Giving Up Your 20's for Wads of Cash?

Off Topic
1

If you just graduated from college, would you choose to be an investment banker?

Here’s the layout

first and second year
70k base + 70k bonus if you’re good (top 10 out of 30)

If they like you (top 2 out of 30) and ask you to stay for a third and fourth year you’re looking at
80k base + 120k bonus

and then maybe you get bumped to a vp where ur making
350-500k/year

if they don’t ask you to stay then you go to business school
chill out for two years, pay 100k

go into private equity or back into investment banking, to make around 200k your first two years
out of business school and then 350-500k/year afterwards.

Keep in mind though that you will be working 100 hours/week on average for your first two years with plenty of all nighters. Every month you’ll probably have a week where you get by on four hours of sleep a night. You work weekends. And your only alternative that has remotely normal hours (50 hrs/week) has a significant paycut down to 100-120k/year.

Your next years will be 80-90 hours/week, but you’ll gradually have more control over your life.

So would you do it?

2

nope

3

[quote]oab729 wrote:
If you just graduated from college, would you choose to be an investment banker?

Here’s the layout

first and second year
70k base + 70k bonus if you’re good (top 10 out of 30)

If they like you (top 2 out of 30) and ask you to stay for a third and fourth year you’re looking at
80k base + 120k bonus

and then maybe you get bumped to a vp where ur making
350-500k/year

if they don’t ask you to stay then you go to business school
chill out for two years, pay 100k

go into private equity or back into investment banking, to make around 200k your first two years
out of business school and then 350-500k/year afterwards.

Keep in mind though that you will be working 100 hours/week on average for your first two years with plenty of all nighters. Every month you’ll probably have a week where you get by on four hours of sleep a night. You work weekends. And your only alternative that has remotely normal hours (50 hrs/week) has a significant paycut down to 100-120k/year.

Your next years will be 80-90 hours/week, but you’ll gradually have more control over your life.

So would you do it?[/quote]

You’re young, you’re supposed to work ridiculous hours and not get enough sleep. Go for it if it makes you happy.
At the end of the day if working 100 hour weeks doesn’t make you happy, no amount of money will compensate that. If you don’t mind ridiculous work hours, and having little to no social life, then enjoy making money. Seems like a job for a workaholic.

Personally - no.

4

Pretty stupid way of asking “should I be an investment banker?” Perhaps you should turn off your computer and ask yourself questions along the line of:

  • Would I enjoy the work?
  • Would I enjoy the impact on my social life and my hobbies?
  • Am I so motivated by money that I would be able to do this work for 20 hours a day if I didn’t like it?

Since I have no interest in working with wholly intangible items, basically existing to divert the flow of money from A-B into C and doing so without producing anything, want 8 hours sleep most nights and want to have a life outside of work… no.

5

Sure.

Now can you make it happen? I’m not signing anything if I see you’ve got a tail or smoke coming out of your fingertips though.

6

I already know I don’t want to do this. I just want to know why so many of my peers end up in this and then end up miserable, as if they couldn’t anticipate feeling that way going in. That being said, there are people who just love doing this.

7

[quote]oab729 wrote:
I already know I don’t want to do this. I just want to know why so many of my peers end up in this and then end up miserable, as if they couldn’t anticipate feeling that way going in. That being said, there are people who just love doing this.[/quote]

The money is really that good eh?

I’m not doubting you, but I work in a field (Medical device sales) where almost everyone embellishes how much they bring home, so I’m always a bit skeptical…

8

I know a couple IB’s and it is indeed a very lucrative career but as stated their lives are completely consumed by their career. I usually find that when they do get time to themselves they party fucking HARD. They have all this disposable income because they don’t get the opportunity to spend their money. So they pop bottles go to strip clubs and spend like the money is burning a hole in their pocket. So It’s a trade off but their opportunities of to let off steam is few and far between.

9

the upward advancements seem like they’d be worth it, but lemme put this into perspective for ya.

Salary = no overtime pay in most cases

70k/50 weeks (10 business days comp time) = 1400/week

1400/week / 100 hours a week = 14/hr

you’d have to make the bonus for it to be worthwhile if you ask me.

