17 year old who wants to become an investment banker, where do I start?

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Sounds interesting, any suggestions where I should start? I've little knowledge of Economics but am taking for A-Level come September.

The Khan Academy videos on the causes of the financial crisis are a pretty good jumping off point for someone who doesn't know much about it.

Reply 21

Vorsah

I think first you need to sharpen your knowledge on IB, then try getting into a target uni.

Other than that unless u have a friend or family member who works in IB or knows someone, u can't do much right now.

Good luck.

Reply 22

Taylor9

Quite a ridiculous post in all honesty. Sums up what's wrong with society.

I've had an interest in economics since a young young age (sounds sad), but I then built career desires/ambitions around a passion, not the other way around.

In all honesty, from personal experience, it's not about doing Economics or a degree in Economics that'll get you a job in investment banking, it's about the way you think. Most of the people I know in the city studied something completely different/unrelated at university but are very sharp, are quick learners, and good at Math. Eg. someone did Chem at Oxford. Don't assume that a degree or interest in Economics or trading will guarentee you a job in the city, and besides that, the year extra will put you behind with relation to your chances of getting into a top 6 university. Hope this helps...

Reply 23

Stray

Oh blimey, I misinterpreted your title as:

"17 year old (not me) who wants to become an investment banker... *sigh* ... where do I start (with talking some sense in to him)?"

Do some maths. Abandon all sense of societal fairness, collective responsibility, meaningful endeavour etc. Work on ensuring that you're sufficiently arrogant to withstand the environment you'll be working in without gagging. Develop enormous capacity for self-delusion so as not to eventually fall in to a pit of despair about the insanity of a society that lets nurses and carers, without whom people would die, scrape by on a pittance while people who play giant games of monopoly with other people's money are rewarded with riches when their gambles pay off, yet never have to risk making a loss.

Did I say all that out loud? Oh... apparently I did.

Being serious - economics degree? But hopefully along the way you'll realise that "rational" economics is anything but rational.

Edit: no doubt there are some reasonable people who have, for some reason, ended up working in the city - perhaps in ethical investment. But the majority are not like that, and you only have to listen in for a few hours in city cafes and bars to realise this.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 24

bmqib

Start by getting admitted into the best university in the world, i.e. UCL. Go on from there.

Reply 25

iSoftie

Wake up at 7; answer a phone call; sit on your ass; stare at a PC with 4 monitors and get a few pennies...

Reply 26

Vorsah

Original post by iSoftie

Wake up at 7; answer a phone call; sit on your ass; stare at a PC with 4 monitors and get a few pennies...

If you don't have anything think useful that can help, can you not comment.

Reply 27

Kerpal

Original post by hazard404

however currently I have no knowledge whatsoever about how it all works, no perceivable knowledge about the stock market, I'm sure you get the picture.

With all due respect, this made me laugh. You have no clue about banking but you've decided you want to be in it? On what basis?

I presume all the negative headlines have got you enormously motivated to work 6am until 7pm at a job you have no knowledge on?

Have you ever walked on hot coals? If you haven't, I can presume you know nothing about this either and thus, could convince yourself you want to do this too?

I'd start by finding out what the structure of an IB is - how do they split up and how do the different sections make money. From there on, reading the newspapers and books like Liar's Poker/Monkey Business/F.I.A.S.C.O will be a decent place to go afterwards.

Reply 28

PlusMinus

This thread is ridiculous. 90% of the posters seem to have no clue about banking (and yeah fyi, trading is a different thing) and more than 95% of the posters haven't ever set a foot in the door of a bank..

Reply 29

Pride

Don't tell me, you wanted to do medicine and become a doctor first.

Now you're retaking your ASes to get into economics and 'become an a investment banker'!

by the way, you know the highly-ranked schools that you need to get into to get into investment banking won't like you taking an extra year to do your A-levels?

Reply 30

sw3

think of it as a competition. Your peers are your competition. You must wipe the floor with them academically, recreationally and socially. Only then will you stand a chance of becoming an investment banker. To become a banker, you must eat, sleep, talk and walk like a banker. Good luck in your quest.