don't do 100 hours for ten years. They seem normal, are married /w family. People age regardless of job, IB is hard work, but not the worst there is.
I've worked with a lot of people that stayed for more than ten years, and several of my close friends are getting close to the 10-year mark, and none of them are what you describe from the above. When looking in from the outside, it may seem like those are the only types of people who excel, but in reality, most are regular upper middle-class people.
You are not working 100-hour weeks for all those years, but in order to stay for that long I think there are three traits that most of the people I know share:
I remember what it was like before I started, but you should not get anxiety for what your career might look like 10 years down the line. I did a Q&A on WSO insta a few years back, and said that I wanted to be a banker for life. Going back, I was very firm on what my career would look like, and I sacrificed my last relationship to a girl that I loved in order to climb the corporate ladder. However, as my career progressed I realized that I wanted to do something different, and after pocketing last year's bonus as a senior associate, I jumped ship to do a CorpDev role for a large American company instead. I've almost cut my salary in half, something which I thought I would never do, and traded it for a better work life balance. I'm still available most of the day, but I leave the office way earlier, and I can work remotely, which I value a lot more post-covid. I guess you could say that I have softened quite a bit over the years.
TLDR; No, there's a lot more normal people in banking than you think, and I would not worry about what your career looks like in 10+ years time.
Great reply and not at all meaning to take away from your response, but I just wanted to note that I think it's a little bit out of touch to say someone who's spent ~10 years in IB (likely a VP, ED, or MD) is an "upper middle-class" person
I’d say they are still middle class, unless they are living strictly off capital gains, but it’s just a matter of definition. They are certainly well off.
Original comment was valid. In my mind, high-earning careerists whose income is predominantly salary (e.g. bankers, lawyers excluding senior partners) are upper middle class, while upper class is reserved for people whose income is predominantly capital gains/investments/equity etc (and above a certain $ threshold, I’m talking about fund managers and big time entrepreneurs, not small business owners). There are levels.
High six figures with a family is certainly upper middle class (how we tend to use the term, which is high paid professional and can afford a really nice lifestyle, but below flying private)
I also believe class is location dependent. An MD pulling 1.4m (some company stock) living in NYC sending two kids to private school is upper middle class. Yes, the two kids are in private school (the alternative might be an awful public school), they're likely living in a nice 3-4 bedroom apartment (no frills, not an unbelievable living situation), going out for nice meals, taking 2-3 vacations per year to nice spots (not over the top), may or may not be flying business class. To live this lifestyle, they aren't saving a huge amount. They're tied to their income.
Now if you're head of a group at a BB, or head of IBD, and pulling 5-10m+, yes, upper class. If you're pulling $3m, I would say the first year or two is probably still border line, but if you have some consistency, you're probably upper class. Keep in mind these incomes can be volatile
Did you end up getting the girl back?
don't know any that haven't been pushed out. I know some that will be close to 10 years soon, although they are in IBD, I think they're some sort of FIG coverage. although they don't do 100 hrs they are not far from it.
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What makes a high performing analyst does not always equate to high performing senior banker.
High performing analyst - models, numbers, clean formatting, being trusted by senior bankers to get a job done
High performing senior banker - ability to make relationships that generate P&L through M&A or capital raising (i.e. a sales job), having a broad understanding and insight of the industry and being able to share with clients
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My dad has been working in banking since the late 90's. Worked at would probably be considered an "EB" by today's standard that was incredibly sweaty, moved to one of the big Swiss players for a while. Looking back, when I was a kid, that "military-like self discipline" was there and my dad worked a fuck ton. I can recall my family going on Christmas vacation and my dad being shacked up in another room with a laptop making calls. After about 15 years in banking, he moved to a boutique for better WLB and was able to move to a tier 2 city to become more of a family man. Fast forward today, he lives in a ski resort town, still working at a boutique. Despite working probably 40ish hours a week, he "eats what he kills" and has had a few years in the past 5 where he has cleared 3-4M dollars all while skiing several days a week in the winter, going to sports games, etc. He definitely has a more relaxed lifestyle now and is less beholden to his company. That being said, he is still a killer, despite giving way less of a fuck. While in high school and college, I heard him cuss out annoying buyers on the phone when he didn't want to deal with their stupid shit. I have seen him deny calls from people who he doesn't feel like dealing with. As far as physical toll, I don't see the rapid aging in him that I have seen in some bankers. The one toll that his body took from the stress of the job is having some heart problems (which he attributes to eating too much junk food when having comped delivery food in the office haha).
I think overall, he is happy with where he is in life and his job. He gets inbounds from HH's frequently to move upmarket to other banks and frequently denies them.
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