calling all atot investment bankers

[thraashman]

This is surprising. With the way everyone on ATOT talks, I would've thought that everyone here was an investment banker, male model, gigolo who consults for NASA and the military in their free time. I'll just say it, the odds of you getting any useful advice from anyone on ATOT is about the same as the odds of you finding instructions on how to become an immortal deity on ATOT..... Though I bet we have at least a few people here who are sure that they could accomplish that too.

 

[Nerva]

Originally posted by: thraashman
This is surprising. With the way everyone on ATOT talks, I would've thought that everyone here was an investment banker, male model, gigolo who consults for NASA and the military in their free time. I'll just say it, the odds of you getting any useful advice from anyone on ATOT is about the same as the odds of you finding instructions on how to become an immortal deity on ATOT..... Though I bet we have at least a few people here who are sure that they could accomplish that too.

that was very very witty. but i am keeping my hopes up. i have nothing else.

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: 3cho
fresh start of the week. anyone?

Workin hard on deals. Don't like my bank? We aren't a Goldman, but that's fine with me, I'd rather have a life, not have a ton of politics, less/no face-time, and a tad less pay. 10/hrs a day is just fine with me!

 

[Nerva]

Originally posted by: LegendKiller

Originally posted by: 3cho
fresh start of the week. anyone?

Workin hard on deals. Don't like my bank? We aren't a Goldman, but that's fine with me, I'd rather have a life, not have a ton of politics, less/no face-time, and a tad less pay. 10/hrs a day is just fine with me!

except for me i work about 90 a week, getting less than 30k in bonus while everyone else is getting 90-100...

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: 3cho

Originally posted by: LegendKiller

Originally posted by: 3cho
fresh start of the week. anyone?

Workin hard on deals. Don't like my bank? We aren't a Goldman, but that's fine with me, I'd rather have a life, not have a ton of politics, less/no face-time, and a tad less pay. 10/hrs a day is just fine with me!

except for me i work about 90 a week, getting less than 30k in bonus while everyone else is getting 90-100...

How long have you been working in the field?

 

[J0hnny]

I call shens! Anyone who's actually front office IB does not have the time to be on ATOT!

Other than that, you're all backoffice!

 

[NoMoMoney]

I'm jumping into iBanking, where are these places that you only work 10 hours/ day?! I want to make sure I apply there as well as the bigger names.

 

[Nerva]

Originally posted by: LegendKiller

Originally posted by: 3cho

Originally posted by: LegendKiller

Originally posted by: 3cho
fresh start of the week. anyone?

Workin hard on deals. Don't like my bank? We aren't a Goldman, but that's fine with me, I'd rather have a life, not have a ton of politics, less/no face-time, and a tad less pay. 10/hrs a day is just fine with me!

except for me i work about 90 a week, getting less than 30k in bonus while everyone else is getting 90-100...

How long have you been working in the field?

9 months. completed 2 transactions (both very small though with reputable firms, essar and princeton review). how about you?

 

[ebaycj]

Originally posted by: boredhokie
I have a chance of getting out of investments infrastructure and getting a fund analyst position at GS. Good idea?

Well seeing as, in recent years, Goldman Sachs has been giving, on average, over 100% of your salary for christmas bonus, I would have to say "YES".

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: J0hnny
I call shens! Anyone who's actually front office IB does not have the time to be on ATOT!

Other than that, you're all backoffice!

Yeah, because F/O is 100% 100% of the time...lol

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: 3cho

Originally posted by: LegendKiller

Originally posted by: 3cho

Originally posted by: LegendKiller

Originally posted by: 3cho
fresh start of the week. anyone?

Workin hard on deals. Don't like my bank? We aren't a Goldman, but that's fine with me, I'd rather have a life, not have a ton of politics, less/no face-time, and a tad less pay. 10/hrs a day is just fine with me!

except for me i work about 90 a week, getting less than 30k in bonus while everyone else is getting 90-100...

How long have you been working in the field?

9 months. completed 2 transactions (both very small though with reputable firms, essar and princeton review). how about you?

