Ask a former Wall Street investment banker (almost) anything

[LethalGunz34]

anything you miss about working in the city?

[Misc_Lurker]

Economics degree.
Graduating by December. (1 quarter left)
Did zero networking.
GPA went to ****.


I'm probably not gonna make it?

Much appreciated if you answer my question.

I've been looking at entry level positions in SF, LA, and SD. TFW finally hitting real life.

[proconsul]

Ok you majored in history, and used your campus recruiting program a few years later to land an interview for the analyst position? Was this by sheer luck or did you learn Finance related materials during this time?

Bear with me guys, typing from my cell phone. I'm having lunch with my older son at his elementary school.

I am astounded I got a job, frankly. By all rights I shouldn't have. I didn't know anything about finance or even banking. I basically lucked out.

I think it helped that my first interview on campus was with a retired submariner (I ended up working for him for half my career, and followed him to two other firms when he became head of the west coast M&A practices). Then my deciding interview during my Super Saturday was with a group head who happened to fly choppers in Vietnam.

Nobody really asked me anything that would have showed that I didn't know the first thing about accounting or finance.

Sometimes in life, you just get lucky.

[ContrarianIndi]

Mirin OP.

Stupid question: Is it true that a lot of banks are getting loans from the Fed at near 0% interest and the banks then turn around and loan it to the govt at a higher rate?

[LethalGunz34]

Economics degree.
Graduating by December. (1 quarter left)
Did zero networking.
GPA went to ****.


I'm probably not gonna make it?

Dude, I worked 50 hrs/week (had to pay for college) while going to school full-time as well. Ended up with a 2.8 overall GPA. You'll make it. I'm happy where I am at the moment. It'll take you longer to land interviews and what not but once you land an interview, you need to show them that you're better than 99% of the people for the same position out there. I always said to myself that once you get a call for an interview, you can throw out everything out the window - degree, GPA, experience, etc. You just need to learn how to sell yourself.

[0rbit]

Thoughts on long term investment with gold and other precious metals?

Do you see any signs for a market crash equivalent to the one in 2008 coming soon? Many experts are saying another collapse is imminent.

[pollywogpriest]

any way to get in without ever having taking a single related course at uni?

[kfx450r]

Which tire category should I choose to get the most comfortable ride?

[Schnitzl]

What were your initial tasks as a trainee and what changed/accrued after each promotion?

How do the big VC companies find companies to m&a, do they have departments with analysts devoted to searching?

Did you ever have moments where you went home after a 140-hour week and thought to yourself - enough is enough, or did you love the work & benefits so much that you didn´t find the hours overwhelming?

[jassako]

Early forties. Ancient by Wall Street standards.



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.

Whoaaaa just saw you were a Yale student and stopped reading the rest (for the time being). Current junior in Branford College here. What college were you brah? Any advice to a fellow Yalie? Any gut classes I should look out for? I EXPECT AN ESSAY IN RESPONSE (notsrs). Thanks brah. repped


EDIT: just finished reading page 2. I'm a MB&B major going down the pre-med path, though I've always been intrigued by Wall Street and investment banking too.

[myrongunz]

Whoaaaa just saw you were a Yale student and stopped reading the rest (for the time being). Current junior in Branford College here. What college were you brah? Any advice to a fellow Yalie? Any gut classes I should look out for? I EXPECT AN ESSAY IN RESPONSE (notsrs). Thanks brah. repped


EDIT: just finished reading page 2. I'm a MB&B major going down the pre-med path, though I've always been intrigued by Wall Street and investment banking too.

oh.... probably into that yale thing

[PowerCleanBrah]

Interesting thread OP.

I got a History and Politics degree from a good university in the UK. Do you have any advice for me for cover letters or interview that will help 'sell myself and my degree' for a job in finance or banking?

If you got it with a history degree and learned everything on the job then maybe its possible for me. Help me out?

[GaDoomZ]

Bear with me guys, typing from my cell phone. I'm having lunch with my older son at his elementary school.

I am astounded I got a job, frankly. By all rights I shouldn't have. I didn't know anything about finance or even banking. I basically lucked out.

I think it helped that my first interview on campus was with a retired submariner (I ended up working for him for half my career, and followed him to two other firms when he became head of the west coast M&A practices). Then my deciding interview during my Super Saturday was with a group head who happened to fly choppers in Vietnam.

Nobody really asked me anything that would have showed that I didn't know the first thing about accounting or finance.

Sometimes in life, you just get lucky.

I'm about to graduate in December with an Economics degree. Haven't done any internships but would be interested in a prospective job in a field that would have to deal more with people than crunching numbers. I guess thats what M&A guys do as well . Any suggestions on what do?

