What is the god-tier career path in terms of gaining wealth? Is investment banking the top choice?
Sucking X dicks for Y money. The dick market is apparently very strong right now.
>>1013362
Why do you want to accumulate all that wealth if you won't even have time to spend it?
We're talking 70-100 hour work weeks, six days per week minimum.
I'd personally rather make less money and have more free time.
>>1013368
True. What other careers would you recommend?
>>1013384
Consider your desired work/life balance and what you think you'd be comfortable doing ~8 hours a day every day for money. It doesn't have to be something you enjoy, but it MUST be something you can tolerate.
>>1013368
make a lot of money -> spend little of it because you work so much -> retire decades earlier -> lots of money and time to spend it. if theres one thing in my life i dont regret one bit its being a total workaholic in my 20s.
>>1013368
the higher in the food chain the less you work
excel monkeys aka IB analyists work about 100 hours a week until the next year, when new interns come in and take some of the workload from them. Even then about 50% of your 17 hour work day is just face time. When you're an associate you unload your work on to analyists which they subsiquently unload their work on to the interns. Depending of course if you work for a bulge bracket sweatshop like Goldman Sachs, which like to put as much work on the shoulders of their newest staff as legally possible.
after your 2 years in m&a, implying you haven't had a nervous breakdown or committed suicide yet, you can branch off into either getting your head down for a VP position or going into something else like private equity which your work week would be dramatically decreased. Or you could just leave for a small/medium/big boutique firm
you start off as an analyist at anything up to $100,000, and in three or five years you could be an associate earning $200,000. And again after a few more years after you become a say 3rd yr senior associate you can earn anything up to $450,000
So say you get your head down and work like a dog, after 7 years you'd gone from earning $100,000 to almost half a million dollars a year.
it gets better, say you turn out to be a fantastic associate with good leadership skills, you get promoted to a VP position after 4 years of analyist work. your salary is anything between $400,000 to $1,000,000
Tell me something, what other line of work quadruples your salary after 10 years? could a computer programmer earn a million dollars a year after 15 years?
>>1013554
Legit analysis. Of course entrepreneurship also has similar capacity for progress but a much higher risk. Do you work in investment banking?
Hedge fund management, although thats a very elite field
>>1013554
Nobody has ever fucked Edward James olmos. Your pic is lie.
>>1013554
Delusion: The Post
Realistic path if you're an American? Offshore oil industry in the Gulf of Mexico.
Start on the drilling side as a Roustabout at about 75k a year. This is the bitch boy position on a rig where you'll be mopping a lot of decks and most of your co-workers will be mouth breathing retards but just endure it because that is how you stand out: If you have work ethic and any decent amount of technical ability/math knowledge you will be light years ahead of 95% of your co-workers and have the fast track to all of the jobs above you.
After a year you'll be a roughneck making about 85-95k and then beyond that are the various "hand/man" positions.
Within 5-7 years, granted you meet the work ethic requirements, you'll realistically be making between 140-180k a year.
On top of that you only work half the year. Yes you read that correctly. Most drill crews work equal time on/off rotations. You'll likely work 3 weeks on the rig and then get 3 weeks off (or maybe 2 and 2, or in some cases 1 month on/off).
>>1015672
He's actually not wrong, just not many people can take it for that long
My guess would be p2p investing much better for this century
>>1015691
It was realistic before the recent oil crash. Good luck getting that job now.
Also, yeah you work equal time on and off but your tours are 12 hours per day when you are working. I think all that ambition and drive you got will go right down the toilet after working 12 hour days for two weeks. Very few people have that kind of motor to bust ass 12 hours a day for 3 weeks straight.
