30 Comments
 

When I was in IB in-person I usually had at least Saturday off. However, with WFH I rarely had any free time and almost all of it was used to catch up on sleep. However, I now spend my newly found free time with my fiancé (we love going out and trying new foods, exploring zoos, and literature), family and working on some side projects (fiancé has a youtube channel, I publish books and research). I don’t consider exercise a use of free time because it’s something you should do if you have the time, and I’m not a competitve bodybuilder or anything so it’s not like I have to dedicate 40+ hours a week to inhaling chicken breast or anything so it generally doesn’t get in the way of any other aspects of my life in terms of the time commitment.

 
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IB analysts love to stretch their hours and make it seem like they work so hard and their life is so hard.

As an actual IB analyst, the job has waves, yes there are weeks where you will be up till 1-3am everyday and work weekends, but that’s not the norm. There also are weeks where you might end work at like 7pm or 5pm, or where you will get actually 0 accomplished during the day.

I would say good rule of thumb would be expecting Monday-Thursday to work 9am-11:30pm. For Fridays, banks are starting to try to make an effort to allow analysts to have Friday’s off, so expect a majority of Friday’s to be done by 6:30pm, knowing that you likely will work a few Friday’s. Saturday is the same where I think most places, a majority of saturdays you won’t work, but you will work maybe every 4th Saturday averaged out (even at places with protected saturdays). Sunday’s are like a school night, where you more likely than not will be able to do some 2 hour errand, but the rest of the day you will work. 

To answer the hobby question, really your free time is Friday’s 6:30pm-1am, all Saturday, and 2 hours Sunday, in addition to random days where you might unexpectedly work less than normal. This is pretty limiting and makes creating any sort of regular group based hobby very difficult/ Rec sport leagues, game nights, trivia, etc. is all pretty impossible I think with this job. You just don’t have enough control of your schedule/ life to commit to anything. I personally choose to lift weights, run, and get drinks with friends when I can, I can’t do any as much as I’d like, but it helps deal with the job.

 

Cycle, poker, art, fitness, muay thai

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

When I was in the Santa Monica office, would hit some early morning surf, lay out at the beach, or do some beach runs/bike rides. Miss that spot and out here in the MidWest now.

Hoping to have some beach time here in Chicago this summer, and also finally had my clubs shipped here so need to get some range time. Otherwise was able to get my hands on a PS5, so been getting through my backlog game library, spending time at the dog park with the pup, and cooking. 

 

How early would you surf? I’ve wanted to learn but not made the time for it

“The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.” - Nassim Taleb
 

Malta

How early would you surf? I've wanted to learn but not made the time for it

Going at sunrise is legit. It’s glassy at dawn sometimes.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Reiterating what Isaiah_53_5 said, up before sunrise and in the water as the sun crests the horizon is such a peaceful thing to start the day with. Some of the best waves too. Not hard to fall in love with surfing once you try it out, plus you can easily pick up a used board, wetsuit on sale, and head out on the weekends if weekdays are too busy.

 

Banging cougars in Long Island. 

*ON Long Island

The only difference between Asset Management and Investment Research is assets. I generally see somebody I know on TV on Bloomberg/CNBC etc. once or twice a week. This sounds cool, until I remind myself that I see somebody I know on ESPN five days a week.
 
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