Hi friends,
I always wanted to ask is there a point of becoming an IB Associate after grad school? I'm currently working in Corporate Development and a lot of my now former co-workers will be matriculating to MBAs this fall and quite a few of them want to switch to IB afterwards and in my head I wondered "Why?" because typically people do the complete opposite/reverse (IB to Corporate Development).
From what I understand quite a few people go into banking out of undergrad for the exit opportunities and it seems like when you reach associate level those opportunities are diminished or non-existent! What makes the undergrad to analyst route more appealing than the MBA to associate route?
IB Associate pays better than Corp Dev by a large margin.
Believe it or not some people want to be career investment bankers.
This forum largely discounts exit opps for IB associates post-MBA. A stint at a BB working on large deals is very transferrable, its just not as cookie cutter as a 2+2.
Correct.
As said above, some people do it for exit ops (which, contrary to popular belief on this forum, are available - even if they're not as common as IB analyst exit ops) and others actually want to build a career in IB.....
What are some of the options available for an Associate?
(1) Moving up to VP after three years as an associate if you like IB.
(2) Moving to Corp Dev / Strategy in your coverage sector if you don't like IB.
IB VP's life style is better than Associate, and much better than Analyst. Pay is much better than Corp Dev / Strategy. And it's not hard to exit to an industry executive positive from VP level if that's what you want.
But if you really hate IB as an Associate, it's not hard to exit to Corp Dev / Strategy in your coverage sector if that's what you want. As we have discussed in a different thread, most PE associates will end up in Corp Dev / Strategy eventually too. So you have plenty of company.
money. brand recognition. expect to ladder into something else. some will stay on as career bankers which seems like a shitty life but there's a certain amount of financial security that comes with it. you'd really need to be a master of 'delayed gratification' to make this work though...
A lot would depend on personality. Someone who is a little hyper active and loves the excitement of deals may find life in PE too boring. This kind of personality is more suitable for IB and would likely be happier as a career banker.
Senior bankers lives are not bad and the lifestyle isn't much different than other high level jobs. I'm higher up in PE and I average 150k miles flying per year (a couple of years ago I did 275k because we did two things in Asia) and a good friend who's very high up in tech strategy/development (50 yrs old, one of the huge tech firms) flies over 300k miles every year and has to go to India at least monthly. If you want to settle into an exit opp that let's you sit at a desk and get out by 5 or 6 your life will be easier but your income will be much smaller. I'm friendly with a guy who runs one of the top groups at a top BB and I'd say his life is pretty good and he makes a ton of money.
I've seen a number of individuals get an MBA, work for a few years as an Associate in NY and then move to other markets where the lifestyle is less demanding. If you wanted to be a senior banker in a Charlotte or Atlanta, the hours are still rough, but I've heard they can be less demanding if you are in a satellite office of an EB or BB.
A relative of mine is a senior banker at a BB, his hours aren't horrendous, in at 8 out by 7 M-F, doesn't really do weekends, on the road twice a month, mostly domestic, most travel is transcontinental in nature so he racks up about 8k miles a month and is out of town 6-8 nights a month. He makes good money and has a fair amount of stability. All in all, not a bad life.
lol this hedgeking guy doesnt know hes talking about. generally, in IB, the more senior you are, the more you're traveling for pitches, marketing events, networking etc.
Twice a month, as someone mentioned earlier, is in the ballpark. That's not more than a typical senior executive in other industries has to travel. Read @Dingdong08's post in the thread.
Based on my contacts and friends at senior levels of IB I'd say travel is more often than twice a month but as long as you're primarily focusing on domestic deals it's not too bad. International starts getting tough because not only is the travel longer but you end up on calls at all times of the day and night because of the time difference. The red eye from the West Coast gets pretty standard even though it sucks because there's really not enough time to get even a half nights sleep. You can travel less if you're in certain sectors, for example if you're a tech banker and located in SF your travel schedule may not be as bad because your clients are where you are but you'll still end up in NYC often.
I fucking hate corporate travel. Ruins one of your evening's off, typically an early ass morning, then its just the inside of a taxi, different office, taxi, hotel... rinse and repeat. Doesn't matter how fantastic the city is that you are going to.
The city does matter, but to a limited extent. Usually if you're going to a major, sexy city you'll have better hotels, better dining and easier flight schedules/more daily flights. But you're correct in stating that you won't see much of it.
Typically I would imagine for people who want to possible become career bankers!
Can anyone give a rough average of associate hours?
Friends from solid emerging market PE funds were advised by larger funds they want to transition towards to work in a top group in NY for a few years to build on their pre-mba experience.
They need to expand their transaction experience (larger deals/ international exposure) because their home countries' markets are smaller and less formalized. Internationals, at least, often get hired into buyside roles post MBA banking but I don't know how common that is in the US.
Can someone post a general range of BB IBD Associate comp in this format?
Y0 (August - Dec): Sign On + Annual Base + Stub Bonus Y1 : Annual Base + Bonus Y2 : Annual Base + Bonus
I am well aware that these numbers can be highly variable, but just looking for ballpark numbers?
so many incorrect statements in this thread. for the record my MDs are on the road about 50% of the time.
You get to cover an entire industry worth of companies rather than just one. They might also be trying to get into PE/HF/etc.
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