Yale finance professor Robert Shiller once said in a lecture: "Investment bankers, compared particularly to traders, investment bankers like to cultivate an image of sober responsibility and good citizenship because they thrive on their reputation. So they--to be successful as an investment banker, you have to be so impressive and such high character that companies like Ford and GM will come to you to represent them in the sale of their securities. As a result, investment bankers tend to be well dressed; they tend to be patrician in their appearances and manner. In contrast, traders tend to have vulgar accents; they shout on the phone; they slam the phone down; they roll up their sleeves; they dribble food on their shirt. I may be putting them down too much." Is this barbaric stereotype of traders true? Liar's Pokers definitely seems to depict traders this way. Lewis Ranieri used to display excessive gluttony and seemed like a fat bastard. thisisacopypastaofa2011wsopost. Discuss
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less politics involved in trading. if you are good at your job nobody will tell you shit
Yep, some people say, "I'll get into banking and avoid all the political BS," only to realize they're probably not gonna be moving up the ladder and could easily be placed on the chopping block if they don't get involved. Trading cuts all the fluff out and focuses strictly on performance.
I would agree this is true from maybe asso or vp and up but analyst s&t is arguably one of the most political phases from what I’ve seen. This stems from nearly every bank these days having S&t’ers do a few rotations rather than just starting longterm on a desk.
This leads to tons of politics bc from my experience, most banks take on more FT analysts than they intend to keep. Ie take 30 and expect 15-25 actually place and get rid of the rest. The placement process from what I’ve seen is disgustingly weighted towards nepo bc at this stage, other than maybe 1 true standout, everyone is equally unqualified. If all your rotational analysts are relatively skilled, desks naturally almost always gravitate towards nep bc why wouldn’t they.
Think of how shit IB would be if you did all this work to land an internship in the first place, grind to receive a RO and then get kicked out of FT after 2 yrs of non meaningful rotational exp bc every desk wanted a clients kid over you. That is S&T in 2025.
Doesn’t help most banks knowingly take additional kids just as a hedge (rotationals don’t get bonuses for the most part so cheap labour) and then release them after they do a year or 2 of bouncing around
Yeah, facts, it also creates resentment for seniors since they tend to make BS promises to analysts like Oh, just work hard and keep it, knowing they'll pick the client kid in a heartbeat. Obs, if you're lucky and have a few mentor seniors who like you and can vouch for you, it definitely makes life easier, kinda why they say analysts should try to spend as much time with the seniors as possible to avoid crap like this. I was just telling my girl about this since she's going to healthcare, not IB, and she said it sounds like a bunch a@@ kissing and BS, even calling to say thank you after a rejection letter sounded crazy to her. And I'm like, yep, this is the stuff we gotta put up with, and just keep on smiling. A lot of this has to change seriously. The crazy thing is, it's a lot of us and a few of them, but we choose not to speak up. I hope things get better over time. Wishing you the best, man!
I appreciate it. It’s unfortunate that the old mantra of trading looking for people that were “poor, smart, and had a deep desire to become rich.” is no longer the case. At least at your typical BB shops
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