Free time
Hello,
I'll keep it simple, when bankers have free time, what do you generally do? I've been curious because it seems everyone is always busy and has no other life outside of work.
Sleep
I second this.
If you're doing your job right you're basically thinking all day so by the time I get home I'm pretty beat even if it's only a 8-10 hour day.
I’m extremely fortunate and work a 40 hour week so I have time outside work to do as I please. Spare time is spent at the gym, on hobbies (golf, guitar, recently started making YouTube videos), and a couple nights a week with the girlfriend. Some nights if I’ve had a combination of not enough sleep and a very full day at work it’ll be just dinner and Netflix.
What do you do?
Without giving too much away, I'd describe what I do as a bit of a consultant for commercial and consumer bankers.
whats your youtube channel?
I'm not a banker and don't work corporate, so I have the extreme luxury of doing as much or as little of whatever I want every day. But to answer the question, I'd split it up into several categories:
a. Productive free time alone (Anything I do that's not making me money really but I'm benefiting from in some way): Jiu Jitsu, archery, books, hiking, mountain biking, various workouts and fitness shit, fishing, podcasts all day every day in the background. I want to get into hunting. Also working on starting a podcast. And I make rap songs sometimes if I'm the perfect combination of buzzed and exuberant. Oh and I try to hit the sauna as close to every day as possible and read some printouts in there because books fall apart at 200F and I sweat all over them like an asshole.
b. Productive free time with wife: We don't really share any hobbies but we share values, so it works out. She works and is in school, so it's really just like errands together and going out for sushi and shit. We take trips. Smaller road trips and bigger trips, like we just took a road trip through Germany and the Czech Republic last week. Drove to St. Louis a few weeks ago for a few days. We go on hikes. I'm teaching her how to ride a bike. We cook dinner together a few times a month.
c. Unproductive free time alone: Xbox (there are arguable benefits though depending on the game), WoW on a private server, Netflix/movies/docs (sometimes beneficial). I like to smoke weed. I got an ice catcher and a huge bowl for my bong recently and that's nice. That's a neutral, but it often makes me eat garbage and not want to do anything else. I also like to drink. Like a ton. I really enjoy it more than I must deduct the average person does. I for sure have a touch of alcoholism. But I keep it pretty well under wraps. There will be night when I stay up all night drinking and playing Xbox. But pretty rarely these days. So I drink very rarely, but when I do, I go through like 3 bottles of wine or 750ml of gin. I also like drugs. We're being honest, right? If you got some drugs, I'll do them with you. I'd rather do them alone. But I don't ever go out of my way to acquire drugs because my life will go off the rails like it has before when I was younger. I don't even use weed dealers who sell anything else besides shrooms.
d. Unproductive free time with wife: We'll just order pizza and watch a movie. Pretty rarely. Maybe every few months. She really doesn't have much free time.
I want to get into a lot more shit. I find a lot of shit interesting I've never pursued. Like, why not learn to paint a bit? Shit like that. I'll get around to it. Thankfully, I'm very young! I'm listening to Joe Rogan #1102 right now with Matt Farah, who's a car guy. They're making me want to get into cars... Which I've always avoided because it's such an expensive hobby. We have a Kia and a Volvo, so whatever. But now I'm listening to this thinking maybe I need an expensive hobby to motivate me to make more money... lol...
Check out the Anchor app for making podcasts. Makes it easy af. And ever since I watched Bob Ross I've wanted to pick up a paintbrush but never got myself to actually do it.
Sweet man thanks so much for the app. It's actually way more complicated than I thought it was. Or involved, I guess.
Aye! We got another Jiu Jistu guy, love meeting other Jiu Jistu athletes on this forum. =D
Yeah there are a few other guys. I train at Valko BJJ :)
> Unproductive free time alone: Xbox (there are arguable benefits though depending on the game), WoW on a private server, Netflix/movies/docs (sometimes beneficial). I like to smoke weed. I got an ice catcher and a huge bowl for my bong recently and that's nice. That's a neutral, but it often makes me eat garbage and not want to do anything else. I also like to drink. Like a ton. I really enjoy it more than I must deduct the average person does. I for sure have a touch of alcoholism. But I keep it pretty well under wraps. There will be night when I stay up all night drinking and playing Xbox. But pretty rarely these days. So I drink very rarely, but when I do, I go through like 3 bottles of wine or 750ml of gin. I also like drugs. We're being honest, right? If you got some drugs, I'll do them with you. I'd rather do them alone. But I don't ever go out of my way to acquire drugs because my life will go off the rails like it has before when I was younger. I don't even use weed dealers who sell anything else besides shrooms.
