Giving something back to the world (seriously)

No, I never seriously thought about it at this point in time. My aim is to accumulate $10B and then use part of it to support my favorite charitable or political causes. It's the best of both worlds. I would be able to say to myself "I've made it to the top; and now it's time to benefit the rest of humanity". If I just go for non-profit now without first 'making it' financially, I will feel a gnawing sense of failure (speaking for myself).

I can't envision life without a large paycheck.

Non-profits are not in my future

The naive idealist in me wants to leave Wall Street by the time I'm 29 and ride motorcycles through South America, dabble in microfinance in Asia, and gallivant with a loved one throughout Europe.

Along those lines, though, how difficult is it to leave that investment banking lifestyle on the table and simply walk away from the bonuses and the models and bottles? I hear there's quite an allure..

Hehe, sounds like a plan aworldapart!

I think that your lifestyle always expands to your wage so it will just get to a point where you've been sucked in and there's no way to quit without giving up all the finer things you've become used to, and that's hard for anyone imo

the more $$$ you have the more you can help humanity

Just make sure at the end of it all you do something beneficial with your wealth and not let your kids blow it on a life of ease. I'm a huge fan of what Buffet and Gates are doing. I'm pretty sure the world will be a better place for them having stayed in the for-profit world then if they had done non-profit all of their lives.

Not saying doing non-profit at an early age is bad by any means. Just depends on the person

This sales guy made a few millions and at 27 he left it all to go and teach in Vietnam. The guy was just sick of banking and was looking for something new that could keep him busy.

Remember, you will always be a salesman, no matter how fancy your title is. - My ex girlfriend

This FTSE 100 CEO also took some time out for charity work:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/jeremy-warners-outlo…

Here's another good article

http://www.portfolio.com/careers/features/2008/02/28/Millennial-Job-Swi…

For Manish Vora, then 26, a salary package around $500,000 wasn’t enough. Nor was his epic climb from Citigroup i-banker to research director at a boutique firm. He liked his company—but where was the passion? A politics and art junkie who had been heavily involved in the New York political scene, Vora was convinced there was a way he could marry his interests and talents to do something more useful.

Good read

Give something back to society? As if you owe something to society? Hah!

The way you can 'give the most back to society' is to do whatever job pays you the most, and ergo has the most value to society.

Investment banking has enormous value to society. By allocating capital as efficiently as possible, you enable to civilization to advance as fast as possible. You enable economic output to expand faster, you help technology to develop more quickly, and by enriching the people of the world, you allow them to look beyond their next meal and start caring more and more for human rights, etc. Actually, were it not that it'd be so difficult to prove, I'd very much be willing to bet that the average investment banker does more for society than the average charity worker.

Of course, there's no point in going into investment banking (or private equity, etc.) if you wouldn't enjoy it or wouldn't be good at it. But those people who do go into investment banking are just as worthy of respect as those who do something that's supposedly "more fulfilling" or "beneficial for humanity".

And, of course, as well as doing good as an investment banker, you can do good with the rewards from your job (as x13 mentioned).

Productive achievement is the noblest activity!

Of course investment banking contributes to society. That much is clear. I think what joefish was referring to is a more hands-on and proactive approach to affecting positive change in the world.

All the "robber barons" were philanthropists, and, in my mind, did a lot more for America (both through their business endeavors and philanthropic work) than bottom-feeders like Eugene V. Debs.

Atlas Shrugged explains it all

I was on the path to working for a non-profit, held two of my three summer internships there writing grants and volunteering. After doing this I realized that my community didn't need another grant-writer. They needed millionaires who could put $$ behind their efforts.

Being a black market organ dealer also adds enormous value to society. It allocates kidneys as efficiently as possible, and gives disadvantaged people a fighting chance by enabling them to advance as quickly as possible. I'd be willing to bet that the average organ dealer does more for society than the average doctor. But of course there's no point in going into organ dealing if you don't enjoy it!

spiral9, are you attempting to be sarcastic?

