Redeem one month of TOGGLE for FREE using this link:
This video is kindly being sponsored by toggle hit the link in the video description below to get one month from toggle for free so much going on so many things to juggle so many things coming at you one thing after another so you need to be on it imagine doing that five six days a week non-stop that’s why people burn out what is going on youtube welcome back
To the channel last week we spoke about the dark side of investment banking careers and this week we’re gonna talk about a day in the life we’re gonna go hour by hour what a typical day in the life of an investment banker is big shout out to togu who are sponsoring this video you can find out a bit more about them later on in the video so stay tuned especially
For those of you interested in investing in the financial markets but we’ll talk more about them later on anyway without any further ado let’s get straight to the video a day in the life of an investment banker nba crystal ball check them out it’s going to be linked in the video description so the article i’m not going to read the whole article because this
Introductory bit we don’t need to read the perks of the job and top skills for investment bankers i’ll let you read those in your own time it’s going to be linked below but we’re going to get straight into it a day in the life of an investment banker all right 6 am to 8 am the alarm goes off around 6 am your first priority is to check your email on your phone is
There a message from a senior colleague asking you to review or recalculate something or revise a presentation or a part of the pitch book you may also have a client’s query and the reason why people check their phones constantly in the world of banking and finance is because you never know who’s going to email you and when and especially it might be extremely
Urgent or if you’re working on a particular file or pitch book or piece of work that has high priority you don’t want to miss anything especially if there’s an important pitch or a meeting coming up and so that’s why people are constantly looking at the phones and checking email especially early in the morning and also at night but most of the messages may be
Routine such as one from a member of your deal team about the announcement of a transaction the previous evening which you might highlight for more research and reading later in the day you may have the luxury of an extra hour in bed if you had to work late into the early morning the previous day or because the us markets open only at 9 30 a.m as an investment
Banking associate you may often find time for a power workout at the gym a shower and a good breakfast before you are on your way to the office yeah a lot of people in ib tend to either go gym early morning or they go like when they’re waiting around in the evenings for work to come in so five six seven eight pm or even 9 10 pm get an hour in the gym and most
Of the banks have a gym in the office um so a lot of these people are actually in good shape but if your group is in the last stages of an active deal or if you didn’t complete what you were doing the evening before you better be in the office early well before the bosses arrive 8 am to 10 am you drive to the office if you live not too far from your office or
More likely take a taxi if you don’t have to drive you check if there are any new emails and browse through wall street journal merger market bloomberg etc for the latest news in your industry is there anything worth forwarding to your team you also yeah look this is important you want to make sure you’re on top of what’s going on in the industry that’s relevant
For you so if you’re working or if your coverage areas are i don’t know tmt so technology media and telecoms or healthcare or consumer discretionary whatever industry you cover you want to be consuming relevant news and information to do with that industry why it’s going to affect your clients it’s going to affect the deals you’re working on and it’s generally
Good to be on top of those kind of things you also try to get a quick peek at general news and sports because you can’t do that at the office as your bank like a few other banks has put up put up a firewall to save you from distracting websites you quickly go back to work mode 10 a.m to 11 a.m on reaching your office you go to the company cafeteria for breakfast
Such as oatmeal or cornflakes with banana and honey milk if you are the health conscious type you have a quick chat with john at the counter you check your inbox again there’s a message from a vp requesting a quick meeting on an upcoming m a so mergers and acquisitions pitch or a walkthrough on the details of a potential acquisition strategy you’ve proposed to a
Telecom client a couple of days ago which is your active live deal now you need to include his suggestions on an alternative strategy he has proposed a senior colleague may also ask you to drop by for a review of the work of a new analyst you try to see this task as professionally as possible without having someone fired right after you have given your analysis
Before we carry on it’s that time of the video where i need to introduce today’s video sponsor toggle toggle is a platform for both institutional and retail investors and it leverages ai artificial intelligence to help you get unique insights to allow you to invest better toggle helps active investors both professional and retail as long as the user actively
Follows markets and invests semi-regularly there is a good chance they’ll love the platform toggle looks at billions of data points across millions of time series each and every day toggle then takes the interesting data the assets that are related to it identifies prior times through history that milestones had been seen and does all of the statistical analysis to
Identify if the assets have had a consistent response for example did they usually go up or did they go down if that insight meets a certain threshold of statistical robustness then it’s considered an actionable insight actionable insights are not trading signals they’re intended to help investors get a sense of all else being equal is the security poised to go
Up or down given the current data landscape toggle looks at many lenses including momentum valuation macro economics etc another feature of toggle is news insights this uses ai artificial intelligence to help you decide what pieces of financial news are favorable or unfavorable for a particular stock based on its historical data now for those of you interested
