how many of you currently in banking decided to pursue a career in finance because you had nothing else to do? As in, law and med school would be too tedious, no interest in pure engineering, not good enough athletically to play pro, etc. so banking was the best option. i doubt any one actually wanted to be a banker when they were ten yearsold right.
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This is a stupid thread. When I was 10 years old I wanted to be in the NHL. Who grows up saying, "I want to be an investment banker!"? No one!
But on the same token, who would sign up for 100 hour weeks just because "they had nothing else to do"?
It's not something I expected to do 10 years ago, but it's along the line of what I need to do to get to where I want to end up (which has been rather consistent throughout my life). After considering my options, it's one of the few careers I want to take up to lead me to my eventual lifetime goal. Banking is not my number 1 passion, but high finance is definitely one of my biggest interests and will lead me to my passion.
i think for the ibd most people do it for the money or exit ops. i'm trying to pursue a career in trading or research, but i wouldn't mind the long hours (not as long as ibd tho) doing something i'm interested in.
No one is passionate about banking. I am pretty sure about that. People do it for several reasons; save money to go to grad school, travel, classy life and exit ops. I want to travel a lot, and wall street is going to help me fund that.
No one is passionate about banking?
Not guys like Wasserstein or Moelis or Gary Parr or Felix Rohatyn?
Don't make such sweeping generalisations.
dude no offense but throwin out those names dont make you any cooler. Point is, those guys probably DEVELOPED a passion for it after doing it. I doubt they were talkin abuot adequate due dili procedures while sippin keystone lights at frat parties their freshman year in college..
i made this thread because I see a lotta people jumpin ship from their original post-graduation intentions after they due a process of elimination and conclude that other careers aren't worth it. thats the general trend on campus: if you're not jumpin on the bandwagon because finance pays a ton, you're gonna find yourself in finance any way because you end up eliminating all the other career options. i bet you less than 10% of bankers actually go into college knowin they wanna do banking because they're actually interested in it and dont just follow it for the money or because they're not good at anythign else
I've been interested in finance since I was 12 or 13 years old...right around the time I realized I'd never be good enough to play pro baseball or hockey.
I have wanted to be a trader since I was 15. I feel like trading and banking are very different in the motivation sense. Seems a lot more likely for someone to have passion for trading than for banking.
"Oh - the ladies ever tell you that you look like a fucking optical illusion?"
A passion even for trading cash equities?
ive always wanted to be in finance since 10 or 11 i think... felt it was fast paced and exciting to deal with such vast amount of money back then.
you don't have to be passionate about banking while in college to be passionate about banking while you are actually doing it...
I simply stated that it's too sweeping a statement to say that no-one anywhere is passionate about banking, that's a very uninformed view
I started college doing architecture which is clearly one of those 10-year-old dream jobs. It sucked, horribly. The projects were shit like "make a model" and then our graduate assistant would say "you realize you aren't making a model of the actual building right?" It's all ridiculous abstract bullshit talking about mixing art and politics, and after 5-6 years of school, plus a postgrad internship, you get to make a petty 30-45k. What I realized is that while I could appreciate beautiful architecture, I'd rather be purchasing it than designing it.
The fact is that banking is a serious business that needs to be done and it just hasn't been as romanticized as career choices such a journalism, art, entrepreneurship, novelist, architect, doctor, lawyer etc. You ask any kid who wants to be a lawyer why he wants to be a lawyer and he'll say "because I like to argue." Really? What about pouring over legal documents for hours on end, asshole?
But hey, I'll trade romanticism for compensation.
I've been interested in finance since I was in the second or third grade. I knew early that I could never deal with ailing people all day, and lost any desire I may have had in becoming an attorney when realistic descriptions of the work overwhelmed romantic notions that were more informed by 'A Few Good Men' than fact.
I briefly thought about graduate school but dropped the idea when I learned how long and hard the road to tenure is, and how difficult and tedious the life of an academic is until he gets it. I thought about the armed forces, but let that one drop after reviewing (and realizing that I would not meet) the medical requirements. I'd have enjoyed writing in some capacity or other, but this is something I'll probably only take up seriously when I leave Wall Street. I may end up in the business world one day, but have heard too much about the role of bullshit, corporate politics and the like in determining promotions and prefer a more meritocratic environment, though I may end up in corporate America someday.
So I guess you could say it was both -- All the other career paths I was interested in seemed to set years of meager wages as the price of the ticket for the long-shot jackpot of writing for the Times, getting tenure, making senior management, etc.
I'm not suggesting the road to success in banking is any easier to travel. It's just that you get paid a lot more from day one. And I find it interesting. You could say my choice stems from a combination of interest and risk-aversion.
One day I would like to be an investor extraordinaire, but until I have the skills, knowledge and reputation to strike out on my own, I will bank. Nearly every qualified person I have talked to has said advisory/banking is one of the best ways to develop relevant skills and knowledge. I've had MDs in research tell me it's better to go into banking initially than research or even investment management, even if it is not one's long term goal to stay there.
If I get a legit PE or fund job out of ugrad, I'll take it. Otherwise, I'll bank.
Enough heart to heart.
Time for a beer.
Or two.
I actually am passionate about finance, and think the work is incredibly interesting (although I'm working in S&T, not IBD). I love following the market. Unfortunately I'll probably have to do something else longterm, because I don't want to have a job where I'm working so many hours - I'm working 65-70 now, and while this isn't bad compared to IBD it's still too much. The problem is, there aren't really finance-related jobs that exist (that I'm aware of) where you work a traditional 40 hour week, or even a 50 hour week, except some back office roles that would bore me out of my mind. I'd happily take a substantial paycut if I could work in finance with a more normal schedule.
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