Trending Content - Investment Banking Forum
| +270 | Why UBS Is the Worst Place to Start Your IB Career | 41 | 2h |
| +220 | UBS 2nd Year Analyst Q&A (2026) | 41 | 1d |
| +131 | UBS IB 26Q2 a Disaster! Advisory Revenue Down 23%, Capital MarketsDown 5% | 19 | 32m |
| +104 | What's your craziest "hardo" story? | 18 | 14h |
| +77 | Downfall of Qatalyst | 18 | 12m |
| +58 | Lincoln International Return Offers | 20 | 5m |
| +56 | Wolf of Wall Street vs. Reality: Anyone else feel scammed by the movies? | 19 | 1d |
| +55 | Elite Boutique interview questions | 17 | 2d |
| +50 | Suspended for a Year | 21 | 1d |
| +43 | so confused about 28 SA timeline | 30 | 23h |
Career Resources
A few weeks before I started, I just started staying up later and later. I tried to do things that would require more attention (reading, looking at models, studying for series exams) instead of just going out and sleeping hard. I think it really helped me survive the first hard week (about three weeks in- it took a week or two to get me ramped up). Also recommend trying not to be so reliant on caffeine right away
Get an adderall prescription
I couldn't, I literally tried that , anyway i can buy it otherwise ? . i just want to use it for specific deadlines and occasions
You can't truly prepare for it IMO. We're humans and we aren't designed to function optimally on 4 hours of sleep with little physical activity. However, I definitely recommend the following:
1. Make sure your diet is clean. Don't have to consume only whey protein isolate but don't eat junk on seamless/uber eats or it'll become a habit. Avoid alcohol during the week, as it can become a habit if you don't monitor your intake.
2. Invest in a good coffee machine.
3. I know some people in finance don't like them, but I found that investing in an Apple Watch was a great boost to my productivity. My phone screen time is down 60% since I don't have to unlock my phone to look at notifications, which often left me distracted. This one is more of a personal preference, thought
I sold my apple watch , and i felt it was too cliched
All of my peers were wearing it
I am saving for rolex and cartier
Long journey ahead for that
Plus i am taking whey and fat burners pills
And improving my diet and fitness
And i occasionally drink and have restricted myself from smoking POT so i dont get addicted and lose my drive
Please take better care of yourself. This is not your free trial of life. Also, that’s sort of sad you feel like you don’t like something just because others have it. I’ve never understood this mentality. Do people avoid homes when they see that non-targets have them? Listen, if you genuinely have an interest in watches or something, then go for it, but I’m concerned based on the information you provided concerning your health, desires, etc.. You’re very young, please don’t destroy yourself mentally at this age.
Because Rolex and Cartier watches are not cliche in investment banking...
Seriously if you are posting this question and you're not being a troll then you're not ready to work in IBD and quite frankly you probably wouldn't be enjoyable to work with or under. You sound like the type of person that will grow up to be a senior MD and then proceed to do interviews telling 16 year olds what your 5 tips are to prepare for 100hr weeks. Just like that entitled wanker Xavier Rolet, chill out and enjoy some of your spare time. Find some hobbies, work out, go on dates, literally anything but preparing for working 100hr weeks.
I am a caffiene addict already and i use 50 mg nicotine vape to cope up with stress and generally relax and in addition to that i am already getting gray hair and i am 17
look at the bright side, you could be going bald
I have heard that people who have gray hair don't get bald
ive been averaging 500mg+ of caffiene every day for the past 3 months
man puts preworkout in his coffees
Jesus christ LMFAO
BRO THATS 50 NIC
In all seriousness should prob lay off the pre…gave me fucking hypertension at 16
Gotta love the hustle, love the game
All these guys who tell you to prepare by cutting sleep before you start are jokes. You don’t need to prepare. Maximize the enjoyment of your time before starting, go on holidays or whatever. No need to do anything before your start whatsoever if you’re already half decent.
Chill out and enjoy your life before banking. From what I understand everyone gets up to speed pretty fast, you get used to it in a week or two
Or just burnout
Create a pitch deck. Email it to yourself. Sit around staring at your computer till 1AM. Critique yourself and mark it up. Send back email to yourself “plz fix”. Fix it and send it back yourself. Wake up the next day and do it all again.