Personally, with the amount of hours to put in, its not worth it. I know people at McDodo’s that make more than that, and they have social lives. But, like someone mentioned, at the end of the day, if it makes you happy, do it. I personally spent my 20’s on wine, women, and song and don’t regret any part of it. Your 20’s and early 30’s are the best time in your life. You have to ask yourself “is burning the best years of my life for money worth it?”

10

Uhm, just about every doctor you see spent their 20’s working their asses off in school…sometimes into their late 30’s. I just found it odd that THIS was the dilemma when the truth is, you won’t be very successful period of you fuck around through your 20’s with no direct goals.

You are supposed to work hard then so you don’t have to work your ass off the rest of your life through hard labor and low pay.

11

[quote]admbaum wrote:
I personally spent my 20’s on wine, women, and song and don’t regret any part of it. Your 20’s and early 30’s are the best time in your life. You have to ask yourself “is burning the best years of my life for money worth it?” [/quote]

Most of the guys I have known who did the same are now wishing they could go back to school in their late 30’s and 40’s to make up for all of that “wine women and song” due to their lack of “bill payments, rent, and groceries”.

12

I think that whilst some people might think “Oh well I could just do it for 2/5/10 years and then quit with $2/5/100 million in the bank”, when the whole point of your career has been make more money, period, it’s difficult to stop. Making/losing hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars in (not-really-but-essentially) legal gambling is exciting and addictive, which is why people keep on doing it even when they’ve made enough to last a lifetime.

Despite that element of excitement, I think that many of your peers are eventually realising that simply adding zeros to your bank account isn’t fulfilling, and working 100 hours a week to do that doesn’t give you the chance to do fulfilling things either. They just get sucked into a culture of working all day then going to some expensive club and competing with one another to spend more impressive amounts of money on drugs and women.

I imagine many people go in thinking they’ll be able to manage the hours but find themselves dominated by them.

Edit: Professor X just reminded me about of something he previously wrote about his job, along the lines of that he liked his job, but loved that it allowed him to do something he loved (in his case eating ground beef patties). People are happy if they love their job, or their job is good but also allows them to do something that they love. If you get into a 100 hour a week job and either don’t love it, or it doesn’t allow you to do something you love (in your 4 hours a day of spare time) you’re going to be miserable.

13

[quote]PimpBot5000 wrote:

The money is really that good eh?

I’m not doubting you, but I work in a field (Medical device sales) where almost everyone embellishes how much they bring home, so I’m always a bit skeptical…[/quote]

Sure is. I had a couple college buddies who went into it. They made more than what the OP posted straight out of college. They did however work in the Financial District of NYC. Their lives fuckin sucked. Getting to work before 7am and not leaving till around 9pm. If you’re even a minute late, your fucked. Your co-workers are all backstabbing snakes since your competing for a bonus and you’re pretty much always stressed out. I’d never do that job in a million years. I’m very happy with my choice to be in the IT field.

14

[quote]admbaum wrote:
the upward advancements seem like they’d be worth it, but lemme put this into perspective for ya.

Salary = no overtime pay in most cases

70k/50 weeks (10 business days comp time) = 1400/week

1400/week / 100 hours a week = 14/hr

you’d have to make the bonus for it to be worthwhile if you ask me.
[/quote]

Yeah but the whole point of the job is bonus. The bonus is to weed people out. You don’t take this job expecting NOT to get the bonus. Do you know how hard it is to even get your foot in the door as an investment banker in NYC? How can you compare a McDonalds job to this? That doesn’t make any sense to me.

15

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]admbaum wrote:
I personally spent my 20’s on wine, women, and song and don’t regret any part of it. Your 20’s and early 30’s are the best time in your life. You have to ask yourself “is burning the best years of my life for money worth it?” [/quote]

Most of the guys I have known who did the same are now wishing they could go back to school in their late 30’s and 40’s to make up for all of that “wine women and song” due to their lack of “bill payments, rent, and groceries”.[/quote]

I’m doing great, thanks for asking.

16

[quote]oab729 wrote:
If you just graduated from college, would you choose to be an investment banker?

