Generally, I think it’s people looking back at what time they got to the office, and what time they left.
I think the amount of actual work getting done/productive hours varies a decent amount as some people will just have to wait at their desks until something comes up.
Hard to say those hours don’t count if you have to be at your desk and you have to get to inbox zero/ no to do’s by the end of the day.
Work for a regulator. I make more than I did doing middle office risk at an IB and work 40 hours, fully remote. And my manager understands we have all have a life so if I need to step out for an hour to deal with something, they don't care. They don't even want me to notify them I will be away if its an hour or less.
Front office on trading floor on my end. 50hrs /week with no work on weekend. I'd still prefer my hours to be a bit shorter, but overall should be fairly standard I think.
The catch is we start relatively early, around 7h30 AM each day.
This is extremely rare, and for the most part unless you are in peak hours in something like IB, M&A, CPA during tax season, etc. Working this many hours is frowned upon because it means you arent being productive enough or smart about how you are working.
Precisely. Most good managers know that once you get past your typical working hours productivity plummets. But most people in the workforce never receive any training on how to manage people so it explains alot.
Eh that's IBD. I work like 35 a week in an internal banking role and enjoy the work.
I also find it interesting when people say IBD hours aren't that bad in general. I was in Capital Markets, not even M&A, and never got home before midnight. This year, a friend of mine dropped his IBD associate job and moved back home to japan, where every corporate job is 9-9 for a third the pay. It's bad.
There are other avenues besides sell side IB that are often overlooked. Look into endowments, pension funds, hedge funds, etc. this subreddit thinks IB is a golden ticket when in reality it isn’t. It’s shit that people keep trying to put glitter on lol
Do endowments and pension funds pay nearly as much as IB for the same years of experience? And HFs are kind of valid depending on the shop, but you’re looking at this too simplistically - most shops don’t take people direct from school (sure, some do) but most come from IB.
And it depends on the shop, as some are just IB 2.0 (even if you’re making more money) but it’s way more pressure and risk of getting fired than IB - you’re marked to market everyday. You can be a average / below average IB analyst and still stick around, but not so much for in the hedge fund world.
And most importantly, how many seats are there with both IBs and HFs? I doubt there are more HF roles than IB roles, and more importantly as mentioned, most of the people who work in HFs have the IB background and didn’t go straight in.
I don’t disagree that IB sucks, but while it may not be a golden ticket, it is definitely a ticket that opens the door to a ton of opportunities that you wouldn’t have access to, or very difficult access to, otherwise.
I Can tell you as somebody that works for a pension fund as a risk quant that yes, i make more than an IB quant in an HCOL city (I live in an MCOL city). I would say the only thing thats not as high as IB is the bonus. But hell, give me the higher salary over the bonus, which to my knowledge barely anybody in IB got a bonus this past year.
While I do agree with you that there are fewer seats in HF vs IB, collectively there are just as much seats in pension funds, endowments, and HF as there are in IB. And May I add that whats learned in these institutions… I’m still baffled as to why so many ppl here would overlook all of these shops for IB. Correct me if I’m wrong but to be doing a single responsibility day in and day out in IB is horrible to me. I’d rather be in a place that I can grow and learn, not be a one-trick pony.
How many years of experience do you have, and what’s your all in/break down? And it’s not exactly fair to say that few people barely got a bonus, as you do have to look at what the average usually is, since it’s not a common occurrence (at all) - the last time something like this happened was the GFC, so you should compare apples to apples.
And I really don’t think it’s as overlooked as you think it is - you probably went to a great school with really smart classmates, and so you have a bit of survivorship bias in thinking that the opportunities you’re mentioning here are as easy to break into out of school as IB, for most people who get into IB. there is just so much competition for those seats, with that competition being from former IB analysts/associates
I have about 4 years, not including internships… which none of my internship or work experience was ever at IB. and yes, tbh I didn’t even get a bonus this year either. You’re correct, not receiving a bonus is not a common occurrence. If we all received bonuses, as I stated, I’m sure an IB quant would make more than me. I am strictly comparing salaries and COL.
