Working in a bank

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Thats almost 100k. Be contented.

that's better than a friend of mine, 12 years in MNC and still making 5000 only..

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I'm a corporate credit officer. 7 years of exp drawing 6k bonus about 4 months ba...

5 yrs as corporate credit. 6.8k per mth. Not sure is on par, below or above avg.

Can I ask for advice without being trolled or flamed here?

I just want to know if offered 1. Corporate finance analyst or 2. FX sales entry position, which is a better career path right now? Both positions offered to me from the same US bank.

Corp fin base salary is 2k higher than the treasury position.

That you might receive from internet forums. Seems there are plenty of bad advice being dished out here but it was entertaining to see the kinds of questions being asked.
Do people actually know what Investment Banking is about? There are so many aspects of it and its actually more M&A. If you want to trade, the group you should look at is S&T. Its easier to get a sales job than a trading job. But if you're not good looking with impressive credentials, it is near impossible.

One of the early posters said its not about luck, well, that's not true. Alot of things in life are about luck. Being at the right place, at the right time and knowing how to seize the opportunity.

There are people on the forum who have made the switch from Engineering/something/whatever to finance-based roles (not necessarily, front office roles) but alot of that is attributable to luck. Its more common in the States where I'm currently working but in a tiny market like Singapore, its very very hard.

I'm not trying to discourage anyone: just know that Investment Banking is not all its made out to be. Behind the glamour (perpetuated by the people in the industry), there's alot of back-stabbing and you're not going to make that much money anyway, unless you're in those elite few banks. And those are few and far between now. The US banks are fearful of having to close down their prop trading operations because of the new regulations coming out of Washington. Hence, unlikely to be hiring there anytime soon. The European banks are all in a tizzy because of the on-going sovereign debt crisis. And really, the whole industry is all a house of cards. when one falls, so do the others....

I work in the capital markets now and make pretty decent money but with experienced eyes, i would probably take a job in any other industry that pays just as well but is not tainted with some of the most selfish, narcissistic human beings I've seen.

Seriously, all that matters after awhile, is having a stable job with a decent income, being fulfilled in that job and deriving deeper satisfaction from contributing to society.

I've chased the same dream and now that I'm living in some version of it, it's not all I expected it to be.
Maybe, its just a matter of getting older and finding that out.

To the poster before me, corporate finance is very different from a sales job with very different skill sets. It all depends on what you want to do 5 years from now. So what do you want to do?

>>I work in the capital markets now and make pretty decent money but with experienced eyes, i would probably take a job in any other industry that pays just as wel

How much is decent money? 500k usd? Or 200k? Which other industry can create as many jobs that pay such lucrative income? Oil & gas perhaps (which I would argue still plays second fiddle), or maybe defense in the USA.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

>>I work in the capital markets now and make pretty decent money but with experienced eyes, i would probably take a job in any other industry that pays just as wel

How much is decent money? 500k usd? Or 200k? Which other industry can create as many jobs that pay such lucrative income? Oil & gas perhaps (which I would argue still plays second fiddle), or maybe defense in the USA.

Agree with you. The self claim investment banker is very confused. Dealing with capital markets in US probably at least US$350k annual. How to take another job that pays as well!?!?!?

And for someone making so much money to say having a stable job with decent income and contributing society is more important is totally not convincing at all. If he quit his job and join a low pay NGO or charity then I believe him, otherwise is just talk not follow up by action

[wern]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Agree with you. The self claim investment banker is very confused. Dealing with capital markets in US probably at least US$350k annual. How to take another job that pays as well!?!?!?

And for someone making so much money to say having a stable job with decent income and contributing society is more important is totally not convincing at all. If he quit his job and join a low pay NGO or charity then I believe him, otherwise is just talk not follow up by action

Or he/she could have been forced to leave the bank due to some huge scandal/cover up. I once met an ex-MAS scholar now working in an ulu property sales firm aka international real estate agent (the kind that you see in the papers selling land/apartments in london,auckland etc.).

She was a 30-something milf and for such a woman to leave a scholar playground like MAS at that age to join this tan ah kow company clearly suggests some kind of monkey business that happened along the way in MAS.

To those few posters above who replied to my post about investment banking:
I don't have to explain myself to you. You seem very bitter and unhappy. I just wanted to share my experience with those who seem intent on moving into this industry because it seems to be the key to happiness. Is that so wrong? Unless you are one of those selfish, narcissistic people I mentioned...but no, I think not.

Since you speculated on my situation, let me speculate on yours. The few of you are unhappy people, looking to get a higher paying job, going to such forums in the hope of finding a magic formula. You put down other people on online forums, making yourselves feel better in the process but in real life, you wouldn't dream of saying some of the things you say. Staying annonymous gives you a false sense of security, so you can make yourselves out to be smarter, braver, more witty than you can ever be in real life.
I urge you to get yourselves out into the real world, network in reality and develop genuine character. Then, perhaps, you would see what I'm talking about.

How's that for speculation?

I'm not one of them. I appreciate your sharing and thoughts. Could you put down some numbers for our reference? Eg are you making 300k USD?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

To those few posters above who replied to my post about investment banking:
I don't have to explain myself to you. You seem very bitter and unhappy. I just wanted to share my experience with those who seem intent on moving into this industry because it seems to be the key to happiness. Is that so wrong? Unless you are one of those selfish, narcissistic people I mentioned...but no, I think not.

Since you speculated on my situation, let me speculate on yours. The few of you are unhappy people, looking to get a higher paying job, going to such forums in the hope of finding a magic formula. You put down other people on online forums, making yourselves feel better in the process but in real life, you wouldn't dream of saying some of the things you say. Staying annonymous gives you a false sense of security, so you can make yourselves out to be smarter, braver, more witty than you can ever be in real life.
I urge you to get yourselves out into the real world, network in reality and develop genuine character. Then, perhaps, you would see what I'm talking about.

How's that for speculation?

I did not speculate about you. All I did was pointed out the inconsistency in your logic.

You imply you are making big bucks as a US investment banker, then turn around and advise us that if given a choice you will join another more meaningful job that pays just as well, but never mention what job can be meaningful, contribute to society and yet pay investment banker remuneration.

In short, don't try to sound so generous with nonsense like you just want to “share experiences”, you ask people to look beyond money while you happily continue to make the big bucks. This is not share experience, it’s just plain hypocrisy.