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I know for a fact I was an upper-middle ish bucket analyst based on backchannel info from roundtables, and I got $35K as an AN2 in a good group that keeps M&A entirely in-house.

Seems like MS took the approach of laying off very few people, much less than other firms, so the bonus pool necessarily suffered as a result. Fair play I suppose.

That said, I and very many others won't forget the visceral sting of such an insultingly, embarrassingly, humiliatingly fuck-you-pay-me low number after multiple borderline mental breakdowns / existential crises over the past year. My bonus wouldn't even cover one year of the incremental assisted living care that I'll probably need in 2050 attributable to the damage I did to my heart / brain / soul this year. The biggest fuck you is that MS earnings were not as bad as expected and the stock is up like 12% in the past month.

MS' approach here is exactly like deferring essential maintenance on an apartment complex. Will it crumble next year, or the year after? No. Will it become progressively more apparent to the relevant market participants that shit stinks? Yes. MS is subsidizing this year's profitability by dipping into their brand equity slush fund. It's not free.

Because 90% of the analyst class leaves every year, there will come a time when a lot of former analysts are decision-makers at sponsors and strategics, and I think very few can let this year not bitterly tinge their view of their time at the firm.

The smartest people on any investment banking floor are either analysts or MDs. I would rather be an actual ass corn farmer than be in banking long-term, where over hundreds of repetitions the conformation of your synapses changes to make you think that the double space in footnote 6 on page 39 actually matters. It doesn't. But you can't take an angle grinder to your soul year in and out as a cost center to people making real decisions without rationalizing that what you're doing isn't entirely futile.

So basically my question is: 15 years from now, would I rather conspicuously give a mandate to Evercore over MS (all parties knowing I'm an MS alum), or give them the mandate and be really demanding to make their lives absolute hell? Probably the former because I don't want to torture anyone who didn't make the decision to fuck my class over.

 

This comment in context with the other MS thread jerking off their HC group is hilarious

 

I know for a fact I was an upper-middle ish bucket analyst based on backchannel info from roundtables, and I got $35K as an AN2 in a good group that keeps M&A entirely in-house.

Seems like MS took the approach of laying off very few people, much less than other firms, so the bonus pool necessarily suffered as a result. Fair play I suppose.

That said, I and very many others won't forget the visceral sting of such an insultingly, embarrassingly, humiliatingly fuck-you-pay-me low number after multiple borderline mental breakdowns / existential crises over the past year. My bonus wouldn't even cover one year of the incremental assisted living care that I'll probably need in 2050 attributable to the damage I did to my heart / brain / soul this year. The biggest fuck you is that MS earnings were not as bad as expected and the stock is up like 12% in the past month.

MS' approach here is exactly like deferring essential maintenance on an apartment complex. Will it crumble next year, or the year after? No. Will it become progressively more apparent to the relevant market participants that shit stinks? Yes. MS is subsidizing this year's profitability by dipping into their brand equity slush fund. It's not free.

Because 90% of the analyst class leaves every year, there will come a time when a lot of former analysts are decision-makers at sponsors and strategics, and I think very few can let this year not bitterly tinge their view of their time at the firm.

The smartest people on any investment banking floor are either analysts or MDs. I would rather be an actual ass corn farmer than be in banking long-term, where over hundreds of repetitions the conformation of your synapses changes to make you think that the double space in footnote 6 on page 39 actually matters. It doesn't. But you can't take an angle grinder to your soul year in and out as a cost center to people making real decisions without rationalizing that what you're doing isn't entirely futile.

So basically my question is: 15 years from now, would I rather conspicuously give a mandate to Evercore over MS (all parties knowing I'm an MS alum), or give them the mandate and be really demanding to make their lives absolute hell? Probably the former because I don't want to torture anyone who didn't make the decision to fuck my class over.

At least you haven’t lost your writing skills

 

Any definitive word on what the range was for AN1 and AN2 (bottom/mid/top)?

 

The unfortunate truth is that MS views analysts as monkeys who do two years and leave. As such they are expendable and not worth investing in or paying high bonuses to. Talk to any more senior banker at MS and that is the mentality I’ve seen. You guys are of limited value because ultimately they are training you for PE and not to stay at bank.

Totally bone headed long-term I agree … but such is the world.

 

The unfortunate truth is that MS views analysts as monkeys who do two years and leave. As such they are expendable and not worth investing in or paying high bonuses to. Talk to any more senior banker at MS and that is the mentality I've seen. You guys are of limited value because ultimately they are training you for PE and not to stay at bank.

Totally bone headed long-term I agree … but such is the world.

I'm not sure it's boneheaded, it's more mutualism.  Most people pick MS/GS because they want to leave. That's why GS can treat their people like crap and still have every prospect banging down their door lol.  If people were picking banks for 'careers', I think they'd pick pretty damn differently - or would, if they understood how it worked. 

 

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