ALL ABOUT INVESTMENT BANKING

1. It's a ton of work, all the time. Let alone the office work, which becomes
less important as a banker rises in seniority; just constantly being
immersed in the world of finance is mentally and physically exhausting.
Money never sleeps, so senior investment bankers rarely do either.
2. It's also reputation-conscious. Everything you say in public can harm your
professional brand and deals you are working on, and give ammo to your
enemies (and over the course of a successful IBK career, you will have
made many of these).
Together, these facts make it unlikely a current ibanker will find the time to write
a detailed answer to this question. So, you'll have to settle for me--a former very
junior banker for a small boutique who lived the dream for a few years then
skedaddled after getting the Associate promotion.

Investment banks' primary businesses are:

Raising capital for corporations, governments or other financial

institutions (Stock or bond offerings, loans for LBOs, e.g.). Old powerful
banks like Salomon Bros., JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs all got started
doing this.

Making markets in all sorts of securities, from stocks and bonds to CDSs
and futures (so-called "Sales & trading"). Every bulge bracket plus
hundreds of smaller firms in many countries do this.

Advising on corporate restructurings, corporate finance and capital

structure (Exactly what it sounds like). Most banks have groups dedicated
to this, and some, like Rothschild and Lazard, are legendary for it.

Advising on mergers and acquisitions (Providing negotiating, analytical

and other support during deals). Since all it takes is to do this well is a
handful of bankers' time, this is the most profitable IBK business. Former
Morgan Stanley M&A god Paul Taubman is currently one of the world's top
M&A advisors--and he doesn't even have a secretary.

Helping institutions manage financial risk (Derivatives structuring, e.g.).

In the recent past, some of this activity got a few very powerful banks in
very deep trouble (lookin' at you, Merrill and Citi), but the biggest problem
of them all, AIG, wasn't even a bank.

The skill sets, qualifications, personalities and day-to-day work will vary widely
from business to business. Someone who is very good at equity capital markets

doesn't necessarily have much credibility in M&A, for example, and conversely,
expertise in the latter is by no means a guarantee of business in the former. Each
of these fields is fairly specialized and in some cases, such as derivatives, a lot of
the bankers have PhDs in areas like physics, statistics or mathematics.
Paradoxically, the services that investment banks provide are quite
commoditized, so competition between banks is ferocious. This competitive
aspect is sharpened by the fact that companies often play the banks off against
each other to obtain better pricing, for instance, or for other purposes. For
example, you may wonder why on some headline-grabbing megamergers, Giant
Corp. A will be advised by Morgan Stanley, Evercore, Deutsche Bank, Citi, UBS,
Barclays and RBC, and Giant Corp. B will be advised by Lazard, Goldman Sachs,
BofA Merrill, JPMorgan, Credit Suisse and BNP Paribas. Why would you want to
sign up that many advisors? Well, for one thing, to keep them from joining the
other side, which, sure as the sun rises, any bank would gladly do for a nice
chunk of a fat fee; and also because you would like lots of banks to participate in
the syndicate for debt offerings that are sometimes done in conjunction with
M&A.

At the junior level, investment banking is actually quite simple (though not easy)
and the qualifications for it are somewhat standardized. But I won't go into that
because frankly, there's already an entire cottage industry devoted to helping
recent college grads get into this set of absurdly lucrative jobs (name me
another sector where the absolute lowest-paid 22-year-old employee who still
has acne clears $100k a year and I'll remove the word "absurdly"). So, moving
on.
The thing to remember about joining a bank as an analyst or associate is that
you're being brought in as a piece of a money-making operation over which you
exert relatively little influence; it's not as if negotiations for that $50 billion
merger are going to grind to a halt if you quit tomorrow. This isn't to say that
being a junior banker isn't gratifying, value-adding or a terrific learning
experience; it's very often all three. But the point is that the truly important
discussions, debates and agreements are hammered out in executive suites, at
fundraising dinners, and on the links at Pebble Beach long before you ever open
MS Excel. Most analysts realize this, take the practical skills, corporate
connections or industry expertise they've gained in 2 or 3 short, well-paid years,
and decamp to business school, investing or corporateland (yours truly, e.g.). But
some continue the Long March and try to become a master of the universe.
It's difficult to pin down how one accomplishes this. Successful careers in
finance, in my observation, seem to be about how good you are at developing
your own personal brand, be it through your track record, connections, charisma,
etc, or some combination of these. Just to be promoted out of the bullpen, you of

course need a type-A level of ambition, perseverance, aggressiveness, luck and

financial knowledge. Beyond that, people who have made it to the upper levels
seem to have the following qualities:

