Are you salty? *Investment Banking

We all know that Investment Banking is difficult to get into, and very time consuming once you are in it. You guys all work hard for your money and spend many hours of your day just trying to juggle in tasks without messing up. So how do you guys feel when there are:

  • Teenage Rappers making more money than you, without having a proper education and just using slang words over a beat with tons of bass, and charging $50k per show at a crappy night club. (Lil Pump.)

  • Athletes making tons of money (Kevin Durant, Lionel Messi, Lebron James, Odell Beckham Jr) while living the life with endorsements and partying with beautiful women.

  • Instagram Models charging $10,000 per post.

  • Justin Bieber made $100,000,000 last year. Let it sink in.

Does anybody get salty that you guys went to the most difficult Universities, worked your butt off just to secure an internship, yet you see people like Lil Pump or Lil Yachty making tons of money. Does anybody get bothered by this? Not in a jealous type, but in a disappointed at society "Wow he is literally rhyming D rose 30 times with the same word, and making bank, while I went to college I'm making less money" type of way.

If you could do it all over again, would you still be an investment banker?

 

To put it a little differently, it sure doesn't sound like OP has a lot of respect for the people he is asking if we are salty about. Why would he expect us to look down on their method of income if he himself does not already. Seems to me like people want their livelihood to be highly regarded, and not based on how much money they make as a result.

 

I couldn't care less about what the absurd celebs make. It doesn't impact me as the chance of obtaining that sort of lifestyle isn't remotely feasible. Also, anyone going into banking just for the prestige and financial benefits last under 6 months (from what industry experts have told me). Comparing any industry to celebraties is beyond questionable. What is your end goal here OP

 

I like how you are a realist, but I also feel that you are underestimating your abilities by saying, such a lifestyle isn't remotely feasible. It is feasible, but you just need to take a different/risky path in life, such as starting your own company (which can fail). My end goal, is just to see if people who are investment bankers are really into what they do, or if they had a choice would rather do something else, if they had the skills for it.

  1. Many people put Investment Banking or Finance on a pedastal, as it is. So if they would still choose Investment banking over being an famous person/athlete, then that is true passion. If they wouldn't, then that tells me if I have the opportunity to become a Justin Bieber, I better go for that instead. (Hypothetically of course).
 

OP, did someone give you the chance to become justin bieber, but you turned it down to pursue investment banking? Yeah, that's what I thought. This question makes no fucking sense at all. People like Bieber are incredibly lucky but also talented. You're not making millions playing in the NFL or NBA because you suck and you aren't special enough to make it.

 

Idk who lil pump is, but you are more than welcome to stop trying to do banking and start posting shit on instagram in hopes of making $10k. Some people in this world are just more lucky than others. I'll give you an example: you get to sit on your computer and complain while there are people out there who barely eat enough a day to survive.

 

I guess it comes down to what kind of society would you rather live in OP?

(1) A centrally controlled one where bankers and doctors are the highest paid.

Or (2) A free market where a trashy 12 year old skank can become a multi-millionaire, simply by saying "Catch Me Outside".

Personally, I'm not a communist and I find it entertaining the number of ways people can make money. One thing you must remember is that it isn't luck that gets those people there. It's market choice, People are only worth what the market decides they are worth and not a penny more or a penny less.

 

There's nothing wrong with the free market, I'm just saying that sometimes people who are very well educated, might feel wronged that they are making less then a 17 year old rapper who is doing drugs all day. But nothing is also stopping that educated person from doing the same thing.

 

There are 50 year old professional who have been working in the same company to get to a 150k salary, a salary matched by 1st year IB analysts.

You think they're salty? No, they don't have time for that shit. They got a wife, kids, etc. Who knows what will happen to that 17 year old rapper taking drugs - probably not the brightest future past 40...

 
ChampagneTaffy:
There's nothing wrong with the free market, I'm just saying that sometimes people who are very well educated, might feel wronged that they are making less then a 17 year old rapper who is doing drugs all day. But nothing is also stopping that educated person from doing the same thing.

How old are you? You seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding of how the world works.

...and what are you trying to achieve by asking people would they rather be in IB or be the starting wide receiver for the Bucs?

 

I think money is not the primary reason why people get into IB. Its probably a combination of a that, a sense of self-worth and a real joy dervied from doing something that you really love - something that makes you want to jump out of bed everyday (if you ever sleep in it for > 5 hours)

besides. do you not think those popstars u see making 'big bucks' are not working hard? Look past social media man, talk to an instagram model and hear her daily life.

Unless you're Dan Bilzerian. lol

 

You are right, at the end of the day if you don't get into the studio and make the music, you aren't making anything. I mean most people, I've talked to want to get into IB to make $300k a year. Just saying.