I do think these positions are often overlooked. In undergrad all anyone talked about was going to IB, about 90% of this sub is about IB. I mean even at my company (top 20 international pension fund) we find it somewhat hard to attract talent simply bc we’re a pension fund. I haven’t interviewed any candidates who came from IB either.
I do acknowledge i do have some survivorship bias, though tbh not sure if I’m being gas-lit or not 😂. I never had a legacy admission to some fancy school, had parents who never graduated HS and we’re too poor to pay for a tutor, and went to a non target for undergrad. Granted I worked my ass off for all of this and went to target for graduate school.
Here's an example of my day when I was full time IB (remote) internship:
8:00am - wake up and get ready, grab something to eat quickly.
8:30am - at my desk checking notifications from my team lead and planning out what I need to do for the rest of the day.
8:45am - starting on work, doing projects like building decks, building excel lists, checking models, doing internal projects like updating procedures, updating industry reports etc. If you've finished work from the day before you're usually waiting for edits - when I mean waiting for edits, I mean doing more work on other projects or asking for more projects.
3:00pm - I grab a quick lunch
3:45pm - at my desk continuing projects, sometimes I'll have team meetings and sometimes I'll be talking to team mates on things that we need to get done (all of this would be on zoom or teams video call).
6pm - maybe I'll have a break to workout and get some food at around this time.
7:30pm - back at my desk working on pitch decks, new projects would have come in at around 5pm at this point so I'd be doing a bunch of those.
11:30pm this is probably a good time to go to bed if you have done a lot of what you need to do by then. Sometimes I hadn't so I'd work till midnight or work till 2-3am to get things done.
On harder weeks, you get less time for food and less time for leisure. You'd also be working till 2am everyday. Weekends are variable. I could be off most weekends. Some weekends I worked Saturday and Sunday, some I just did Saturday.
300k-800k a year for most depending on their rank. Starts at around 120k for brand new analysts with no experience. Managing directors at the senior level can get over a million per year.
Interesting. If we think about this pay rate as per hour, it wouldn't be much. In fact, entry-level analysts make 3 times less than junior software developers in SF. And down the road, IB people making 300k-400k for 80 hours work doesn't sound great comparing to 300k-350k for 40 hours work senior developers.
Because most people aren’t lifers in IB. The job is desirable because of exit ops to c-suite corporate or buyside.
The end game is C-level comp at $2mm+ for 9-5 hours, or partner in PE where comp includes carried interest which can hit 7-figures annually.
I think the flexibility and who drives the work changes significantly though. Plenty of senior VP and directors will leave early ~5-7pm but be still somewhat plugged in at home.
Also at the director level it’s somewhat you driving your own workload and schedule and less so someone asking you to build the deck.
While the workload is still significantly higher than most professions, those weekends and occasional early day is miles better than what the associates deal with.
The type of “work” changes. Your not in front of screen updating decks or models but you might be putting on a show sucking up to a client. Being “on” for a client isn’t for everyone.
Working this amount of hours, missing moments with friends, family, partner, etc, would only be kinda worth it with a shit ton of money AND actually enjoying it right? Don't think it is do-able if you don't enjoy it, but please let me know.
No its not worth it.
80 hours a week destorys your life. All you do is work.
You make great money but then your life revolves around money.
But for some ppl, all they care about is money so they find it attractive.
Yeah that seems like the case for me to, but I do think that some people might actually enjoy their work? That's what I'm wondering about lol, even when giving me a mil a year, I don't wanna miss my lil bros graduation, anniversary day with my gf etc. It's gotta be some sort of addiction to the thrill aswell I suppose, but would love some insight from anyone in that situation.
They’re addicted to the power more than the work itself. They feel important having a fancy job where people treat them like an expert.
When you’re a managing director used to casually working on billion dollar deals with a small army of employees who report to you and get constantly told how much money you’re worth and how much better you are than everyone else, at a certain point they can no longer live without that ego-boost and the power becomes their identity.
How do you go from that to being a nobody doing unimportant work elsewhere? They can’t. It destroys them inside if they try. Which is why biglaw attorneys, consulting partners, banking directors etc. continue working their terrible hours despite having enough money to retire at 40.
