GUEST COMMENT: Investment banks should offer apprenticeships

@Jackal

1. Hahahaha! That sounds like the tyical Investment Banker mentality. I guess they had to earn their BSD label from somewhere lol,

2. You have a good point there and I am more and more inclined to quit working and put myself 100% into my business. At the moment, I probably dedicate about 25% of my time into it and I still make more money than I do from a wage. I even potential investors and I have had interest from a VC who is willing to invest in me.

4. Interesting, I have never dabbled in currencies myself yet but I have traded in the capital markets and made huge margins of profit! I actually enjoy arbitraging and I certainly have an eye for deals, I find my age the biggest problem though because being 21 means I dont get to chase the opportunities I see in the property markets or anything that requires large capital outlay upfront! I have still managed to profit from the property market though even without buying lol so I cant be too bad.

Elite job hey? I am guessing either PE or HF? And aren't the people in those fields the ones who were really successful in IB and went off to set up their own shop?

@ Student

1. Peer pressure is enormous in banking. If you are a successful banker (or want to be seen as one) you cannot afford to rent an apartment / house below a certain level. Most bankers spend what they earn on rent / mortgage, nice cars, current and ex-wives, fancy restaurants. They don't save for rainy days which will certainly come more often than expected.

2. If you already run your own business, focus on growing it. It is much better to be a business owner / employer than an employee.

3. I don't work in IB. I know some IB guys and trust me, they are slaves who work 7/24.

4. I trade the Forex markets for my own account and make 3-4 times my last banking salary. Trading can be very relaxing if you know how to do it. I spend less than 60 mins per day in front of my computer. Once you are consistently profitable, its big FUN!

Be careful with what you wish for. I made a huge effort to get into what I regarded as an elite job within finance. Four years later I was happy to jump without a parachute (a new job offer), I was so sick of everything and everybody.

@Jackal- Operations is full of stupid, lazy and useless people! With some of my colleagues, when I have a conversation with them, I can feel my brain cells just jumping out of my head! And trust me, the people I work with, you would question their ability...but to answer your question- I want to be an Investment Banker because I like creating deals, I like to come up with new schemes to get money out of people, I want to be in Corporate Finance and I want to be looking for deals and pitching for business, that is what excites me more than sitting in front of an Excel spreadsheet for 20hours a day. And yes, I am prepared to work long hours, even now, I work long hours, I do my course work and operate my own business as well. So I can definitely meet the long hours and put in the hard work. I am quite surprised to hear that a lot of people in the industry being in debt though, is this because they get their bonuses and then decide to go and buy a multimillion pound houses etc? And which area do you work in? I would guess you to be in M&A or Advisory as you seem to have first hand experience of working the long hours and Traders don't generally work longer than 12hour days, right?

@ Student - If you are successful in operations, why do you want to work in IB? Do you really want to work 20 hours a day, 7 days a week? Do you work to live or live to work? Most investment bankers are slaves who are deeply in debt despite their high earnings.

@Jackal- As my comments state- I asked for constructive feedback! Example of constructive feedback you could have offered- "Student, maybe you should consider doing a full time course from a top 5 school before considering a move into Investment Banking, this is because in my time within Investment Banking, I do not know of any Banker who's come out of a Distance Learning program!" or something along those lines. Secondly, having never met me or know anything about me, you have the impression that I am too sensitive to be an Investment Banker?? I can be far more ruthless and far more cut throat than anybody from Oxbridge! You have never met me nor worked with me, what right does that give you to judge me? If you think I am not smart enough, you would again be wrong, I completed A Levels in Mathematics, Economics and Accounting without going to any classes or lectures, I did this whilst I was working full time too! I managed to get promoted at a young age, I have a bright future ahead of me whether I become an Investment Banker or not, a real star will shine whether its dark or not!