Investment banking? (2 Viewers)

HSC guy · Jul 7, 2008

Which degree would be most helpful in pursuing a career on Wall Street (eg. investment banking)? Someone i know asked me and i didn't have the answer so i decided to ask you guys.

MasterPUA · Jul 8, 2008

HSC guy said:
Which degree would be most helpful in pursuing a career on Wall Street (eg. investment banking)? Someone i know asked me and i didn't have the answer so i decided to ask you guys.

i wuld like to know this too!!!

what sort of degree would b the best to get into sumwhere like Goldman Sachs JP Moragan or a big bank like JB Were or sth similar????:wave:

velox · Jul 8, 2008

MasterPUA said:
i wuld like to know this too!!!

what sort of degree would b the best to get into sumwhere like Goldman Sachs JP Moragan or a big bank like JB Were or sth similar????:wave:

A degree that teaches you to know the names of the firms correctly.

leoyh · Jul 8, 2008

rofl. a degree in finance or economics is fine. it doesnt have to be full specific. but obviously not something stupid that doesnt relate like marketing. most do acturial, and i'd say that helps

blue_chameleon · Jul 8, 2008

velox said:
A degree that teaches you to know the names of the firms correctly.

LOL.

This thread provides a lovely reference to your sig.

jordankuai22 · Jul 8, 2008

Applied finance. is the best for investment banking

Krieg · Jul 9, 2008

Whichever you're most interested in as long as you can do maths. Friend of mine did science at caltech, didn't touch on anything financial and trades w/ goldman sachs straight out of uni.

ifsonotso_100 · Jul 9, 2008

velox said:
A degree that teaches you to know the names of the firms correctly.

lol, very true. love how people want to get into this with no research at all regarding what Investment banking even means

Affinity · Jul 9, 2008

ifsonotso_100 said:
lol, very true. love how people want to get into this with no research at all regarding what Investment banking even means

IB=$
All sucked into this hype about such and such job makes big bucks.

People usually make choices based on key words... For example, anything with
Finance, Management, Invest(ment), Bank, will get people interested.

Cookie182 · Jul 9, 2008

Without a doubt strong qantitative skills are important- all the major IB's say that on their gradOptions page- however specifically what mathematics is prerequisite knowledge?

As in, do u hav to KNOW advanced financial calculus or just have the ABILITY to learn it and are taught on the job? As many degrees such as commerce (finance/economics) do not teach u these maths skills.

Cookie182 · Jul 9, 2008

Affinity said:
IB=$
All sucked into this hype about such and such job makes big bucks.

People usually make choices based on key words... For example, anything with
Finance, Management, Invest(ment), Bank, will get people interested.

not that money is the onli factor, but i would say that for at least 90 percent of ppl it is the driving force beind them working- u can work long crappy hours in a low end job and just scrape up enough to put food on the table or u can sell ur soul to an IB, hate the hours as well but retire at the end on a big $$$ (and IB is the extreme case- many financial jobs pay great but have manageable hours/expected levels of performance).

in any case, not a lot of ppl LOVE working, hence money is the presiding factor behind getting an education and a better paying job.

jas0nt · Jul 9, 2008

anything sensible as long as you get a HD average in. you can do engineering and if you do well at it, you can land a job in the quantitatve sectors of an IB.

Affinity · Jul 9, 2008

Cookie182 said:
Without a doubt strong qantitative skills are important- all the major IB's say that on their gradOptions page- however specifically what mathematics is prerequisite knowledge?

As in, do u hav to KNOW advanced financial calculus or just have the ABILITY to learn it and are taught on the job? As many degrees such as commerce (finance/economics) do not teach u these maths skills.

Financial calculus... LOL not for IB.. you will go a long way if you know + - X and /. Ofcourse there are number crunchers doing these things.. but they don't count as bankers

Affinity · Jul 9, 2008

Cookie182 said:
not that money is the onli factor, but i would say that for at least 90 percent of ppl it is the driving force beind them working- u can work long crappy hours in a low end job and just scrape up enough to put food on the table or u can sell ur soul to an IB, hate the hours as well but retire at the end on a big $$$ (and IB is the extreme case- many financial jobs pay great but have manageable hours/expected levels of performance).

in any case, not a lot of ppl LOVE working, hence money is the presiding factor behind getting an education and a better paying job.

