I Hate IB

The industry has so much inefficiency. I’m wasting hours of my life creating meaningless pages that never get used. Bonuses are mid, I’m making the same hourly wage as a teacher. Even better, I work with a bunch of psychos

25 Comments
 

Agree 100%, but that’s the job. Its worth it because of the doors it opens, and doing IB to MD is probably the best risk adjusted way to make 7 figures.

More people make 7 figures doing banking than any other W-2 wagie profession

 

There are several people in AM with the same  and maybe even bigger paychecks. 

Just giving one example, it’s tiring when people have to remind others that there are several ways to 7 figures in Finance outside of IB. I recommend trying to do more research and network across in and outside the industry more. Your career is journey with many paths. 

Nah
 

What other career paths lets you make 7 figures if you stay in it long enough, not including career paths that require significant early investment (medicine and law)?

Obviously there’s high finance and certain roles in tech, but what else? Genuinely asking

 

The industry has so much inefficiency. I’m wasting hours of my life creating meaningless pages that never get used. Bonuses are mid, I’m making the same hourly wage as a teacher. Even better, I work with a bunch of psychos

Lol.  What an asshole.

You are a first year analyst, according to your handle.  I would guess you are getting paid... $175,000 all in?  If you're towards the bottom of your analyst class?  A first year teacher in NYC makes about $65,000.

In NYC, school is 6:20 minutes a day. Since teachers have to be there before the pupils arrive, and stay a little later, lets round that to 7 hours a day.  Lets also be extremely conservative and say that they spend an additional hour a day grading papers, tests, lesson planning, etc.  So your average schoolteacher is working at least a 40 hour week.  Probably substantially more.  You, as a first year analyst, are probably working 80 hour weeks.  So you are $42/hour and the teacher is $31.25.  Even if we assume you are working 100 hour weeks (in which case you probably get a bigger bonus) you STILL make more than that teacher on an hourly basis (33.65 vs 31.25).

In other words, even when you exaggerate what your actual hours are, you are still much better paid than your peers in teaching.  So sit down and shut up - if you think teachers have it so easy, go be a teacher!

The absurd degree of entitlement is disgusting.

 
money.monkey

Did you account for the fact that teachers work 9 months/year and have the whole summer off? Pls fix. 

No, but I also was quite clear that I'm probably understating by a vast amount the number of hours a week teachers actually work.

Take the 10 weeks of summer vacation (June 26 - Sept 7 last school year) and you still end up with teachers making less ($38.7 vs $42).  

You must be an IB analyst.  Focused on the unimportant minutiae and completely ignorant of the bigger picture.

 

I'm always at a loss reading the comments on some of these threads...

Look, IB isn't for everyone and the hours take a toll on your mental and physical health. That's just the nature of it and no matter what people convince themselves, it just flat-out sucks. Doing 80+ hours of work a week, barely staying in shape, eating right or sleeping, never mind hobbies/personal lives, is something that hits everyone in the industry. 

If you're having a shit time, I would say look to exit out of high finance (after the 1 or 2-year mark) because many other places may be just as intense (*cough PE *cough*) with the same or more intensive hours. There are some great positions within the Corp Fin world like Corp Dev in CPG or Tech, Strat Fin at a start-up or some unique S&O roles that all offer a better hours to comp ratio.

I honestly don't think there's any benefit in glorifying the the field, but I do respect those who are able to withstand the pressures both in the work culture and sheer number of hours expected of them. And to those who say you'll miss out on the millions in dollars that comes with a career in IB, well, maybe, but it doesn't take millions of dollars to indulge in hobbies like hiking or travelling to new countries every so often. It does, however, take intentional time.

One final point, the vast majority of folks go into IB for maybe 2-3 years; not all of them exit into HF, PE, RE, AM, or another high finance position. Some go on to firms that offer stable mid-career wages (~$150-200k USD / yr) with 45-50 hrs. It's your life, do what you can live with. 

 
Most Helpful

Found the junior who can’t see the forest from the trees. Yes it sucks and you should have many outlets as possible to vent as cope — but there’s no other corporate role available to above average smart college grads that A) Pays as well (in cash) right out of college and B) Effectively fast forwards to extremely coveted corporate roles immediately when you leave. If you go the corporate route which is a cake walk compared to financial services firms (to which in fin. Services roles post banking your earnings power is heads over tails higher than any other corporate roles for folks your age. You simply cannot find another job that will pay you 350k a year in cash at 25) - you get immediate access to c-level execs, their board, strategic input, the whole 9. IB is a two-year price that exports you to leadership tracks in business. You already fucking sacrificed 4 years of your life in college for free you can’t hack it for 2 years for a material head start in your 40+ year corporate career? Come on.

 
liquidiot

Found the junior who can’t see the forest from the trees. Yes it sucks and you should have many outlets as possible to vent as cope — but there’s no other corporate role available to above average smart college grads that A) Pays as well (in cash) right out of college and B) Effectively fast forwards to extremely coveted corporate roles immediately when you leave. If you go the corporate route which is a cake walk compared to financial services firms (to which in fin. Services roles post banking your earnings power is heads over tails higher than any other corporate roles for folks your age. You simply cannot find another job that will pay you 350k a year in cash at 25) - you get immediate access to c-level execs, their board, strategic input, the whole 9. IB is a two-year price that exports you to leadership tracks in business. You already fucking sacrificed 4 years of your life in college for free you can’t hack it for 2 years for a material head start in your 40+ year corporate career? Come on.

Agree completely.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

What are the non PE corporate roles you have immediate access to after 2 years in IB? Asking genuinely, I just finished my first year in IB and can see myself sticking for 2 but not more than that. Corp Dev seems hit or miss

 

Pretty much corporate development (I would honestly only aim to do this at acquisitive large public CO’s to have real impact since they have a currency to transact with and therefore able to complete more deals faster) and strategic finance roles. These are a mix of FP&A and everything else Corp. fin like M&A, Strategic Partnerships, cash forecasting, Investor Relations. My background is in tech so I would say your pre-ipo large startups should have some pretty good strategic finance teams with a lot of room to run. I would make sure to vet the company though to see what types of projects strategic finance works on because it can be more FP&A heavy or more Strategy heavy

 
coolio9966

What are the non PE corporate roles you have immediate access to after 2 years in IB? Asking genuinely, I just finished my first year in IB and can see myself sticking for 2 but not more than that. Corp Dev seems hit or miss

Name a company or a brand you admire or think is cool, whether that's something established or a start up. They have someone doing Corp Dev, Strategy, Finance, etc. 

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

Then quit.

"If you don't have any enemies in life you have never stood up for anything" - Winston Churchill | "It's a testament to the sheer belligerence of the profession that people would rather argue about the 'risk-adjusted returns' of using inferior tooth cleaning methods." - kellycriterion
 

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