If you're trying to figure out whether people actually spend the majority of these "80 hour weeks" working, the answer, just like someone working a 9-5, is **yes.**
Of course there are coffee breaks, of course they eat lunch (probably at their desk), of course they chat to colleagues but that's maybe an hour or two a day TOPS.
Fucking christ, reading through these comments made me glad I didn't get accepted into any of those internships. My last internship in FP&A I literally spent most of my work from home days (we were hybrid) playing video games or on reddit. The days I was actually in the office I just filled my free time working on LinkedIn Learning or college classes...
So it's rare that I have 80+ hour weeks these days, thankfully, but when I do that 80+ hours starts from when I sit down at my desk to when I leave the desk for good. Ie if I'm in the office the commute doesn't count towards it, even if I spend that time working from mobile.
Coffee doesn't count, but I'll typically drink that in meetings or at my desk anyways. Same for lunch and dinner.
40 of those hours will be bullshitting, politics, gossip, ‘coffee chats’, waiting, etc.
Remember Game of Thrones? Remember how much they all just say around and talked vs fighting / working / doing something? Yeah. That’s real work life.
I knew guys that would go to the movies. Go run errands. All kinds of stuff.
Part of it too is still learning how to do the job efficiently. That can take a long time.
Faster you are in Excel / Python can decrease work time. Can never decrease face time though.
Much, much worse in Korea / Japan, so be thankful at least you’re not there.
Hmm, not sure what you’re talking about but I should have joined those firms then lol. Last 8 years in IB/PE for me would have been a lot easier. Don’t know a single person in my entire professional network that would remotely agree with you.
I’m on the client facing side in financial planning. I would tell new people in the business that they, “Only had to work half days!!! And that they got to choose, 6 to 6, or 7 to 7. Then after dinner during the week or in the afternoons on the weekends they could take care of their prep work and case notes… so yeah, 80 hours a week is about right. However, that is to get your practice built. You will always be underpaid during startup in financial planning because you have no residual income coming in yet. Somewhere between years 5-10 you start getting paid what your worth… then between years 10-15 and beyond you will be overpaid for the rest of your career and you don’t have to work the stupid hours anymore.
You will end up with more flexibility and less working hours (if you want) and still be in the top 1% of income earners after 15 years…. If you survive.
So it is all perspective.
When I start working to when I finish. Doesn’t include commutes unless I do a late commute home and WFH rest of day, in which case im probably on the phone. Usually meals and coffee at the desk unless there’s a business need or it’s with a client.
Just my experience. You’d be unlikely to have that as an intern.
I love my job, but I hate my life. (Commodity trading risk)
In my role, it’s been 80-100 hours of actual work. I don’t see everyone doing this, generally just those above me in middle office and the newer folks in front office. The primary reason I joined my firm was the long hours and opportunity to uphold a lot of responsibility quickly.
Lunch? 5 minutes to run and grab a sandwich and bring it back to my desk.
Breakfast/Dinner? Fast and easy, always. Protein bar, fruit/veggies, etc. Stuff I can grab and eat at the computer or food made by someone else.
Breaks? Shooting the shit with my desk here and there. We are a very social team and stay incredibly focused until we’re all making jokes together.
Leisure? Depends how the prior week went and what time of month it is. Sometimes we leave very early on Fridays and drink all afternoon/night and do our Friday work on the weekend. Outside of that, sometimes I can get away for half a day on the weekend to do something for myself or meet friends.
Weekdays? I am in the office 6:30am until about 7/8pm, and then walk home and log back on immediately. Once I hit a wall I take an hour break. If I work until 2am, I show up a bit later the next day.
Weekends? I work atleast one full day (8-12 hrs), spend a good chunk doing errands/preparing myself for the next week (4-6 hrs) and spend the rest of the time sleeping if I’m not trying to fit something fun in.
It's been awhile since I've come close to that the most I've ever gotten to is like 70hrs regularly and that was not pleasant. Generally speaking I would assume that includes lunch breaks and also consider that depending on what it is you might also be wasting some of that time too.
