Why Investment Banking? - Page 7

Luminaire · 03-10-2008, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by futurenyustudent

Go to sec.gov and look up Goldman's definitive proxy statement (Schedule 14A). The C level executives' compensation is public record.

...or you could just tell him instead of being a jerk about it.

Southcamp8 · 03-13-2008, 01:19 PM

"I like all this talk about the workers in this business, but what about the people who own the investment banks like Goldman Saachs? Who are they are how much are they making?"

Lol, ppl who own GS are called shareholders. I am on of them in fact. (I mean at 160, gs is a bargain) However, the "owners" of the company are not doing so great this year

CamaroLover · 03-13-2008, 02:44 PM

^^^ I think he means how it works with private companies. There's the Presidents who make the 200k a year and then the owner of the whole company making millions.

Investment banks don't have individual owners as they're not private companies.

MetdethGNR · 03-13-2008, 03:13 PM

Ok guys, I need your sincere input:

So I am in high school and I want to do I-banking. I look through this thread and oh surprise! Lifestyle seems to be worse than what I heard. And the hours, and well, you know. Everything on this thread.

Thing is: My passion, my deep, deep passion, which I am love and I am sure that I was born for, is politics. My main goal in my proffesional life is to enter politics.

But I am pretty poor. From a pretty poor family and all. I can't say something like: "I am getting an English major!" and then not be able to support myself or anyone in my family.

And I like finance. I like the stock market ALOT. I find it exciting and stuff.

I know I have a while left to go, but what should I be looking at? I need to make a ton of money. Should I go for I-banking after college?

Thanks guys.

Lucaskhan · 03-13-2008, 03:18 PM

Go to the most prestigious school thats the easiest way to get an IB job

sybbie719 · 03-13-2008, 04:10 PM

The online wsj is free today.

there is an article titled Landing a Job as a Banking Analyst

Quote:

Strong GPA, Relevant Work Help --
And So Do Alumni Ties
By MANEET AHUJA

Last winter, after six rounds of interviews, Alina Khaykin won a summer internship on Wall Street. The junior at New York University's Stern School of Business was one of only three Stern undergraduates in a pool of about 200 who were offered jobs as summer analysts in the equity-research division of Credit Suisse Group, the European investment bank.

Then, as the 10-week program wound down, Ms. Khaykin hit the jackpot: a spot in the analyst program after graduation. "Going in we were told the internship was essentially a 10-week job interview, so the environment was very intense," she says. "I followed the FILO policy -- first one in the office, last one out -- always."

Analyst programs offer entree into the banking industry. The going rate for new hires is $60,000 to $65,000, plus an $8,000 to $10,000 sign-on/relocation bonus and the possibility of a year-end bonus of $30,000 to $45,000. Most analysts stay at the job for two to three years. Then they are either promoted or move on to another bank, business school, a hedge fund or private-equity firm, or another career.

David N. Schwartz, the former head of investment-banking recruiting in London for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., says getting talented analysts is important for the industry. "You don't grow an investment bank simply by hiring the best at the top," he says. "You also grow an investment bank by hiring the very best at the bottom -- the engines that keep this industry running -- the analysts."

Not surprisingly, getting into analyst programs is highly competitive. Citigroup Inc. says it received more than 16,000 applications this past fall for analyst positions in its capital-market and banking divisions alone. Of those applicants, 2,200 students were interviewed for about 500 positions. Merrill Lynch & Co. says it got 20,000 applications for 700 slots. In a survey of employers published on the Vault.com Web site, an Ivy League-educated analyst at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. is quoted as saying: "From my school alone we review 150 to 200 résumés for the summer analyst program, and will give about six to 10 offers."

To beat the odds, undergraduates who want to break into the industry often spend the years leading up to their junior year executing a master plan. In addition to maintaining a GPA of at least 3.5 on a 4.0 scale -- the unofficial cutoff at many top financial-services firms -- that can mean accepting grueling, unglamorous part-time jobs to gain the experience necessary to make it through the initial round of résumé screening.

With firms like Lehman Brothers and Citi now rolling out summer analyst internships for sophomore students as well, it is critical for applicants to get an early start.

"We introduced a new generalist program to target students earlier in the process," said Courtney Storz, executive vice president for campus recruiting at Citi. She says recruiters "were surprised to find that even at that level, many of the applicants had already had relevant work experience."

Reaching out to influential alumni also can be a way to boost your odds of getting noticed. Under pressure one year to reduce recruiting costs, Mr. Schwartz, then at Goldman, was responsible for implementing a human-resources department choice to remove a few schools from the "target" list. Among them: Boston College. When word got out to a few powerful alumni at Goldman, "they were absolutely livid and raised hell," he says. "Within minutes the school was added back onto the list."