I am making a pitch deck for tiger global high school competition,
can you advice regarding slides and any other pitchbook details that i wont find on the web
My pitchbook should have maximum 10 slides
I am dividing them by
deal rationale : 3 slides
Valuation : DCF/ synergy/ : 3 slides
Generic corporate finance advice : wether we should issue convertible bonds or try a cash+ stock deal : 3 slides
.
.
The clean diet recommendation is really solid. Other than that, you don’t need to prepare. It’s the pressure and stress that allow people to put in 100 hour weeks and that will come on the job.
Either you are a giant troll, or this is plain sad
Sleep a lot. Preparing for it by staying up will just make it more difficult when it actually happens. There is way more than enough research out there that says you need 7-8 hours of sleep per night so by trying to function with 6 hours before you hit the desk, you’re just putting your mind into a fog and it will build up over time. When the time comes, you just deal with it.
I found it be an eye-opening part of the job because you learn really quickly if you have the psychological/mental chops needed to actually handle IB/high finance. You also get out of practice really quickly. About a year and half out of IB, I’d been working 60-70 hour weeks on average (handful of 80-90 but nothing too extreme) and then we got super slammed on a quick fused deal and I ended up doing 110 hours in a week with an all-nighter to finish it out. I was beyond tired, dizzy, had a horrible headache and felt like I was going to have some real problems without resting 20+ hours that weekend. Took me a week for the headache to go away, another 4-5 days for the dizziness to go away and another week to where I was feeling back to 100%.
Honestly, there's nothing you can really do to prepare... other than be mentally prepared for the sacrifice of personal time. Try to go in knowing it will suck but do your best to be positive and find the humor in how ridiculous the job can be sometimes. Best of luck!
Don’t. One of the most tiring things to do is just sitting in a chair all day
There is no way to prepare your mind or body for it. Doesn’t matter how much sleep you get or how happy you are to have the job… after a year of 100 hour weeks you will feel like a zombie.
My family member worked up to a director at a fortune 5 company I will walk you through there journey. As they got a 4th promotion which really meant they were going to transfer to major pay and major hours they had heavy issues with anxiety and depression from the change. Now they are mostly fine but they : workout everyday, meditate everyday, go to massage once a week, and Cryotherapy occasionally, also routine to help sleep such as reading a book. Making that type of money almost always has unexpected cost.
Diet pills, coffee, music, and study
Music in daytime. 7-8 hr of sleep at night.
Eius dolorem laboriosam aperiam eum autem sed et. A placeat ea aut pariatur quisquam vel qui. Voluptate labore sed omnis consectetur qui totam.
Cupiditate ex quas aut esse qui quo. Et eligendi sit aut fugit eos. Ducimus eum dolorem et itaque. Itaque doloribus excepturi consequuntur sit.
Vitae consequuntur aspernatur non aut temporibus et. Ducimus repellat quibusdam rem molestiae aliquam. Qui harum pariatur molestiae quos aut. Rerum voluptas neque doloribus illo et necessitatibus.
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...
Dolor sed consequatur reiciendis voluptas consequatur. Ut dolores et cumque iste. Iusto modi quasi ullam ipsam ipsum nihil. Corporis excepturi quaerat explicabo voluptatem placeat. Perspiciatis eveniet inventore aut accusantium. Numquam nemo consectetur sunt repudiandae labore. In quam esse qui quae porro.
Repudiandae quisquam voluptas dolorem et voluptatem culpa. Consequuntur est atque nobis vel corporis dolor ut. Qui alias eos dolore dolores atque.
Neque quos accusantium voluptates excepturi id animi quod rem. Dolores repellendus dolorem numquam. Et nihil molestiae tenetur labore. Aut at et illum iure.
Et consequatur in numquam dolorem nisi id. Et officia aut enim et consequatur. Et iusto corporis voluptate recusandae vitae. Laborum similique rem voluptatem dolorum. Ipsum accusamus hic a praesentium optio. Illum veniam occaecati eum provident impedit rerum minus.