How is every last kid going into Investment Banking?

[Anonymous]

^^meant to include hedge funds too.

[Anonymous]

I was a Wall Street banker as my second job. Right out of college I heard everyone complaining about the hours and wondered what they were doing wrong. Then I got there and it was truly awful. At least in my role, it was not awful 52 weeks a year. But when it got bad, it got really bad. And part of the problem was things would just pop up - you could be working until 5 pm Monday-Thursday then something hits at 4 pm Friday and your weekend is shot. And there is a decent chance the MD in charge knew about it on Monday but "forgot" to tell you.

That being said, I got a huge high out of working on big deals and it felt awesome to close something after working really hard on it. There are a lot of jerks but also a lot of interesting, smart people. It makes you completely neurotic but also teaches some really good work habits and attention to detail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Could it be that these careers offer a "track" -- a path whose milestones are clear and defined, so you know what you need to do to succeed?

In world where everything feels much more up in the air than it once did, and jobs/success aren't guaranteed, it seems like it could be reassuring -- almost like an extension of the journey they've been on to date. I imagine it would be particularly compelling to kids who have a track record of achievement, i.e. who met every milestone needed for admission to top schools.

Just spitballing, but that's what I've been wondering.

I think this is right on. There are kids who are afraid of risk or uncertain how to chart their own course (not a dig—people come from different places and backgrounds and have different natural levels of creativity and risk tolerance). Some kids need to be certain they can make a good living as soon as they graduate to pay loans, etc. other kids are more willing or have the financial safety net to take the risk of trying something different.

Personally, I chose law school because I knew it would lead to a decent career and it did, but although I loved law school, I mostly did not love being a lawyer. I sort of wish o had more risk tolerance, but I did have to make loan payments. Luckily, my kids will have more space to pursue things they want because they have a safety net if it doesn’t pan out right away.

[Anonymous]

We moved to CA and my kids attend a middle to upper middle class public school. My son who just graduated and my 11th grader both say the vast majority of boys at their school say they want to be an investment banker. They watch YouTube and TikTok videos about IB.
My brother (their uncle) was an investment banker and now is a high up in finance so my kids have had a chance to ask him a bunch of questions over the years and understand how competitive and stressful that path is. You have to be in the right place at the right time and have the right connections and/or the personality to develop those connections. They realize it can lead to a great deal of financial success but there is a lot of negatives.

When they tell their friends the negatives their friends don’t believe them.

So the people posting that OP is in a bubble are crazy. It definitely is a thing.

[Anonymous]

many more want to go go tech

[Anonymous]

10 grandkids in our family: six boys and four girls Seems like all the boys majored in finance and all the girls majored in either marketing or psychology. One nephew ended up living at home with parents after an expensive private college experience. He works at a loan officer at a local bank, but the parents tell everyone he is doing investment banking or international banking or something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a shame that every kid you know aspires to be a money grubbing dillweed. Sounds like a parenting issue. And issue with who you choose to spend your time with.

I don't completely disagree with this perception but I think there is a lot more to it. My DC is a senior econ major who had some first interviews recently. It's not all about money grubbing, especially at this stage. DC is well aware that the hours will be brutal initially but is in it to learn as much as possible.

This we are raising kids here. It’s expensive to live here. In order to live here, you need to make a lot of money if you want to live where you grew up. Not a lot to it. Same with NY, LA or Boston suburbs.

[Anonymous]

There are many levels of investment banking. I worked in real estate investing banking. I was a poor Asian immigrant. Lots of unhooked kids get into finance from a top school. I went to Harvard. I knew tons of unhooked kids from Harvard, MIT, Cornell, Columbia, Penn, NYU, etc. I don’t remember nepo kids. The people I knew were all qualified. Of course some of those qualified people had parents who were up there but that is not why someone was hired.

We did have interns and entry level kids who were nepo kids as I became more senior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:many more want to go go tech

All of the kids that would have gone into CS for the money are now going into finance for the same reason since the CA jobs are in a slump right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are many levels of investment banking. I worked in real estate investing banking. I was a poor Asian immigrant. Lots of unhooked kids get into finance from a top school. I went to Harvard. I knew tons of unhooked kids from Harvard, MIT, Cornell, Columbia, Penn, NYU, etc. I don’t remember nepo kids. The people I knew were all qualified. Of course some of those qualified people had parents who were up there but that is not why someone was hired.

We did have interns and entry level kids who were nepo kids as I became more senior.

That was my son’s experience at Columbia. The economically disadvantaged kids going into finance have an insane drive. He came from a fairly comfortable upbringing (public HS but won’t have loans etc). Many kids are looking at their career as a way of supporting themselves and their parents/siblings. They have a sense of responsibility and they carry a weight that makes the whole college experience for them something very different than the norm for most of us. It’s a hyper competitive environment that has caused my son to rethink what he wants to do and whether he needs all of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are many levels of investment banking. I worked in real estate investing banking. I was a poor Asian immigrant. Lots of unhooked kids get into finance from a top school. I went to Harvard. I knew tons of unhooked kids from Harvard, MIT, Cornell, Columbia, Penn, NYU, etc. I don’t remember nepo kids. The people I knew were all qualified. Of course some of those qualified people had parents who were up there but that is not why someone was hired.

We did have interns and entry level kids who were nepo kids as I became more senior.

Looking back, would you recommend your experience? What do you think you would have done instead if that offer hadn't come through?

[Anonymous]

Late stage capitalism:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/22/business/gen-z-college-students-jobs.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are many levels of investment banking. I worked in real estate investing banking. I was a poor Asian immigrant. Lots of unhooked kids get into finance from a top school. I went to Harvard. I knew tons of unhooked kids from Harvard, MIT, Cornell, Columbia, Penn, NYU, etc. I don’t remember nepo kids. The people I knew were all qualified. Of course some of those qualified people had parents who were up there but that is not why someone was hired.

We did have interns and entry level kids who were nepo kids as I became more senior.

Ace Greenberg, who was the CEO of Bear Stearns, said that he liked to hire kids who are “PSD” - Poor, Smart and Desperate- because he knew they would be the most hard working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know what to say, OP. My kid does not want to be an investment banker and none of their friends want to be investment bankers. They mostly want to scientists, doctors, engineers.

Mine is at an ivy and more than half their friends are premed , engineering or both, with the non-premed aiming for phD or tech startups. Known consulting groups hire engineers all the time from this ivy—though it is often considered more of a fallback option for the startup or phD chasers. Prelaw is a less common goal but exists even for stem kids. Seems its quite popular for nonstem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:many more want to go go tech

This.