>>1015920
truth
>>1013554
decent description of a "typical" IBD career
what most people don't realize is that the 100 hours work week is actually not a joke, it's simply how much time analysts & associates do have to spend in the office
also getting hired isn't that simple either (most likely you'll have to have multiple internships and an ivy-league-ish educational background to begin with)
personally I'd always suggest management consulting in MBB over IBD
the pay isn't as good (prob looking at 10-30% less when you include the bonus) but you are also working much less (60-80h max) and there is a much larger focus of the firm on developing your skills and career as opposed to working you to death
consultants also get a lot more boons than do bankers because the regulations are simply not as strict (first-class flights, free food, free healthcare, vacation "trainings")
if you stick with consulting you'll also make more than enough money (every partner at MBB is a millionaire) and exit opportunities are equal in pay but higher in breadth
then again the problem is that "getting in" is not that easy
>>1016004
> oil crash
Oil won't stay down forever and even if it does the industry will eventually stabilize at a smaller level and begin hiring again.
> most people can't work that hard
Which is why most people will stay poor. I love how "but you have to work hard when you're at work" is now an excuse as to why making good money isn't realistic lol.
>>1013554
I personally don't see the point, if I'm that financially savvy then I'll just think of smart ways to make money, not dodging nervous breakdowns for 9 years.
Not OP but have a related question.
Currently 3 years out of college, been working as a software engineer in the midwest, making $100k a year.
I'm really worried about my income reaching a plateau, wondering what the smartest move is to maximize my wealth?
I studied Economics at a top tier school and my company is in the finance sector, should I try to make a jump to pure finance, or is it way too late in the game?
Why is DJ Khaled America's favorite mudslime?
>>1016425
It's not too late anon. You could easily do work in something private equity/investment bank/vc firm in a role that focuses on software companies. You have to use your strengths. I work in a investment bank that focuses on oil & gas m&a and a lot of the guys studied petroleum engineering and worked in that field for a while.
If you can suck a mean dick investment banking is it.
>>1016425
I would keep at it for another 2 years then apply to some top 15 or top 20 mba programs, then try to jump to vc from there. You can make it into any branch of high finance from these with enough work, but your background would probably make VC the easiest one to break into
I'm 23 years old, currently finishing up my M.Sc. in chemistry. I fell for the "do what you like" meme in high school, and I do like chemistry, but I recently found out I like money more than I like chemistry. I need some good advice.
The default choice would be to go for a PhD, making shit money for 3 more years. After that I it's kind of a gamble. I could end up moving quickly but I could end up in a saturated market doing boring stuff for only 40-50k a year.
The other thing could be looking for a job after my M.Sc. (not done by many) and maybe even something outside of my field, like consulting. Anybody know how hard it is to get into consulting with no business background?
All other options are basically even more risky, either starting again at a new degree or starting a non-chem related company (no idea what do, but I'm considering).
I went into the trade path, how fucked am I?
>>1016632
you could go the PhD route and then try to land a quant position
>>1016646
how would a PhD in chemistry be conductive towards getting a quant position?
>>1016633
You're life isn't over, much more room fr error
>>1016646
>you could go the PhD route and then try to land a quant position
What the fuck are these 'quant' positions I see people mention? I never see them advertised anywhere, or have any idea who is hiring who.
>>1016680
I've only seen one in the last year (although I haven't really been looking either). They wanted PhD's in maths/physics/engineering
>>1016652
It wouldn't, I'm afraid. Unless you've taken tons of maths electives.
Unless you have a break through scientific discovery that can be patented then commercialised...
The easiest and most predictable way (risk vs reward) is to get any job that pays well, save, buy a house, rent it out while living somewhere cheaper. And slowly build a property portfolio, using equity from one house to purchase the next and using rental income as servicing. Then pile on mountains of debt against the properties when their values increase, pay yourself a health "property management fee"... If the houses end up worth less than the debt then walk away, let the bank take them, if they're worth more then sell before the bubble bursts.
Occupations like banking are ok but you have to realise only a small percentage of people actually make more than 500k pa doing banking, I would argue it's easier to make that consistently every year with a 2.5m capital base/turnover with buying undervalued real estate, making it attractive to buyers = marketing + light building work.
>>1016178
Easier to get in if you go Chicago finance then transfer to NYC finance.
I've seen people with only 110-120 IQ break into Chicago finance.
>>1016619
I'm studying mech E and see a lot of engineers get into finance after a few years in engineering and the bankers are often happy to bring them on.
