Is Investment Banking Paid Slavery?
Although the title might shock you, but think well, treat this with open mind and caution.
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Is doing a residency after you graduate medical school paid slavery? You work the same hours under the same (if not more) stress and make significantly less.
In residency, one SAVES LIVES of other humans. Here one do financial modelling. See the difference?
No, both paid jobs
Doctors are also doing it for money. I have yet to meet a doctor who did it purely to be a hero, I am sure many think they are on top of making a solid living.
Which one is considered God's work though?
Saving lives and conducting financial modeling can still be part of "paid slavery." What they do is irrelevant to paid slavery, and if I am not mistaken, you didn't even address what bankers do in your post. What is relevant to paid slavery is the hours worked, pressure, and compensation.
PLEASE. As long as you don't kill a patient, you will finish residency and have a cushy, well-paying job waiting for you.
In IB, and the business world in general, you always have to deal with office politics, please clients, meet benchmarks, gun for that next promotion, etc.
Sure, doctors increasingly have to deal with more administrative work - dealing with regulations and hounding insurance companies for reimbursement. But I would describe it more as an annoyance than intense pressure, which can be completely avoided if the doctor joins a hospital system in lieu of running his/her own practice.
No job is 100% all about passion.
Brett Favre can still be a QB in the league, just doesn't want to have to watch game film 15 hours a day.
Very true. There's a certain level of bullshit people put up with relative to how much they're paid.
100% agreed. what all jobs need passion? like art, music, or surgeon?
I fail to see the comparison. I see zero similarity between get yelled at by a VP and getting whipped by somebody that literally owns me. If the VP pisses me off that bad, I leave and know that I earned along the way. If a slave tried to leave they were hunted like animals. Comparing a career in finance to slavery is just wrong on so many levels.
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Sweatshop workers get paid very high? That is a first.
Lmao...If sweatshop workers get paid very high, everyone on this forum should work there. Far easier to get into that than IB. Lol
It's not slavery at all. If you don't like it, you can leave any day. Extraordinarily hard work is NOT synonymous to slavery, modern or ancient. Modern slavery isn't all that different from ancient slavery; people are still bought and sold as assets, and the most publicized version of this is sex slavery. If banking's workload is too much for you, go do something else, but there are no grounds for comparing buying people like livestock to an extremely stressful and lucrative career.
Meant in a non-abrasive way - I think this is a narrow view. People I know scrape paint off the bottom of boats for just as long hours for much less. And there are plenty of people vying for IB jobs with much, much more disadvantaged surroundings.
Just saying, it's pretty nice to have AC and a comfy chair.
Also, paid slavery is a job. Slaves don't get paid, when you get paid for your voluntarily accepted work, it becomes a job. If you don't feel comfortable working somewhere you have to be controlled and told what to do, starting a business or somehow securing a 100k+ job at Google are great choices if they are available to you.
If you like to work hard and want a great way to build a career and gain some financial security without the risks of attempting those options, voluntarily taking an IB job (nobody is capturing and enslaving you) is a fine choice that most people here have made.
i see. i think i might have gone too far in comparing this to chinese sweatshop.
paid slave is a contradiction of terms
thats the whole meaning of it. think.
Indentured servitude is more accurate, but the point still gets across.
OP, there's a correlation between willingness to work long hours and getting paid a lot of money. It's called a trade-off; the more hours you work, the more money you get paid and vice versa (for the most part).
A very broad definition of slavery would be working really hard/in adverse conditions and then not being paid enough to live so you're forced to be someone else's property. In IB, you're not chained to your desk and you're making in the top .1% of people at the same career stage. Just because you work a bit harder does not meant that you're a slave.
Would disagree IB income is equal to top 0.1% of income of people at the same/similar age & career stage. Those people are making 300k+ as founders of companies, etc. Analysts make 130-180 and it takes 5-6 years to hit 300k
yeah.
No because you can leave.
The only equivalent thing we have here in the states is the military, which will put you on a contract where breaking it will get you put in prison for desertion.
+1 - You have a choice to enter IB. In slavery, you don't have a choice since you are forced against your will to perform tasks.
The military is not slavery bro, you willingly sign a contract and get paid for your service. Just because the terms of your contract stipulate that you have to follow rules and can't leave until a certain time does not mean that you're a slave.
There's still slavery in the US but it's inconvenient to a lot of people to think of it as such; sex workers are modern slaves.
"Sex workers are modern slaves."
No, they're not.
LOL. i think you guys are diving too deep into this. i guess we have to think on this topic.
If you want to get technical:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indentured_servitude
That people willingly enter into it doesn't change what it is, and technically it still is that even though the pay and benefits you receive are fairly generous. The defining factor is that if you stop showing up to work before your contract is up you can be imprisoned for "desertion"......which sucks for people who end up in units with an abusive, toxic leadership climate.
I think we all need to stop entertaining these kids who come on here to complain and be negative. Let their threads float to the bottom so that we can focus on replying to people who actually have questions and want help breaking in. Not those constantly questioning this career and second guessing us and themselves. If you don't want to do it, stay out. If there's something else you want to do more, go do it. Stop coming on here for emotional reassurance. That's what your parents are for.