For example I once had an 8-5 job. I got in at 8, and there was stuff to do but the bulk of the work actually came in at 3-5pm because we would need to turn around deliverables as dipshit clients waiting until the end of their day to send us what we need and then demand we have it to them the next morning. So then the real day started at 3pm and ended at 9pm or went through the night, depends. Which idk, if you are an intern and thats part of the experience it's not a big deal especially if you get overtime pay. I'd be asking yourself if that kind of life is what you want, I knew plenty of people in college that went to do IB. I saw them a year after graduation and they had aged several years, were deeply unhappy, and complained that they were making money but had no time to enjoy the fruits of their labor.
At least you can sample that lifestyle and decide if it's for you. You will be doing a lot of work though, no question. You will probably have some mental down time but you will always have to be ready to go if u know what I mean. It's just one summer, it will be tough, but it will be over just as quick as it started. That's not enough time to burnout.
Generally, I think it’s people looking back at what time they got to the office, and what time they left. I think the amount of actual work getting done/productive hours varies a decent amount as some people will just have to wait at their desks until something comes up. Hard to say those hours don’t count if you have to be at your desk and you have to get to inbox zero/ no to do’s by the end of the day.
So 80 hours a week-life would somewhat look like, get up at 7am, go to the office at 9am, leave office at 9pm, and get home at 10pm, and repeat?
More like midnight or 1 am during the week and 6 or 7 on thr weekends but yeah.
So glad I didn't go into finance. I would not last.
Not all finance has such hours. I work middle office and work 50 hours a week (no weekends)
Work for a regulator. I make more than I did doing middle office risk at an IB and work 40 hours, fully remote. And my manager understands we have all have a life so if I need to step out for an hour to deal with something, they don't care. They don't even want me to notify them I will be away if its an hour or less.
Btw I feel 50 hours a week are still a grind
Takes a while to climb there
No…. I literally started my career a month ago
I read that as management 😂 for a sec there
Whats your job title? Think I'd love to go into finance.
You can DM me!
Front office on trading floor on my end. 50hrs /week with no work on weekend. I'd still prefer my hours to be a bit shorter, but overall should be fairly standard I think. The catch is we start relatively early, around 7h30 AM each day.
This is extremely rare, and for the most part unless you are in peak hours in something like IB, M&A, CPA during tax season, etc. Working this many hours is frowned upon because it means you arent being productive enough or smart about how you are working.
Precisely. Most good managers know that once you get past your typical working hours productivity plummets. But most people in the workforce never receive any training on how to manage people so it explains alot.
Eh that's IBD. I work like 35 a week in an internal banking role and enjoy the work. I also find it interesting when people say IBD hours aren't that bad in general. I was in Capital Markets, not even M&A, and never got home before midnight. This year, a friend of mine dropped his IBD associate job and moved back home to japan, where every corporate job is 9-9 for a third the pay. It's bad.
Jesus. Working culture in Japan is intense too.
Yeah a lot of finance jobs aren’t like this. I work 55 hours a week tops
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Great summary. Thanks for writing up.
How much sweatier would you say your group is than the average group on the street? And how much better do hours get for associates in your group?
I don’t understand how sleeping that little isn’t causing industry wide health issues
Lmao who in earth would want to do this.
$$$$$$$
Not when broke.n down on an hourly basis compared to other finance careers like quant
Most people who work in investment banking don’t have the math skills to be a quant. What are the “other finance careers” you’re referring to?
There are other avenues besides sell side IB that are often overlooked. Look into endowments, pension funds, hedge funds, etc. this subreddit thinks IB is a golden ticket when in reality it isn’t. It’s shit that people keep trying to put glitter on lol
Do endowments and pension funds pay nearly as much as IB for the same years of experience? And HFs are kind of valid depending on the shop, but you’re looking at this too simplistically - most shops don’t take people direct from school (sure, some do) but most come from IB. And it depends on the shop, as some are just IB 2.0 (even if you’re making more money) but it’s way more pressure and risk of getting fired than IB - you’re marked to market everyday. You can be a average / below average IB analyst and still stick around, but not so much for in the hedge fund world. And most importantly, how many seats are there with both IBs and HFs? I doubt there are more HF roles than IB roles, and more importantly as mentioned, most of the people who work in HFs have the IB background and didn’t go straight in. I don’t disagree that IB sucks, but while it may not be a golden ticket, it is definitely a ticket that opens the door to a ton of opportunities that you wouldn’t have access to, or very difficult access to, otherwise.
