Do you consider working for Goldman Sachs a fastlane job?

[Xyros]

Hey guys,
I remember a while back I met this guy and he worked for Goldman in the UK making 800k a year in salary and around 1.3 million that year in bonus while only working there 2-3 years.
He was an investment banker, do you guys consider this a fastlane job?

This is very different than becomming a lawyer or doctor because those require years and years of study.
But becomming a trader or investment banker you need to be good at numbers and spotting opportunities.

So what do you guys think?

Have a good day!

 

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[snowbank]

making 800k a year in salary and around 1.3 million that year in bonus while only working there 2-3 years.
He was an investment banker, do you guys consider this a fastlane job?

for 99.9% of people, yes

 

[Vigilante]

yes

 

[Twiki]

Interesting question, i think it meets very strongly certain of the N.E.C.S.T. criteria, especially Scale (I think MJ mentions scenario of being in the C-Suite of a Fortune 500 company qualifying as Scale, so definitely a GS banker would qualify there).

Need? I guess that's debatable, but bottom line is the market says there's a strong Need for GS investment bankers.

Entry? Yes for sure.

Control? Unsure... I guess you could say GS and similar entities are in Control of the Whole World, just as much as any human organization. But whether an individual within that group has Control, I don't know about that.

Scale? Yes for sure.

Time? Doubtful. There is an old story about how one incoming "class" of GS bankers was invited to a big meeting before a long holiday weekend. The meeting time came and went, hours passed as the new bankers were told to stick around... no reasons given... until it got later and later into the night. Eventually more and more people had to catch flights etc. for holiday plans, etc. and they left. After this hours long deliberately pointless meeting, all the people who left for "family reasons" etc. were canned. I don't know how true this story but I can believe it. Got a sick kid in the hospital that you promised to visit? F.U.

Related question would be: Is Jack Welch "fastlane"? After all, technically he was an employee of GE and had a job.

 

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[Xyros]

What about owning a Hedge Fund? Because technically they still work for other people, since it's their money and they want a return on their investment. So he has to work hard in order to get a good return every year.

I've read the book Pit Bull by Marty Schwartz, and he once started a Hedge Fund with about 10 mil from other people. But he couldn't sleep at night and he was getting a lot of heart attacks, eventhough he was making a profit with his strategy.
He eventually stopped the Hedge Fund and gave everyone their money back and started trading for himself again.

 

[ubiquitous]

There is an old story about how one incoming "class" of GS bankers was invited to a big meeting before a long holiday weekend. The meeting time came and went, hours passed as the new bankers were told to stick around... no reasons given... until it got later and later into the night. Eventually more and more people had to catch flights etc. for holiday plans, etc. and they left. After this hours long deliberately pointless meeting, all the people who left for "family reasons" etc. were canned.

That's KINDA what happened.

The first hiring interview used to be scheduled for Friday afternoon, but they would make you wait for an undetermined amount of time. Anyone that left for any reason lost their shot.

 

[Twiki]

That's KINDA what happened.

The first hiring interview used to be scheduled for Friday afternoon, but they would make you wait for an undetermined amount of time. Anyone that left for any reason lost their shot.

Makes sense. I fergot where I read the "holiday weekend" version of this story but this hiring interview scenario sounds more likely. Confirms that the Fastlane ENTRY factor is high... the process sounds like trying to enter Shaolin Temple as a student, waiting outside the gate for days while the Master comes out and hits you with a broom to test your determination.

 

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[SeanKelly]

I've always been interested in ibanking, but I heard the stress is unbearable and you don't have much freedom. Also I heard bonuses are being cut quite a bit which make the profession so lucrative.

 

[The-J]

Depends on where you are.

If you get to actually work for GS in their investment banking department, you've got nowhere to go but up... or out.

Most people who work for GS end up being entry level for their entire lives. Make it further than that and you've got yourself a truly Fastlane job.

 

[SeanKelly]

Hmm I wonder how you'd get past that entry level

 

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[Vick]

Depends how fast you do it

 

[JasonR]

So that's $1.8 million a year? So in 5 years he can retire with nearly 10 million? Yeah, definitely fastlane. Of course, you have to figure taxes into this, so it's more like retiring 7-8 years with 10 million.

 

[Mike39]

So that's $1.8 million a year? So in 5 years he can retire with nearly 10 million? Yeah, definitely fastlane. Of course, you have to figure taxes into this, so it's more like retiring 7-8 years with 10 million.

Or 3-7 years at GS making connections and learning, then starting your own company in finance and running that until you retire. Some of these guys' salaries are unbelievable, hundreds of millions a year in salaries; these are the men who decide what happens in the world and when.

 

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[artfuldodger]

Or 3-7 years at GS making connections and learning, then starting your own company in finance and running that until you retire. Some of these guys' salaries are unbelievable, hundreds of millions a year in salaries; these are the men who decide what happens in the world and when.