Mr. Schwartz, who now runs the executive search-firm DN Schwartz & Co., said that "for a kid looking to break into the industry from a nonpowerhouse school, the alumni connection is the most powerful tool they can equip themselves with."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1205...?mod=Careers_1

cheesemaster · 03-13-2008, 04:58 PM

Personally, I just plan on marrying into wealth.

azn&proud · 03-13-2008, 05:22 PM

Lol, funny thread. I pretty much backed out of iBanking and business in general when I heard my uncle describe what he saw upon interviewing for an associate position at a top-flight corporation (he's currently a VP for an engineering/energy firm - a position that allows him to combine his love for engineering with the convenience/income of a role in business and he gets to travel quite often too). He described the investors he saw at the corporation as "money-grubbing whores." As he walked towards the manager's office for his interview, he felt increasingly more repulsed by what he saw. He saw corporate pigs. He saw shells of the human form...brutish animals grappling with each other for every deal, petty or otherwise. Hopelessly subservient beings, willing to go to all extremes to please a merciless manager. He saw it in their eyes and in their expressions. Avarice. Deceit. Corruption. He saw the ravaged remnants of what may have had, at one time, a caring heart and a pure soul. He walked into the manager's office and, without much hesitation, declined the position which he had been eagerly requested by the company to accept and which would have offered him quite a substantial (some would say exorbitant) salary. He's now very comfortable in his position...working reasonable hours, doing what he loves, and most importantly, not caught up in the rat race of investment banking. He can't complain about his salary either, though it does not coem close to that of an IB. He tells me about the nature of his company: he travels to Chile often, either as a company overseer of operations or in order to offer his own solutions to complicated engineering malfunctions. He told me about his visits across the world and the satisfaction he received earlier in his career from one case in particular. He was asked to travel to Saudi Arabia and restore electrical power to an entire city (a dauntingly complex task, as one may imagine, since it is mindbogglingly difficult to pinpoint a specific failure within a citywide electrical grid). It took him several days of hard, nonstop work; but, when he had finally resolved the issue, and received the thanks and blessings of many of the city's officials, it was worth the effort. And here is the point I am attempting to make. After hearing the story of my uncle and those of others, I have little doubt that only certain individuals can perform adequately in certain fields (luminaire in IB for instance). One must overlook external factors such as monetary compensation and resolve him/herself pursue only what will produce enjoyment and self-satisfaction. Ultimately, we each only have one chance to live and are therefore obligated to utilize that opportunity wisely. Just my two cents.

stoneimmaculate · 03-13-2008, 05:57 PM

azn has it right, I thought Ibanking was enticing at first until I realized the type of people that succeed in that type of job are soulless androids. I plan on doing something meaningful with my life, something that benefits others as well as myself, and something that I will be remembered for.

Think of it this way: Even if you make it to the top as an MD or maybe even senior exec or CEO of a corporations raking in millions by the day, are you still going to be happy? At the end of your life are you going to be happy being remembered as just the guy who made a lot of money?

The answer for me is no, I know for a lot of others it isn't though. Money is overrated.

Wneckid99 · 03-13-2008, 06:00 PM

i know many investment bankers personally- average salary is around 150k...bonuses are up to 2 million+

Wneckid99 · 03-13-2008, 06:03 PM

also you can never really measure worth- so its all up to the person- if u do not want to work a lot dont go into Ibanking

Rosie51391 · 03-13-2008, 06:33 PM

hmmm my dad does is in some form of banking... i think its investment, because its not loans or marketing... but yea he works a lot of hours, but he does get to go on 2 or 3 business vacations basically to supervise lower people that were rewarded and won the vacation(usually 1 in hawaii, 1 in mexico, or something like that. all expenses paid for him and 1 guest). the income is pretty good too(not a million though... i wish) but yea he is definitely looking forward to retiring

amnesia · 03-13-2008, 06:40 PM

why anyone could go into ibanking now defies logic. they will no longer be profitable like they have been for the past decade. i think ms and leh have a starting 65k salary now... that is pretty bad for nyc.

JohnC613 · 03-13-2008, 06:46 PM

we've compared ib and law
how about ib vs medicine - pros and cons?
ibers make more.
someone on here said they personally know several doctors making 7 figs. really? i was under the impression that 500k is pretty much the cap in medicine. What specialites are those doctors in?
what about hours? residencies are tough, but after that, hours are much better than ib, no?
and is corporate politics a big deal in ib? what about networking and connections?
medicine is a more stable income, obviously. but exactly how much do ib bonuses fluctuate?
and ib gets so much limelight, but I've heard private equity and other financial sectors are better? thoughts?
sorry if this is a tangent,, but I'm debating between the 2 right now and I'd really like a med vs ib discussion:

azn&proud · 03-13-2008, 06:56 PM

Quite honestly, if you're debating between IB and Med, you are not cut out for Med. Surveys show that 70% of doctors are depressed: many of them probably encounter this because they now realize that the "glamorous" (even "thrilling") lifestyle that they were promised was not realistic in the slightest. Their lifestyle is brutal. Their monetary compensation (and here's the part that really gets people) is actually disproportionate with the sheer amount of work/strain involved. Like I said, if you're debating between medicine and IB, it means you're concerned with lifestyle and money. If that is the case, then medicine is definitely not for you...it requires sincere and devoted compassion.