Jesus dude.
Get into the habit of reading regularly, at least a few books a year (on top of news/industry articles). People who never read stick out like sore thumbs the longer you are out of school.
I like this comment combined with your username.
Reading is dope; it's in its own category. A couple books a year is weak tbh. I'm happy if I do a book every 5-10 days. I know some people read like a book a day though and that's crazy. I know Ben Greenfield does. I just heard on Freakonomics #322 David Rubenstein talk about how he read 4 books one day. I can't fuck with shit like that at all. Wouldn't try. And I know a lot of it is speed reading tactics too. But honestly, reading is one thing in life I'm not looking to optimize. Like walks in the park.
GoldenCinderblock, what are some of your favorite books that you've read recently?
Never been a fan of speed reading either. Some books I take slowly on purpose, since I don't want them to end.
>David Rubenstein talk about how he read 4 books one day.
A Stein lying about his superhuman brain. Imagine my surprise.
Catchup on sleep and plan some fun things with friends (brunch, dinner, drinks, etc). A nice 1-2hr meal with buddies just hits the refresh button for me..... clears my head
Fishing
Tonehouse
play pubg till i pass out
Fortnite > PubG don't @ me
Hookers and coke, in that order.
Free time? What the hell is that?
Besides the obvious jokes - most of which were used by now, i guess the same as most people with some money. You need to get your head away from the stuff whenever possible, since usually you can't really do it. There is some little truth to the stereotypes but that is more of a side effect of a specific lifestyle and not the other way around.
I love to travel with my gf, we do a load of weekend trips and have done close to a weekend/month. We will go snag a deal on Priceline for the weekend and go somewhere that sounds interesting. I’ve found regional travel to be relaxing, finding something that’s only a few hour drive is ideal. I highly suggest going on the local visitor bureau website and trying to find a local guide. Private tours can be surprisingly cheap. We did one last weekend for a walking tour of a historic district and it was ~$20 an hour.
I fly fish there’s something great about just being on the water. I love to mix it up a fair bit I’ll go for trout, bass and pan fish in freshwater and I’ve got 2 rods for the surf. I’ll also surf or pier fish and occasionally either split charter or go on a party boat.
For reading I tend towards a 50:50 mix of non-fiction and fiction. I’m currently working through a multi-volume history of the civil war and Solzhenitsyn. History and fiction tend to offer more profound lessons than a lot of the business books.
Free Time (Originally Posted: 08/22/2012)
Good morning all,
Today I'm going to talk about free time. What's that, you may ask? Right, I forgot, you guys have no free time. Free time is the series of hours or minutes (hopefully more than just minutes) in a day during which you have no outside responsibilities. It's when you can do whatever you want, and not feel guilty about the fact that other things are being put off.
Free time is awesome, but those of us who are in investment banking have given up almost all of our free time, and those of us who are prospective monkeys are just naive 18-to-22-year-olds who think that giving up all of one's free time isn't actually a big deal.
For the past several weeks I have been working a PE internship, and certain weeks have given me my first real exposure to investment banking-like hours, and thus, no free time. But I'm here to ask a different question altogether -- does free time actually exist?
This is a serious question, even for people who might be in the transitory period between college and a job and literally have oodles of "free time". My stance on this is as follows: free time exists for some people, but not for all, irrespective of the number of hours someone works or goes to school.
Wait, what?
Hear me out. Most of the people on this site -- people who are in finance or looking to get into finance -- aren't the type of people to ever truly have "free time". This is because a high degree of drive and motivation sidelines free time by definition. Take an example: last year I worked as a software developer, making solid money on a 8-5 schedule Monday through Friday. Most people would say that I had a lot of free time, and a lot of bills to take full advantage of it. But this was actually far from the truth, because I'm not the type of person who can take ruthless advantage of leisure time like other people out there.