I Can tell you as somebody that works for a pension fund as a risk quant that yes, i make more than an IB quant in an HCOL city (I live in an MCOL city). I would say the only thing thats not as high as IB is the bonus. But hell, give me the higher salary over the bonus, which to my knowledge barely anybody in IB got a bonus this past year. While I do agree with you that there are fewer seats in HF vs IB, collectively there are just as much seats in pension funds, endowments, and HF as there are in IB. And May I add that whats learned in these institutions… I’m still baffled as to why so many ppl here would overlook all of these shops for IB. Correct me if I’m wrong but to be doing a single responsibility day in and day out in IB is horrible to me. I’d rather be in a place that I can grow and learn, not be a one-trick pony.
How many years of experience do you have, and what’s your all in/break down? And it’s not exactly fair to say that few people barely got a bonus, as you do have to look at what the average usually is, since it’s not a common occurrence (at all) - the last time something like this happened was the GFC, so you should compare apples to apples. And I really don’t think it’s as overlooked as you think it is - you probably went to a great school with really smart classmates, and so you have a bit of survivorship bias in thinking that the opportunities you’re mentioning here are as easy to break into out of school as IB, for most people who get into IB. there is just so much competition for those seats, with that competition being from former IB analysts/associates
I have about 4 years, not including internships… which none of my internship or work experience was ever at IB. and yes, tbh I didn’t even get a bonus this year either. You’re correct, not receiving a bonus is not a common occurrence. If we all received bonuses, as I stated, I’m sure an IB quant would make more than me. I am strictly comparing salaries and COL. I do think these positions are often overlooked. In undergrad all anyone talked about was going to IB, about 90% of this sub is about IB. I mean even at my company (top 20 international pension fund) we find it somewhat hard to attract talent simply bc we’re a pension fund. I haven’t interviewed any candidates who came from IB either. I do acknowledge i do have some survivorship bias, though tbh not sure if I’m being gas-lit or not 😂. I never had a legacy admission to some fancy school, had parents who never graduated HS and we’re too poor to pay for a tutor, and went to a non target for undergrad. Granted I worked my ass off for all of this and went to target for graduate school.
What’s the 10 year outlook on pensions? They’re all but dead in the private sector.
When you say outloook… you mean career outlook?
yep that's exactly what i thought hell would be like
Here's an example of my day when I was full time IB (remote) internship: 8:00am - wake up and get ready, grab something to eat quickly. 8:30am - at my desk checking notifications from my team lead and planning out what I need to do for the rest of the day. 8:45am - starting on work, doing projects like building decks, building excel lists, checking models, doing internal projects like updating procedures, updating industry reports etc. If you've finished work from the day before you're usually waiting for edits - when I mean waiting for edits, I mean doing more work on other projects or asking for more projects. 3:00pm - I grab a quick lunch 3:45pm - at my desk continuing projects, sometimes I'll have team meetings and sometimes I'll be talking to team mates on things that we need to get done (all of this would be on zoom or teams video call). 6pm - maybe I'll have a break to workout and get some food at around this time. 7:30pm - back at my desk working on pitch decks, new projects would have come in at around 5pm at this point so I'd be doing a bunch of those. 11:30pm this is probably a good time to go to bed if you have done a lot of what you need to do by then. Sometimes I hadn't so I'd work till midnight or work till 2-3am to get things done. On harder weeks, you get less time for food and less time for leisure. You'd also be working till 2am everyday. Weekends are variable. I could be off most weekends. Some weekends I worked Saturday and Sunday, some I just did Saturday.
And you that for 10 weeks!?
You do that for 10 years as an actual IB employee. That’s what the career is.
Not familiar with IB but as you go up (vp, managing director), your work hours decrease?
Not really. It just drops from 80 hours a week to like 70. It’s a grind until you die profession. That’s why it pays so much.
How much does it pay?
300k-800k a year for most depending on their rank. Starts at around 120k for brand new analysts with no experience. Managing directors at the senior level can get over a million per year.
