Experiences From The Other Side of the Coffee Chat Table When I worked in investment banking, I made an effort to respond to every email request for a coffee chat or phone call from a student or recent graduate looking to break in provided that they were respectful and had the

Poker vs Finance - Risk Management and Expected Value Poker and finance get along - as in real poker. Prudent management of risk, working with imperfect information, entering into positive expected value decisions - poker is a closed environment with limited permutations where good decision making is rewarded. In markets, the

To my understanding, Woodstock was an iconic rock concert that represented the Zeitgeist of America's hippie era. There was a re-do in the 90's where there ended up being riots - nonetheless, this is what Warren Buffett has coined the Berkshire Hathaway annual general meeting. As we approach the AGM for

Looking for Free Investment Advice This is something I wanted to address because I am asked for stock advice often. I was having dinner and a glass of wine at a friend's house where most of the other participants were doctors and lawyers, nurses and civil servants. After some conversation on Donald

The Need for a Staffer Role As you may know from frequenting this website, investment banking is very much a brokerage role with senior staff in coverage groups operating on an eat what you kill model. This is less pronounced at the bulge brackets and large integrated banks but the model

Don't take this too seriously Working in Investment Banking During the Holidays Most investment bankers look forward to December for one or two reasons. Senior investment banker schedules (Managing Directors and Executive Directors) are aligned with their clients, so if the client is going on vacation in December then senior bankers will

This is a follow up to a previous intellectually lazy post Some Investment Banking Things. Lucites, Deal Toys and Tombstones When investment bankers close deals, they will set aside a budget to commission trophies commemorating the transaction. Usually, they will get glass toys with a theme that is loosely related to the

As with our previous intellectually lazy piece, we are just going to comment on some of the common experiences shared by investment bankers in the post financial crisis era. Mandatory Compliance Training Post-Lehman banks have undergone incredible regulatory and social pressure. As such, an enormous amount of money has been ploughed into

Sam, a junior engineer at some local startup with seed funding from Amazon, was enjoying a drink with three nerd buddies at Hapa Izakaya. They felt very dapper with their checkered dress shirts, black framed glasses and wispy facial hair. As relatively cheap, indirect Canadian labor for the tech behemoth,