<p>Just because your father likes giving to charity doesn’t mean most bankers give to charity. And I’m pretty sure the ones that do to charity are the top earners and only give a very small percentage of what they earn after a number of years making top dollar. Bankers make money because everything they do has to do with the all-powerful bottom line.</p>
<p>Anyone who says they want to be a banker because they like working 80-100 hrs a week with Powerpoint and Excel as an analyst is a liar. If I could potentially make as much money as a banker just being a doctor or even a lawyer, I would much prefer the latter before the former. We all want a chance to bring home 10 mill+ more than that stupid lawyer buddy we know, and buy ourselves a trophy wife, and smoke weed (or cocaine–just kidding) while taking in our 2 million dollar scenic view from our amazing baroque balcony.</p>
<p>We wanna dance on that balcony. We wanna shake it like we just won the lottery when we get our bonuses. When the wife starts to get snappy, you remind her of the prenup and of all the luxuries she won’t have when you kick her ass to the curb.</p>
<p>THAT is why people flock to investment banking. To be ballers.</p>
<p>^most people on wall street don’t make millions, despite all the populist outrage. Most are upper middle class by NYC standards. 300k/yr doesn’t go that far in Manhattan (you net ~170, and at least half that goes to your apartment).</p>
<p>Well, you can always do S&T, where the hours are considerably shorter and more regular because they’re dictated by the market. However, the work is much more intense.</p>
<p>I’m sure this question has been asked alot, but what drives people for an IB position? Yes, big money, but wouldn’t you rather make 50K-70K, (hoping one day your spouse makes around the same amount, 100K-140K is plenty to live an above average lifestyle in most places), work a 9-5 job, spend time with your family, stay fit, and enjoy the rest of your life? </p>
<p>If you ever plan on having children, unless you want them raised by daycare or a nanny, your spouse will probably at some point stop working.</p>
<p>Money is only one motivator for the position. For me personally (it will sound cliche) but I like the challenge (yes I know the actual work itself isn’t that “challenging”). It’s an extremely hard position to break into. I want to surround myself with other type-A and very intellectual people. I don’t like being around slackers, I like being around people with the same style work ethic as myself.</p>
<p>Additionally, I want to some day end up in PE or VC (can’t handle the stress that would go with working for a large mega hedge fund my own portfolio gives me enough wrinkles). These fields typically won’t hire you without any IB experience. Plus, IB teaches you the most you could want to learn about finance in the shortest period of time.</p>
<p>So it’s a combination of things. I’d rather put my dues in when I’m young and can handle it. It’s only 2 years =)</p>
<p>I intend to pursue a career in IB only for the money, and I’m sure a great many people do it for the same reasons. A big mistake, though, is assuming that this makes a person greedy. That’s nonsense. Some IB’ers? Maybe. But I want to make as much money as possible not so that I can constantly be thinking about my money, but rather so I can be free from a financial grasp. I also intend to have a family that I make time for, but only AFTER I have retired from a very lucrative career. The way I see it, if i can retire before I’m 40 and live solely off of the wealth accrued to that point, I can spend the rest of my life worrying about other things beside financial security.</p>
<p>I don’t think assuming retirement after 15 years in IB is overly idealistic, so just do the math. 52 weeks * 100 hours * 15 years = 78,000 hours total in IB. How about another career like engineering? You’ll probably work 40 years assuming you live a normal life with a normal family. 50 weeks * 40 hours * 40 years = 80,000 hours.</p>
<p>Who, then, are the true work-a-holics? The answer is neither. It all depends on how you intend to live your life. Some want to start families when they’re young, and for these people a career like IB would be irresponsible. Others would rather wait until they’re a bit older to start a family, and for these people IB makes plenty of sense. Assuming that IB equals greed is poor logic.</p>
<p>For example, some people in school classes complete all of their assignments as soon as they get them. Does that mean that they looooove work? Arguably not. In fact, they dislike work as much as everyone else, but the way they prefer to deal with that burden is getting it all out of the way so that they can focus entirely on other things once it’s done. Get it off their minds, so to speak.</p>
<p>So unless there is some requirement to start reproducing before you’re 30 years old, don’t be so quick to assume greed where there is none.</p>
<p>If you only want money, don’t start in IBD. Hedge funds pay much more with far better hours. Many of the top funds (Citadel, AQR, DE Shaw, Bridgewater) recruit undergrads and pay nearly 2x as much as banking, with faster career advancement. I know traders who, only 5 years out of school, are already making seven figures.</p>
<p>Ya, banking is really for people of more typical levels of intelligence. They work their ass off in order to get paid. this is fundamentally different from people at shaw, who are just smarter than the majority of the people they compete against.</p>
<p>Quants certainly need more brainpower, but most traders/PM’s at these funds are not any more quantitatively trained than their counterparts at banks. Plenty of undergrads get these jobs. In general, it helps to have a quantitative background, i.e. engineering or CS, but there are exceptions - DE Shaw in particular has a generalist program specifically targeting liberal arts students. If you can get a BB IBD/S&T job, you have a good chance of landing a hedge fund job too.</p>
<p>I know a young hot shot prop trader who made millions in his mid twenties. They’re incredibly rare though.Trading is a zero sum activity; there’s a lot of losers that redistribute wealth to a tiny number of winners. The funds that are consistent winners have superior human capital by definition. And that human capital is completely scalable.</p>
<p>Hey Zero and Wutang, what type of degrees are typically required to pursue that route and merging with those companies you mentioned? Is the MBA better for that or an MS in engineering? Gracias</p>
<p>To be a quant, most HF (and BB for that matter) generally require a PHD in a quantitative field such as Physics, Engineering, Mathematics, Comp Sci, etc. Some places will accept Masters Financial Engineering also.</p>
<p>For prop funds like DE Shaw, Jane Street, etc, they accept people out of undergrad, most of whom are from similar quantitative concentrations (they also often have rather rigorous tests and brainteasers) but also do occasionally accept non-quant majors as mentioned above.</p>
<p>To go into the Sell Side (BB S&T) you can go in with any degree undergrad, though they often like to see ability to handle quantitative material so common majors include Economics, Finance, Math, Engineering, Physics… but I’ve also seen a few English/Management majors.</p>
<p>MBA is pretty worthless for trading, although it can be used to break into S&T at a BB as an Associate.</p>
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