[proconsul]

Whoaaaa just saw you were a Yale student and stopped reading the rest (for the time being). Current junior in Branford College here. What college were you brah? Any advice to a fellow Yalie? Any gut classes I should look out for? I EXPECT AN ESSAY IN RESPONSE (notsrs). Thanks brah. repped


EDIT: just finished reading page 2. I'm a MB&B major going down the pre-med path, though I've always been intrigued by Wall Street and investment banking too.

Berkeley College, just down the street from you.

This was 20 years ago, dude. Although I'm pretty sure they still call him "Easy-A Salovey"

[freshspam1]

Current wall streeter here, good thread.

[JazB]

What did u think to the end of breaking bad ?

[mandarin163]

Wait... where does serving in the military fit in here? You went to college, got a investment banker job but you were also in the military? Explain to a clueless ausbrah pls.

[FourPointZero]

Hey I'm majoring in Econ at an elite school in Palo Alto.
I was wondering if the lifestyle of an analyst is worth it.

I just had a friend who interned at Goldman Sachs and he texted me once that he didn't sleep for 46 hours straight.
It's like half the kids do consulting or analyst when they get out - there are recruiters here literally every week.

Also can you get into an MBA program straight out of undergrad? I will be 21 when I graduate.

Should I take all the pre-Med courses just in case? So that I can go to med school if no i-banks want me?
I know Harvard and Princeton are the top two for banks.

[proconsul]

What were your initial tasks as a trainee and what changed/accrued after each promotion?

How do the big VC companies find companies to m&a, do they have departments with analysts devoted to searching?

Did you ever have moments where you went home after a 140-hour week and thought to yourself - enough is enough, or did you love the work & benefits so much that you didnt find the hours overwhelming?

Every level is very different:

-Analysts do the work. They do the modeling, they do the graphs, they often do the graphics (versus leaving it for the PPS department).
-Associates check the work. Analyst work 120 hours a week. They are told to do it fast. They make mistakes. Associates exist to catch them before they blow up the whole team. (Analysts will also tell you associates serve no useful purpose)
-VPs manage the deal team. They spot-check the work, and they make the calls the MD is too busy or disinterested to do himself. They are like little MDs in training. They get minor speaking roles in meetings.
-MDs are the face of the team. He's the one who speaks for the most part in meetings.



For VCs, the short answer is that it depends. Some firms, like TA Associates, have basically entire phone banks of undergrads cold-calling young start-ups. Others crawl around their respective spaces, which are not as big as you might think. Some, like the Kleiners of the world, are basically so famous that their view is "you call us and we'll decide whether we're interested".



The hours are the hardest part of the business. Not because of the actual number of hours in the week, but the never-ending grind of successive 100-hour weeks. Imagine waking up in the morning, so tired you want to put your head in your hands and cry. Realizing that you were just in your desk two hours ago. That's bad, but it's not the worst.

The worst is the feeling of just being worn out. Thinking that you haven't taken a day off in six months.

The bottom for me was on a never-ending project for Verizon. We'd been working non-stop for six months, with no end in sight. Every evening, we'd have an all-hands conference call. Every night, you get on the phone and hope, like really pray, that tonight would be the night we'd take a break, and that you'd be able to go home at 10pm. Probably 20 people between TMT banking, M&A, DCM, ECM and SLF. And we'd go over what we needed to do that night and have sitting on the MDs' chairs in the morning. I'd sit there with my headset on as we'd add more and more stuff, and all I could thinks is "**** **** ****. I'm not going home tonight."

Then my mind would go to: "I could quit. Really, I could. It would be so easy. I just pick up my jacket and walk out. I could do it." Then reality would hit. "I can't quit. I need this job. Where would I find another job? This is all I've done in the civilian world. What else could I do and even make half as much money? ****. **** **** **** **** ****."

[wetfred]

Do you recommend gold or silver for long term investing?

[proconsul]

Wait... where does serving in the military fit in here? You went to college, got a investment banker job but you were also in the military? Explain to a clueless ausbrah pls.

I graduated, took a commission and served until I was RIF'd. I tried to apply for analyst jobs from where I was but nobody wants to talk to an off-cycle non-campus candidate. I called my university placement office and asked if they could help me. They said I was welcome to participate in the on-campus program. So I took the $900 I had in the bank and went down to school, and lived on the floor of my future wife's dorm room for three months while I interviewed. By the time I got my job offer, I was out of money. If they hadn't given me my offer (and the signing bonus), I had no idea how I would even get home, short of hitchhiking or begging my friends for a loan (I had already borrowed $400 from my best friend, who was working for Goldman).

[jassako]

Berkeley College, just down the street from you.

This was 20 years ago, dude. Although I'm pretty sure they still call him "Easy-A Salovey"

Haven't heard that used. Salovey hasn't taught any classes in a few years now. (he does guest lecture for intro psych though). He's getting inaugurated as president next week.

