Bankers/Investment Bankers Lifestyle (1 Viewer)

[oliverfront]

So at what point in the career as an investment banker do the hours become manageable and family and friends become possible? 5 years? 10?

 

[mash121]

to my understanding ib pays enough for u to want to keep the job working those hours but not enough for u to retire and live off, i think people think that investment bankers make millions when really semi successful senior investment bankers make around 200k, i am sure the big shots rake in alot more but most of the talented guys end up jumping into hedge funds and public unit trusts and negotiate to earn a percentage of the profit.

 

[mash121]

So at what point in the career as an investment banker do the hours become manageable and family and friends become possible? 5 years? 10?

depends what u think is manageable, also depends in what area u work in, but i think the general rule is you will have to work 90 + hours, at the beginning its going to be low level jobs like going through contracts and paper work and really no direct contact with the client, as u move up and gain experience u will be spending less time doing paper work and more time meeting with clients and such, alot of people say that as u get higher up the work hours become less but i reckon this is not true because if the deal goes bad the first person they are going to blame is the team leader maybe experience just makes the job easier, so ur ass will be on the line so you better work those long hours or all those years of hard work will go down the drain.

 

[Cl324]

to my understanding ib pays enough for u to want to keep the job working those hours but not enough for u to retire and live off, i think people think that investment bankers make millions when really semi successful senior investment bankers make around 200k

Actually I think you make 200k around your third/fourth year. Semi successful senior IBs should rake in 1M+ easy.

So at what point in the career as an investment banker do the hours become manageable and family and friends become possible? 5 years? 10?

It depends what group or company you work for. But from my understanding it never becomes manageable. If you're in IB, you're basically going to be an absent father. Its just something you have to accept.

Career progression is something like:
Analyst---> Associate---> Vice President----> Executive Director----> Managing Director
It works on an up or out system so if you're not good enough to move up, you're out.

Analyst - you're basically slaves but have little responsibility. You work 90-100hr weeks.

Associate - you work less but basically you get a lot more responsibility. If an analyst stuffs up or something goes wrong, its on you. So the tradeoff for working 80hr weeks is its a lot more stressful.

VPs & EDs - You may work less but you become extremely expendable. Its like an hourglass system. At the top, MDs bring in clients so they make lots of money and are valuable to the company. At the bottom analysts are so cheap, it makes sense to hire a whole bunch of them. However at the VP/ED level you're in between and they're basically the first to go during a recession. So during the down times, you are likely to lose your job unless you're very good or end up working more to make it seem like you're a valuable asset to the company.

MDs - Bring in clients. You suck up to important people, travelling heaps, playing golf and going to social events. You get to leave work earlier but you are the sole revenue generators so there's a lot of pressure to bring in numbers. You have to be a VERYY good people person.

Read Mergers & Inquisitions if you're interested about IB. Its actually pretty interesting stuff.

Though my advice is:
You're not cut out for the job if you're looking for an out before you've even started.

 

[Newbie]

This is a pretty accurate summary of things on the pay and job description
Particularly the comment about VP/ED, theres literally zero job security so if you hit a financial crisis while you are at that level in your career, its pretty much over.

 

[ohexploitable]

do blow off hookers

 

[Omnidragon]

This is a pretty accurate summary of things on the pay and job description
Particularly the comment about VP/ED, theres literally zero job security so if you hit a financial crisis while you are at that level in your career, its pretty much over.

My god half the people here sprout so much rubbish when they really have no idea, except for us and maybe this cl2345678910 guy. So much misinformation.

To answer an earlier question about why do IB when the hours are so unmanagable, here's a simple answer:

- You are actually very poor;
- You want some start-up capital (say a few hundred k) by 25/26
- You are extremely risk-averse and gutless (case with most people post 28)
- You have strange spending habits (eg you feel the need to buy a $600 Bally shoe rack to put your shoes), hence you never actually bank away that much money so have to keep doing this banking job

If you are neither of these 4 categories and still doing banking at 28, then all I can say is time is running out on you because you obviously do your job for money, and most BRW Rich List Under 40 aren't in a job at 28.