sup

The Economist was not very optimistic about the future of the financial industry. Does this mean that investment banking will not be as lucrative a sector as it is now? Should high school students start looking into different careers?

"The financial industry is likely to stagnate or shrink in the next few years. That is partly because the last phase of its growth was founded on unsustainable leverage, and partly because the value of the underlying equities and bonds is unlikely to grow as it did in the 1980s and 1990s. If finance is foolishly reregulated, it will fare even worse."

http://www.economist.com/opinion/dis...ry_id=10881318

tetrishead

High school students shouldn't be looking at any careers because high school students are 5 years from entering the job market. A college senior or junior should be worried.

wolfpack12

^ lol.

What you should be doing is looking at different, colleges and thinking about what major you might want to do. Try to find a college and major that will open plenty of doors when you do graduate.

barrons

"The outlook is rather gloomy in investment banking. A number of big financial services players have instituted soft hiring freezes, says compensation expert Alan Johnson, managing partner of Johnson Associates in New York City. “They’re going to end 2008 with fewer people than they began with,” he says. “They’re reducing college recruiting by 50 percent and cutting back on entry-level and middle-level hiring. They’re doing that unofficially -- no one wants to be the poster child of hard times.”

sup

My major depends on what career I want to pursue.......

Many college students get internships over the summer. Also, if BB firms are really going to cut back on their recruiting, it won't just be for a year. A stagnation in the financial industry could affect incoming freshmen as much as juniors and seniors.