Why Do Investment Bankers Make So Much Money? (2024)

FAQs

Why do investment bankers get paid so much? ›

As long as investment banks remain gatekeepers to the market for companies (and capital markets), they will be able to extract high fees, and use those high fees to pay high salaries and bonuses.

Investment bankers make money through the fees charged to their clients. As discussed above, this includes underwriting fees for arranging the sale of securities and advisory fees for providing strategic guidance.

The following list contains common answers to the “Why Investment Banking?” interview question: Fast-Paced Work Environment Post-Graduation (Intense, but Worthwhile Learning Experience) Analyze Different Business Models and Develop an Understanding of Industries (and Unit Economics)

According to the BLS, the lowest earners for bankers and related professions earned about $40,206 per year in 2022. Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, the highest earners made about $189,613 annually. As mentioned previously, the median salary for bankers in the United States in 2022 was $67,475.

Total compensation is often in the $150K – $250K range (as of 2022). Investment Banking Analyst Hours: You'll be in the office for 70-85 hours per week, but you won't be working for that entire time. Investment banking hours are long, but there's also significant “downtime.”

Most former bankers have reported that it is quite uncommon for an analyst to hit the 100-hour mark. Apparently, this only happens occasionally (once a month) when an analyst is working on multiple live deals or poorly aligned international projects.

IBankers make a stable living but won't be what is typically considered "rich" until they move onto buyside opportunities (in some circ*mstances), leverage their experience into becoming managers at companies and gaining an equity stake, or moving much further up the investment banking command change.

Successful mid-career investment bankers can make tens of millions of dollars a year.

Ways to make a lot of money in this world

Sure, anybody can make a good living being a doctor or a lawyer or an investment banker where you can make ~$200-500K per year a few years after you finish with your studies, but you hit a ceiling very quickly unless you start your own practice (aka start your own business).

Investment banks are best known for their work as intermediaries between a corporation and the financial markets. That is, they help corporations issue shares of stock in an IPO or an additional stock offering. They also arrange debt financing for corporations by finding large-scale investors for corporate bonds.

What is the main purpose of an investment bank? ›

In essence, investment banks are a bridge between large enterprises and the investor. Their primary roles are to advise businesses and governments on how to meet their financial challenges and to help them procure financing, whether it be from stock offerings, bond issues, or derivative products.

In general, investment banks assist clients with large and complex financial transactions. This includes underwriting new debt and equity securities, aiding in the sale of securities, and helping to facilitate mergers and acquisitions, reorganizations, and broker trades.

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1. Goldman Sachs is the highest paying bank overall - $398k in combined salaries and bonuses, on average. Goldman Sachs, which paid average salaries of $200k and average bonuses of $199k for 2023, was the highest paying bank we polled.

In fact, investment bankers rate their career happiness 2.7 out of 5 stars, which puts them in the bottom 9% of careers, according to a 2021 U.S. News study.