I haven't closed anything here yet. Only been here 2 months now, I was issuer side previously. I am currently working on 3 projects, two ABS and a CLO, all three have about 80% chance of closing.

 

[Whitecloak]

me.

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: ebaycj

Originally posted by: boredhokie
I have a chance of getting out of investments infrastructure and getting a fund analyst position at GS. Good idea?

Well seeing as, in recent years, Goldman Sachs has been giving, on average, over 100% of your salary for christmas bonus, I would have to say "YES".

I doubt 100% as just a christmas bonus, unless you are higher up. Grunts won't get that, especially in addition to annual perf bonus. Not to mention that unless you are a multi-year associate you'll be an utter biotch at GS. GS has name, but it's also a "guy in a seat" place. You're nothing more than another guy who can be replaced by yet another one just as easily. You're a commodity and are treated as such. The face-time situation is horrible and many people care more about sucking up and dressing well than actually getting deals done.

 

[Nerva]

Originally posted by: Whitecloak
me.

you?

 

[Whitecloak]

Originally posted by: 3cho

Originally posted by: Whitecloak
me.

you?

VP at a boutique wall street firm. started half an year back.

 

[OREOSpeedwagon]

marked to check later, i'm looking into ibanking after college

 

[otispunkmeyer]

3cho since you are keeping this thread alive and well, do you mind filling me in on what, exactly, IB's do?

i have no idea about investment banking or banking in general, i see it as some how buying/selling soemthing that isnt there, and some how making millions. another thing is i get the impression that all it does is make the rich richer and doesnt really help anyone except those involved.

i could be and probably am WAY WAY wrong.

 

[Nerva]

Originally posted by: otispunkmeyer
3cho since you are keeping this thread alive and well, do you mind filling me in on what, exactly, IB's do?

i have no idea about investment banking or banking in general, i see it as some how buying/selling soemthing that isnt there, and some how making millions. another thing is i get the impression that all it does is make the rich richer and doesnt really help anyone except those involved.

i could be and probably am WAY WAY wrong.

in a nut shell you an investment bank acts as the intermediary between people who needs money with people who has money. an investment bank can help a company (client) raise capital in various forms (equity/debt). there are various tranches of equity and debt, but it's too complicated to go into them.

there is also the advisory side of the business (the one i am in). basically, a company (client) engages an investment bank if they are looking to get bought out, or a company becomes a target and needs financial representation. so that is the m&a side of the business.

there are different tranches of investment banks:
- bulge bracket, the big banks that do the big deals.
- middle market (my bank), wayyyy smaller deals, not as high profile
- boutiques, typically focuses on one product group (m&a). some boutiques are a lot better than middle market banks (namely mine).

as an analyst, you build models, draft pitch books, draft offering memos, run datarooms for due diligence. if you are at a big bank, you do quality work with very little admin stuff. which may not be the case at a middle market bank where resources are tight, and analysts can be classified as glorified secretaries. just my opinion on things, may not be representative of the entire industry. others please feel free to chime in.

 

[LegendKiller]

I agree with Echo3 that the IB is a wheel greaser. There are frictions involved in placing debt or equity, or arranging for the purchaser of a company. Those frictions are reduced by an IB, which utilizes manpower to solve information defficiencies, explain structures, and help close deals.

While you don't "make" a something you can touch, it's an invaluable service, as without that grease much more time and money would be wasted by those looking to raise cash, lend cash, buy equity/debt, sell equity/debt, and buy/sell different companies and such.

I am a VP at a mid-level (domestically and large internationally) bank. I work to analyze company's financials and help them raise money, which is funded by my bank essentially issuing debt through different funding sources. The companies could be other banks, leasing companies, auto-loan companies, mortgage companies (prime only)...etc.

 

[Nerva]

Originally posted by: LegendKiller
I agree with Echo3 that the IB is a wheel greaser. There are frictions involved in placing debt or equity, or arranging for the purchaser of a company. Those frictions are reduced by an IB, which utilizes manpower to solve information defficiencies, explain structures, and help close deals.