In investing in the financial markets whether you do it professionally or for an institution or if you’re a retail investor and you do it as a hobby definitely do check out toggle there’s lots of that you can find out on their website institutional focused investors they’ve got toggle pro and for those of you who are retail investors and who might invest you
Know as a hobby they’ve got toggle copilot so hit the link in the video description below and you can find out more about them definitely do check them out now let’s get back to the video 11am to 12 at 11 you attend a once a fortnight meeting meeting hosted by your group including all your colleagues to discuss ongoing projects deals that are about to come
Through market trends and meetings and other client engagements planned for the week ahead at the meeting your group head gives a 15 minute briefing on these topics which gives you an opportunity to gather some market intelligence and insight into your clients thinking so you’re constantly thinking about you know what opportunities are there in the industry in
The market any existing relationships that you have with clients or any new ones that you can build that can you know lead to a successful opportunity or a deal so you’re kind of constantly thinking about new opportunities ways to make business ways to serve clients after the group head has winded up his speech you and the others share information on the status
Of pending projects information that others may benefit from industry market anecdotes and upcoming team events including group outings at 12 you are called to sit in a meeting between the vp and the managing director who have been initial been in initial discussions with a family-owned media business to help sell to help sell one of its portfolio companies all
Right so here a family-owned media business wants to sell one of its portfolio companies they own lots of different companies they want to sell one of them so the vp and the managing director are discussing the best approach to go about doing this potential clients or companies that might want to buy the business that’s there to be sold essentially you’re there
Because when the vp and the md come up with the right idea they’re going to need a pitch book created and some analytics on various data sets so you’re going to be working on excel creating charts and graphs and then sending that over to powerpoint and creating a pitch book that gets taken to the meeting and used to pitch you need to finalize the pitch book as
Soon as possible so that is ready for the next meeting with the prospective client whenever that is scheduled perhaps next week or the week after that this may well become our next active deal most mornings so partly why investment bankers or associates and analysts are extremely busy is because all right so they’re working on this one opportunity right imagine
Another opportunity comes in and another one and another one and they’re big opportunities for the business for the business to make good money right or execute on good deals and so it’s like one thing after the other you’re juggling so many different balls and you wish they had more people but the cultural banking is they just don’t hire near as much people as
Maybe they should um and so that’s how your hours can easily go from 14 to 16 to 18 hour days and beyond all right most mornings are usually on the slow side and more typical than your work in the afternoon senior staff utilize the morning hours to go through the work put in by their teams and on the previous day and you’re endless so they’re saying mornings
Tend to be quieter evenings busier and the reason for that is in the morning your seniors are reviewing the work that you sent them last night and so your mornings aren’t as busy as the evenings and afternoons because that’s when the seniors get back to you with feedback and you need to do all of that feedback make the changes on the powerpoint make the changes
In the excel whatever it is and your analyst colleagues are still working on the revisions to presentation pitch book on an active deal that you suggested the night before in the vp suggestions you passed on to them this morning 12 30 pm to 1 30 p.m work isn’t too hectic today and you go for a leisurely lunch at a nearby delhi or your company cafeteria on
The top floor of your building you decide there’s time for a quick pulse lunch walk around the block to get a bit of sunlight and freshen your mind getting that vitamin d at companies that have developed a culture of mentorship you may join a senior colleague from another group in your company for a lunch out and discuss your plans for the year ahead and your
Career progression of course you may get this opportunity only twice a year on busy days and seasons you may go to a delhi cafeteria and get a takeaway or just pick up something from the lunch cart to eat at your desk with a colleague bankers at the same level in the hierarchy tend to hurt together during lunch analysts sit with analysts and associates with
Other associates 1 30 to 3 pm afternoons are mainly for work on your active live deal each associate works on an active deal and starts the afternoon session reviewing the revised presentation or pitch book with corrections made by analysts now all parts of the pitch book such as market valuation and strategies look good so analyst does their edits associate
Reviews it associate does their edits vp will review it and essentially makes its way up to the md if they’re happy with it to go to the meeting then it goes to the meeting but best believe there’s going to be lots of changes throughout that pathway before you market to a senior colleague you go over it once again to see if all your changes have been done and
There are no more corrections to be carried out and this is another reason why people hate individuals who have no attention to detail it’s very very important to have good attention to detail and analytical skills you don’t want to leave errors and mistakes into these pitch books because when it goes to a client meeting it just looks bad this may be a part of
An m a deal that involves millions or even billions of dollars and you don’t want to leave in minor areas that may bring down your entire team this also may be the time that you get a call from the client company’s chief financial officer suggesting that the revenue from a unit proposed to be acquired appears somewhat overestimated you promise to get down to the
Work and make any changes after a comprehensive review so yeah you you work on this deck you send it uh you get a call from the client and then you gotta make all these changes so you go back onto excel you go back onto powerpoint make the changes it changes one thing leads to another change leads to another change and that’s why you know you can find yourself
