Ask a former Wall Street investment banker (almost) anything

[proconsul]

OK, here are the ground rules:

1. Let's keep it civil. You think Wall Street is evil? That's fine. I disagree. But if that's all you're here to say I don't have much to add to the conversation.

2. I'm not here to push a political position, so let's try to avoid sermonizing (one way or the other) as much as possible. I'll give my opinion if asked, and it's worth as much as you paid for it.

3. I was a Mergers & Acquisitions specialist. I was not a trader or capital markets guy. I am not the right person to discuss the relative merits of delta-hedge strategies in reducing gamma.

4. I log in often, but not continuously. I still have a relatively demanding day job. If I miss your question or take a while to answer, I apologize - sometimes work intervenes and things like the misc slip through the cracks.

My background is that I retired from a sixteen year career on Wall Street, all of it in M&A. I was a managing director, and head of M&A for an industry sector. I covered a variety of industries, including technology, telecom, consumer, healthcare and industrials. I did very little real estate, financial institutions, or oil & gas. I spent time at a number of firms, spanning the very large to the very small, but always at a publicly traded firm.

Fire away.

[BlueNinjaGo]

What is the minimum barrel length to stabilize a .223 bullet and fully utilize gas expansion for the max velocity? Is a 1:7 twist still ideal?

[ezza]

What are you doing now?

you retired on that wall street money?

[samir316]

How old are you now ?

[Azzurrah]

What was your major and GPA ? How did you get hired?

[HiddenLurker]

OK, here are the ground rules:

1. Let's keep it civil. You think Wall Street is evil? That's fine. I disagree. But if that's all you're here to say I don't have much to add to the conversation.

2. I'm not here to push a political position, so let's try to avoid sermonizing (one way or the other) as much as possible. I'll give my opinion if asked, and it's worth as much as you paid for it.

3. I was a Mergers & Acquisitions specialist. I was not a trader or capital markets guy. I am not the right person to discuss the relative merits of delta-hedge strategies in reducing gamma.

4. I log in often, but not continuously. I still have a relatively demanding day job. If I miss your question or take a while to answer, I apologize - sometimes work intervenes and things like the misc slip through the cracks.

My background is that I retired from a sixteen year career on Wall Street, all of it in M&A. I was a managing director, and head of M&A for an industry sector. I covered a variety of industries, including technology, telecom, consumer, healthcare and industrials. I did very little real estate, financial institutions, or oil & gas. I spent time at a number of firms, spanning the very large to the very small, but always at a publicly traded firm.

Fire away.

]
how much did you spend with 3rd party consultant/market intelligence agencies for your mergers and acquisitions decision making?

[Lampards_Lard]

Are you satisfied with your career on wall street ? What are some career decisions you would have done differently if you had the chance ?

[proconsul]

What is the minimum barrel length to stabilize a .223 bullet and fully utilize gas expansion for the max velocity? Is a 1:7 twist still ideal?

The pressure curve peaks at 20", if I recall correctly. Of course, I'd go with 10.5".

What are you doing now?
you retired on that wall street money?

The closest analog would be venture capital/startup incubation for a government-related institution. I made a lot of money by ordinary standards, but not by Wall Street standards. Let's put it this way, I will need to continue to work for a living for the foreseeable future.

In taking this job, I took a significant pay cut - I make well less than a half million a year. My new base salary is comparable to my old base, but the bonus opportunity is much smaller.

[illbleed]

What are your job duties as an MD?

[M1LD_S]

What is your best advice to someone just getting into investing?

[Agent Lazy 78]

are you a doomsday prepper?

[Deltoidbrah]

what would you say are the 3 most interesting things you've seen in your days on wall street?

[1crave]

are you happy at wall street ?
what did you study ? did u do perfect in school ?


should i rather try to become or doctor or go into investment banking ? (100% srs)

In taking this job, I took a significant pay cut - I make well less than a half million a year.

couldnt imagine the feel of having a pay cut and still making well over 100k.

[vvvaaa]

Why did you retire?

What age did youstart?

How did you get into that position?(uni, internships, etc)

Will you recommend the same job to your kids?

[PeZzYy]

still in uni... kind of want to get into IB im in my last yr

debating whether i should minor in econ since i need only 2 classes for it. Debating if i should take fidelity internship I got over the summer... or if I should work at a broker firm that my grandma's neighbor owns.. he offered to sponsor me through it.

Also do you think i should take the BAT test my investments professor keeps telling me i should... and hopefully if i get a B in short term fin management ill be able to take my ctp

and srs wanna connect on linkedin

[Drukqs]

Another former investment banker here. I was a capital markets guy. Debt origination. Underwriter. I miss it.

[LethalGunz34]

Salary?

Hours?

Does wall street do a lot of coke?

[Quinn7]

How old are you? Why did you retire? What are you doing now? How much $$$ did you make throughout your career?

[slvrgtmiscer]

In on illuminati thread

[Procta]

so should I place my chips on black or red

[proconsul]

How old are you now ?

Early forties. Ancient by Wall Street standards.

What was your major and GPA ? How did you get hired?

I had a lousy GPA, but had mitigating factors. I was a history major at Yale. I went to work in an unrelated field for several years, then used my campus recruiting program to get into an analyst program.

]
how much did you spend with 3rd party consultant/market intelligence agencies for your mergers and acquisitions decision making?

We paid significant amounts for market research (most big ibanks have dedicated research libraries and people to track down the right reports) but we generally never see the bill for that. Technically, it is considered a client expense and is generally included in the expenses reimbursement we request upon consummation of a deal.

Are you satisfied with your career on wall street ? What are some career decisions you would have done differently if you had the chance ?

Yes, I liked what I did. I lasted longer than I had any right to expect. If I could change anything, I would have stayed at a bulge bracket firm through my career. I elected to leave for a smaller (~$30 billion equity value) bank focused on smaller transactions, and the economics for smaller firms has been much more challenging than it has for the largest firms.

[DrunkNinjaMastr]

Do you think another 2008 like crash is coming soon? All this **** with QE and the debt ceiling makes me scared dump a lot of resourses into the market. Prices seem to be artificially inflated.

[Deltoidbrah]

so should I place my chips on black or red

green

[StUck686]

wut does the fox say??

[j_to_the]

do you believe the stock market is a safe place for Average Joe investors to put their money - especially their retirement money? there is a lot of talk about super computers dominating and manipulating the market making it impossible for Average Joe to 'win' at Wall Street.

do you feel the stock market is an unbiased, true reflection of the economy - or do you feel there is a 'super power' manipulation?

[Navillus13]

Is there anyway the public (us) can find solid evidence of an upcoming merge/acquisition (other than typical news outlets) and what direction typically the stock will go in when it happens? (no insider trading)

[Roke]

1. Are you a former Wall street investment banker?
2. Can we ask you (almost) anything?

[d2ce]

Your Min/Max annual salary (incl bonus)?
Typically how many hrs per week did you work?

[TheFourthPooper]

Do the chicks in NY actively try to get with guys on Wall St?

[rlabar1288]

What do you / dont you like about the Wall Street / NYC lifestyle? Married or lots of punnani?