What is the Hardest Part of Investment Banking? (2024)

12-Jan-2023

Investment banking attracts many new graduates as one of the top job options. When you are straight out of business school, the attraction of a six-figure salary in your early 20s and being surrounded by Wall Street culture can be seductive. However, the much-coveted jobs and positions come with their share of hardships and unattractive elements that may turn your dream job into a career that is hard to pursue. Let us consider a few factors that translate into the hardest part of an investment banking career.

Why is Investment Banking Difficult?

What is the Hardest Part of Investment Banking? (1)

The following factors may answer why is Investment banking a stressful job.

Maintaining Work-Life Balance

An entry-level investment banking analyst works for about 100-hour work weeks in the notoriously demanding industry of investment banks.

100-hour work weeks are typical for entry-level investment banking. Although a 9-5 schedule may be the working hours it is not uncommon not to hear of extra working hours and consider it as a badge of pride. If you are someone who values work-life balance, an investment banking career may turn out to be a bad suit.

Stress While Working

An investment banking analyst's normal day would include working frantically through the night and early morning hours to finish a pitch book, rushing home as soon as possible to change and shower, and then returning to the office immediately after the meeting. The capacity to not simply survive with pressure but to thrive under it is crucial in conditions of such high strain where there are numerous deadlines that compete with one another.

Lack of Calm Mindset

Investment banking is not the vocation for you if you don't believe in becoming overly stressed out about anything, including your job. This area is not for you if you put forth your best effort to achieve a deadline when you believe it to be reasonable but feel forced to speak up and object when you believe it to be irrational. This field is not for you if you can't handle working nonstop without complaining, no matter how difficult the task is.

You Have a Streak of Rebellion

You have a tendency to disobey commands and speak your mind, so you don't always do as you're told. Your investment banking superiors, who are accustomed to blind submission, might not appreciate this.

You Lack the Necessary Skill Set

You bluffed your way through many rounds of interviews and one or two financial modeling tests, but you are not an Excel pro. Additionally, you struggle with time management, and you have a history of procrastinating.

You Don't Want to Work as an Investment Banker for a Living

Perhaps you would rather explore other fields, like stock research or portfolio management, than spend the next ten years moving up the investment banking ladder. You don't particularly enjoy the idea of spending the next two years or more producing endless pitch books and presentations as an investment banking analyst in order to get to the position of investment banking associate.

You Can't Live Off of Money

Although it is not intended to imply that all investment bankers are simply motivated by money, one of the main incentives for those who can endure the demanding working conditions is the chance to eventually make a lot of it. Consider pursuing a different career if only earning money isn't your main motivation.

Skills Required for An Investment Banking Career

Intellect

Many of the work requirements can be met with a strong brain with a focus on analytics, mathematics, money, and economics. But it goes beyond these fundamental core abilities. Investment banking also calls for intellectual curiosity so that you may go beyond your own area of expertise to see how the work of a colleague or other elements fits into the bigger picture.

Discipline

From entry-level analysts to managing directors, investment bankers work in a pressure-cooker environment and must be able to execute under strict scrutiny and requirements. These qualities are frequently inherited, but they can also be acquired through a variety of life experiences.

Creativity

Contrary to popular belief, creativity and invention are highly valued qualities in the extremely structured and rigorous world of investment banking. The best bankers are able to tackle problems or offer solutions in novel ways, opening up new markets for goods and services.

Open-mindedness

Being open-minded increases one's capacity to cooperate with and work for multinational corporations by providing access to a greater understanding of cultures and societies. An additional and in-demand skill in investment banking is the capacity to speak in multiple languages while combining that knowledge and comprehension.

Skills for Building Relationships

Bankers need to have social and relationship-building skills in order to succeed, including the capacity to deal with challenging people in challenging circumstances, high energy and a positive attitude. Investment banks ultimately rely on the fees that clients pay them to support their operations. Therefore, attracting and retaining consumers depends greatly on having a good set of interpersonal skills.

Your potential to handle the stress that comes along with an investment banking career can only define whether it is an ideal option for you or not. While having the skills is important, interest should also be the leading principle in venturing into an Investment banker career.

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Hardest Part of Investment Banking Is investment banking stressful investment banking stressful Job

What is the Hardest Part of Investment Banking? (2024)

FAQs

What is the Hardest Part of Investment Banking? ›

As a former investment banker, I've often said the hardest part of the hours was the unpredictability. Often, the length of the hours were fine — I didn't mind working hard. What was difficult was the fact that it was hard to plan when you might be called back into the office at any point.

What is hard about investment banking? ›

Investment bankers are notorious for working long and demanding hours, with work weeks well exceeding 40 hours being the norm for entry-level investment banking analysts. In a competitive culture where putting in extra-long hours is regarded as a badge of honor, a 9-to-5 routine is pretty much unheard of.

What is the hardest investment bank to get a job at? ›

What is the hardest investment bank to get into? Goldman Sachs is often cited as the hardest investment bank to get into, due to its prestigious reputation, highly competitive hiring process, and rigorous standards for candidates in terms of experience, education, and skills.