Here’s the layout

first and second year
70k base + 70k bonus if you’re good (top 10 out of 30)

If they like you (top 2 out of 30) and ask you to stay for a third and fourth year you’re looking at
80k base + 120k bonus

and then maybe you get bumped to a vp where ur making
350-500k/year

if they don’t ask you to stay then you go to business school
chill out for two years, pay 100k

go into private equity or back into investment banking, to make around 200k your first two years
out of business school and then 350-500k/year afterwards.

Keep in mind though that you will be working 100 hours/week on average for your first two years with plenty of all nighters. Every month you’ll probably have a week where you get by on four hours of sleep a night. You work weekends. And your only alternative that has remotely normal hours (50 hrs/week) has a significant paycut down to 100-120k/year.

Your next years will be 80-90 hours/week, but you’ll gradually have more control over your life.

So would you do it?[/quote]

Coming from the Silicon Valley area, more specifically Stanford where Sand Hill Road is located (one of the most prominent I-Banking and VC spots in the world), this is a pretty common occurrence and I see tons of kids that either love the choice or look like they want to die.

It’s really up to you and who you are. If you want to grind away for 2 years in order to set yourself up for the future, than go full steam ahead. You have to realize that putting in that time helps you build an unbelievable foundation for success in the world of finance. At the same time though, what good is that foundation if you have no interest in finance or get burned out of it after a couple years?

~

What do you do in your free time? What do you love to do? Find a way to make money doing that and I guarantee you will be much happier with your work life, and life in general. Those that the most successful never ‘work’ a day in their life, they simply do what they love to do.

17

[quote]admbaum wrote:
Your 20’s and early 30’s are the best time in your life. You have to ask yourself “is burning the best years of my life for money worth it?” [/quote]
Perhaps I’m a little green around the ears, but what exactly is it about a specific age range that is considered so great? Why can’t your 40s be the best years of your life when you’ve been working out for 20 years and can now crank out more weight in the gym than ever before? Or when you’re earning more and have greater job satisfaction than ever before? Or companionate love with another human being?

I always hear people talking about these “best years of your life” as though there’s some narrow window of opportunity through which to enjoy life, and after that you will basically just be miserable while longingly remembering said window of fun and enjoyment. Examples include sentiments like “I miss high school, best years of my life”, “college is the best years of your life, don’t waste it”, or as you said “your 20s and early 30s are the best years of your life”.

18

[quote]sam_sneed wrote:

[quote]admbaum wrote:
the upward advancements seem like they’d be worth it, but lemme put this into perspective for ya.

Salary = no overtime pay in most cases

70k/50 weeks (10 business days comp time) = 1400/week

1400/week / 100 hours a week = 14/hr

you’d have to make the bonus for it to be worthwhile if you ask me.
[/quote]

Yeah but the whole point of the job is bonus. The bonus is to weed people out. You don’t take this job expecting NOT to get the bonus. Do you know how hard it is to even get your foot in the door as an investment banker in NYC? How can you compare a McDonalds job to this? That doesn’t make any sense to me.[/quote]

1 chance in 3 to get it. What if he doesnt get it?

I’d take a 40 hour week, make less money, spend more time doing my thing (family, hobbies, fun stuff) over working 90+ hours a week and have no time for anything else any day. Wealth isn’t just whats in your bank account. I’ve done the work-sleep-work-sleep thing enough to know I missed out on a few things and I didn’t like it. I guess things change when you have a family? My free time is worth way more than any job pays.

19

I have 2 kids so I don’t sleep anyway. But it boils down to what you wanna do. It’s a hard game to be in but the potential is there. Maybe you can just bust your ass for a couple years, save all the cash and start a business doing something you wanna do that still will make money. If you do go this route, make sure you don’t blow it all. Why bother doing all that work if you have nothing to show for it later in life?

20

so noone else is just gonna take the other job for 50hrs a week and 100-120K because that sounds pretty sweet for just graduation college.

Now as for the investment banker stuff. Im really not sure what I would do. Seeing as ive never been in the position for that to be a possibility. I think it would be a tough decision but I would probably take it. then hate myself for the rest of my life.