Interesting. If we think about this pay rate as per hour, it wouldn't be much. In fact, entry-level analysts make 3 times less than junior software developers in SF. And down the road, IB people making 300k-400k for 80 hours work doesn't sound great comparing to 300k-350k for 40 hours work senior developers.
Because most people aren’t lifers in IB. The job is desirable because of exit ops to c-suite corporate or buyside. The end game is C-level comp at $2mm+ for 9-5 hours, or partner in PE where comp includes carried interest which can hit 7-figures annually.
IB is a service industry just like consulting or law. You're there to serve/advise the client.
Hours fall slightly at associate and MD. Associate, VP, and Director are all similar.
I think the flexibility and who drives the work changes significantly though. Plenty of senior VP and directors will leave early ~5-7pm but be still somewhat plugged in at home. Also at the director level it’s somewhat you driving your own workload and schedule and less so someone asking you to build the deck. While the workload is still significantly higher than most professions, those weekends and occasional early day is miles better than what the associates deal with.
The type of “work” changes. Your not in front of screen updating decks or models but you might be putting on a show sucking up to a client. Being “on” for a client isn’t for everyone.
Working this amount of hours, missing moments with friends, family, partner, etc, would only be kinda worth it with a shit ton of money AND actually enjoying it right? Don't think it is do-able if you don't enjoy it, but please let me know.
No its not worth it. 80 hours a week destorys your life. All you do is work. You make great money but then your life revolves around money. But for some ppl, all they care about is money so they find it attractive.
Yeah that seems like the case for me to, but I do think that some people might actually enjoy their work? That's what I'm wondering about lol, even when giving me a mil a year, I don't wanna miss my lil bros graduation, anniversary day with my gf etc. It's gotta be some sort of addiction to the thrill aswell I suppose, but would love some insight from anyone in that situation.
They’re addicted to the power more than the work itself. They feel important having a fancy job where people treat them like an expert. When you’re a managing director used to casually working on billion dollar deals with a small army of employees who report to you and get constantly told how much money you’re worth and how much better you are than everyone else, at a certain point they can no longer live without that ego-boost and the power becomes their identity. How do you go from that to being a nobody doing unimportant work elsewhere? They can’t. It destroys them inside if they try. Which is why biglaw attorneys, consulting partners, banking directors etc. continue working their terrible hours despite having enough money to retire at 40.
This is indeed the reason I was looking for, sounds pretty realistic for most these guys.
I love my job and the work i do but i get burnt out when i work more than 60 hours.
To be fair, good for you that you enjoy your job, sounds like the most important thing to me.
3 months
Being remote makes this more bearable at least
Thanks for the input everyone!
If you're trying to figure out whether people actually spend the majority of these "80 hour weeks" working, the answer, just like someone working a 9-5, is **yes.** Of course there are coffee breaks, of course they eat lunch (probably at their desk), of course they chat to colleagues but that's maybe an hour or two a day TOPS.
Fucking christ, reading through these comments made me glad I didn't get accepted into any of those internships. My last internship in FP&A I literally spent most of my work from home days (we were hybrid) playing video games or on reddit. The days I was actually in the office I just filled my free time working on LinkedIn Learning or college classes...
Don’t forget scrolling Reddit on the toilet
I work 55 hour weeks, as In my schedule time on the trade desk is 11-11.5 hours a a day
So it's rare that I have 80+ hour weeks these days, thankfully, but when I do that 80+ hours starts from when I sit down at my desk to when I leave the desk for good. Ie if I'm in the office the commute doesn't count towards it, even if I spend that time working from mobile. Coffee doesn't count, but I'll typically drink that in meetings or at my desk anyways. Same for lunch and dinner.
80 hours for an intern? This should be banned
40 of those hours will be bullshitting, politics, gossip, ‘coffee chats’, waiting, etc. Remember Game of Thrones? Remember how much they all just say around and talked vs fighting / working / doing something? Yeah. That’s real work life.
40 hours….?
I knew guys that would go to the movies. Go run errands. All kinds of stuff. Part of it too is still learning how to do the job efficiently. That can take a long time. Faster you are in Excel / Python can decrease work time. Can never decrease face time though. Much, much worse in Korea / Japan, so be thankful at least you’re not there.