While you don't "make" a something you can touch, it's an invaluable service, as without that grease much more time and money would be wasted by those looking to raise cash, lend cash, buy equity/debt, sell equity/debt, and buy/sell different companies and such.

I am a VP at a mid-level (domestically and large internationally) bank. I work to analyze company's financials and help them raise money, which is funded by my bank essentially issuing debt through different funding sources. The companies could be other banks, leasing companies, auto-loan companies, mortgage companies (prime only)...etc.

while i like the job, sometimes i see it as a necessary evil. particularly at the way that processes are run at my firm. can companies raise capital or sell themselves without the investment banks? hell yes. but why would they spend the time and effort to do something that is not their core competency (pardon the contrite banking fluff).

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: 3cho

Originally posted by: LegendKiller
I agree with Echo3 that the IB is a wheel greaser. There are frictions involved in placing debt or equity, or arranging for the purchaser of a company. Those frictions are reduced by an IB, which utilizes manpower to solve information defficiencies, explain structures, and help close deals.

While you don't "make" a something you can touch, it's an invaluable service, as without that grease much more time and money would be wasted by those looking to raise cash, lend cash, buy equity/debt, sell equity/debt, and buy/sell different companies and such.

I am a VP at a mid-level (domestically and large internationally) bank. I work to analyze company's financials and help them raise money, which is funded by my bank essentially issuing debt through different funding sources. The companies could be other banks, leasing companies, auto-loan companies, mortgage companies (prime only)...etc.

while i like the job, sometimes i see it as a necessary evil. particularly at the way that processes are run at my firm. can companies raise capital or sell themselves without the investment banks? hell yes. but why would they spend the time and effort to do something that is not their core competency (pardon the contrite banking fluff).

I would agree that they could do it themselves, but I don't think they could do it nearly as well. The amount of info a bank has built up, from writing pitches, understanding collateral (in my case), negotiating with rating agencies, talking to portfolio managers, pricing bonds, selling bonds, and secondary market trading. Every company would need to have those areas and be very good at them.

As you said, it wouldn't be a core competency, so they'd suffer. Personally, I see it nothing more than having a car mechanic. Not all people can be a mechanic, time and money negate the possibility, thus you need somebody to do that for you.

Not to understate car mechanics, but knowing how to structure, negotiate, execute, and sell a half billion in asset backed bonds requires a significant amount of knowledge, which is why you get paid. It's not just book knowledge either, the network, institutional, nd practical knowledge/experience needed is massive.

 

[Nerva]

Originally posted by: LegendKiller

Originally posted by: 3cho

Originally posted by: LegendKiller
I agree with Echo3 that the IB is a wheel greaser. There are frictions involved in placing debt or equity, or arranging for the purchaser of a company. Those frictions are reduced by an IB, which utilizes manpower to solve information defficiencies, explain structures, and help close deals.

While you don't "make" a something you can touch, it's an invaluable service, as without that grease much more time and money would be wasted by those looking to raise cash, lend cash, buy equity/debt, sell equity/debt, and buy/sell different companies and such.

I am a VP at a mid-level (domestically and large internationally) bank. I work to analyze company's financials and help them raise money, which is funded by my bank essentially issuing debt through different funding sources. The companies could be other banks, leasing companies, auto-loan companies, mortgage companies (prime only)...etc.

while i like the job, sometimes i see it as a necessary evil. particularly at the way that processes are run at my firm. can companies raise capital or sell themselves without the investment banks? hell yes. but why would they spend the time and effort to do something that is not their core competency (pardon the contrite banking fluff).

I would agree that they could do it themselves, but I don't think they could do it nearly as well. The amount of info a bank has built up, from writing pitches, understanding collateral (in my case), negotiating with rating agencies, talking to portfolio managers, pricing bonds, selling bonds, and secondary market trading. Every company would need to have those areas and be very good at them.

As you said, it wouldn't be a core competency, so they'd suffer. Personally, I see it nothing more than having a car mechanic. Not all people can be a mechanic, time and money negate the possibility, thus you need somebody to do that for you.