Which part of investment banking pays the most? ›

10 high-paying investment banking jobs
  • Portfolio manager. ...
  • Investment banker. ...
  • Asset manager. ...
  • Wealth manager. ...
  • Equity trader. ...
  • Equity analyst. ...
  • Hedge fund analyst. ...
  • Foreign exchange trader.
Apr 18, 2024

What is the hardest job in a bank? ›

5 Toughest Bank Jobs That Pay Well
  1. Investment Banker. Being a Branch Manager is undoubtedly one of the toughest jobs due to the myriad of responsibilities it entails. ...
  2. Bank Manager. Quantitative analysts: Math wizards + coders who untangle financial mysteries. ...
  3. Quantitative analyst. ...
  4. Risk manager. ...
  5. Compliance officer.
Feb 19, 2024

Do investment bankers really work 100 hours? ›

How Many Hours do Investment Bankers Work? Investment bankers work notoriously long hours, with the typical work week filling in 60-80 hours per week, and the occasional high-intensity work week that can push a banker to 100+ hours.

How hard is it to get into JPMorgan? ›

The acceptance rate of less than 1% makes JPMorgan's investment bank harder to get into than Harvard or Yale. That level of interest doesn't seem to be isolated to JPMorgan, which is a juggernaut on Wall Street across advisory and trading businesses.

What is the highest paid job in investment banking? ›

High Paying Investment Banker Jobs
  • Trading Assistant. ...
  • Trading Specialist. ...
  • Bond Analyst. ...
  • Investment Counselor. ...
  • Investment Representative. ...
  • Commodity Trader. Salary range: $57,500-$72,500 per year. ...
  • Stock Trader. Salary range: $61,000-$63,000 per year. ...
  • Trades Helper. Salary range: $36,000-$49,000 per year.

Is investment banking a high stress job? ›

The intense competition, constant deadlines, aggressive atmosphere, high-stress environment and lack of work-life balance have been linked to mental health issues and burnout among financial services employees, with many considering leaving their jobs due to the impact on their well-being.

Who pays investment bankers the most? ›

1. Goldman Sachs is the highest paying bank overall - $398k in combined salaries and bonuses, on average. Goldman Sachs, which paid average salaries of $200k and average bonuses of $199k for 2023, was the highest paying bank we polled.

What college do most investment bankers go to? ›

Target Schools
  • University of Pennsylvania.
  • Georgetown University.
  • Harvard University.
  • Columbia University.
  • New York University.
  • Cornell University.
  • University of Notre Dame.
  • University of Michigan.

Who is the richest investment banker in the world? ›

Joseph Safra

What is the most prestigious investment bank? ›

The Top 10 Most Prestigious Investment Banks for 2024:
  • Goldman Sachs & Co.
  • Morgan Stanley.
  • J.P. Morgan.
  • Centerview Partners.
  • Evercore.
  • Lazard.
  • PJT Partners.
  • Moelis & Company.
Jan 24, 2024

What is the number 1 hardest job? ›

The 9 Hardest, Most Demanding & Difficult Jobs
  • Surgeons. ...
  • Military Personnel. ...
  • Firefighters. ...
  • Social Workers. ...
  • Astronauts. ...
  • Special Education Teachers. ...
  • Miners. ...
  • Oil Rig Workers. Oil rig workers operate in the middle of oceans, enduring isolation, grueling physical work, and hazardous conditions.
Jul 16, 2023

What is the most thankless job in banking? ›

The chief risk officer plays one of the most important and least appreciated roles in American business. The people in these positions succeed if their companies avert failure. It's not particularly glamorous. It is mostly anonymous, often taken for granted and won't make anyone famous if they do it well.

What is the hardest investment bank to get into? ›

Ex-Goldman Sachs helping train students/recent grads to secure jobs in banking - 90% placement rate to banks like GS, UBS and JP. These are the 10 hardest investment banks to get a job at in the world🌍👇 1. JP Morgan 2. Goldman Sachs 3.

What are the cons of being an investment banker? ›

Cons of an Investment Banking Career
  • Extended Work Hours: Investment bankers frequently grapple with long working hours, including weekends and holidays, to meet stringent deadlines. ...
  • Heightened Stress Levels: The fast-paced nature of investment banking often results in elevated stress levels.
Sep 8, 2023

Why is investment banking so intense? ›

Investment banking hours are much longer than those in other jobs because of four main reasons: Huge Clients Pay Your Bank Huge Fees: When a company is paying your bank $50 million, $10 million, or even $1 million to advise on a deal, you have to do whatever it wants at any time of the day.

What is the most difficult part of investing? ›

Picking the best anything when investing is hard. If it was easy everyone would do it. This is also why investors often create the most trouble for themselves by constantly trying to pick the best stocks, sectors, strategies, countries or asset classes.

Is investment banking math heavy? ›

The short answer: For M&A Investment Banking and Private Equity, you don't need anything beyond basic arithmetic. We are talking about addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Throw in some percentages and growth rates and some means and medians. That's the math needed for Investment Banking.

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