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Yeah, those consultants and investment bankers, they just rake it in without working.... If you're going to monetize already being rich, going into IB is not a

Yeah, those consultants and investment bankers, they just rake it in without working.... If you're going to monetize already being rich, going into IB is not a great play. PE or wealth management, maybe...

scarmig 15y ago
Work is different from producing value. Of course, it's easy to say that "well the fact that they get paid well is indicative of value-produced!" This is only true, however, within a particular cultural paradigm that we've constructed and is by no means universal or timeless. And, no, simply working long hours does not mean that investment banking or consulting are somehow not lucky. The fact that as a revealed preference privileged people often choose to work in those fields over others points to it being a pretty good play for them.
- tomkarlo 15y ago
  Having spent years working in one those fields, I can tell you that the workforce was relatively middle-class in terms of family backgrounds compared to say, the buy-side or wealth management. Having parents with money doesn't help you much when you're trying to do an accretion-dilution spreadsheet at 3 in the morning, but it does help a lot when you're trying to raise money for a PE fund or find asset-management clients (neither of which IBs do). A lot of folks were the children of first-generation immigrants, as well, working their asses 100+hrs a week off to make good. Engineers complain when their profession is painted with the broad brush of stereotypes - introverts, nerds, anti-social, impersonal. Making a blanket statement that investment bankers are just the kids of rich people, or don't produce value, is equally ignorant and unfair. I'm not a banker any more, and I'm happy not to be, but that doesn't mean there aren't a lot of hard working people in that field that deserve respect for frankly working a lot harder than you or I probably do and in fact producing a lot of value financing business in this country.

scarmig 15y ago

Work is different from producing value. Of course, it's easy to say that "well the fact that they get paid well is indicative of value-produced!" This is only true, however, within a particular cultural paradigm that we've constructed and is by no means universal or timeless. And, no, simply working long hours does not mean that investment banking or consulting are somehow not lucky. The fact that as a revealed preference privileged people often choose to work in those fields over others points to it being a pretty good play for them.

tomkarlo 15y ago
Having spent years working in one those fields, I can tell you that the workforce was relatively middle-class in terms of family backgrounds compared to say, the buy-side or wealth management. Having parents with money doesn't help you much when you're trying to do an accretion-dilution spreadsheet at 3 in the morning, but it does help a lot when you're trying to raise money for a PE fund or find asset-management clients (neither of which IBs do). A lot of folks were the children of first-generation immigrants, as well, working their asses 100+hrs a week off to make good. Engineers complain when their profession is painted with the broad brush of stereotypes - introverts, nerds, anti-social, impersonal. Making a blanket statement that investment bankers are just the kids of rich people, or don't produce value, is equally ignorant and unfair. I'm not a banker any more, and I'm happy not to be, but that doesn't mean there aren't a lot of hard working people in that field that deserve respect for frankly working a lot harder than you or I probably do and in fact producing a lot of value financing business in this country.