Not to understate car mechanics, but knowing how to structure, negotiate, execute, and sell a half billion in asset backed bonds requires a significant amount of knowledge, which is why you get paid. It's not just book knowledge either, the network, institutional, nd practical knowledge/experience needed is massive.

dude, i just realized why you only work 10 hours a day. you are a vp!!! we have one vp in our group, he gets in at 9:30 and goes home at 6!

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: 3cho

Originally posted by: LegendKiller

Originally posted by: 3cho

Originally posted by: LegendKiller
I agree with Echo3 that the IB is a wheel greaser. There are frictions involved in placing debt or equity, or arranging for the purchaser of a company. Those frictions are reduced by an IB, which utilizes manpower to solve information defficiencies, explain structures, and help close deals.

While you don't "make" a something you can touch, it's an invaluable service, as without that grease much more time and money would be wasted by those looking to raise cash, lend cash, buy equity/debt, sell equity/debt, and buy/sell different companies and such.

I am a VP at a mid-level (domestically and large internationally) bank. I work to analyze company's financials and help them raise money, which is funded by my bank essentially issuing debt through different funding sources. The companies could be other banks, leasing companies, auto-loan companies, mortgage companies (prime only)...etc.

while i like the job, sometimes i see it as a necessary evil. particularly at the way that processes are run at my firm. can companies raise capital or sell themselves without the investment banks? hell yes. but why would they spend the time and effort to do something that is not their core competency (pardon the contrite banking fluff).

I would agree that they could do it themselves, but I don't think they could do it nearly as well. The amount of info a bank has built up, from writing pitches, understanding collateral (in my case), negotiating with rating agencies, talking to portfolio managers, pricing bonds, selling bonds, and secondary market trading. Every company would need to have those areas and be very good at them.

As you said, it wouldn't be a core competency, so they'd suffer. Personally, I see it nothing more than having a car mechanic. Not all people can be a mechanic, time and money negate the possibility, thus you need somebody to do that for you.

Not to understate car mechanics, but knowing how to structure, negotiate, execute, and sell a half billion in asset backed bonds requires a significant amount of knowledge, which is why you get paid. It's not just book knowledge either, the network, institutional, nd practical knowledge/experience needed is massive.

dude, i just realized why you only work 10 hours a day. you are a vp!!! we have one vp in our group, he gets in at 9:30 and goes home at 6!

While I am a "VP", I am the junior guy in the group, so I probably do the work of a 3rd year associate. The other 3 guys in my group are an Assoc-Dir, Dir, and Group Head. I couldn't imagine that we'd make an Assoc work 12+ hrs, especially since everybody gets in at 8:30 and leaves at 5:30.

I pull 12-14hr days sometimes, just to get up the curve on some of this stuff.

 

[Nerva]

Originally posted by: LegendKiller

Originally posted by: 3cho

Originally posted by: LegendKiller

Originally posted by: 3cho

Originally posted by: LegendKiller
I agree with Echo3 that the IB is a wheel greaser. There are frictions involved in placing debt or equity, or arranging for the purchaser of a company. Those frictions are reduced by an IB, which utilizes manpower to solve information defficiencies, explain structures, and help close deals.

While you don't "make" a something you can touch, it's an invaluable service, as without that grease much more time and money would be wasted by those looking to raise cash, lend cash, buy equity/debt, sell equity/debt, and buy/sell different companies and such.

I am a VP at a mid-level (domestically and large internationally) bank. I work to analyze company's financials and help them raise money, which is funded by my bank essentially issuing debt through different funding sources. The companies could be other banks, leasing companies, auto-loan companies, mortgage companies (prime only)...etc.

while i like the job, sometimes i see it as a necessary evil. particularly at the way that processes are run at my firm. can companies raise capital or sell themselves without the investment banks? hell yes. but why would they spend the time and effort to do something that is not their core competency (pardon the contrite banking fluff).

