paulprince3730
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Ask an Associate working in Private Equity on Wall Street anything
- Thread in 'General' Thread starter Started by Hank Scorpio,
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That included eating out.
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I spend $10 a day for lunch. That's $50 a week for just lunch. $200 a moth for lunch. Then I have groceries that hold me over for other meals. Some weekends, I'll go back home and have lunch/dinner there. Some months I spend way more than $350 on groceries.
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For email, just always respond back in 24 hours.
If they email me first, I look at what they do, usually it's Hi SoleAsian or Dear SoleAsian. On the rare occasion there is someone who will address you as Mr. LastName. When they address me on a first name basis, i do the same back and if they address me on a last name basis then i do the same. I usually end with Best Regards or Sincerely.
Keep it short and to the point because aint nobody got time to read a long email.
If emailing resume, i always use PDf format and if there's a cover letter than i usually just combine it with the resume
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Serious question, your peers do a lot of drugs?
What's some extravagant stuff you've seen your peers blow money on?
What's some extravagant stuff you've seen your peers blow money on?
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Look for internships at places like Jones Lang Lasalle, CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield, the big REIT's (although they rarely do internships). Or you can try for a real estate development company. If you decide you don't like real estate, chances are they have good connections with investment firms due to their large financing needs.
Unfortunately for me, I didn't want to take out the school loans and went to a state non-target school. Graduated cum laude, 4 internships, president of my school's Economics Society, and on the exec. board of the Investment Group. Still haven't gotten any interest from any of the IB's, REIT's, etc.
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Unfortunately, I've seen many of my peers do some hard drugs. Cocaine is huge in the IB world and many many people do it. Amphetamines are pretty common as well. It's very easy to get caught up into that kind of life though. The parties, money, women and alcohol are all to your disposal. It's never ending and it can lead down a very dark road. I've seen many of my co-workers getting caught up in that kind of life, and it was VERY hard for them to get back to life. I'm not saying people lost homes, families or jobs, but it was very serious. People started to lose meaning to their lives and their emotions, joys and what they do for fun just revolved around that stuff.
I've seen some co-workers blow money on some stupid stuff, but usually bankers spend their money on alcohol, parties, women, suits, watches, shoes and other types of of clothing. One guy spent $20k on a watch and bought some Yeezy's just because he thought it would be funny to buy sneakers that "ghetto people" would kill for. He ended up wearing them into the office one time after hours
Look for internships at places like Jones Lang Lasalle, CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield, the big REIT's (although they rarely do internships). Or you can try for a real estate development company. If you decide you don't like real estate, chances are they have good connections with investment firms due to their large financing needs.
Unfortunately for me, I didn't want to take out the school loans and went to a state non-target school. Graduated cum laude, 4 internships, president of my school's Economics Society, and on the exec. board of the Investment Group. Still haven't gotten any interest from any of the IB's, REIT's, etc.
Where did you go to school? Sometimes applying online won't take you as far as you want to go. You're going to need to network.
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...bought some Yeezy's just because he thought it would be funny to buy sneakers that "ghetto people" would kill for. He ended up wearing them into the office one time after hours
What a douchebag move.
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Unfortunately, I've seen many of my peers do some hard drugs. Cocaine is huge in the IB world and many many people do it. Amphetamines are pretty common as well. It's very easy to get caught up into that kind of life though. The parties, money, women and alcohol are all to your disposal. It's never ending and it can lead down a very dark road. I've seen many of my co-workers getting caught up in that kind of life, and it was VERY hard for them to get back to life. I'm not saying people lost homes, families or jobs, but it was very serious. People started to lose meaning to their lives and their emotions, joys and what they do for fun just revolved around that stuff.
I've seen some co-workers blow money on some stupid stuff, but usually bankers spend their money on alcohol, parties, women, suits, watches, shoes and other types of of clothing. One guy spent $20k on a watch and bought some Yeezy's just because he thought it would be funny to buy sneakers that "ghetto people" would kill for. He ended up wearing them into the office one time after hours
Where did you go to school? Sometimes applying online won't take you as far as you want to go. You're going to need to network.
