"Wall Street"

I am under the impression that if you are in IBD, S&T, etc. in a city like Chicago or Charlotte, you still "work on Wall Street" even though you don't work in NYC. Someone tried to tell me otherwise the other day. Who is correct?

 
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I met a cheese ball at a bachelor party last year, the guy was trying to act like a BSD the whole time, very over the top telling people he works on Wall Street etc. I found out he's a financial advisor in bumblefuck Maryland for like Citi or BAML. Prob makes $200K and is the king of his tiny pond. Those type "Wall Streeters" are the absolute worst.

To show how much of a tool he was, he has a tattoo of the Wall Street, street sign on his arm, lol.

 

I should get a ops tattoo that say "Backofficeland". I agree full-heartedly with you opinion on those "Wallstreeters''. I know someone who works at Ayco (owned by GS) and he joined a bunch of goldman groups on social media lol. Also know SVPs of retail banking who act like they are Icahn.

 

Hah, I love it! I once ran into a drunken asshat who asked me what firm I worked for. I was having a nice quiet conversation with a friend at a bar and he just throws himself into our conversation. He of course had not heard of it because he is probably some shitty personal financial advisor somewhere. He then proceeds to drunkenly stammer "I work for JP Morgan Goldman!". Annoying yes, but my friend and I had a good laugh about it.

 

Depends on the context. When people ask, "How do I break into a Wall Street job?" they are asking how they can break into high finance. "Wall Street jobs" would be used generically to refer to jobs in high finance. Wall Street Oasis is not a website solely about the industry in Manhattan--it's about jobs that are often associated with "Wall Street", the industry of high finance.

Now, if someone says, "I work on Wall Street" then they SHOULD be saying that they physically work in high finance in Manhattan. But there is kind of a double meaning here--although technically accurate, you wouldn't say, "I work on Wall Street" if you work in a coffee shop located on Wall Street. As you can see, "Wall Street" is colloquially used as a reference to the industry of high finance and as a physical place where people work who work in the industry.

As a method of comparison, when one derisively refers to "those K Street lobbyists" they aren't literally referring only to lobbyists that set up shop on K Street. It is a colloquialism. To that point, I might refer to a successful financier who lives and works in Los Angeles as a "Wall Street warrior".

Array
 

Wall Street guy. Wall Street-ER. I'd say are 'okay' if you work for a major bank, just because when you think GS you think Wall Street work.

But if you say "I work on Wall Street" and really don't then you're an overcompensating loser. Unless you're out in Belize trying to pick up some hotties. Which then, say you're a Senator or billionaire's son, it'll work even better. Trust me. ;)

"It is better to have a friendship based on business, than a business based on friendship." - Rockefeller. "Live fast, die hard. Leave a good looking body." - Navy SEAL
 

Inevitably when you say anything market related people want to talk about the markets. I've started to make up a profession each time I'm introduced to a new couple. Yogi, director at a non-profit for rescue dogs, just depends.

 
ArcherVice:

Inevitably when you say anything market related people want to talk about the markets. I've started to make up a profession each time I'm introduced to a new couple. Yogi, director at a non-profit for rescue dogs, just depends.

Lol. I've often done this. I don't live in the NYC area so when I say finance and if (most likely when) they ask I say PE (and they have no idea what that is) they then keep asking until it comes down to "I do Wall Street type of stuff." Then they ask for investment advice: have a good stock? What should I do with my 401(k)?

It's easier to say pet dander inspector or Sepultura lighting director.

 

Honestly I don't really hear the Wall Street metanym among people in the industry anymore. It's kind of relegated to journalism (and usually bad journalism at that). If I meet someone and they say they "work on wall street" I would think they were being either purposefully vague or really douchy.

 

Well, it's an antiquated term going back to when every major firm was located in the Financial District either or or just off of Wall Street. So when you said you worked on Wall Street, you were indicating that you worked for one of the various banks, brokerage houses, wire houses, market makers or the exchange itself. Now it is just synonymous with working in finance in New York City.

 

Yeah always wondered about that.These days working on WS has more negative connotations after all the -ve publicity post the financial crisis & OWS etc.

