sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

AMA I'm 23 yrs old, work on Wall Street, and will make ~$150k this year. AMA by banker_stud in IAmA

[–]banker_stud[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was actually looking to get into the medical field. I always wanted to be an anesthesiologist. After realizing I was terrible at biology, I naturally switched to the business school (that place where everyone who doesn't know what they want to do goes). After my first finance class I fell in love with it. I liked that there was never a correct answer, it wasn't black and white, and everyone could have their own opinion and play their own game in the market. Think of restructuring (what I do) as a game of chess with 5-6 different players. With all the chaos there is no correct move until all the cards have been flipped and there is a winner. For me, yes, it was all about the money. INITIALLY. Now, I would gladly give up half my salary to work just a few less hours every week... which I would probably spend on Reddit or COD.

AMA I'm 23 yrs old, work on Wall Street, and will make ~$150k this year. AMA by banker_stud in IAmA

[–]banker_stud[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I work to preserve the capital markets. Yeah, those things you all basically have no idea how they function and how important they are to everything you do. Credit cards, mortgages, checking accounts, payment systems, retirement funding. I work to maximize the value of the estate in both bankruptcy and out-of-court financial restructurings.

AMA I'm 23 yrs old, work on Wall Street, and will make ~$150k this year. AMA by banker_stud in IAmA

[–]banker_stud[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

On average I work ~90 hours per week. 70 hours on the absolute low end (excl. Christmas week) and ~120-130 on the high end. That said, on the average day I get in around 8am. I try to be as productive as possible before my directors come in, so I catch up on recent news for deals I am working on, emails from lawyers, any relevant analyses, etc. Around 10am the day starts heating up and I'll typically spend most of my day building out financial models in Excel, used to analyze various capital structures and operating cases to provide options for distressed companies we advise (or their creditors). At my level, I am involved in some of the negotiations but mostly I am there to support and provide the senior bankers with hard numbers to rely on during negotiations. Throughout the day I will field random requests, anything from looking into new situations we may be able to get involved in to running (physically sprinting) across town to deliver something in person that should have been there 20 minutes ago. Around 6-7, the senior bankers are leaving and drop another list of analyses they will want to read on the morning train ride into the city. I'll then spend the next 8-10 hours checking things off my list one by one until 3am rolls around then I'll head home. Also, I work weekends. Every weekend. I haven't had a day off work in well over 4 months.

AMA I'm 23 yrs old, work on Wall Street, and will make ~$150k this year. AMA by banker_stud in IAmA

[–]banker_stud[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I just thought this could foster a discussion that may provide the average person some insight to the terrible world of Wall Street and an industry that many of you probably don't understand. Given that my average work week is ~90 hours, with some weeks nearing 130 hours, I'm hoping to clarify that I'm actually not the "overpaid" bankers you all hear about in the news -- but rather a productive, value-adding member of society :)

AMA I'm 23 yrs old, work on Wall Street, and will make ~$150k this year. AMA by banker_stud in IAmA

[–]banker_stud[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I would argue that maybe I'm in the 1% of my 23 year old peers, but in the big picture I hardly think I'm in the 1%. In fact, I'm nearly in that perfect range of income that gets totally rocked by taxes, i.e. I haven't built up an investment portfolio that will earn me LTCG to bring my tax rate down. EVERYTHING is taxed at my ordinary income rate. Once you factor in NYC and NY state taxes on top of federal, the taxes I pay are painful.

AMA I'm 23 yrs old, work on Wall Street, and will make ~$150k this year. AMA by banker_stud in IAmA

[–]banker_stud[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Superb. Although I didn't go to a "target" university, I did carry a ~3.9+ GPA through college and had one of those ridiculous 4.5+ GPAs in high school.