I am not here to shit on you guys. i am just showing different aspects of the IBD career.its a thoughtful discussion. i have mentioned this previously on the post. if you disagree, rebuttal with intelligence. thank you.
technically, it would be more apt to deem "paid slavery" "indentured servitude", but no need to get into semantics
100%. my dude.
i am learning new words, thanks.
Lots of semantics here. Finance is over-comped so people are stuck having to eat whatever gets thrown their way. If they don't want to deal with it, they can leave to an industry with market dictated comp. It's in market based industries best interest to treat people well since a far bigger nuisance than doing so is the inevitable churn from not. People (for the most part) don't leave over-paid positions by choice. Having to deal with whatever gets thrown at you because you CAN'T leave (ie actual slavery) =/= having to deal with whatever gets thrown at you because you WON'T leave. Fundamentally different but an analogy could do worse.
What makes you think it is overpaid?
it's not an overpaid position since you work that hard!
Hands down the best (arguably the only good) post in this thread.
Idk man. Do slaves work on M&A deals? Do slaves move up the corporate ladder?
i am just talking about the stressful work. not the benefits. if you have to work that hard, anyone will be put off by it.
So much I could say here. However, you do realize paid slavery is an oxymoron? Also, go into IB for strictly money and gl lasting longer than 3 months. I do it because when youre young you should work your ass off to plan for the future, so why not work in a demanding field where your work pays off at a quick rate (promotions, bonuses, etc.) and the work is interesting. IB serves a role just as doctors do, and both are well paid due to the demand of the work. Give me one example of how your time could be better spent than busting your ass to develop an incredibly lucrative and unique skill set. People who work in non-demanding fields may spend more time w/ friends and family, but aside from that, what else is more important than bettering ones self through improving their skill set within a niche industry? I have a hunch you're new to IB, not a jab, just a thought.
thank you for your contribution. i will look into it.
OP - Why do you worry when you got accepted to "#1 target-university in a 1st world country", and you can surely be above this paid slavery gig?
lol
The very definition of slavery is unpaid work. The work circumstances may not be the best, or whatever, but as long as it is paid, a job in IB (or anywhere, for that matter) is not slavery.
You just got lawyered. (I am not a lawyer).
Ironically Islam has the concept of paid slavery.
I did a PhD and my hours were 60 - 90 regularly for a 30K salary. My project was SOMEWHAT relevant to "helping humanity" most others who worked with me were not so luckily. So.... 10-20 extra hours for 120K more pay? Sounds fine too me.
i see. that's great! but i thought phds get paid really well. what did you do phd in? gender studies? feminist dance therapy?
Biotechnology. And no they dont. 30K or lower during the 5-7 yrs of grad. school and for a FT position after graduation, starting salary is usually ~55K when averaging in Postdocs positions and probably around 80K when not.
I'd say that you make a valid point that after a certain point, the amount of money starts mattering a lot less. Is there really a difference between the satisfaction between a $200k corporate finance guy and a $800k investment banker? Just a thought.
It really depends on the cost of living where you live. I imagine it would be difficult to raise a family on 200k in NYC whereas it would be very comfortable in Kansas.
yes. you get it thankfully. unlike some people here, who didn't even read the full post and started about how retarded I am. i am talking of work horse concept. if there is another job that requires less than half of your input, and pays the same, what would you all it? i guess slavery was a stretch, but i have mentioned it the post thoughtfully what i want to convey.
How many jobs out there that pay the same with barely any work? If I could travel the world for the same salary and exit opps as IB I would but thats just not an option.
I've never worked in IB. Are you guys physically beaten and whipped when you don't meet certain productivity measures like a true slave?
i didn't point to out on that harsh. like a servant. not like a 12th century slave.
If you set aside the paid part and the you can quit anytime that you want part, then sure, I guess.
i see. but imagine working under constant load like hell. i guess that the part i want all to focus on.
I think OP thinks IB is some form of Islamic slavery. Paid labor, a way to buy your freedom through cash payment, with the opportunity to rise through the ranks and seize power like the Mamelukes did in Egypt. Too bad OP is in Alexandria/Cairo IBD
lol
It's not slavery. It's crack. You know better, but it feels so good, who cares.
what?
I'm assuming he is saying that its more like crack than slavery ... you chose to do it for its benefits, but it has negative side effects and is hard to stop.
Also, I think the slavery comparison was way too far and is just a comparison you shouldn't make.
Be glad the option exists, there are many other paths you can choose if you prefer to work less.
What's with the entitlement about traveling the world? Who says that's something you should be afforded ?
It can't be slavery if you voluntarily do it lol.
the key word was something else.
voluntarily * clapping emoji * trading * clapping emoji * your * clapping emoji * time * clapping emoji * for * clapping emoji * resources * clapping emoji * isn't * clapping emoji * slavery * clapping emoji *
what is "energy banker"?
I think comparing investment banking to slavery is absurd and reduced your credibility, but it's absolutely a delusional game in a way. The pay is largely irrelevant, as banking is just a risk-averse option for people with slightly above average intelligence. There are few other options after graduation that open up as many doors, and most people don't know what they want to do, so they commit themselves to the most impressive thing they can do that won't leave them any worse off in terms of their resume. It just depends on your long-term interests whether or not it's all worth it, but I feel like a lot of people who want to go the entrepreneur route would be much better served starting a business rather than deluding themselves into thinking they're learning valuable skills in banking. Investment banking is a long-term, risk-averse game.
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