I too haven't seen it being mentioned by core Finance professionals, its more a thing with the SAs and interns who're still too new to the industry and wanna show off.

Simplicity is the highest form of sophistication ~ Leonardo da Vinci
 

Well, don't you want to know what I do? I work on Wall Street - Pierce & Pierce. Have you heard of it?

The difference between successful people and others is largely a habit - a controlled habit of doing every task better, faster and more efficiently.
 

I hear a few people say this phrase, and usually it is those that have an arrogant personality that screams "I work at an investment bank, I'm the king of the world". I don't think its finance in NYC. Buy side is finance in NYC as well, but I don't consider that "Wall Street". I think front office, sell side in NYC is more aligned with "I work on Wall Street".

 
IamObama:
front office, sell side in NYC is more aligned with "I work on Wall Street".
Yes, definitely. My guess is that since sell side companies are slimming down and buyside shops are increasingly in the public eye (see: Yahoo) the two will be regarded as part of the same whole by the public. They basically are, and the buyside exists largely out of sight: I didn't even know what it was until I worked here for a while, and I think the average person is becomming more aware these last few months as well.
Get busy living
 

Wall Street = Front Office role related to dealing with/selling Financial Services (products, businesses, advice). Front Office = Revenue Generating role. Revenue Generating = Dealing with Clients (whoever pays you) Directly.

"I am the hero of the story. I don't need to be saved."
 
Human:
Wall Street = Front Office role related to dealing with/selling Financial Services (products, businesses, advice). Front Office = Revenue Generating role. Revenue Generating = Dealing with Clients (whoever pays you) Directly.
caveat: Revenue generating: offering direct support to those generating revenue and learning how to do their job.

Example: IBD analysts and ER associates do not generate revenue, but they are still front office.

Get busy living
 

I always think it's humorous when someone says they work on wall street and they don't even work in NYC.

Another funny thing to consider is that many people in this country do not even know Wall St. is an actual street in new york city. Many just think it's an expression for working in finance. You may not believe this because it sounds ridiculous but it's unfortunately true.

 
adapt or die:
I always think it's humorous when someone says they work on wall street and they don't even work in NYC.

Another funny thing to consider is that many people in this country do not even know Wall St. is an actual street in new york city. Many just think it's an expression for working in finance. You may not believe this because it sounds ridiculous but it's unfortunately true.

At the same time though, except for DB, how many banks are actually ON the street itself? As such, the expression for working in finance is perfectly valid, although using it when you're not in NYC does seem a bit off...
 

I definitely think NYC office is required.

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are any banks even on wall street anymore? obviously the exchange is there, but in my trips to NY I seem to remember most firms are on park or broadway, but I could be wrong, I live in bumblefuck mason dixon hickville, USA.

also, if you ever say "I work on wall street" when someone asks "what do you do?" you're a douche.

finally, if you say "I work on wall street" and you're not in manhattan, you are the worst thing to happen to America since the NFL took away touchdown dances.

 

I would say no, if you tell someone you work on Wall Street they assume you work in NYC at a major bank.

If you tell them you work on Wall Street, and then have to explain how you actually work in LA but can technically say you work on WS it would just seem stupid.

 

aero: most of the banks are in midtown like park avenue and even the best, goldman, is on 200 west so technically not wall street. i think being in manhattan is enough.

eyelikecheese: thanks, that sounds like a good solution

 

Wall Street is a generic, catch-all term. None of the firms are actually on "Wall Street" anymore anyway. Especially if you're speaking to someone from outside finance, saying you work on Wall Street is easy shorthand for describing what you do.

Only an industry tool takes it literally.

Yes, it's perfectly acceptable to say you work on Wall Street even if you're in Houston or San Fran.

 
Edmundo Braverman:
Wall Street is a generic, catch-all term. None of the firms are actually on "Wall Street" anymore anyway. Especially if you're speaking to someone from outside finance, saying you work on Wall Street is easy shorthand for describing what you do.

Only an industry tool takes it literally.

Yes, it's perfectly acceptable to say you work on Wall Street even if you're in Houston or San Fran.

Agreed. I work on the Street and I live in the Dirty Dirty Sou'f.

