[apolocreed]

So from time to time we all see the dreaded Investment Banking thread, with people asking what a-levels they should take, what work experience they should get, what uni's they should go to, what books they should read, and each time many of us take a deep breath and restrain ourselves from negging them to eternity...

Just lay off them...I can see where they're coming from. Most of us on tsr were in school when the recession hit, and we saw what it did, crippling major companies, completely destroying small businesses's, and since then (and yes, before) we have been bombarded with everything banking, everything money, everything stock...and it seeps in.

People everyday are loosing jobs, but bankers seem to just be cruising, making money, 'having fun' (hollywood, take a bow) and all it does it make people want to step into the shoes of people we seem to see and hear about everyday, even though job security can be close to nil, long hours hours are regular for many, and there's a good chance of loosing many friends.

Wanting to become an investment banker isn't too different to wanting to become a doctor, or an engineer. All these professions are hard to define, for the sheer amount of sub professions found, and all are romanticised to a point (maybe not engineering so much ).

I really made this thread just to hear your opinions on teens these days wanting to enter the world of banking, and why you think them wanting to do that should be viewed differently to teens wanting to be doctors or engineers.
.

[apolocreed]

bump .

[MissMuffin95]

Can somebody please clarify what Investment Banking is? Because I don't actually know...

[affleming]

(Original post by apolocreed)
So from time to time we all see the dreaded Investment Banking thread, with people asking what a-levels they should take, what work experience they should get, what uni's they should go to, what books they should read, and each time many of us take a deep breath and restrain ourselves from negging them to eternity...

Just lay off them...I can see where they're coming from. Most of us on tsr were in school when the recession hit, and we saw what it did, crippling major companies, completely destroying small businesses's, and since then (and yes, before) we have been bombarded with everything banking, everything money, everything stock...and it seeps in.

People everyday are loosing jobs, but bankers seem to just be cruising, making money, 'having fun' (hollywood, take a bow) and all it does it make people want to step into the shoes of people we seem to see and hear about everyday, even though job security can be close to nil, long hours hours are regular for many, and there's a good chance of loosing many friends.

Wanting to become an investment banker isn't too different to wanting to become a doctor, or an engineer. All these professions are hard to define, for the sheer amount of sub professions found, and all are romanticised to a point (maybe not engineering so much ).

I really made this thread just to hear your opinions on teens these days wanting to enter the world of banking, and why you think them wanting to do that should be viewed differently to teens wanting to be doctors or engineers.
.

Is it just me or can nobody spell losing anymore?

[bigbottle]

(Original post by MissMuffin95)
Can somebody please clarify what Investment Banking is? Because I don't actually know...

I don't know either, do you deal with people's investments?

[MissMuffin95]

(Original post by bigbottle)
I don't know either, do you deal with people's investments?

Thats what I thought I wonder how many teens who say they want to be one actually know what it is

[The Polymath]

(Original post by MissMuffin95)
Can somebody please clarify what Investment Banking is? Because I don't actually know...

(Original post by bigbottle)
I don't know either, do you deal with people's investments?

I think investment banks don't allow you to store money.
It's all about making money from the stock market, I believe, as well as providing financial services such as advice to billionaires on how best to save their money, or helping firms to merge etc. They generally have nothing to do with poor people.

[dean01234]

Money...

One example I can think of were the economics and law classes at my secondary school, they lowered entry requirements but then the classes were awful and filled with people who couldn't do the subjects but took them hoping for excellent career prospects.

[apolocreed]

(Original post by Junaid96)
I think investment banks don't allow you to store money.
It's all about making money from the stock market, I believe, as well as providing financial services such as advice to billionaires on how best to save their money, or helping firms to merge etc. They generally have nothing to do with poor people.

Most banks have an investment section if I'm not mistaken. Banks essentially use your money to make more money on the market, and will also invest peoples money for them as a service...If gcse economics was anything to go by

[The Polymath]

(Original post by apolocreed)
Most banks have an investment section if I'm not mistaken. Banks essentially use your money to make more money on the market, and will also invest peoples money for them as a service...If gcse economics was anything to go by

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank#Types_of_banks

'nuff said. Wikipedia <=

But yeah, why do teens want to become investment bankers?

$$$$

[aalex]

Have you considered the amazing exit opportunities? The thing that investment banking is as boring and stressful as other jobs but paid a lot better? That some people actually like what they do (not necessarily in their first years)? I could go on and on, but it's not worth it.