The guys at the top are true Alpha males. But of course you have to sell your soul to get to that level. I personally wouldn't be cut out for it. You pretty much have no life, no time for your family, and owned by GS until you bail. Then you can start living off your millions but life is short and you probably took 20 years off your life with all the stress and mental trauma you lived with from work.

 

[Guest3722A]

If you consider trading time for money fastlane, then yes. I don't consider this fastlane

 

[EastWind]

anything that lets you make money and make it fast enough is fast lane, if you can figure out how to make millions selling lemonade, that's fastlane.

 

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[sandeep]

Hell yehh, Where in the world you can loose money, screw up the economy and then make millions in bonuses!!! Big brother salutes you for being stupid and rewards you! I want to join those sob! issed:

 

[theDarkness]

Depends on their expenses. I've read about guys like that that spend like sidewalkers.

But yeah I'd say anything that lets you net a million+ a year is fastlane. Even if you're working 100 hour weeks for that as someone's bitch, you do it for a few years then go do something else. The key would be to not let the soul-crushingness of it all to morph you into spending like an idiot. I think a lot of people's spending problems stem from making that spending money by doing something they hate with all their soul. That leaves you drained, drunk, and in a mood to do dumb shit.

 

[OsmanS]

Definitely not, Goldman employees work man hours a week in a highly stressful environment. When you don't work, you don't make money.

 

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[100k]

Its a job, you can get fired. No control.

Nope, its not in my opinion, its a high paying job, not a business that you own/control.

 

[Steve37]

Yes.

 

[Toao]

Most definitely: NO ! Working for someone else is not fastlane IMO. It's a nice income but compared to the income of Goldman it's only peanuts. I feel kind of sorry for him. I'll invite him for a cocktail if I ever meet him

 

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[Pete799p]

The real advantage is the contacts/connections you will make. I know a few really successful ex wall streeters. When you talk to them about raising money it is a very different conversation as compared to many struggling entrepreneurs. I was talking to one guy about raising funding for his investment company and if they were encountering liquidity issues at the rate they were growing. His response was, "If I really need it I know several guys I could call right now and get another mil."


O and my answer is yes. Save as much cash as you can and make as many friends as you can.

 

[CommonCents]

There is a general theme out there perpetuated by media stories of college dropouts becoming successful entrepreneurs, like that is the only path. I believe that story is misleading many young people these days. Those stories are lightning strikes compared to people who have gone to college, worked for successful entrepreneurs/companies, then went out on their own. Reinventing the wheel on your own as a rebel is wayyy against the odds of being fastlane.

 

[Twiki]

There is a general theme out there perpetuated by media stories of college dropouts becoming successful entrepreneurs, like that is the only path. I believe that story is misleading many young people these days.

Eric Ries would agree with you. In the introduction to "The Lean Startup" he wrote: "There is a myth making industry hard at work to sell us that story ... but I have come to believe that the story is false ... a product of selection bias and after-the-fact rationalization." He's not exactly talking about the college dropout story, but the myth about brilliant college kids with a great idea, lots of determination and good timing.

It's ironic that people will often get excited about stuff like doing a "lean startup" as way to get into the fastlane, and they think it's about being off on your own, eating ramen noodles and using milk crates as office furniture, somehow missing the message in that introduction, and also the fact that the first example he uses of a "lean" entrepreneurial enterprise is a team within Intuit corporation.

 

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[FiveOone]

Most definitely: NO ! Working for someone else is not fastlane IMO

Lebron James works for Mickey Arison. Bit of an extreme example but im sure you get my point.

 

[Toao]

Originally Posted by Toao
Most definitely: NO ! Working for someone else is not fastlane IMO
Lebron James works for Mickey Arison. Bit of an extreme example but im sure you get my point.

No not really. Your statement is that working a 9 to 5 job without any control gets fastlane by which yearly income ?
That people can earn much money by talent and hard work was never disputed.

 

[DeletedUser11]

Not really, the real wealth begins when you liquidate, that guy can't "sell" his job at goldman sachs. If a business made 2million + a year it could sell for anywhere between 2-20 million.

Plus he is probably addicted to the cashflow he is getting, he most likely wont retire until his whole life has passed him buy

 

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[mayana]

I think this job is NOT Fastlane. Sure, it sounds like a nice sum, but after you figure taxes, crazy stress, no control, and the odds that the average investment banker would actually make it to that level? No, thanks.

Some people might say that the people who disagree that this job is Fastlane are haters, and some might be, but I wouldn't trade my life for this job.

 

[ubiquitous]

being off on your own, eating ramen noodles and using milk crates as office furniture,

I've done all of those things and it's not that fun... I did lose quite a bit of weight though. haha