I hope you're not being sarcastic and you really mean what you wrote. Thousands die every year because the government has banned people from buying organs. We urgently need to legalize the purchase of organs, and create an organ market with organ dealers, etc.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/murphy-s2.html

I own my own body, God damn it! And I want to be able to sell parts of it if I want to!

We lost an associate to a non-profit...

It does happen!

I wouldn't say it's common, but it does happen.

One thing that happens once you start working is that (for me at least), the importance of money diminishes. As in, you start to value time more than money and really wish you had more free time vs. slightly higher pay.

I've seen people go to non-profits, become teachers, do Peace Corps, and even run their family farm businesses after i-banking.

It's also worthwhile to point out that you can start a very profitable business that still benefits people; these days the tradeoff between money/helping people is not as sharp as it once was.

You'll never make as much as some of these hedge fund guys that pull in hundreds of millions a year, but I know people running businesses like this making in the $100K-$1 million range, which is really enough for anyone.

http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11376809

I agree. I interned at a non-profit social enterprise in Baltimore. The idea was great: At-risk youth from the city took GED classes taught by Hopkins professors, and worked at a small coffee shop the enterprise owns. It's a great business model, but the org is constantly strapped for cash and a quality team. They don't need idealistic college grads, they need people who are coming from the business side with experience.

I spent my college days running a non-profit social enterprise, and then used that experience of managing over 100 volunteers to run a portfolio of social projects to land my dream job at an investment bank (start FT this summer). I handed over the business to someone else to run, but I'll stay on as a non-exec director (something my bank is more than happy to endorse). So, making a difference and making money aren't mutually exclusive. You just have to figure out how YOU will do it - different things work for different people.

"It is a fine thing to be out on the hills alone. A man can hardly be a beast or a fool alone on a great mountain." - Francis Kilvert (1840-1879)

"Ce serait bien plus beau si je pouvais le dire à quelqu'un." - Samivel

I am surprised by alot of people's experiences. I worked at a non-profit early on in my college career. They were a think tank, basically they would not take volunteers unless they had a master's degree and connections. They were backed by very powerful organizations and people, mainly one of the most powerful dudes in technology today.

The people I worked with had as many perks as people in finance, lighter hours, and not bad salaries, all the higher ups had huge interests in different businesses, and basically used their non-profit work to network and meet private industry folk.

Basically once you work at a giant like that, you see they are not that different from the banking world, trust none of these folk were starving. As well unless you have a PhD from an Ivy league school or a law background you can not make that much change in the non-profit world as fast as you may think. Alot of student's romancize the idea of working for a non-profit.

I would say some of the top PE or banking folk out there, that also sit on various boards/commitees add just as much work in a humanitarian sense, than the fancy diplomats with PhDs who think they can rebuild africa using some model from a textbook.

What is so narrow about the definition of a philanthropist? You seem to be unable to separate one's business practice with a person's charity. Your response didn't tie in anything regarding philanthropy at all, but rather focused on Rockefeller's business practice ('threatening competitors into every kind of vertical integration, eventually owning 80% of US oil, and starting his mornings by randomly deciding on that day's price of oil'). Those information may be interesting to you personally, but they are unrelated to 'giving something back to the world.' Next time, try answering the OP's question with relevant information.

Again, my definition of relevant information differs from yours. For me, giving back to the world isn't limited to donating money, but being "giving" in every day life, in all aspects (even in ways that doesn't necessarily boost one's ego as charity does.) Anyway, I respect your opinion, and respectfully disagree.

The organ donor article was fascinating - it really puts in perspective the potential benefits of having a donor market. Very well written and left me thinking.

Jimmy Wales started out as a futures and options trader, and eventually made enough to quit, going on to co-found Wikipedia, becoming a central person in support of creative commons licenses.

Another example (loosely): Lewis Glucksman, legendary Lehman Brothers trader, devoted his philanthropy towards promotion of the culture of Ireland.

story short: as long as you have a passion for something other than making money, there are always ways you can "benefit humanity" down the road by pursuing that passion. Obviously, again, nonprofits aren't all about giving money to starving children.

Dunno if this makes sense, but I would say that a lot of "sense of purpose" that you are alluding to probably comes with age and wisdom, and depends little upon how much money you want to make early on in life