I love how some investment banking haters who know nothing about it storm this kind of threads only to show how frustrated they are.

[DeeDub]

The majority of people in Investment Banks work on the Capital Markets side of the business. This includes the business of trading shares of companies like those listed on the London Stock Exchange. It also includes the relatively much larger Interest Rate swaps market and Foreign Exchange markets. These latter two are primarily used by companies wishing to manage financial risks they have within their business and also speculators who provide the market with liquidity.

Investment Banks themselves tend to be what is known as Market Makers and are obliged to publish prices at which they will buy and sell assets (whether the bank actually wants to buy or sell will be determined on the price they publish). This means other market participants are always able to trade at market prices (in theory, the credit crunch was example when this was not be case).

Proprietory trading is when the bank trades on its own account, it will go out into the market and take on additional risk in the belief that it can earn a return greater than that determined by the market price of risk. This is quite common but makes up a small portion of what Investment banks do.

[AishaTara]

i used to want to be a investment banker in yr 10 and the reason was, was that I loved maths and wanted to be rich. Now its a completely different story :P

[bigbottle]

(Original post by aalex)
Have you considered the amazing exit opportunities? The thing that investment banking is as boring and stressful as other jobs but paid a lot better? That some people actually like what they do (not necessarily in their first years)? I could go on and on, but it's not worth it.

I love how some investment banking haters who know nothing about it storm this kind of threads only to show how frustrated they are.

I don't see any hating ...

[sweetascandy]

(Original post by AishaTara)
i used to want to be a investment banker in yr 10 and the reason was, was that I loved maths and wanted to be rich. Now its a completely different story :P

This pretty much sums up this whole thread.
(+rep)

[Fires]

Why people want to go into 'Investment Banking'...


Greed?

[Herr]

(Original post by apolocreed)
Just lay off them...I can see where they're coming from. Most of us on tsr were in school when the recession hit, and we saw what it did, crippling major companies, completely destroying small businesses's, and since then (and yes, before) we have been bombarded with everything banking, everything money, everything stock...and it seeps in.

People everyday are loosing jobs, but bankers seem to just be cruising, making money, 'having fun' (hollywood, take a bow) and all it does it make people want to step into the shoes of people we seem to see and hear about everyday, even though job security can be close to nil, long hours hours are regular for many, and there's a good chance of loosing many friends.

Wanting to become an investment banker isn't too different to wanting to become a doctor, or an engineer. All these professions are hard to define, for the sheer amount of sub professions found, and all are romanticised to a point (maybe not engineering so much ).

I really made this thread just to hear your opinions on teens these days wanting to enter the world of banking, and why you think them wanting to do that should be viewed differently to teens wanting to be doctors or engineers.
.

Just to clarify a few inaccuracies with your post.

The interest in investment banking jobs has always been there long before the recession hit, it is just after the recession and the general bad press IBs had been receiving that suddenly a lot more people are aware of the high paying jobs in an IB as well as people suddenly being aware of people asking about such jobs, if TSR existed in the 90s then you'd notice that all the buzz at that time would be people wanting to go into web-development, law, anything to do with IT etc because those jobs paid big then for talent. Today there are just as many people asking about going into medicine or law, it used to be to say you want to go into law was as toxic as saying you want to go into IB today.

Every month there are plenty of IBs who lose their jobs, this happens not just in the bad years but also in the very good years, the main difference is these people usually can find another position with relative ease for as long as they have some decent skills and aren't too picky with regard to the roles they do. In some of the big American IBs you don't meet your KPI 3 months in a row, you get a P45, a particular one that is always in the media now, at some levels you miss your monthly target twice a year and you will have a P45 as well unless your manager or director likes you enough to keep you on the job.