I would agree that they could do it themselves, but I don't think they could do it nearly as well. The amount of info a bank has built up, from writing pitches, understanding collateral (in my case), negotiating with rating agencies, talking to portfolio managers, pricing bonds, selling bonds, and secondary market trading. Every company would need to have those areas and be very good at them.

As you said, it wouldn't be a core competency, so they'd suffer. Personally, I see it nothing more than having a car mechanic. Not all people can be a mechanic, time and money negate the possibility, thus you need somebody to do that for you.

Not to understate car mechanics, but knowing how to structure, negotiate, execute, and sell a half billion in asset backed bonds requires a significant amount of knowledge, which is why you get paid. It's not just book knowledge either, the network, institutional, nd practical knowledge/experience needed is massive.

dude, i just realized why you only work 10 hours a day. you are a vp!!! we have one vp in our group, he gets in at 9:30 and goes home at 6!

While I am a "VP", I am the junior guy in the group, so I probably do the work of a 3rd year associate. The other 3 guys in my group are an Assoc-Dir, Dir, and Group Head. I couldn't imagine that we'd make an Assoc work 12+ hrs, especially since everybody gets in at 8:30 and leaves at 5:30.

I pull 12-14hr days sometimes, just to get up the curve on some of this stuff.

so you have no analysts below you?

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: 3cho

Originally posted by: LegendKiller

Originally posted by: 3cho

Originally posted by: LegendKiller

Originally posted by: 3cho

Originally posted by: LegendKiller
I agree with Echo3 that the IB is a wheel greaser. There are frictions involved in placing debt or equity, or arranging for the purchaser of a company. Those frictions are reduced by an IB, which utilizes manpower to solve information defficiencies, explain structures, and help close deals.

While you don't "make" a something you can touch, it's an invaluable service, as without that grease much more time and money would be wasted by those looking to raise cash, lend cash, buy equity/debt, sell equity/debt, and buy/sell different companies and such.

I am a VP at a mid-level (domestically and large internationally) bank. I work to analyze company's financials and help them raise money, which is funded by my bank essentially issuing debt through different funding sources. The companies could be other banks, leasing companies, auto-loan companies, mortgage companies (prime only)...etc.

while i like the job, sometimes i see it as a necessary evil. particularly at the way that processes are run at my firm. can companies raise capital or sell themselves without the investment banks? hell yes. but why would they spend the time and effort to do something that is not their core competency (pardon the contrite banking fluff).

I would agree that they could do it themselves, but I don't think they could do it nearly as well. The amount of info a bank has built up, from writing pitches, understanding collateral (in my case), negotiating with rating agencies, talking to portfolio managers, pricing bonds, selling bonds, and secondary market trading. Every company would need to have those areas and be very good at them.

As you said, it wouldn't be a core competency, so they'd suffer. Personally, I see it nothing more than having a car mechanic. Not all people can be a mechanic, time and money negate the possibility, thus you need somebody to do that for you.

Not to understate car mechanics, but knowing how to structure, negotiate, execute, and sell a half billion in asset backed bonds requires a significant amount of knowledge, which is why you get paid. It's not just book knowledge either, the network, institutional, nd practical knowledge/experience needed is massive.

dude, i just realized why you only work 10 hours a day. you are a vp!!! we have one vp in our group, he gets in at 9:30 and goes home at 6!

While I am a "VP", I am the junior guy in the group, so I probably do the work of a 3rd year associate. The other 3 guys in my group are an Assoc-Dir, Dir, and Group Head. I couldn't imagine that we'd make an Assoc work 12+ hrs, especially since everybody gets in at 8:30 and leaves at 5:30.

I pull 12-14hr days sometimes, just to get up the curve on some of this stuff.

so you have no analysts below you?

Nope, I am more or less the "analyst" here, as I am the best at running models and cutting data. But I also work on documentation, negotiation, and contacting leads. I am trying to get business with one of my old bosses on the issuer side now.

Smaller banks are a lot more fun. YOu aren't pigeonholed, you aren't treated like crap, and you see a lot more stuff.