Morning Coffee: How to make $175k a year without exhausting yourself in finance. Deutsche Bank's most fancy client entertainment

However interested you are in finance - however it may be that macroeconomic analysis keeps you up at night, it's still true to say that a lot of people come into the industry because of the pay. After all, there are few other jobs where you can earn around £90k ($118k) for your first year out of university and where managing directors (of whom there are thousands) routinely earn $1m+.

And yet, for every six 22-year-olds who fancy their luck in a front-office finance job, only around three usually remain four years later. Finance has a high burn rate. It also has notoriously long hours. 

So, what if you could still earn good money relative to societal norms without overdoing it on PowerPoint presentations at 2am or morning meetings while most people are still in bed? Enter the role of Walmart manager. It's local. It doesn't involve clients who call on Sunday evenings. And...it pays surprisingly well. 

This latter revelation was made in Walmart's social responsibility report, released on Monday. As the Wall Street Journal notes, this says that the average Walmart store manager earns $175k a year, which sounds surprisingly generous - even if it is on a par with the amount you'll be earning around three and a half years into an investment banking career. 

This isn't the first time supermarkets have been found to be good payers. Budget supermarket Aldi famously began offering its first year UK graduate hires a £42k starting salary and an Audi A4 in 2015, rising to £70k four years later.

Presuming, then, that you've been snagged by the allure of managing food logistics, what does it take to become a Walmart manager on $175k (and maybe more - another report puts it at $250k in a successful store after bonuses)? Walmart's social responsibility report doesn't say, but 'sources on the internet' suggest it takes five years or more if you approach it bottom-up. Alternatively, you could always go through Walmart's elite student and MBA programs (which also boast of its generous pay). 

Naturally, there are downsides. Firstly: it's Walmart, which doesn't quite have the ring of Goldman Sachs. Secondly, it's still pretty corporate (you'll be summoned to town hall meetings). And thirdly, you'll still be expected to work long hours. - Aldi openly says it expects its new graduates to work 50 hours a week - and on Glassdoor there are complaints who say that Walmart managers' pay is great but there is, "zero work life balance."

Sound familiar? - No large pay packet is without its downsides. 

Separately, we now know what to expect from Deutsche Bank if the German bank sniffs an opportunity to make some money. Bloomberg reports upon a case involving Deutsche Bank, a Dutch housing company called Stichting Vestia, and a Stichting Vestia employee called Marcel de Vries.

Deutsche stands accused of wooing de Vries as a client with a package of treats comprising a meal and then an outing to Boujis, a chichi London nightclub, where the coterie reportedly drank bottles of vodka and Dom Perignon champagne. Thus-indulged De Vries subsequently placed derivative trades which lost Vestia €2bn, most of which were placed through Deutsche Bank. Vestia is now questioning whether De Vries' actions were, "motivated solely by the best interests of Vestia when he traded with Deutsche Bank while being entertained by them at a cricket match or shortly after dinner and a night out at Boujis."

Meanwhile:

In a possible sign that it thinks the strategy is too risky after all, Goldman Sachs is going to ease-up on making unsecured loans through its new Marcus retail bank. (Financial News) 

Citi is looking for someone to head its innovation labs which apply artificial intelligence, machine learning and natural language processing across the bank. (Business Insider) 

Bonuses may be down 15% and 20% in equity trading this year, by the same in underwriting, and by between 10% and 15% in fixed income trading. They might be up in M&A and private equity. (Financial News) 

Actually, no one is bursting to merge with Commerzbank. (Reuters) 

Centerview hired Goldman MD Tyler Brooke. (Reuters) 

The importance of the Patagonia vest is that it is both an evolution of the business-casual costume and a reversion to the waistcoat of the ancient three-piece suit. (New Yorker) 

In a court case that could have big implications for pay in Europe, a French banker is arguing that deferred bonuses should not be legal. (Bloomberg) 

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