What are some of the most common status symbols in IB nowadays? I know that the suits, watches, and cars are some basic things, but it feels like a lot of that glam has passed. What's the new shiny thing of today? What are you Monkeys seeing out there?
OR as @Xiiixiii" cleverly pointed out in the comments, is it all about "Stealth Wealth" nowadays?
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I once made a paperclip bracelet at work. #HighLife #YOLO #SWAG #ThisWasAFuckingDumbQuestion.
Love the use of hashtags on forums. Okay, I concede it wasn't the most original thought, but right now where I am Teslas are all the rage. That and the newest Apple product. Just made me wonder what's going on in IB, comparatively.
Your view of status in the industry is going to send you down the wrong path. I honestly am starting to think that the only people who think investment banking is a dick-measuring contest are students and summer analysts.
^^^ Bernie/Hillary voter who promotes his timex and wears a book bag to work
FOH you are worse than OP
BRK.A
That's the stuff I'm looking for! SB'd
Red Swingline stapler
definitely those Gucci belt buckles
7 years ago I feel like this post would've blown up. The new status symbol on Wall Street seems to be Stealth Wealth and pretending like you don't want to brag about your money. Part of me misses those old days when I was just a lurker on these forums and the wealth bravado used to amp me just reading it.
Now we brag about 2-for-one suit sales at Men's Warehouse.
That's funny. I make pretty good money but you just described me perfectly regarding the shopping deals. You can also find me on the weekends wearing solid-colored shirts from Apt. 9 or H&M that cost $10 at most. They fit well and I feel you just can't go wrong with a solid-colored shirt these days, so why splurge?
Hilarious. I rock those exact same shirts as well, and in that order with some levis.
Fuck, does this mean we've grown up?
...or we're worried about those damn lazy peasants getting angry and burning/breaking/looting our shit.
On the West Coast, home ownership is the go-to status symbol, particularly among Associates and above. If you can own a home, you're balling, doesn't matter if you drive a rusty Honda (paging Illini Programmer). Keep in mind the minimum price for a single family home is $1 million just to get your foot in the door (1000 sqft) in a decent neighborhood.
The home I rent is $2,000,000 on zillow/trulia. You would never guess by looking at it.
Probably getting your work done accurately, in a timely matter, being reliable and accountable would be worthwhile statuses worth achieving.
^^^Gay AF
Go home at 6:00 pm, house in the Hamptons, on some sort of board?
How many times a week you eat lunch with Paul Allen at the Four Seasons.
He must be a busy guy. Sounds like someone you know has lunch with Paul Allen at the Four seasons.
Just trying to find out about the Fisher account.
They have one downtown now if you haven't heard. Cliff Huxtable can be seen there often.
Shitty, worn out, battle weary Dell / HP laptops that still can only run Windows 7.
Being able to get a reservation at Dorsia
This. Also having a penchant for Valentino suits and Oliver Peoples glasses.
Perhaps an oversized Jean-Paul Gaultier garment bag?
Children/spawn.
I find that binding pitch materials soothes my autism
The biggest of the BSD's in my group drives a Corolla. Maybe you should buy a Corolla too?
Perhaps you're joking but I could see it happening. I think being that frugal is a deep character flaw and screams of someone constantly counting their money. Maybe they have other avenues they spend their money but I've come across many bankers previously who didn't care about any of the glamour who still own a base or mid-range imports. Driving a Corolla makes it seem like someone who's desperate to make a point and would be obnoxious.
I just got a job in AM but I still plan on doing my dress clothes shopping at K&G, Burlington, and the likes unless the mall anchors are having a big sale. Calvin Klein shirts for $25 and Kenneth Cole Slacks for $30
lol at "slacks"
K&G? are you steve harvey?
Not being a fat slob after after your late 20's.
Bingo. This question reminds me of probably the biggest douche analyst I ever encountered. He absolutely relished being a banker and wouldn't stfu about all the idiotic toys he bought or was going to buy (even to other bankers). He was also visibly unhealthy (read: fat), bald and ugly, and women wouldn't touch him with a barge pole. I'm pretty sure it drove him nuts that guys making 1/3 of what he made got 10x the girls...
Moving past the stage of posting on online finance forums regarding best ways to show you're rich?
Having a yacht that I use only to transport myself (and various women) from the mainland to my bigger yacht.
One of the executives of the firm I was a SA at last summer came by the analyst bullpen one Monday to tell us about his weekend - he had a private lunch with The Queen of England, dinner with Bruce Springsteen, and VIP tickets to a major sporting event in the same weekend. Not quite a status symbol in that those aren't physical objects, but those sorts of experiences/stories are definitely signs of someone being a big deal.
Also, MDs having expensive supercars and pied-a-terres in foreign cities.
Executive has self-esteem issues if he is going out of his way to tell the Analysts what he does on the weekend.
That was my first thought. If somebody any of his peers of the same rank caught wind of that he would get a very hard time I suspect. Someone should have asked him how is wife was? I suspect he would have cracked instantly.
Michael Lewis had dinner with the queen BEFORE he got a job. No biggie.
I guess nobody trumps my experience. Got shitfaced with an aristocrat buddy of mine one night, then convinced him to pee inside one of the guardboxes near the Buckingham. Then a few months later, sets me up with a VS chica and got me laid. Only to charter a flight back to work.
Who cares.
I can lift a fully-grown horse above my head, and I can hold my breath for ten minutes. To settle a wager, I once ate a pound of P.B. Fouke's strongest badger poison and then ran a mile in the nude. I cannot feel pain, and I can see for two miles unaided by a lens. No man can kill me. I have beaten a man of every race in formal combat, including a Turk, a Pygmy Negro Man and a rare Deepwater Jew. A medical doctor and two priests have written and signed a document confirming that I have no soul.
sounds like the requirements for an analyst job at Allen & Co.
That's impossible unless he time-traveled back to 1707.
probably worth noting that all material possessions are fleeting. you can't take any of this stuff with you.
SoCal here, I could care less about the damn perks of the work itself or the status symbol it represents.
The richest people I met in SoCal are the ones driving the old 90s cars (honda/toyota) that live in huge mansions.
Here is my take - who cares about status symbol? I want my money to last and grow as much as I can. Being poor and broke growing up completely sucked a**. If I could take the bus to work and back, it'd save me so much more money.
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