Yes indeed, while working this pretty cushy job, in my time outside of work I was preparing myself for investment banking interviews, filling out MSF applications, studying technicals, and reading and digesting as much information as I could about finance to prepare for my next step. And when I wasn't doing these things, I often felt guilty and anxious because I wasn't using my time wisely and was "falling behind" by not staying on top of my game.
And this character trait is one that dates back to my childhood, and to this day I remember never being completely "OK" with taking advantage of leisure time because I know that my time could always be used more wisely and I could be accomplishing things that had important long-term implications.
Okay, great, so what does all this mean?
What this means, monkeys, is that for most of us, free time is just a myth, a pipe-dream. Not strictly because we work (or will work) many many MANY hours per week, but because for people who are interested in finance and doing well at it(read: Type A people), leisure time just isn't a thing. This is what drives people to answer the "what's your number" question with something like "there's always more to be made" or "I don't have one, I just like the hustle". Someone who has the personality and drive to make it into this industry (especially given current market conditions), is not the type of person who relishes their free or leisure time -- they're the type of person who might wonder "what can I be doing right now to better myself" when they're just screwing around and watching TV on a Sunday afternoon. And let's face it, if you're watching TV and wondering why you're doing that instead of something more productive, you're not really taking advantage of your "free time" at all.
So the next time work has you down because you only have enough time to shower before you collapse onto your bed, don't worry about it too much -- free time probably doesn't exist for you anyway.
What do you guys think? Is there such a thing as true, blissful leisure time for folks like us? Do you think you'd be okay with having a ton of leisure time, or would you immediately get bored and seek out the next "big job" or "deal" (metaphorically speaking)?
Thanks for reading.
d
Don't be too obsessed with self improvement, it is a fools errand which has no possible way of even "completing" per say. I am a firm believer that people don't stay the same, you either get better or worst at something depending on your actions. With that said, if you go your whole life trying to just make yourself better and have no concern for anyone else, you well end up alone and an asshole. If you don't believe me look around Wall Street for more than a fair share of evidence.
Help others, help yourself, and for your own sake, learn to not only value free time, but find good ways to use it. Life isn't only about the job, and if you already think like this before you even start working full time - you may be beyond saving.
+1. self improvement is good until it becomes an obsession
We all have 4 years of continuous free-time during college. Isn't that enough to hold you off until retirement? Personally, if I'm not doing something productive, I feel I need to. But that's probably just my type-A personality.
dp
Time measured against money earned during time will by definition create the expression that there is no such thing as free time, and that any time not spend of productivity is lost money. That having been said (1) there is more to life than money and (2) down time is needed so that the time spent making money is actually productive.
(1) more to life than money: subjective. You define this (2) fatigue makes cowards of us all. Yes you can work more hours, and yes, some people are lazy. However, factor into this equation that if you're tired and working at half pace, you're not any more productive than if you'd gotten a rest.
I cannot agree more.. any of you ever watch a series or movies/play games for an entire day and feel like shit in the evening knowing you got nothing accomplished besides (maybe) putting some pants on?
I think the fact that I have free time has to do with the fact that I am better at managing time than 99% of the people out there.
This stems from the writings of Cal Newport, of Study Hacks. I'd rather be super productive for a few hours and work long hours and have my productivity drop significantly as time goes by.
http://calnewport.com/blog/
"If you go your whole life trying to just make yourself better and have no concern for anyone else, you will end up alone and an asshole."
This x100. The thing with self improvement is that it doesn't have a "finish line". You could always have more money, you could always be smarter, you could always be in better shape, you could always have a hotter gf, etc etc. You put shit on the pedestal thinking it'll change everything, only to get them and realize no one gives a fuck, and those who do don't matter. Srsly, would you really want to date or be friends with people who would be out faster than a fat kid in a dodgeball game if your money dried up? The happiest ppl I know would be considered complete "failures" by WS standards. But the thing is, they derived that very happiness by not getting caught up in the self-improvement rat race and being completely content with where they are.
Up to the point of going to college, my entire life was essentially free time (k-12 education was a blow off and I never ever had homework, and I mean honestly my school never had hw) Not to mention going up to our lake house every weekend, like a mini vacation. I would say that had the biggest impact in the way I see and do things over many other people. Time to me is meant to be enjoyed, doing nothing of importance and having total fun. To this day I can't go three weeks without needing to take a weekend somewhere.