I'll DM you.
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Unfortunately, I've seen many of my peers do some hard drugs. Cocaine is huge in the IB world and many many people do it. Amphetamines are pretty common as well. It's very easy to get caught up into that kind of life though. The parties, money, women and alcohol are all to your disposal. It's never ending and it can lead down a very dark road. I've seen many of my co-workers getting caught up in that kind of life, and it was VERY hard for them to get back to life. I'm not saying people lost homes, families or jobs, but it was very serious. People started to lose meaning to their lives and their emotions, joys and what they do for fun just revolved around that stuff.
I've seen some co-workers blow money on some stupid stuff, but usually bankers spend their money on alcohol, parties, women, suits, watches, shoes and other types of of clothing. One guy spent $20k on a watch and bought some Yeezy's just because he thought it would be funny to buy sneakers that "ghetto people" would kill for. He ended up wearing them into the office one time after hours
Where did you go to school? Sometimes applying online won't take you as far as you want to go. You're going to need to network.
I'll DM you.
yeezysI know a couple peeps in finance/financial advisors and I've heard some of their crazy stories. Been around a couple of them partying and I'm just like
smh
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I know a couple peeps in finance/financial advisors and I've heard some of their crazy stories. Been around a couple of them partying and I'm just like
Financial Advisers aren't really known for their partying. They're really just stock brokers. I mean, you can make a lot of money doing what they do, but it's still a job in the "trenches".
They're pretty low on the totem pole when it comes to the financial world. Very stressful job though.
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Working in IB, PE, and anything else you have done.....would you say knowing statistics and Excel are really important? Or more specifically, what did you wish your college better prepared you for in terms of what you do in your job now....thanks.
I'm an Econ major, and my parent is in PE right now and has been telling me there is so much to learn outside of school. I was wondering what you would say is the most important things to work on when not in class.
I'm an Econ major, and my parent is in PE right now and has been telling me there is so much to learn outside of school. I was wondering what you would say is the most important things to work on when not in class.
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Can you walk me through a DCF?
Also, how important is it to know the 3 Financial Statements before working?
What Excel functions do you use on a daily basis? (Vlookups, Pivots, VBA, etc)
What type of shoes do you wear? (Ferragamos, Allen Edmonds)
Also, how important is it to know the 3 Financial Statements before working?
What Excel functions do you use on a daily basis? (Vlookups, Pivots, VBA, etc)
What type of shoes do you wear? (Ferragamos, Allen Edmonds)
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Is Queens College a good school to take up accounting?
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How are minorities looked at in IB?
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if you're a business major, you have to know excel regardless of your major
just go to baruch
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That's awesome. Yeah I have the same goal of a house by 30-32. Good luck.
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I think most of the business world is built upon excel spreadsheets...
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Did you really put down you have 500 pairs of sneakers/you like to base jump on your resume? If so how did the interview go on those topics?
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Not sure if serious
Make sure you can project the free cash flow for a set period of time. Then you need to find the terminal value or project the value of the company/along with assets beyond the set projection. Usually more than 5 years. You can use Gordon Growth for this. After finding both free cash flow/terminal value, you have to then find the WACC (weight average cost of capital). Adding the present value of free cash and present value of terminal value will you a DCF value. Note: You're not getting Equity value. This is going to give an enterprise value, because we used unlevered cash flow and WACC as the discount rate.
It's important to know how all 3 financial statements work, because it'll give you a basic understanding how principles for different financial methods are connected.
Depends what we do during projects, but INDEX does a lot of the work for us. VLOOKUP saves a lot of time as well. IF is also an honorable mention. Knowing shortcuts are way more valuable than functions, to be honest.
When I was an analyst, I wore Allen Edmond Park Avenues and sometimes I'd wear the nice Cole Haan line of shoes. Now, I wear Farragamo's sometimes, but I love Tod's and Bally's. Shoe's from Crockett and Jones are awesome as well.