[proconsul]

Do you recommend gold or silver for long term investing?

I am absolutely unqualified to offer an educated (non-personal) opinion on this.

Haven't heard that used. Salovey hasn't taught any classes in a few years now. (he does guest lecture for intro psych though). He's getting inaugurated as president next week.

lol, I just got this email earlier today:

Yale Presidential Inauguration next weekend
Dear fellow Yale graduate:

The Yale community will celebrate the Inauguration of Peter Salovey ’86 Ph.D. as the 23rd President of Yale University next Sunday, October 13. We want to make sure that everyone in the Yale alumni family knows about the ceremony and other key Inauguration events next weekend.

The Inauguration Ceremony will be viewable around the world via live broadcast on the Yale University YouTube channel. The broadcast begins on Sunday, October 13, at 1:30 p.m. EDT. It will show the procession across campus at 1:45 p.m. and the ceremony in Woolsey Hall at 2 p.m. We hope alumni at a distance from campus will join the celebration online by watching on YouTube. It will also be archived online for later viewing.

If you are near New Haven, we warmly invite you to join with others in the Yale community who will gather to watch the Inauguration Ceremony on large screens in Battell Chapel at Elm and College Streets; in front of the President’s House at 43 Hillhouse; and in Burke Auditorium at Kroon Hall, 195 Prospect Street. All are also warmly invited to a festive block party on Hillhouse Avenue (between Sachem and Trumbull Streets) after the ceremony, from 3–5 p.m., with music, dancing, refreshments, and the opportunity to greet President Salovey and his wife, Marta Moret ’84 M.P.H.

In addition, we cordially invite all alumni and friends nearby to enjoy a special pre-inauguration Campus-wide Open House on Saturday, October 12, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. All are welcome for a series of special events, performances, tours, and other activities at Yale’s museums, libraries, graduate and professional schools, all twelve residential colleges, and other venues. You can view the full listing for the open house on the Presidential Inauguration website. Wherever you live, we encourage you to share this open house information with friends who may be interested – and able to come to New Haven.

As President Salovey has said, “This is a most exciting time for our institution.” It truly is. The upcoming Inauguration will celebrate the diversity of our Yale community – in New Haven and around the world – and the unifying spirit of inspiration that draws us all together. We hope that you will join the celebration, online or on campus.

Daniel Harrison ’86 Ph.D., Allen Forte Professor of Music Theory

Kimberly Goff-Crews ’83 B.A. ’86 J.D., Secretary and Vice President for Student Life

Co-Chairs of the Inauguration Planning Committee

any way to get in without ever having taking a single related course at uni?

Hehehe - try me as an example.

I only took two "relevant" courses: Intro Microeconomics and Intro Macroeconomics as an undergrad. I took them both Credit/Fail rather than for a real grade.

My performance in them may well be why Yale changed the policy to Credit/D/Fail.

[omgitsNTG]

My question: what the hell did you do for 16 years that you still have to work.

Your bonuses must have sucked

[magog704]

wat do you guys keep in those briefcases?

[CaptainBrah23]

How would you recommend learning about investment banking to someone who didn't understand 90% of what was said on the first page of this thread?

[jassako]

I am absolutely unqualified to offer an educated (non-personal) opinion on this.



lol, I just got this email earlier today:

when's the last time you were on campus? you should come for a master's tea

[alhk]

Any advice on interviews? What were the questions they asked you? What kind of prep do u need to do?

[proconsul]

My question: what the hell did you do for 16 years that you still have to work.
Your bonuses must have sucked

Yeah, for the last five years they were pretty bad. You had some MDs making $250-500k a year over that period and just happy to have a job.

wat do you guys keep in those briefcases?

Pitchbooks if you're going to a meeting. In my bag I usually carried my ipad, phone and blackberry.

How would you recommend learning about investment banking to someone who didn't understand 90% of what was said on the first page of this thread?

Wallstreetoasis - ages ago I was GenghisKhan there
Vault.com if they're still around

when's the last time you were on campus? you should come for a master's tea

A long time, just after my first son was born. I don't live nearby anymore, although I still have a place in NYC.

how would you rate tufts in terms of opportunities to become and i-banker?

This is not to say it's a bad school, just that I don't know if I remember working with anyone who had gone to Tufts. It's not a target school.

[freshspam1]

FYI, some of your answers have changed over time. Like 120 hour weeks for an analyst is a total exaggeration and just internet BS. The average across the bulge bracket groups is like 75. The sweatshop group work like 95 on average, yeah you might do one week every 6 months were you hit 120, but it is really uncommon outside of sweatshop groups like GS TMT or MS M&A

and I remember seeing your posts on WSO