I refuse to believe that everyone on this app who is an analyst is going to make it to MD. That just seems ridiculous, everyone here on these comp threads either claims to make millions a year or that they will within 10 years on the job. Is this actually an accurate representation of the industry or are ppl here just out of wack.
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No, it’s not accurate. Most people leave banking after their first 2 years as an Analyst.
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No I think you just can't fucking read
WSO itself isn't an accurate representation of the industry.
Director put it really well to me:
“We are [mid tier BB], there will always be clients. If we lose one client another comes along. However there is one MD spot and I see hundreds of juniors. The internal competition is far more of a threat than the external.”
I understand the point and agree that ultimately there are a limited number of spots across the industry. But I actually think that is a pretty bad attitude that prioritizes internal competition vs external (so being the best on your team being on the best team) and that leads to a worse team, firm, etc. I never want people on my team competing against each other, I want them building the “best” firm and producing the best returns, etc for our clients (on top of all the other stuff I want the team to be the “best” of). Sure if you want to be the best in the world you’ll have to be the best on your team, but by focusing on being the best at your team you are missing out on building the best team/firm/etc.
I think you’re probably right but the comment was more of a “look this is the nature of the beast”. Banking is inherently political given the individual value add on a deal is so hard to quantify. You see it at every level from MDs all trying to claim they originated something to analysts all telling the same headhunter that they ran the model on whatever big ticket M&A deal just popped. I am quite jaded though maybe your experience is different.
I agree that this happens, and I have met many bankers (and other professionals) who work this way. I think it is also easier to do at a large firm where you don’t feel like you have any real skin in the game (so who cares if my team is the best, I just want to get paid so I’ll fight for every point I can get, you don’t care about the team or firm) - it is also clear in the comment about how there will always be another client; that is true to a point, but a lot of that has to do with the reputation that a firm has built up over many years. Tell that same director to go start their own firm and see how many “next” clients there are, it isn’t that easy. This is a bit of an exaggeration, but the person competes internally while riding the coattails of the reputation and the hard work of others externally (if there wasn’t a next client the attention would quickly shift), the internal competition is where that marginal effort is used because it is where they see the biggest upside to their comp. That also goes to show how incentives can lead to undesirable behavior/attitudes.
I don’t work in IB, but at a HF. I find that HFs tend to have less of this for many reasons (titles don’t matter as much, closely tied compensation to fund performance, more clear who is adding value vs not, etc). And that is also how I run my team.
OP doesn’t understand survivor bias
Is it because the people who don’t make good money don’t post here? I’m just saying I don’t think the survivors are telling the truth, im just sceptical that all these Anon accounts are all making 500k+ or 7 figs.
Do you think people who leave would still be posting on here?
Well they haven’t left yet so probably yes
5.7%
I have seen some HR data around this. For my situation it comes out to being about 2% of global staff. I haven't seen the breakdown for IB specifically but being below 2% is a safe assumption.
The real question is what % of people actually want to become MDs. Probably pretty low. I feel like most people I know who have wanted it, got it either at their firm and or they go down market. Don't think it's as coveted as people make it out to be. I would guess 5% of incoming analysts actually want to make it to MD, maybe lower. Even my buddies who are VPs/Directors are questioning if they want MD ha (no joke, 75% want out and the balance are massive hardos for the most part).
Also, MDs get paid a fraction of what they were paid back in the day. Like, way less than you think. And all deferred comp. Do NOT be disillusioned by retards on this website
Wrong question - should be what percent of people that WANT to be MD make MD? You have a bunch of people selectively choosing to leave the industry for PE, HF, Corporate.
Honestly, I think its a pretty good % of the people who actually have the goal to make it to MD.
Frankly now amongst my analyst class, don't even see more than a handful of people who want to join MF/UMM PE because they view it as IB 2.0 in terms of hours so why bother with that misery/shit-eating.
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