The Student Room Group

Is it worth "ruining" your life with investment banking?

Firstly this is a neutral post, so any IB's please dont flame me =P

We know people who do IB need to work initially 100 hours a week, which is about 14 hours a day or so.

We all know IB wages are bizarrely crazy, but is it really worth retiring at 40 because you've earned your £3mln?

Personally I'd prefer to earn a regular wage of around £40k a year without too much stress and carry on being a laptop trader which I am now at the age of 19 (for which I get **** loads of money but it provides irregular income- can be up to £450 in a day, 2-3 times in a month, or just once a month) and enjoy my social life, spend time with my family, kids, blah blah blah.

I'm not saying that you can't do these things if you're into IB, as the hours eventually decrease, but to what extent?

Perhaps my knowledge of IB isn't sufficient to make any judgements, which is why I'd appreciate feedback.

All views are appreciated.

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Reply 1
2late
Firstly this is a neutral post, so any IB's please dont flame me =P

We know people who do IB need to work initially 100 hours a week, which is about 14 hours a day or so.

We all know IB wages are bizarrely crazy, but is it really worth retiring at 40 because you've earned your £3mln?

Personally I'd prefer to earn a regular wage of around £40k a year without too much stress and carry on being a laptop trader which I am now at the age of 19 (for which I get **** loads of money but it provides irregular income- can be up to £450 in a day, 2-3 times in a month, or just once a month) and enjoy my social life, spend time with my family, kids, blah blah blah.

I'm not saying that you can't do these things if you're into IB, as the hours eventually decrease, but to what extent?

Perhaps my knowledge of IB isn't sufficient to make any judgements, which is why I'd appreciate feedback.

All views are appreciated.

Anything can ruin your life. IB is a career, people in different industries work those sorts of hours constantly. I know students working 2 jobs all be it not for 10 years but they do longer then 14 hour days.

There is no such thing as a free meal in life. Anyone who wants to make serious money will work their socks off. granted there are exceptions. What a lot of people on this specific board don't realise is you can get a somewhat similar salary by doing less work in other industries.
Reply 2
There are some people that actually crave stress and need a fast paced environment to feel alive. There are alot of people in IB FO that love their job, it suits them, their lifestyles, etc. It always boils down to the type of individual you are, if you see an IB environment as stressfull then you may need to consider doing something else.

We know people who do IB need to work initially 100 hours a week, which is about 14 hours a day or so.


Do we? Plenty of divisions where you work sub-60 hours a week and earn as much, if not more, than the IBD people.
Reply 4
Sub-60? I've heard of 60-70 hour weeks, but none yet sub-60 in front office. Is that normal?
Reply 5
sunnys
There are some people that actually crave stress and need a fast paced environment to feel alive. There are alot of people in IB FO that love their job, it suits them, their lifestyles, etc. It always boils down to the type of individual you are, if you see an IB environment as stressfull then you may need to consider doing something else.


They like pressure :smile:

stress is when you are not able to deal with the pressure :smile:
Drogue
Sub-60? I've heard of 60-70 hour weeks, but none yet sub-60 in front office. Is that normal?

I'm sub-60, quite a bit of Equities, FX and Commodities is, some parts of the latter are ~50.
Reply 7
2late, I used to think the same as you, until I started full-time work. When you start full-time work, you think, right, now I'm earning all this money, what do I spend it on?

You realise it'll take you 25 years to buy a house for you to own, and you'll have to struggle whilst doing that, when you could be working abit harder(I already work 10-11 hour days where I work) and earn exponentially more.
'ruining you life' is a bit strong isn't it? If people don't like it fair enough, they don't need to do it but no one is going to ruin their lives by it, they can just quit and get some average paid job easily with the qualifications they have attained.
tazmanmaniac
'ruining you life' is a bit strong isn't it? If people don't like it fair enough, they don't need to do it but no one is going to ruin their lives by it, they can just quit and get some average paid job easily with the qualifications they have attained.



I would consider working hardcore for maybe 10 years if I could retire at 33 but not all the way til 40 because IMO most of the best years of your life are probably over by then!

Also is there any gurantee you could have saved enough to retire properly (assuming the avg banker earns tons by the time they are 40)

Right now I am thinking I will go part time when I am 40 even if I am on 40k a year (so half it to 20k) - I would be happy to earn half as much but have way more spare time. Ideally freelancing would be best so you can work when you want to I suppose.
Reply 10
x.narb.x
2late, I used to think the same as you, until I started full-time work. When you start full-time work, you think, right, now I'm earning all this money, what do I spend it on?

You realise it'll take you 25 years to buy a house for you to own, and you'll have to struggle whilst doing that, when you could be working abit harder(I already work 10-11 hour days where I work) and earn exponentially more.

I'm not sure that's always the case though. Over the summer I never had to work more than a 9 hour day, and that was just a couple of times to get my project finished, and the pay was (or rather, will be when full time) pretty nice. Sure, it's not IB pay, but per hour it's probably more, at least for the first couple of years.
Reply 11
I work 37.5 hours per week and find it absoutely tiresome (including 2.5hr travel each day); I just about secure enough time for myself in the evenings and weekend. 50 hrs seems a bit extreme IMO, let alone bleedin' 100.

Of course, I'm sure 99% of TSR would beg to differ...
Drogue
I'm not sure that's always the case though. Over the summer I never had to work more than a 9 hour day, and that was just a couple of times to get my project finished, and the pay was (or rather, will be when full time) pretty nice. Sure, it's not IB pay, but per hour it's probably more, at least for the first couple of years.


where and whats the pay like for the first few years?

will it stay like that once you go proper full time?
Reply 13
jojo72
where and whats the pay like for the first few years?

The FSA, and starting salary is £27500+bonus+benefits (usually works out around £32500 or so for the first year), rising to £40-50,000 plus bonus/etc. over 3 years. No, it's nowhere near IB range, but considering you'd never have to work more than 40 hours a week, (unless you go to manager level with a rather large pay increase), it's pretty decent.

jojo72
will it stay like that once you go proper full time?

Just finished the internship, am very tempted to go onto the grad programme. It's either that or further study, depending on what my tutors advise and how I take to econometrics.
Reply 14
Dimez
I work 37.5 hours per week and find it absoutely tiresome (including 2.5hr travel each day); I just about secure enough time for myself in the evenings and weekend. 50 hrs seems a bit extreme IMO, let alone bleedin' 100.

Of course, I'm sure 99% of TSR would beg to differ...


i don't think it is the work you find tiring though, I would say the travelling has the worst effect. If you worked 2 extra hours a day, and only had 15 mins commute, I believe your outlook of a 50 hour working week might be different.
Reply 15
You're probably right. Waking up early and the 1.15hr travel each way is probably what is making me tired, after all, I don't undertake any laborious tasks at work!
Sales and trading roles are usually from 7 AM to 6 PM...definitely not 100 hours per week.
Reply 17
I can never imagine myself waking up at 5-6AM every morning for most of my life. Kudos to anyone who can. :wink:
Who says they want to be a banker for their entire life?
Drogue
The FSA, and starting salary is £27500+bonus+benefits (usually works out around £32500 or so for the first year), rising to £40-50,000 plus bonus/etc. over 3 years. No, it's nowhere near IB range, but considering you'd never have to work more than 40 hours a week, (unless you go to manager level with a rather large pay increase), it's pretty decent.


Just finished the internship, am very tempted to go onto the grad programme. It's either that or further study, depending on what my tutors advise and how I take to econometrics.



Hold the phone! They are a gov agency but offer private medical as a benefit? shocking! :smile: