<p>I don't mean in comparison to things such as PE/HF, because that is what you do after IB. I'm asking if IB is pretty much the best career path to the most money you can make. Now I am not saying this is me, but if you want to literally make as much money as humanly possible and you're smart enough to do it, starting with IB is your best choice, right?</p>
<p>No but it is a contender. I’ve always been a entrepreneur so I got into VC consulting before IB. PE/HF is possible before IB if you’re the founder like me. </p>
<p>It all depends on the individual. Generally the guy who takes one the most calculated risk is the one who has the chance of making the most money. Usually that’s the inventor/innovator/entrepreneur.</p>
<p>5 minutes ago I just passed a deal that could gross me $170k but I couldn’t fund it because it is outside of my purview. I got contacted by a PE firm from the UK who wants me to bring them deals. So I gave them that one. If it closes I could make $170k in less than 4 months and no work except a 1 hour meeting with the entrepreneurs looking for financing and a few emails. I’m Also contracting with the PE firm but that expense (time and effort) is SG&A because that relationship, if it’s good, applies to many deals and
could net me millions. They’re bringing me deals too. </p>
<p>It makes sense if you’re the founder. I’m the equity partner. I’ve also determined that I will need to buy a boutique investment bank so I can do equity M&A and private placements.</p>
<p>It all about your approach.</p>
<p>real income from working in Investment Banking is significantly diminished because of the insane amount of hours worked and the fact that you have so little time that you have to pay people to take care of everyday living tasks (food, laundry, cleaning).</p>
<p>I do work long hours but it’s because I like what I do. Helping people achieve their dreams and hopefully getting some equity in their success is awesome. It’s like playing monopoly with businesses. If I didn’t have to sleep, and I weren’t addicted to CC, I’d work on my business 24/7. I was forced to take off on the 4th, and yesterday while the world was closed, I worked 12 hours. I’m completely self motivated there is no one to pressure me to work and no Sr. employee abuse. It’s not really work, it’s play.</p>
<p>I average 50 - 70 hours a week because I’m in school which takes up to 12 hours a week depending on the class. If I’m tired I just stop working. I own my deadlines and my time. I don’t work on emergency projects because they want to force you to cut corners and miss things in due diligence. I don’t give those guys the time of day. They’re not worth the stress and potential liability.</p>
<p>My mother did suggest to me a couple of weeks ago that I should hire someone to do my home chores. That’s funny you said that… Or maybe it’s sad…</p>
<p>Hey tortfeasor, could you message me what you’re doing? I’d love to hear about it.</p>
<p>It’s easy. I started as a business consultant then turned into a Registered Investment Adviser because I wanted to make sure I’m grandfathered in to any crazy changes in laws. I want to be a full on private equity. I got contracted by these guys [OPIC:</a> Overseas Private Investment Corporation](<a href=“http://www.opic.gov/]OPIC:”>http://www.opic.gov/) to originate deals so I became venture capital consultant. </p>
<p>Meanwhile I still have partners that need trading services for commodities hedging. I have few import/export brokers and major commodities purchasers as partners for other projects. At the end of the year I’m planning to get my series 3 to alleviate some of their concerns. ;).</p>
<p>These guys [OPIC:</a> Overseas Private Investment Corporation](<a href=“http://www.opic.gov/]OPIC:”>http://www.opic.gov/) only finance so much so I needed equity investors and 2nd tier lenders. It more complicated but you get the idea. So I contacted friends I have in Western and southern Africa who are attorneys and representatives of development banks and investment banks over there. We’re contracting to create syndicates to help my clients. </p>
<p>The best part… I haven’t a clue about what I’m doing. I’m winging it!!!</p>
<p>At the same time my deal flow is heating up. I have passive deals in my box every morning. I have venture partners I have approved and contracted here and overseas scouting deals, and I have local consul officers collaborating with me to run conferences to attract business to their countries. So in the end it looks like I’m either an investment bank like company, a hedge fund, or some sort of hybrid private equity firm. I don’t know we shall see. I do know that I have the coolest job in the world. I’d do it for free but people insist on paying me for it.</p>
<p>Today I got contacted by a real Investment Bank that want to pitch me deals…Little ME, and my investment advisory. Imagine that… So I’m going to background check this bank, contract with them and review the deals. I also got contacted by a private equity from from the UK. I ignored their first communication in June. That work real well. If you ignore them they think you have all of the goods.</p>
<p>The idea is to build up deal flow and fund deals successfully and have those businesses become wildly successful. I’ll be able to attract limited partners because I’ll have proven I have the Midas touch. If the LPs never come it won’t matter because chances are I’ll have positions in some of those successful companies. I won’t need them anyway. I just need to find that one “Bill Gates”.</p>
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<p>Yes, it is the safest. Trading can be risky – if you blow it, you can get fired. In IB, you just have to work hard – it doesn’t require a whole lot of skill/acumen (at the Analyst level). The odds of succeeding as an entrepreneur are very low. Obviously, the typical route is to only due IB for two years and then move on to something else. But a lot of that something else is very lucrative, and IB is the best way to get there.</p>
<p>Tortfeasor it seems that you are what essentially is known in the deal business as a “finder”. Is this correct?</p>
<p>Sheen, do the IB for a couple of years then get an MBA from a top 10 school.</p>
<p>That should give you a comfortable future financially.</p>
<p>I have to do the due diligence, preparation/packaging, and analysis for the bank committees so I’m a little bit more than a finder. Also I have specific relationships with other funding sources. My deals aren’t unsolicited. So yes, I’m a finder. I just don’t like that term because I can actually fund deals, I actually have deal flow, and I work harder on each deal. Everyone actually finds me.</p>
<p>Small and medium deals from $100 thousand to $250 million in emerging and developing markets. Foreign direct investment in mining, real estate, housing, agriculture, sustainable energy, technology, energy, communications, health care, pharmaceuticals, infrastructure. My current project is a bio-energy plant in Mali.</p>
<p>Tortfeasor,
What year are you in school?</p>
<p>Master of Business Administration & Certificate in Finance 2011</p>
<p>I graduated in 1998. Finance and International Business Administration.</p>
<p>French Linguist Certificate 2001 - Defense language institute.<br>
Intermediate French 2004 - 3rd SF Group
Real Estate Lic. - 2005
Law School - 1 year '07/'08
Securities Lic. '09</p>
<p>Business started in 1998
Army Reserve 1999 - 2007 Civil Affairs <a href=“http://www.soc.mil/ca/ca_default.htm[/url]”>http://www.soc.mil/ca/ca_default.htm</a> I was in a different unit.
Various side jobs in finance and real estate until recently when interesting things have begun to happen.</p>
<p>tort, this is the definition of a “finder”</p>
<p>finders fund deals
finders have deal flow
finders work hard
finders are found</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>SheenR, in answer to your question and as an example only, three of the people that I know that are making the most money per year, usually between $200 million and $3.0 billion per year each, founded their own hedge funds and started as follows:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>NYU undergraduate, straight to Harvard B school then Boston Consulting Group then M&A at a big investment bank before he started his hedge fund.</p></li>
<li><p>Virginia undergraduate, no graduate school, straight to being a futures trader for a big wall street firm before he started his hedge fund.</p></li>
<li><p>Middlebury undergraduate, straight to Columbia b school then as a futures trader for a big wall street firm before he started his hedge fund.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Tort likes to talk about himself in unrelated threads.</p>
<p>
Haha, I noticed 90% of the thread is about how great his life is going.</p>