29-year Old Banker Commits Suicide

Another sad story: a 29-year old banker named Thomas J Hughes from Moelis & Company committed suicide.

Are the hours really getting better in banking and lifestyle becoming less stressful for young professionals?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-29/new-york-investment-banker-jum…

edit: more links
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-29/thomas-hughes-moelis-…

 

Very, very sad.

I was also surprised at how messed up the comments section was. Do people really hate bankers that much? It sounds like he was a young guy that cracked under the pressure (obviously total conjecture).

"I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant."
 
CorpFinanceGuy:

Yea the comment section at ZH is especially cynical / brutal. It's funny, you never see headlines for the hundreds of other people who committed suicide today. The second someone is seen as being successful the world rejoices when something bad happens. Gotta love humanity.

Those are some seriously sick fucks.

RIP

 

This is just awful. No parent should have to bury their child (even one who is already an adult, but a young adult no less with an entire life in front of him).

I agree I don't think it's solely the job, although the stress and environment in a workplace can certainly create triggers for someone who may have been more susceptible to clinical or severe depression. Mental health issues unfortunately still carry a huge stigma, especially amongst guys, which leads to medicating it in the worst way possible (alcohol, narcotics, then suicide).

Just sad news.

Alex Chu www.mbaapply.com
 

RIP. The problem with trying to relate this to one's work is that it's pure speculation. WE have no clue what was going on not only in this man's life, but also what was going on in his head. Cases like these are a lot more complicated than simply stating "banking hours/stress is killing people", and that's not to attack you OP, just stating a fact.

I think- therefore I fuck
 
vanillathunder:

Employers should pay more attention to employee mental health and provide whatever support necessary. It's just sad to see a young man go like that. Same problem with that Germanwings co-pilot suicide.

it staggers me that you even compared his case to the pilot suicide. the pilot took ~150 people with him. he is a mass murderer.

 
vanillathunder:

Employers should pay more attention to employee mental health and provide whatever support necessary. It's just sad to see a young man go like that. Same problem with that Germanwings co-pilot suicide.

Part of the problem is the stigma against it. If you're physically sick, people look at it like it's fate. If you're mentally sick, people look at it like it's your fault for not being able to "deal with" life.

My dad was a VP at a very successful insurance company. A fellow VP got cancer and the company pulled out all of the stops to be accommodating for him. My dad was depressed and had an anxiety problem that was undiagnosed of course because that's not something "successful men" deal with. They fired him because of it. Physical ailments get treatment. Mental ailments get ignored. Imagine telling your boss you need a month or two off to get your head straight. It's a way different than saying you need a month or two off for chemo, but it shouldn't be.

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

Damn those comments are stunningly cold-blooded.

This is a tragedy. Whether or not this is directly caused by work, we shouldn't have a culture that sneers at mental health problems and venerates unhealthily demanding work habits.

Hopefully senior bankers will get the clue and implement reforms to make sure that juniors step down from the ledge in the future. No need for 40-hour workweeks, but we definitely shouldn't be pushing people to commit suicide either.

 

The comments... what the f?

Also, why do they imply so heavily that there is correlation between Investment Banking and suicide? Feels like the article and the comments were written by cold-blooded people who are butthurt or something along the lines. Besides, drugs have very little to do with suicide - the opinions expressed on the matter are clearly not educated.

May he rest in peace!

 

I had no idea that ordinary folks had such a warped view of banking careers. Sad and odd at the same time.

One of the comments: "Scream louder, you little bankster f...ot. It helps the demon a...aping you finish faster.

Count yourself lucky. It doesn't work on earth when bankster f...ots like you a...ape people who work for a living.

That's what you get for believing right and wrong are defined by what you can get away with on earth and suicide is the ultimate bailout scam.

Good news is your douchebag drinking and f...buddies from the office are right behind you in line. Always room for one more in hell."

>Incoming Ash Ketchum, Pokemon Master >Literally a problem, solve for both X and Y, please and thank you. >Hugh Myron: "Are there any guides on here for getting a top girlfriend? Think banker/lawyer/doctor. I really don't want to go mid-tier"
 

This sucks, but it wasn't because of work. Moelis is supposedly tough, but quitting can be done by walking out through the front door instead of jumping off the top floor. Besides, he's been in the business for a while to make associate, why let it get to him now? Life is always worth living, moreso as someone with the pedigree and financial freedom to exit into any industry or interest he would have liked. 29 is far too young to look back and say "I have wasted my life." He could have done so much more with it. RIP.

 

As sad is this is for the work environment of banking, let's take a moment to think about how life traumatizing this was for the lady just driving by. A man just falls out the sky and nearly lands on your SUV and head gets decapitated. Your going to be suing the guys estate just to cover your mental therapy bills.

 

Very sad story. Those comments were disgusting and disturbing. The people posting them were some seriously ignorant dick heads. It is satisfying to know that they are most likely living some very miserable existences to say some of the things mentioned.

 

Horrible when something like this happens. RIP.

The comments are always terrible on that site. I try to minimize my Zero Hedge viewing to once a week because of the frequent questionable postings in combination with their associated comments. Excluding the legitimate finance community who frequents the site, Zero Hedge seems to gather a cesspool of an audience ranging from Neonazis to anarchists. It's no wonder why such an ignorant group of shit bags would spew hatred toward a deceased person that they never knew.