As a junior working late doing these changes while the md is chilling at home um i guess they’ve put in the work right 3 30 pm you need to break and call a few colleagues together for coffee and snack at the corner bakery while coming back you already you are already thinking of the cfo’s revenue question and decide you should get to it immediately as it is an
Active deal 330 to 5 30 pm the moment you walk into your office your phone rings is the ceo of a pharmaceutical company that you met last week so you’re probably out and about networking she’s not happy with the estimate of the long-term savings and profit potential of her company after the proposed installation of new packing machinery and wants the figure to
Be reviewed or revised as soon as possible thankfully she thankfully she has her own suggestions and wants you to be to join a conference call with her senior colleagues in an hour you may review my suggestions and include them as soon as possible as i have a board meeting first thing next week so your clients are very very busy people right they are the execs
Of big companies so you’re dealing with chief financial officers chief executive officers chief operating officers um so there’s a lot of pressure on you because there’s high expectations from them now you are starting to get a headache with planning for the current active deal a future deal and a partial you are busy at the desk you close your eyes and meditate
You need two minutes for yourself geez but you realize that the direct call to you from the former ceo means that she trusts you which is nice and your company and you also get a chance to learn how corporate leaders think of business it is an opportunity to make invaluable professional contacts for the future everyone wants to be an investment banker but no one
Wants to be the client it’s surely if you’re the client you’re doing better in life right or it’s more of an interesting career than just doing banking you go over your estimates and other aspects of the project and be ready for the course schedule for 4 p.m at the last minute the ceo’s office notifies you of a 30-minute delay in the conference call firstly when
There’s a delay in the meeting i’m happy it means you get 30 minutes extra time to prepare for it even more if you’re running late or if you’re unprepared 5 30 to 6 30 p.m after the call with the pharmaceutical ceo ends around 5 30 pm you are lucky to get some quick time with your seniors involved in the project and get their approval for the changes proposed with
Some discussion they agree to the changes and give the goal ahead for the finalization of the strategy but you decide to first work on the active deal and include the alternative strategy proposed by the vp for the telecom client going through the suggestions again you realize you need the assistance of your analyst and graphics to prepare final pitch book yeah
Like some companies some banks have a team dedicated to making powerpoint presentations look nice and neat or graphics and all of that um but most of the works the number crunching the creation of the deck is going to be you all right 6 30 to 7 30 pm you recall with a start that you have to attend a training program on debt products and the debt market at 6 30.
So throughout all this work going on throughout the day there are random meetings in your calendar and things that you need to attend a former banker has been invited to provide the training which is organized once or twice a month a range of skill sets for associates is planned to be covered and you walk into the training room worrying about your pending tasks
But with the expectation of learning something useful trade-off right and opportunity cost 7 30 pm to 9 30 pm after the training is over at 7 30 pm you run back to your desk and turn your attention to preparing the final documents for the form of them you make some changes to the suggested changes suggested but feel you need the fresh perspective of a new day to
Finalize the documents for the firm by then you’re probably exhausted and tired you also need to meet the vp with the final draft before lunch tomorrow busy busy non-stop so i hope what you can get from this so far is only 7 00 pm 7 30 pm in the day so much going on so many things to juggle so many things coming at you one thing after another so you need to be on
It imagine doing that five six days a week non-stop that’s why people burn out you sit back and relax for a moment and begin to harbor thoughts of leaving office early and catching dinner with your best friend a former con and former colleague who recently returned from a vacation in the middle east but you are a workaholic and want to take another close look at
The figures before meeting the vp tomorrow dinner with buddy has to wait for another day sad times 9 30 pm to 11 30 p.m enough for the day you have gone through most of the figures but need to return to them next morning at 10 pm you are up from your seat telling yourself that any new emails can wait till you get home your day would have been longer if you were
In the closing cycles of a couple of active deals or if you were part of a high intensity deal in that case you would have ordered dinner along with colleagues and had it at the office with them you typically get a budget and you go to the cafeteria or you can order from external restaurants and you eat at the office and then you work you burn the midnight oil
Work would have then continued to late perhaps the early hours of the next day and lastly 11 30 p.m to 12 30 a.m but tonight you are in luck you can have dinner at home with a takeaway but you need to first collect your clothes from your dry cleaner classic on the way you have a business trip to a potential client the day after tomorrow and need to pack for a
Couple of days you reach home and while having dinner catch up on the latest news netflix is strictly for the weekend to bed by 12 30 you can comfortably get in your seven hours as you plan to reach office only by 10 a.m tomorrow now keep in mind this is a day in the life of an associate at an investment bank so they’ve done at least two three four years right
And this wasn’t a busy day compared to what would be a typical day if they were working on more live deals so yeah if you found that interesting what’s this list of things investment bankers do the article is linked in the video description check it out have a read of the full article but yeah if you found that interesting let me know your thoughts down below
In the comments if you made it to the end give this video a thumbs up it helps the youtube algorithm push the video further and it helps the channel grow and yeah i will see you in the next video peace
Transcribed from video
A Day in the Life of an Investment Banker… By Afzal Hussein