That said, I wouldn't want to sit on a couch all day and be a vegetable because frankly that is not enjoyable to me. However, I also don't feel I need to be productive in any way either. I believe free time should be spent making great memories by being outside, socializing with friends and family, doing hobbies you enjoy, etc.
I know I could never do investment banking and even forty hours a week seems a little heavy for me. I mean honestly when we think work-life balance that should not be 50-50 or even 30-70. Sometimes I wouldn't mind a simple life in some remote country where all I need to do is work a couple hours to make enough to sustain myself and family and call it a day.
At first I thought this was going to be stupid, then I realized you're almost right.
oh ho ho...i feel sorry for you OP...i work PE and do put in the kind of hours you talk about and unlike my previous BO gig i am never "off" work so as to speak but to put a theory around having no free time and filling it up with anything everything in the name of resume building/ knowledge all the time is plain stupid and yeah...stupid....
i relish my free time and i work hard for it when i like to unwind, do things n my own pace, cool off with couple of sitcoms, chilled beer, talking to friends, playing soccer and honestly this combo of 15 hours of work, 6 for sleep and 3 for chilling out keeps me fresh nd happy all the time...i have seen ur kind of so called A types who take everything way too seriously and are on constant doze of adrenalin....i like to make fun of these a types....cos somewhere down the line you substitute the intelligence associated with free thinking with donkeying around in the name of "career"....grow up and get a life...read a good book and jerk off your a type out of ur system....trust me...u ll do much better in ur life...
i always need an excuse to share this....
I have tons of free time..but i chock that up to a 20 min round trip commute and a firm that hates when people stay late
I always hate myself when I waste an entire day catching up on a show I haven't seen for months, or shooting hoops with a bunch of guys the entire Saturday before a week full of midterms. The worst is when I take out an entire day to beat a video-game. Then again I'm in college so we definitely have (too much?) time to waste.
At the same time though, despite feeling like crap when you could have been productive - if you never take the time to slow down and enjoy what your hard work has earned for you, I feel like you'll be heading down that slope to misery. Especially at the banking level where I assume you have precious little time to do anything at all - if you spend even that trying to get ahead I don't think it'll be pleasant. The point about self improvement having no finish line is a great one made by a previous poster.
However if your personality is one that feels genuinely good and happy doing those kind of things, then more power to you. I have a really introverted friend who honestly feels good studying and productive - and for him it outweighs any kind of happiness he might have gained from relaxing with friends or wasting time. Not sure if it's particularly healthy but he's made it this far and that might be what he really enjoys.
Free time is or browsing wso
Time is never wasted when you're getting wasted...
If You Had Free Time (Originally Posted: 01/07/2012)
So I’ve secured my full-time offer and only have a few courses to take this semester. I also plan on taking the GMAT this semester and will be spending a decent amount of time preparing. However, I will not be starting until August and have been thinking of a few non-work related things I would like to do. I will definitely be traveling this summer, I’m thinking Asia, New Zealand or South America (I’ve spent a decent amount of time in Europe). I also want to do Tough Mudder. Still, I’m interested to see if any of you have ideas for an interesting pursuit if you had months of free time. It could be one time things (skydiving) or goals that take a long time (build speakers)
Before I get shot down:
I did a search and read the relevant posts: I already work out a lot, spend more than enough time having fun, and don’t need travel advice
Also, I’ll obviously choose what’s interesting to me but would still like to see what other people have done/wish they had time for
I’m just looking for fresh ideas/perspectives – I don’t mind spending money on things but would like relatively cheap ideas (ex. not climbing everest)
I'm in the same situation; decided to improve my golf game and continue the process of starting a non-profit with a college buddy of mine. Both activities will potentially help my career and are things that I enjoy. I have a number of other interests that take up my free time, but those are the newest.
All that stuff sounds great. Besides keeping updated on whats going on in the news especially in finance I think you should do all of those things.
My New Year's resolution is to try to make time to read and write more, and go to more concerts. Anything that makes you a bit more cultured is a good thing.
Yup, build speakers. Or a computer. Or if you play drums, build a kit.
Also, you might want to try to learn to cook or bake something.
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