 
Best Response

I had never been on zero hedge and will never go back but that article was written in such a shit way and the comments are absolutely disgusting. Someone's son, friend, coworker and neighbor killed himself and they write a snarky fucking article like that? "Merely the latest banker suicide?" What assholes. Why not write shit about the other 100+ Americans who commit suicide daily and act like a plumbers occupation somehow explains mental illness and someone who hits the end. Pick on working with shit all day or slam Robin Williams. The comments are absolutely disgusting. I'd hope the commenters get hit by a bus but I doubt they leave their "apartment" in their mom's basement.

 

What a bunch of wankers. I honestly couldn't give a fuck what your career is but no one deserves that shit. Taking your life through suicide seems like an escape from the inescapable, and it's sad. Somewhere out there, there was something that could have been done to help this guy.

Those comments sum up exactly what scum is to me.

 

http://nypost.com/2015/05/29/wolf-of-wall-street-style-coke-party-at-ju…

It's really sad. A guy died, and all the articles do is vilify him and paint grotesque pictures. I'm frankly disgusted. I know auditors that do coke, artists that do acid, etc. Yet because this guy was a banker they chose to focus on his prep school and cocaine. Not the fact that he was probably having some serious internal struggle. It's sad. These authors and editors and papers should all get fined and sued for how classless they have all been

 
DaBBzMan:

http://nypost.com/2015/05/29/wolf-of-wall-street-s...

It's really sad. A guy died, and all the articles do is vilify him and paint grotesque pictures. I'm frankly disgusted. I know auditors that do coke, artists that do acid, etc. Yet because this guy was a banker they chose to focus on his prep school and cocaine. Not the fact that he was probably having some serious internal struggle. It's sad. These authors and editors and papers should all get fined and sued for how classless they have all been

Jesus. The title alone just screams clickbait. Vilifying the guy through emphasizing his wealth, success, and coke habits rather than talking about the toll all of stress/lack of sleep on one's body. The whole article is fucked... same with the Zero Hedge comments. Some of those are seriously worse than the deeper subreddits/shit you'll find on 4chan if you're into that kind of thing.

 

This is a tragedy and the comments on Zero Hedge are just so mean and vicious. I'd be curious as to whether he was a trader or a I banker and if so what group was he in as an I banker at Moelis. This act must have been gruesome and very painful for any of the witnesses that were not far from this incident. RIP.

 

That comment section on ZH makes WSO look like the most proper batch of well raised and etiquette-loving people ever

RIP

I'm on vacation in Jamaica right now and even though you couldn't get me to touch IBD with a ten foot pole , I found myself contemplating about the overall stress level/nastiness of some people that is intrinsically embedded in finance.

Maybe I'm just one of the fucked up/soft ones that is very attenuated to a persons emotional intelligence and think morale and quality of life are high on the must haves for a successful team

 

There's a reason they call the comments section the bottom half of the internet. Read at your own risk.

Terrible news. As I witnessed with military suicides, people try to draw conclusions they shouldn't and generalize, and who knows what the poor guy was going through. All I'm sure of is that 29 is too young, and that sucks. RIP

 

Are all of ZeroHedge's articles written like that? I can't stand dehumanization in reports on someone's death, and the tone is pretty 4chan-esque...

Make Idaho a Semi-Target Again 2016 Not an alumnus of Idaho
 
Wall St:

I bet common Americans would think differently if they realized that their employment status may very well hinge on the existence and past actions of banks.

That miiiiight have something to do with the hatred

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 
snakeoil:

Just imagine the type of people who have time to make comments on a conspiracy theory site.

Just avoid ZH, and basically avoid comments on the Internet in general.

Did anybody read this piece by ARS:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/02/business/dealboo...

Sad stories. Hope their families can find peace.

Wow, that story is about an analyst at GS TMT. People fail to realize the flip side of the coin of groups who are considered the best as far as dealflow. If they're considered the best, chances are they're probably working sweatshop hours.

 

Tom was a good friend.

The things that people are writing about him online are terrible and untrue. Tom was nothing like the image that is being projected onto him of some heartless money-mongering douche. He was kind, whip-smart, and had the absolute best laugh of anyone, ever. He was a wonderful soul and it hurts me to think of the pain he must have been going through to take his own life.

Social class has nothing to do with pain and suffering. Drugs are usually a symptom, not a cause. What happened is tragic and I am unspeakably sad for both Tom and his family. Rest in peace Tommy boy.

 

wow, I am just in awe at the comments section....literally zero f*cks given about the guy!

You know you've been working too hard when you stop dreaming about bottles of champagne and hordes of naked women, and start dreaming about conditional formatting and circular references.
 

the article was a downer.. but the comments section made me feel even worse.. the commentators probably all have a victim mentality.. but the industry needs to fix this issue.. I did not even try for IB (not that banks were waiting for me or anything) because there is no amount of money that would make me spend all of the best years of my life as a completely expendable office drone.. I think that is what leads to mid-life crisis eventually - realizing that no amount of money can make your youth come back..

 

Those comments in the article are just atrocious. Very sad that people would say that. It does bring up a very important question for investment bankers--the BANKER IMAGE. Bankers suspend humanity and decency in favor of money and self-promotion. I know that isn't true for the majority of bankers but that is the perception. The industry is still incredibly unpopular. How are we going to change that?

 

The comment section @ that ZH page just stinks. However, I like that fact that you raised the point of bankers image being overshadowed by their ambitions and insatiable greed. I just don't know if we CAN change the dark side son.

Death is certain; Life aint.
 

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