>>1016680
>quantitative finance
positions such as this:
http://www.morganstanley.com/people-opportunities/students-graduates/programs/institutional-securities/quantitative-finance-program/full-time-associate-emea/
and require among other things:
>You must possess or are pursuing a PhD (or other advanced degree) in a quantitative subject such as Mathematics, Financial Mathematics, Physics, Engineering, Quantitative Finance or Computer Science. Candidates may be able to start at different times to accommodate study end dates.
>>1016693
of course NYC is hardest to get into but that is true for almost any industry
and i don't think IQ has much to do with getting a job desu
>>1016702
>i don't think IQ has much to do with getting a job
Kekkles
>>1016703
why is that funny to you?
I wrote my master thesis in theoretical particle physics and the PhD's and postdocs there are among the smartest people I've met
Yet not a single one of them would have gotten a job in IBD/Consulting
You need to be "smart" but beyond that other factors are much more important in my opinion
>>1016632
top consulting firms don't care about the nature of your educational background
50% come from finance, the other half are a wild mix of engineers, natural scientists, law students, med students and anything under the sun
if you're interested in consulting and have an exceptional GPA then you'll have very good chances to get into consulting (or get invited to the interviews at least)
>>1016632
My friend parlayed an entry level job at a Bio Tech firm into a very cushy position managing half of the company's operations. And he only had a BA in Chemistry. Have you looked in that direction?
Say, what does /biz/ think of the actuarial route?
>>1016767
incredibly boring people but it's a pretty safe and steady career
not true , I am currently studying actuarial science , lots of the people are not boring.
>>1016702
>>1016715
Yeah, IQ doesn't matter as long as you're reasonably intelligent. It's just a check box. The most important factors are decent looking, decent-looking white male or attractive, not autistic, personable, confident, and pragmatic. It's so funny hearing guys with amazing academic records complain about not getting into IB/MC and assuming its because their grades weren't good enough.
t. Management Consultant for 4 years
so I'm studying
>Supply Chain and Information Technology
placeholder major due to the fact that I saw it as an easy degree in an emerging field. Now I'm through my 4th semester with a perfect gpa and realized that Americans are fucking stupid (international boarding high school fag here) and I have much more potential than them. I'm not challenged by my classes and I'm starting to worry about not making enough money.
I could always go into a field like data analysis with this degree, but I'm starting to worry that it's now or never to make the switch to something else
Should I keep studying this? My university is at the top of this field and really all I want is a steady job where I can work 50-70 hours a week and earn +100k. Also I want to stay in the United States, so I need to be able to land a job right after graduation or it's back to favela land for me
I could probably get a government scholarship to get a masters but I'd need to work for around 3 years before a good program accepts me. I could do something like Data Analysis or an MBA then I guess.
What do I like? Solving problems and winning
>>1016883
what you study doesn't really matter that much, honestly in most jobs you'll use 0% of what you learned in university
you have a great GPA and university (i assume) so what you need is 1 or 2 great internships and you are set for a career-track job after graduation
what employers are looking for here is name-dropping
it might sound stupid but honestly that is all there is to it when it comes to internships
you did something really complicated and helped the CEO of a small company succeed? no one cares
you did some mundane desk/sales job at a F100 company? OH MY GOD PLEASE COME TO US PLEASE
also: don't do your masters, it's a waste of time (career wise)
what you should do is find a good firm after graduation work for 2-3 years and do a top MBA program
ideally you find an employer like McKinsey/Bain/BCG who actually pay your MBA in full after working for them for 2 years
>>1017064
this desu. this is where the school you attended undergrad matters, cause them and their alumni are often really helpful for getting you jobs/internships at these top tier firms.
>>1015691
>Start on the drilling side as a Roustabout at about 75k a year.
Unrealistic unless you already have a good bit of offshore experience/military experience, or trade experience
The easiest way to get your foot in the door in the offshore industry now is to start as a galleyhand/utility making barely above minimum wage working those same hours, and do that for a few years until you find something better.