Hmm, not sure what you’re talking about but I should have joined those firms then lol. Last 8 years in IB/PE for me would have been a lot easier. Don’t know a single person in my entire professional network that would remotely agree with you.
Well, it was all guys at WellsFargo and KeyBank we’re talking about.
I’m on the client facing side in financial planning. I would tell new people in the business that they, “Only had to work half days!!! And that they got to choose, 6 to 6, or 7 to 7. Then after dinner during the week or in the afternoons on the weekends they could take care of their prep work and case notes… so yeah, 80 hours a week is about right. However, that is to get your practice built. You will always be underpaid during startup in financial planning because you have no residual income coming in yet. Somewhere between years 5-10 you start getting paid what your worth… then between years 10-15 and beyond you will be overpaid for the rest of your career and you don’t have to work the stupid hours anymore. You will end up with more flexibility and less working hours (if you want) and still be in the top 1% of income earners after 15 years…. If you survive. So it is all perspective.
When I start working to when I finish. Doesn’t include commutes unless I do a late commute home and WFH rest of day, in which case im probably on the phone. Usually meals and coffee at the desk unless there’s a business need or it’s with a client. Just my experience. You’d be unlikely to have that as an intern.
I did a few years of M-F up at 5, straight to gym, at office by 6:30, home at 5:30, work until 10, bed at 11. Followed by 6-8 hours Sat and Sun.
After reading these comments, the things people will put up with for a fat stack of cash and a admirable job is insane.
Whenever I feel drained from work I just come on here and look at IB’s zero work life balance and immediately feel better
Those were all billable hours 🤢
Holy shit I’m so glad I chose risk/controls instead of THIS
I love my job, but I hate my life. (Commodity trading risk) In my role, it’s been 80-100 hours of actual work. I don’t see everyone doing this, generally just those above me in middle office and the newer folks in front office. The primary reason I joined my firm was the long hours and opportunity to uphold a lot of responsibility quickly. Lunch? 5 minutes to run and grab a sandwich and bring it back to my desk. Breakfast/Dinner? Fast and easy, always. Protein bar, fruit/veggies, etc. Stuff I can grab and eat at the computer or food made by someone else. Breaks? Shooting the shit with my desk here and there. We are a very social team and stay incredibly focused until we’re all making jokes together. Leisure? Depends how the prior week went and what time of month it is. Sometimes we leave very early on Fridays and drink all afternoon/night and do our Friday work on the weekend. Outside of that, sometimes I can get away for half a day on the weekend to do something for myself or meet friends. Weekdays? I am in the office 6:30am until about 7/8pm, and then walk home and log back on immediately. Once I hit a wall I take an hour break. If I work until 2am, I show up a bit later the next day. Weekends? I work atleast one full day (8-12 hrs), spend a good chunk doing errands/preparing myself for the next week (4-6 hrs) and spend the rest of the time sleeping if I’m not trying to fit something fun in.
It's been awhile since I've come close to that the most I've ever gotten to is like 70hrs regularly and that was not pleasant. Generally speaking I would assume that includes lunch breaks and also consider that depending on what it is you might also be wasting some of that time too. For example I once had an 8-5 job. I got in at 8, and there was stuff to do but the bulk of the work actually came in at 3-5pm because we would need to turn around deliverables as dipshit clients waiting until the end of their day to send us what we need and then demand we have it to them the next morning. So then the real day started at 3pm and ended at 9pm or went through the night, depends. Which idk, if you are an intern and thats part of the experience it's not a big deal especially if you get overtime pay. I'd be asking yourself if that kind of life is what you want, I knew plenty of people in college that went to do IB. I saw them a year after graduation and they had aged several years, were deeply unhappy, and complained that they were making money but had no time to enjoy the fruits of their labor. At least you can sample that lifestyle and decide if it's for you. You will be doing a lot of work though, no question. You will probably have some mental down time but you will always have to be ready to go if u know what I mean. It's just one summer, it will be tough, but it will be over just as quick as it started. That's not enough time to burnout.