 

Dumb question. Getting in to investment banking is the fucking easiest thing in the world compared to becoming a professional athlete or famous musician. Obviously professional athletes and famous musicians are going to make more. To get to that level it not only takes being an incredibly gifted/genetically superior human, but also someone who is willing to sacrifice their entire childhood and privacy for the rest of their lives and dedicate all of their energy towards one incredibly unlikely goal, and all of this (in most cases) with no backup plan. If they fail, they make no money and are stuck with nothing other than a failed dream. For people trying to get in to banking, they can hear about it as a sophomore and with one year of hard work land a job at an investment bank, and have a higher yearly salary than the average person ever achieves through their whole career, as a 22 year old. If they miss the mark, they end up with a comfy job probably still making 70k+ and with plenty of room to advance in their career or break in to IB later on.

Look, you can hate on guys like lil pump all you want. But at the end of the day, there's most likely a lot of things that happened that you didn't see. I personally respect anyone who is able to get to that level, odds are they're more talented than we realize, or they were working their ass off pursuing a dream and a vision and they got there. Some people do get lucky, if that's the case it will eventually come back to them, they'll fall out of fame, spend all their money, and have nothing to show for their life by the time they're 30.

To summarize, no, I'm not salty at all. I wasn't gifted enough or driven towards being an athlete/musician. However, breaking in to investment banking is something tens of thousands of people want to do and end up not being able to achieve, and I'm personally extremely excited about the career I can make in the field. If you're not excited about it, go somewhere else.

 

Who are little pump and yachty? If they are that talentless and making that much, more power to them. Athletes are at the top of their game and bring in revenue to the owners and sponsors. Justin Bieber sells a ton of tickets and albums, more power to him.

Only two sources I trust, Glenn Beck and singing woodland creatures.
 

I literally would not trade my life story for that of any other person. Through all of the difficulties, setbacks, accomplishments and little moments, they are my own experiences - my own life - and that gives me comfort to not covet the life of another.

Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes.
 

Champagnepapi,

I see where you're getting at but I don't think "salty" is the proper word for it. I think what you mean is envy. When you see a superstar, do a lot of people think man, that's a lucky son of a bitch. Yes but I don't think most people get salty about it unless they themselves actually had the opportunity to pursue that path and later failed.

For instance, I've always envied and admired elite professional athletes. Why? Because a lot of them were blessed with God given talents and physical traits. Did they need to complement those traits with hard work? Absolutely. But they were only successful because of the foundation of their physical gifts. Average people in the world don't get salty at them because they never had those gifts in the first place. Now if you were a D1 athlete who just happened to blow their chance, then you could be salty.

Same thing applies with models, singers, etc. Someone said below that most people aren't attractive enough to become a Bieber. Very true. (there are outliers like that ugly motherfucker Ed Sheeran, but you get the point).

 

I don't feel entitled to anything, and I never compare myself to others because I don't know what advantages they had over me, how lucky they've been, etc. Take that down as the key to happiness.

I'm in the top 1% income earners in the globe, and all I had to do was perform well on a standardized exam. Get some perspective. Bankers are a dime a dozen but for every J. Bieber or Lil' Pump or whomever there are literally thousands of failures, has beens, and never weres. Worse are the ones who made it and STILL got jerked by their record labels. Or the numerous broke former athletes we see profiled time and again.

So the number of folks you expect us to be envious of is only a tiny fraction of people. Certainly not enough to lose sleep over

 

Really disapprove of the new comment feature but op is most definitely trolling. Going to guess he's the guy who asked if you would be better off reading 100 books than doing 2 years of ib or the thoughts on being a youtuber, completely useless comparisons. However, I do think this site puts ib on such an unbelievable pedestal without even recognizing that ER, am, S&T, corp dev, pe, etc. are still great jobs for new grads & can be better for some people than ib based on personality, skills, etc. I hardly see actual people in the industry shit on non-ib roles as much as the forum (mostly the hate comes from students & uncertified users).

 
BillBelichick37:
Really disapprove of the new comment feature but op is most definitely trolling. Going to guess he's the guy who asked if you would be better off reading 100 books than doing 2 years of ib or the thoughts on being a youtuber, completely useless comparisons. However, I do think this site puts ib on such an unbelievable pedestal without even recognizing that ER, am, S&T, corp dev, pe, etc. are still great jobs for new grads & can be better for some people than ib based on personality, skills, etc. I hardly see actual people in the industry shit on non-ib roles as much as the forum (mostly the hate comes from students & uncertified users).

I'm still a student but wouldn't ER, S&T, and CD be just as hard to get into as banking? I feel like even ER and S&T may be harder due to downsizing.

 

What do athletes and music artists have in common? They share a rare talent. There are thousands and thousands of people who work in IB around the world; sure they have talent, but how many people can pinpoint a shot at goal from 30 yards like Messi? There are only a tad few of those in this world who can do that compared to the more common IB - therefore higher pay.

 

Yes that is true, but imagine if lil pump thought, "Oh there are hundreds of rappers on soundcloud, so I have no chance, I shouldn't even bother." It's good for him that he atleast tried and succeeded. The argument goes both ways.