They have some nice connections with some companies. I know some people who majored in accounting over there and ended up working for companies in The Big 4.
They're getting accepted a lot more now. It's not like how it once was 10 years ago. The margin of race majority/minority is pretty significant. It has gotten a lot better through recent years.
Excel is what helps run the world of finance
Did you really put down you have 500 pairs of sneakers/you like to base jump on your resume? If so how did the interview go on those topics?
Believe it or not, they went VERY well. In some interviews, we talked about my interest for a good 10-15 mins. It opens up an opportunity to take a "break" from the interview and chances the tone as well. This is why I always tell people to put their interests in their resumes.
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I'll field some of these questions too (investment banking summer analyst at a BB).
Not sure if srs about the first question, but if you want to know the answer then there are definitely a few resources to help you through it. This is a pretty good, high level overview of DCF analysis and some of the drivers: http://www.ibankingfaq.com/category/interviewing-technical-questions/discounted-cash-flow-analysis/
You'll have training before you start working, but you should definitely know what the three financial statements are, the major line items, and how they flow between one another.
As far as Excel goes, although formulas are pretty important, it's really all about the shortcuts. You need to be able to navigate throughout the entire Microsoft Office suite without using your mouse. In Word and Powerpoint it makes sense to use the mouse from time-to-time, but in Excel you should be able to unplug your mouse and be completely efficient. If you really want some formulas often used, I'd say vlookup, indirect (often used for comps), some index(match, and of course your npv when modeling. Still, I would say knowing all of the shortcuts is a lot better than knowing all of the formulas. Aside from the shortcuts making you worlds more efficient, if you start using esoteric Excel formulas in your models then they'll become a lot more difficult to audit, which will lead to you wasting time trying to explain to people how your function works and interacts with the rest of the model. I'd also say that Trace Precedents and Trace Dependents are extremely useful when looking through models.
As an intern I'm not really supposed to have amazing shoes, so I'll defer to Hank with this one.
To the minorities question - Given my group is fairly diverse, I've never felt unwelcome in my bank. There are definitely some groups where you may be the only minority on the floor, but I haven't heard any horror stories related to race in anyway. I think the consensus is that if you can grind then you add value, and that's the goal of these institutions. Many banks also have diversity groups, where members of a certain demographic will meet, socialize, talk about various issues and events, etc. Overall, the street still lacks the amount of diversity seen in other industries, but it's a helluva lot better than it was even five years ago, at least from what I've heard.
EDIT: Guess Hank beat me to it on the responses. Hope the different perspective helps though.
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I agree with Bruce 100%
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Not sure if serious
Yeah I just threw that out there to see how you would react. I know it's probably a typical interview question.Now that you're in Private Equity, how much deal sourcing do you do?
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Great Thread! Where on Wall street are you? Im in Financial Square, on Font Street.
I really need to go from proficient in MS Excel to Expert ... I'm fluent with the shortcuts but have yet to do any financial analysis via excel. I may do some expenditures analysis pertaining to Sporting Events and Sponsorships, but never really broke down a company or did NPV analysis.
I do Corporate Accounting .... if that matters, but would like to go into finance.
I really need to go from proficient in MS Excel to Expert ... I'm fluent with the shortcuts but have yet to do any financial analysis via excel. I may do some expenditures analysis pertaining to Sporting Events and Sponsorships, but never really broke down a company or did NPV analysis.
I do Corporate Accounting .... if that matters, but would like to go into finance.
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Now that you're in Private Equity, how much deal sourcing do you do?
Yeah, I was having flashbacks of the time I was interviewing a few years ago
I don't do as much personally. I'm not that high up yet to be reaching out to potential clients on a day to day basis. There will be occasions where I get to work with people higher up on side-projects and meet with clients.
I don't literally work on Wall Street. I work in Midtown. I just put that in the title so people knew what the thread was about. Most casual users won't know what it means when you say you work in Private Equity. I had to put Wall Street in there so people knew what i was talking about. Same goes with the Financial Analyst in the title. I changed it after people got the idea
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