Trending Content - Investment Banking Forum
Career Resources
WSO Free Modeling Series - Now Open Through
July 31, 2026
9 Free Financial Modeling Lessons
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
+Bonus: Get 27 financial modeling templates in swipe file
+Bonus: Get 27 financial modeling templates in swipe file
High Finance Applications
Guaranteed
Get at least one offer GUARANTEED
- 1:1 support
- 92% success rate
- 2,000+ mentor network
- Unlimited Live bootcamps
- AI for resume + LinkedIn
- Networking automation tools
- HireVue simulation tool
- Full course library
- Private Slack community
- 20hrs of mocks
- + much more...
“Global”
edit: oh you said favorite not least favorite
“Can’t go tits up”
Username checks out
Leverage
Pump and dump
Dead cat bounce
Levered to the tits
The market can stay autistic longer than you can stay solvent
classic prospect from wsb who doesn't actually no anything about investment banking
Lol it's obviously a joke why you guys so serious. And the question was finance cringey words not investment banking specifically. I could've said plz fix or happy to chat, but these phrases are a lot more funny. WSB is full of retards don't know why you think I follow them. Also, it's "know" not "no". Plz fix
"robust"
Every market update, every pipeline call, I hear robust minimum 5 times. Probably 15-25 times a week. It’s gotten to the point I want a recession just so markets are no longer “robust”.
Color
Capacity
Let’s not boil the ocean
Not related but a banker I worked with (non-native english speaker) said "touch bases" instead of touch base all summer lmao.
Leading. I hate it. We are a leading micro-middle market car wash M&A advisory firm. Everyone says they are leading and I don't know why it annoys me so much, but it does.
This one always got me too. A lot of these empty sales-y words are just a complete waste of syllables and I don't understand how those being pitched don't find it hilarious.
Flexible
Robust
Quorum
Spin your wheels
Synergies
Pls
Plz
Thnx
Thx
Tx
Send dial in
Seasoned
Backfill
[insert number] handle
Back into
Scrub
Massage
Color
Recirculate
Ping
Put some time on my calendar
Calendar is up to date
Make better
Add some Color
Dig in
Wood to chop
Ping (hate this one)
Hang around the hoop
Robust
“This is a great company”
“We love this name”
Seasoned
Spin your wheels
“Helpful” …god I hate this one too Jesus Christ
Not a phrase, but something funny I heard on a call last year:
“Happy Friday, only two more work days until Monday”
The latest
Any of the words in a subject line email
Works.
"I'll defer to [such-and-such person] on this."
"Let me know if any questions."
Double click
Take a stab / take a pass / take a shot.
In the interest of time.
When they scream pie in the sky
"Mission critical"
"small nit"
"super tactical point here"
"that's enough wood to chop for now"
my personal most hated: "rockstar" . WTF kind of junior high finance employee is a "rockstar", you're taking a cool word and making it so very uncool
"Pro rata" and "pro forma" being used every other sentence annoys me. Also, the use of "kindly" only when important people are on the chain.
"Revert" is used incorrectly 99.9% of the time I see it in my inbox
Iterate
“Pick your brain”
I really hate the most idiomatic ones such as: "soup to nuts" "row to hoe" "pitching the longest pole in the tent"
Seriously what does that even mean?
Literally nothing unless you've literally had some time in the industry and understood the context.in which one of those phrases was said. I've found in most cases, people who resort to those phrases are already trying to say nothing by saying something. The only exception I'll give is to pitching the longest pole in the tent which I heard very aptly used during a diligence process when I was an analyst by a PE partner to describe overcoming the most difficult part of diligence. But still a stretch lol
Nostrum est natus iusto omnis perspiciatis sit optio cum. Vero consequuntur nobis non aut et pariatur. Itaque voluptates laboriosam est voluptas pariatur et.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Incidunt nobis et sed saepe. Quasi ab numquam ut voluptatem nihil. Labore rerum ut quam nemo. Voluptatibus nulla officiis et maxime est praesentium.
Velit repellendus expedita enim dicta. Voluptatem fugiat dicta sint neque quia deserunt est. Quod eaque inventore ratione. Dolores minima dolores ex officia molestiae ipsum sapiente. Tenetur totam magnam et excepturi quibusdam et.