The myth of high salaries at IBs, while they will pay for talent, not every part of the IB operation will command big salaries and many of the jobs you hear of that awards huge bonuses are either at a very senior level or you are just a plain star at a junior level. Getting to the senior level isn't easy, many crack from the pressure you face in an IB and eventually many just quit because they find they just aren't the type to be in an IB or they get kicked out.

[Fires]

Yeah, if you say so.

Monied background + Oxbridge + Cynical amoral attitude + Risk taker (ideally fueled by cocaine) = IB Success + Porsche + Tax evader + Monaco house + harem + death from heart attack at 34.

[apolocreed]

(Original post by Herr)
Just to clarify a few inaccuracies with your post.

The interest in investment banking jobs has always been there long before the recession hit, it is just after the recession and the general bad press IBs had been receiving that suddenly a lot more people are aware of the high paying jobs in an IB as well as people suddenly being aware of people asking about such jobs, if TSR existed in the 90s then you'd notice that all the buzz at that time would be people wanting to go into web-development, law, anything to do with IT etc because those jobs paid big then for talent. Today there are just as many people asking about going into medicine or law, it used to be to say you want to go into law was as toxic as saying you want to go into IB today.

Every month there are plenty of IBs who lose their jobs, this happens not just in the bad years but also in the very good years, the main difference is these people usually can find another position with relative ease for as long as they have some decent skills and aren't too picky with regard to the roles they do. In some of the big American IBs you don't meet your KPI 3 months in a row, you get a P45, a particular one that is always in the media now, at some levels you miss your monthly target twice a year and you will have a P45 as well unless your manager or director likes you enough to keep you on the job.

The myth of high salaries at IBs, while they will pay for talent, not every part of the IB operation will command big salaries and many of the jobs you hear of that awards huge bonuses are either at a very senior level or you are just a plain star at a junior level. Getting to the senior level isn't easy, many crack from the pressure you face in an IB and eventually many just quit because they find they just aren't the type to be in an IB or they get kicked out.

Thanks a lot for this.
I had a good feeling I was spewing in some points and this clears up quite a bit for me.

[fudgesundae]

(Original post by girlbanker)
I think this is a very mature question.

I have been in investment banking for 7-years and have recently published a book about getting into it. Why did I go into it? Well, if you go to read Economics at the University of Cambridge over 90% go into banking (the rest go into academia, management consultancy and Government) so peer influence is definitely part of the reason. I had never even heard of i-banking until my second year of Uni when I walked into the first lecture of that year and found everyone reading an FT.

In my book, To Become an Investment Banker, I give the following reasons that people go into IB:
1. A real interest in seeing economic principles at play. If you work in the capital markets of an investment bank you see the impact of news feeding into stats immediately. It can be very exciting.
2. A desire to learn more about business and finance. I have always wanted to start my own business. When I saw the type of stuff one learns in Corporate Finance, I thought it would help to make me a better person.
3. Experience in working with people of different cultures. I really LOVE meeting people of different cultures. I am from Malawi in Africa which is very much a monoculture. With 7-years as an i-banker,
I now have friends and acquaintances from India, Italy, France, Senegal, China, Kenya, Australia, Côte d'Ivoire, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Lebanon, Nigeria, Ghana, Pakistan, Iran, Morocco, Greece, Cyprus, Malaysia, the UK (obviously) and, of course, the US of A.
4. Meritocracy. In banking I always felt my brains mattered more than my skin colour, I am black.
5. Influence and social responsibility. Some of us have grand hopes and desires for the world. The most direct way to contribute is with money. You can follow in the footsteps of Warren Buffet and Bill Gates who have earned large fortunes and have chosen to donate much of that to good causes. Your contribution can extend beyond donating money. You can use the financial skills that you develop to devise a lasting solution to poverty.
6. Getting that start-up capital. Some people are fortunate enough to find backers for their world-changing idea from the get go. Many others have to start off by themselves before they’re recognized enough to get any capital. A lot of people go into banking just for that reason, to save enough to start their own business.

I chat a lot more about the above in my book but I think this answers your question reasonably well. Feel free to ask me more.

Best
Heather Katsonga-Woodward (a.k.a. Girl Banker)

That just isn't true. Even back in 06/07 it was only 55% or so.