Typical Day

I usually get to work at around 8 am to attend the daily morning meeting and catch up on headline news. After checking on emails and returning phone calls, I attempt to plan out my day. My schedule must be quite flexible as I am often bombarded throughout the day by requests from internal and external clients. It is not unusual to have some tasks postponed later in the evening, to the next day, or even to the next week. There is no typical investment banking day, and that makes the job most interesting. In general though, I usually spend my time modeling transactions to investigate their feasibility and soundness, writing up pitch books, coordinating and verifying analyst work, and attending meetings.

I work approximately 75-80 hours per week. However, again there is no typical workweek. Following an important pitch, while ramping up to the next job, I might be working 65 hours or so in a week. On the other hand, while working on a live transaction or attempting to write an IPO pitch which I found out I had to present a few days before, I can easily work close to 100 hours.

Every day, every week, every year in investment banking is challenging, dynamic, very intense, and intellectually stimulating.