Regards

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so." - Ronald Reagan
 

Wall Street is an extremely vague term my man. If you're working a front office role for an IB (BB/MM/Boutique) or at some buyside firm (HF/AM, PE, VC, etc.) as an investment professional, then you're considered to be working on the Street. Location really doesn't matter. If you're a banker or research analyst specializing in tech firms, don't you think it'd be an advantage to work in SF than NYC? Same goes with PE/VC firms - it makes more sense to be in place like SF or Boston where the majority of the investment opportunities are. People may have different views but I think the term is extremely broad. Now if you're working for GS in operations or some other BO role, then clearly you're excluded from working on "Wall Street."

 

Who cares? If you want to get picky, wall street is specifically referencing those working in high finance in NY. But like Edmundo said, 'wall street' is a catch-all term, and also mainstreeters use it as a description for bankers, hedge funders, PE guys in general.

Unless you're working at Edward Jones or back office and you say you work in 'wall street', I think people nitpicking on such titles for people describing themselves (when they are in high finance) are being douchey.

I personally don't even like the whole 'I work in wall street' thrown around in general. Just say 'I'm in banking/finance/PE/etc.'

 

I would say that working on "Wall Street" means that you are anywhere in Manhattan. If you are in another state, it will false, and you are trying too hard to sound prestigious.

Like stated before, say you work for a Wall Street firm, but you do not work on "Wall Street."

 

Only a douche these days would say they work on "Wall Street" whether you worked on the fucking street or not. This is a general term to be used by others, including our mom's who have no idea what we do, to describe the general broad categorization of professional banking, trading, Asset Management and the like. The fact that a movie was names Wall Street shows that it is really a generalized term. Gordon Gekko's office was not on "Wall St." and no one cares where it was, for that matter.

 

I feel like Wall Street is used to describe institutional/corporate finance. You have community banks and community banking jobs. And then you have Wall Street. Specific events, such as fin reg., impact everyone on the street in a different way than it impacts people in community banks. 'Wall Street' could include everyone from the back office guy actually on Wall Street to an M&A guy at a MM in Houston.

So I would say, yes, your non-nyc do work on Wall Street. However I would advise them not to that to tell people outside of finance. Explaining what you do to people not in finance is a whole different topic.....

 

No, the only people who can say they work on Wall Street are guys at DB because their tower is on Wall Street.

I know a guy who lives on Wall Street (apartment) and walks across the street to go to work at DB. He can say I live and work on Wall Street. Commute time from door to door is around 15-30 seconds.

If you work in Midtown, just say you work in banking.

 

Whether or not it's in good taste to say you work on Wall Street isn't really the issue here.

For anyone not at the NYSE or Deutsche Bank NYC or one of the coffee shops along the road, "working on Wall Street" is an example of metonymy; when you refer to a part of a whole to represent the whole. Wall Street is the part; high finance is the whole.

Tracing the original 'part' and its path towards the whole: the world's leading stock exchange is on Wall Street, the stock market itself being a part of high finance (incidentally, the only part of high finance that the retail community sort of understands and has access to).

Whether NYC/Manhattan-only constitutes Wall Street is simply asking the wrong question. The question is whether one works in high finance. As others have quickly said, most high finance firms are no longer on Wall Street (just DB, which again incidentally, seems to be retreating).

The next question is whether working at a bulge bracket, elite boutique, buyside fund, etc etc constitutes working on Wall Street. This one is a little more subtle, since the answer is mostly yes, but not quite, as one poster said (re: investment advisers at a BB in Maryland). This would suggest that not only do you have to work at a firm that's active in high finance, but your function has got to be high finance. Consider the example of a TMT I-banker or a PIMCO PM on the West Coast, vs someone who clears Ops or does Credit Risk at a BB in NY. Who's more 'high finance'?

So, while you are closer than anyone else to the epicenter of the high finance (and therefore, Wall Street) ecosystem if you are in Manhattan, the question is really whether you are a part of the high finance ecosystem. And it's as simple as this: you don't leave Wall Street because you've transferred your IBD or S&T job from New York to London/SF/Houston etc - you leave Wall Street when you leave high finance.

The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be the shepherd.
 

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