 

I don't think this is necessarily an apples to apples comparison. Comparing professional athletes and singer/song-writers to an entry level banking analyst/physician/lawyer isn't really a fair comparison, since it's comparing the top .00000001% of the former vs. the latter. Banking in each case has a significantly higher floor (there is survivorship bias in play in that for every player who makes it to the majors or is a victoria secret model are thousands who are living near poverty level in minor league ball or through countless castings. A more appropriate comparison would be to compare the world class vs. the world class. These folks are probably worth in the hundreds of millions or even billions, in some cases multiples of most professional athletes.

In any event, I don't think that is ever of real concern to most folks (it's not to me anyways :D). No matter how much you know there will always be someone who knows something that you might otherwise have not. No matter how much you make there will always be someone who likely makes more, even if it is not publicly renowned. Worrying about this will only harbor schizophrenic anxiety in each case ;P.

The best approach is to compare yourself against yourself. Progressing beyond a point tomorrow that you weren't at today. Continuously progressing and improving to becoming the best version of yourself is the only real thing you can control :)

There's a closer meaning to my user name. Try reading it quickly. Perhaps you will then understand ;P
 

Even if we compared the world class people in banking, compared to even a Messi, most people rather be Messi. There is a certain thrill, having the whole world watching you make the last penalty and being extremely famous. Let's face it, making $100,000,000 per year, and being a billionaire, still gets you into the same restaurants, and you can pretty buy anything you want. It's just the fame part is what everybody wants. But I like how you said progression of yourself is the most important, and I agree.

 

To make it in Hollywood or professional sports is extremely hard and luck plays a huge role in those industries. For every successful person in entertainment or sports, there are hundreds of failures that people don't see. As far as instagram "models", I respect real sex workers more than these social media sluts. At least the real ones work hard for their money.

I'm pretty happy with my life and career. As a banker, I already make more money than tens of millions of Americans will ever do. My girlfriend's father is a senior enlisted Marine. Not only he makes less than I do, he also has to face mortal danger in his career. If he is happy with where he is now, then why should I complain.

Another thing about the entertainment industry. Most of the Hollywood types are some real sanctimonious bastards. I have no desire to deal with their kind.

 

I would add there is a strong risk element in pursuing the "celebrity track" career path. Think of how many athletes put in the hard work and have the god-given talent only to be hurt/injured early on in their career. Such ones fade without so much of a notice by the public. For musicians, you may have hit it big with your first album but you've got to do it again and hit songs don't right themselves. Coming up with a good song isn't formulaic....you can put in the work and effort and still not get it.

There's also not much of a middle ground. With IB, if you don't it then there are plenty of other roles in finance. While those roles don't pay quite as well as IB, they still pay pretty good. Failed athletes, for example, face a whole different set of circumstances with a much starker contrast. A few lucky ones will be broadcasters, assistance coaches, trainers, etc. but most will have no choice but to get a very regular job (e.g. car salesman).

As such, you can think of rappers, athletes, etc. as getting paid more on account of the extra risk they are taking.

 

OP, you should realize most people who come here major in college to make money in banking but also because they like banking. Im sure everyone wishes they where lebron just a little, but when your on your way to work do you really care? Probably not. Most people here will never make more than 3+ million dollars, after spent years of working very hard. No, their not salty, their tired.

 

"Hey [ ]. I was thinking of becoming a pop sensation!"

"that's nice. Pls print 30 copies. double sided single spaced. Bind and put on chair. thx"

;P

There's a closer meaning to my user name. Try reading it quickly. Perhaps you will then understand ;P
 

I think that is BS to a degree. I guarantee you EVERYONE on this forum, would not put up with Investment Banking if your salary was fixed from $70k-$100k permanently. The fact that with hard work and time put in, that you can make over $200k, makes you guys put up with the hours and of course after a while of doing things, you will eventually "like it" but that's because you are used to it, and it affords you the lifestyle that you want. Do you disagree with this?

 

I don't think OP should be getting the MS he's received. While I agree there are a million ways to be a millionaire in the US, there are a million more ways to fail. The people who have failed in any field; be it banking, sports, music, custodial arts, etc. will be salty when they watch others succeed. That's plain human nature.

I think this board has a bias towards not being envious/salty/green or any other way of describing resentment towards the successful because we're quite self-selective and even the "failures" among us are doing just fine. That's a good thing and it's one of the reasons I come back here as infrequently as I do.

I'm trying to tie in the outliers like Lil yachty/wayne/ow ow/boosie to make a relevant point but they've all been made before this ramble. 1) these rappers and athletes probably overcame situations that most of us can't even fathom and 2) they're 1 in 100000000. I personally know 5 people who are "aspiring rappers" or "aspiring DJs." They'll never be Diplo or Lil fuckenstuff let alone Jay-z

Basically, we're all doing just fine. /rant

 

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