There are many other jobs which pay well with better hours.. I am not implying that finance jobs are bad... in fact I think most are good.. My point was that many people are superficial in the sense that they just go after something when they see the key words.

Cookie182 · Jul 9, 2008

Affinity- yea of course i get that completely- people think the word finance= million dollar salary.

I think wat i need (and im prob not alone- had a terrible careers advicer and it can be a confusing field) is a real run down on the Investment Banker's ACTUAL role. As in, i know that within a bank there is front and back office. Im talking about the market makers or trader (or are they different) and the quantitative skills they need. i said financial calculus as i thought they were using models lik the black-scholes model and pricing financial derivatives such as options and informing stockbrokers who find out on behalf of clients??? Or is there back office ppl doing that? Who makes the big salaries then and what maths is prerequisite for the front office traders????

Cookie182 · Jul 9, 2008

Affinity said:
Financial calculus... LOL not for IB.. you will go a long way if you know + - X and /. Ofcourse there are number crunchers doing these things.. but they don't count as bankers

basic arithmetic- why do banks take engineers/skiled mathematicians then for trader roles. I mean i keep reading bout these strong quantitative skills but i need a benchmark. Im in comm(majoring in eco or finance)/ law and i keep scrambling around with my eelctives to cram in as much math as possible- ie to try and take a course teaching PDE's, stochastic processes....

am i stressing over nothin?

MasterPUA · Jul 9, 2008

Cookie182 said:
basic arithmetic- why do banks take engineers/skiled mathematicians then for trader roles. I mean i keep reading bout these strong quantitative skills but i need a benchmark. Im in comm(majoring in eco or finance)/ law and i keep scrambling around with my eelctives to cram in as much math as possible- ie to try and take a course teaching PDE's, stochastic processes....

am i stressing over nothin?

??? u don't need to no pde's unless you want to be a quant egghead i thought?

they take ppl with quant backgrounds for tarder roles but it is not a prerequisite for a trader role. i trade and i don't know how to solve a pde

jas0nt · Jul 10, 2008

Cookie182 said:
am i stressing over nothin?

nope. you're just focusing on the quantitative side of finance. over at my uni, it's one of the two majors in a B. Fin degree. this major involves doing probability/stochastic modelling (but not PDEs).

Vagabond · Jul 10, 2008

MasterPUA said:
??? u don't need to no pde's unless you want to be a quant egghead i thought?

they take ppl with quant backgrounds for tarder roles but it is not a prerequisite for a trader role. i trade and i don't know how to solve a pde

You trade in a financial company?

Affinity · Jul 10, 2008

Cookie182 said:
basic arithmetic- why do banks take engineers/skiled mathematicians then for trader roles. I mean i keep reading bout these strong quantitative skills but i need a benchmark. Im in comm(majoring in eco or finance)/ law and i keep scrambling around with my eelctives to cram in as much math as possible- ie to try and take a course teaching PDE's, stochastic processes....

am i stressing over nothin?

When people say investment banking, it's implicitly refering to the financial consultants of the bank. Basically those organising purchases and sales of firms, borrowing money and selling (usually new) shares. One will need to know some maths for these things but not much.. some basic stats, arithmetic and discounted cashflows are probably sufficient. ie, the compulsory courses are generally enough.

Trading is a different thing to banking.. These guys need even less maths. By it's nature, trading involves making quick decisions, so you don't have time to do anything complicated. Anyone could become a trader.. Mathy people get the jobs not because they know some sophisticated maths but because they are generally better at basic arithmetic (ofcourse you do need other skills). There are people who develop trading strategies who might need some maths, but thats another thing

Ofcourse there are people who require more maths.. but those are back office ppl generally called quants as mentioned already.

That said I do think it's good to learn some more maths, it's good for your soul.

And I suggest you to do some research on different roles in a big bank.

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