Entry-level investment bankers boast $200K paychecks, but it's not all base salary.

Investment banking jobs are famous for their long hours

Although some banks report attempts to cap hours for junior employees at 80 hours per week, these employees often continue working many more hours than that. Goldman Sachs analysts, for instance, went viral back in 2021 when they put together a PowerPoint deck complaining of 100-hour work weeks and mental health struggles.

Investment bankers are architects of the largest financial transactions in the world

Working up to 120 hours a week, investment bankers help major corporations navigate IPOs, mergers, and more. Despite long hours and a high-pressure environment, investment banking remains a critical industry that shapes the global financial landscape.

What do investment bankers actually do?

Investment bankers organize large financial transactions at a high level. But what does that look like day to day? A video breaks down the specifics about the transactions and deals investment bankers work on, and which members of an investment banking team have eyes on each project.

Many investment bankers work on mergers and acquisitions

At some point in their careers, many investment bankers work on facilitating or advising clients on mergers or acquisitions. From analyzing industry group trends to deal negotiations, an M&A in investment banking explainer outlines how investment bankers handle these business transactions.

It’s an investment banker’s job to raise money for the bank’s clients

Investment bankers do this in a multitude of ways, such as selling securities, or acquiring other companies.

Many investment bankers work on IPOs

When a company undertakes an IPO, investment banks often buy many of the organization’s shares directly from the company, in order to sell the shares on the stock market. The bank stands to profit after marking up the shares.

Some argue that investment banking could be a health hazard

Back in 2012, a University of Southern California researcher published a decade-long study in which she observed investment bankers’ health. The results weren’t exactly stellar. Every individual the researcher observed developed a stress-related physical or emotional ailment within several years of working in investment banking.

League tables show the number of deals top investment banks do in a time period

These tables provide a visual to help keep track of the leading companies in investment banking. Companies such as JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs typically sit up top.

Consulting firms are known for their relatively high starting salaries

The “Big Three” and the “Big Four” consulting firms especially are known for high pay. Top firms often offer entry-level salaries well over $100K per year.

Companies pay multiple fees as part of the IPO process

When a company decides to approach IPO, it typically hires investment bankers—who earn about 7% of the IPO’s gross proceeds—to help set the organization’s target valuation range and schedule an IPO date. But that isn't the only fee associated with the IPO process.

A post-MBA salary calculator

The median starting salary for MBA graduates is roughly $120K. That’s significant when compared to the $69,320 median salary for bachelor’s degree grads. After inputting specifics (e.g., work experience and the country one studies in), this MBA salary calculator figures out a more accurate estimate tailored to you.

It's difficult for individual investors to purchase IPO shares

Although the process of going public means the general public can invest in a company, the initial investment period is different. Before individual investors get in on the action, investment bankers sell the shares to larger financial institutions who can afford the asking price and risk associated with an IPO.

A successful angel investor can multiply their investment by 3 to 10 times.

The average pay for family office executives has soared

As the number of family offices grows, they’re battling for top talent with traditional financial institutions by bulking up pay and incentive packages.

Tech, finance, and consulting industries hire roughly 70% of students from top MBA programs.

An MBA return on investment calculator

On average, the total investment for an MBA degree is more than $200K, which includes tuition, living expenses, lost income, and potential interest on student loans. This calculator can help you figure out your own future MBA degree’s estimated ROI based on your unique situation.

Retail investors are average joes, while institutional investors often move billions of dollars a day

Retail investors often trade 100 shares at a time, while institutional investors trade 10,000 or more. The biggest difference is that, unlike retail investors, institutional investors are professionals who are trading someone else’s money.

The average salary for Harvard MBA grads within 3 months of graduating is $193,837.

How life looks different with a $75K household income versus $150K

"The cleanest way to describe the gap is that $75K is often about stability, while $150K can be about optionality, but only if fixed expenses do not expand to consume the raise," said one finance professor.

A star investment banker was fired, launching a decade-long court fight

Star bankers are the core of an investment banking firm's business, so when Perella Weinberg let their restructuring guru Mike Kramer go in 2015, he sued, launching a ten-year legal fight.

The average salary for Harvard MBA grads within 3 months of graduating is $193,837.

An initial public offering is how a private company becomes public.

On average, CEOs at top US companies make 281 times as much as the average worker—partly due to valuable stock options that are frequently included in executive compensation packages.

Investment banking giant Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy in September 2008 when it had $619B in debt, making it the largest bankruptcy ever in the US

Nearly all of its 26,000 employees immediately lost their jobs. But in London, a few hundred remained tucked away, working for another decade to wind down the bank’s European business.

Book building is widely considered the most efficient way to price securities

During the book-building process, bankers determine an IPO’s price per share, requesting bids from fund managers and other institutional investors for the number of shares they want and how much they’d be willing to pay for them.

Difficulty of getting into every Ivy League school

Harvard graduates have the highest average starting salary in the country at $91,700. But getting to graduation at any Ivy League school like Harvard is no easy feat. This visual breaks down exactly how difficult getting into an Ivy League school is, from Yale to Cornell, including average admission rates, median SAT scores, and more. See the graphic here.

It has historically been tough for minorities to rise through the ranks in investment banking

According to a Barron’s article, only about 1.3% of the $69T asset management business is managed by firms led by women or minorities—even if their performance is comparable to those led by white men.

