This is fucking ridiculous.
Between taxes and this horseshit stock market my bonus has now been reduced by about 80%. It is PROFOUNDLY depressing how much money I make and how little I have to show for it.
I've been working late as fuck almost every night for the last 2 weeks (at least I have my weekends, which have been and will continue to be consumed looking for a new apartment).
All my friends have stopped asking me to go out, since I'm either working or I tell them Ill come and flake out cuz I end up getting stuck at work.
My gf is just a waste of life, can't expect much out of her anyway. And I've stopped ingesting copious amounts of xanax and aderol to make my alternating super-high strung and super-boring days bearable... so they're not anywhere remotely close to bearable. I got a hold of some Prozac a few weeks back, maybe I shouldn't have given it away.
I'm think about buzzing my hair into a mohawk and moving to Hawaii where I will do nothing but play guitar and surf all day. Neither of which I know how to do, but I'll have plenty of time to learn.
I'm surprised we don't get more posts like this every day -- marcus, your post basically sums up how I felt every day in i-banking (not the bitter part about taxes, but the mohawk & hawaii idea is spot on)
In fact, this post just gave me flashbacks at how painful those 2 years were. stay strong dude...
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Taxes will get worse in the mid/long term. Maximum bracket tax rates are near historical lows (many of you would be shocked by previous levels). Given the current populist/socialist bent in america right now, you can bet on a big increase in the maximum income bracket when the stimulus bill comes due.
Seconded Marcus - I feel your pain.
And to make it even worse, we've gone from "Masters of the Universe" to "Assholes" in a matter of months. Not only is my comp (and my portfolio) in tatters, so is our profession's public reputation.
As soon as I get done with my analyst stint, I am seriously considering taking a year off and doing the Hawaii/Caribbean/Vail thing to decompress. Unfortunately I'm not sure I'll be able to afford it...fuck.
This irks me the most. I can recall how excited and envious my family and friends were for me when they found out I'd be working in high finance, now I'm just the punch line in their lame-ass broke banker jokes. I remember when telling girls that I worked on Wall Street would get me play. The other night when a girl I had approached asked me what I did, and I responded investment banking, the bitch actually said "sucks to be you." WTF?? This market is slowly eating away at whatever pride and sanity I have left. I need to get out of this hole asap.
In those cases, I usually lay the charm on pretty thick until I get her back to my place. At which point I engage in the most degrading sex I can bear while still keeping a hard-on, and send her on her way while thinking... no darling, it sucks to be you.
Tyler Perry's Diary of a Mad Black Woman was the start of one of the most meteoric and successful entertainment careers. Hopefully, you're on to something here.
But seriously, sorry to hear stuff sucks. I don't know how much longer you'll be doing the IBD thing but best of luck.
and this is why I'm going to be returning to school :X
"I'm think about buzzing my hair into a mohawk and moving to Hawaii where I will do nothing but play guitar and surf all day. Neither of which I know how to do, but I'll have plenty of time to learn."
Dude. Yes.
"The other night when a girl I had approached asked me what I did, and I responded investment banking, the bitch actually said "sucks to be you." WTF??" i couldn't help but smile... but such a sad smile...
That is a very low blow on the girls behalf
Well this forum really wants to make me rethink my career path. Maybe all my recent SA rejections were a blessing in disguise...
What a silly ho. Anyways, I'm thinking that we need to come up with a spin name for "investment banking" that sounds impressive yet is socially acceptable. Just like how LBO Funds turned into PE and junk bonds became high yield. I've been saying that I work in "Mergers & Acquisitions" thus far but there has to be something better.
Yeah, it's depressing as crap. I basically missed out on my first bonus. My company is essentially delaying my promotion to senior analyst (after telling me in November I was being recommended for it), there's no increase in base at all, let alone a bump up for the promotion. On top of that, I got no bonus (in IBD, and I was top bucket). And yes, I know for a fact that my friends here in consulting at places like Booz, or even in small law firms make higher base than I do, because my company used to pay out 2 years of base-bonuses to us in good times (which I never saw because I transferred in to IBD from the middle office in Jan last year) but pay base below street. And the reputation hit is horrible too. Everyone feels sorry for me. Sucks to be a banker right now. Even doing an MBA in 2010 may be out of the window because of the surge in applications from other bankers, no student loans for internationals and depleted savings because of lower base and bonuses.
The good news is that anyone who survives the cycle and the cuts will have unbelievable exit opps coming out of this shitstorm; PE or a BB if you were at a smaller IB. I survived the first round of cuts at my firm, but I don't know if I'll survive the next.
I certainly hope you are right but I'll play the devil's advocate. Exit ops to where? PE firms are going to be needing significantly reduced headcounts moving forward. Hedge funds are getting killed left and right. I'm thinking that corporate exit ops will suffer as well from our loss of reputation. Bschools will devalue our experience. So we are fucked left and right.
"Bschools will devalue our experience. "
Not necessarily. There will be more people coming from banks, so we'll see dilution, but it's not like they're going to see analysts are no longer worthy of consideration because finance is fucked.
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