Startups fundraise in 'rounds' as they prove out their business and scale

When startups take on outside funding, those investments are divided into different "rounds." These rounds are catered to different stages in a startup's life cycle—a startup often needs different types of investors and amounts of funding at different stages of the business. For instance, a pre-seed investment round can include investments ranging from about $25K to $500K, whereas a Series D investment can be hundreds of millions of dollars.

Earnings season—the time period at the end of each quarter when many public companies release their earnings reports—offers a chance for investors and Wall Street analysts to evaluate how a wide range of companies are performing at once.

Hedge funds make money from imposing steep fees on investors, as well as from investment performance

Hedge funds often operate on a "2 and 20" model: Investors pay fund managers a 2% management fee, and the hedge fund keeps 20% of their profits. (The 2% is imposed annually, irrespective of performance.) Hedge funds are known for chasing big returns—and taking big risks to get them. This explainer not only breaks down how they work in detail, but also the strategy first introduced in 1949 that still shapes hedge fund investing today.

Ride along on one coffee company's journey through the stock market to better understand how a company goes from private to public.

The average American household spends $6,545 per month

While the median household income is $84K, the typical bank account balance is $8K.

Multiple junior Bank of America employees have died on the job

Intern Moritz Erhardt died of epilepsy in 2013, after working through nights, and associate Leo Lukenas III died in 2024, from a blood clot after working more than 100 hours per week.

How banking works

To do big things, people often need more money. Banks jumpstart economic activity with loans paid back with interest, and when things are working well, both people and the bank make more money. Formed in the Middle Ages amid competing currencies in Italy, banks—from the Italian for bench, banco—helped stimulate that era's commercial revolution, a massive expansion in Mediterranean trade and development. Find out the ins and outs of banks in this quick explainer video.

Ten people on Goldman Sachs’ 31-person senior management committee are women

However, only two of those 10 women were in charge of a revenue-generating business arm. Learn more about what it’s like to be a woman in investment banking—and about Goldman’s recent gender discrimination settlement.

American CEOs are so wealthy in part because of stock buybacks, the process of a company purchasing shares of its own stock.

Banks make money by loaning customer deposits and earning interest

This means the interest you earn on your deposits is lower than what the bank earns on the same amount. Banks often keep cash reserves (though a minimum requirement was rescinded in 2020) but generally invest in government bonds, corporate securities, and loans to other banks. During bank runs, depositors withdraw more than the bank has on hand.

The best investing advice for new college grads

While new college graduates typically don't have much money to invest, creating a plan for the money they earn from their first job can set them up for a promising financial future. This list of investing advice for new grads includes recommendations like enrolling in their company's retirement plan as soon as possible, prioritizing building an emergency fund, and more. Read the full list here.

Platforms like AngelList help angel investors find startups to fund

Angel investors leverage their high net worths to fund seed-stage startups. While they could see high returns, investing in such an early company is a risk.

In 2018, roughly one-third of Yale graduates went into either finance or consulting

Every year, top consulting firms head to career fairs at Ivy League universities like Yale across the country. They end up recruiting a significant population of the student body by graduation.

Different CDs can have different term lengths, interest rates, and more

For instance, if a bank needs more deposits to fund loans, then it may offer high interest rates to attract deposits. Alternatively, a large bank with sufficient deposit reserves may have less incentive to grow its CD portfolio, offering lower rates as a result.

An inside look at what it's like to be a consultant

This video explains the basics of consulting, as well as what it's actually like to be a consultant—from the lifestyle and hours to compensation.

Angel investors funded startups with nearly $28B in 2024

Statistics about the angel investing market show that billions are spent funding early-stage startups each year. Companies with more angel interest had higher success rates.

Visualize the balance sheets of US banks

The US banking industry is the most profitable in the world, with loans and leases driving the lion’s share of those profits. In fact, at the end of 2022, 53% of all bank assets fell into the loan and lease category. This rich visualization makes sense of that and highlights how traditional banks operate in stark contrast from their not-for-profit credit union peers. See it here.

Ray Dalio started his career as a golf caddy in Long Island

When Dalio was 12 years old, he worked as a golf caddy at the Links Golf Club. That's where he heard about the stock market for the first time and decided to invest in Northeast Airlines—the only stock he knew that was selling for less than $5 a share. Dalio ended up tripling his profit and became fascinated with the stock market—ultimately laying the foundation for his legendary career as a hedge fund manager.

Many dot-com companies spent some investor money on expensive parties

Parties hosted by dot-com companies were known to be extravagant and expensive. Technology companies in the Bay Area hosted between 15 and 20 parties a week on average, which cost between $30K and $50K on average.

Experts say those receiving year-end bonuses may want to pay down high-interest debt

Experts say other sound options for spending bonuses include topping off an emergency fund or putting more money away for retirement.

Use this annuity income calculator to estimate how much money someone can expect in their annuity payouts, depending on factors such as how much they invest and how long they expect to be paid.

Warren Buffett turned a struggling textile mill into Berkshire Hathaway

With Class A shares trading at over $700K per share, Berkshire Hathaway's high stock price reflects Buffett's decades of long-term investing, major acquisitions, and a philosophy that has reshaped modern finance.

Angel investors often receive significant equity because of the risk they take

Angel investors fund startups at an early stage, at which time a company’s success is less assured. In exchange, they often ask for a significant equity stake.