Healthy ego: You need to instill confidence in your abilities with your
clients. You also have to fight against your competitors' and partners'
attempts to claim credit for your deals.

Energy: It's impossible to be a senior dealmaker if you require lots of

sleep on a regular schedule, and if you do not have the ability to sleep at
the oddest, most uncomfortable places. You must also be willing to not
see your children and spouse very often.

Good speaking and explanatory skills: Good mental math and logical
reasoning skills matter, but only insofar as you can convey ideas clearly
and succinctly; also, you must be very capable at talking your way out of
sticky situations.

Ability to read people: You need to divine interests and cultivate trust.
In some ways, senior bankers are the world's best-paid intelligence
officers: they cultivate contacts, use those contacts and piece together
bits of unrelated market and biz intel into a big picture.

Good middleman: As the line from The Layer Cake goes, "The art of
good business is being a good middleman." You need to somehow
persuade people that they can trust you (at least for awhile) in spite of the
fact that your firm may well find itself on the opposite side of a trade. You
need to reconcile competing constituencies internally, with some people
wanting very different things out of a client than others. This is highly
political, and it takes deft skill; it's an art more than a science, which is
why smooth practitioners of that art get paid so much.

Extracurriculars: Being a good golfer, sailor or lacrosse player helps, as

does going duck-hunting or playing squash with the CFO of G

2. If you want to learn more about investment banking, I recommend

the book Investment Banking by Joshua Pearl and Joshua
Rosenbaum.

It leads you step-by-step through financial modeling (DCF, LBO, comparables),

where to source all of the information you need, the basics of a sales process,
and basic merger analysis. The book can be pretty dry at times, but if you just

set aside a week to sit down with the book, read it front to back once or twice
(paying special attention to the figures throughout the book), and then try
valuing a company on your own while using the book as a reference to get all of
the concepts ingrained in your head, you will have a very good idea of how to do
the bulk of the work that banking analysts do.

In my opinion, using a stock market simulator will not help you learn more about
investment banking, as investment banking has little to do with investing (that
would be investment management) and everything to do with financing and M&A
advisory for companies. However, learning to invest can help with your M&A
career as you learn to dig deeply into filings and numbers, gain a deeper
understanding of an industry, and learn to think about company strategy
(including M&A strategy) more from an owner's perspective rather than just an
analyst's perspective.

I work for an Investment Bank myself, I believe you can thus follow some of the
advice here.
Start with the zero-level basics like What is a share? What is Equity Value? What
is a stock exchange? How are shares traded? You can look it up in a website that
is entirely dedicated to Investment Banking / Finance aspirants and it's called
'Investopedia'. Shares Definition | Investopedia
Having done that, you'll have at least a start. From then on it is entirely up to you
to move on: Continue reading Investopedia, or read simple articles on Wikipedia,
and generic Google search results - all of the sources are good enough for a
beginner. No specific sources to mention, really.
One you have done reading for 2-3 days, you yourself will begin to find these
words occurring repetitively: 'Balance Sheets' / 'Derivatives' / 'Futures' /
'Options' / 'Equity Value' / etc. Just Google any new term you come across, and
even if you don't get it at first, don't worry - it will start making sense after some
time automatically. It is a bit abstract to start with, so you have to be patient,
because with time it will become easy stuff.
And I think just 5-6 days of daily reading (1-2 hours daily, with Facebook and
Quora tabs closed, of course) about Finance / Investment Banking will give you a
substantial amount of knowledge!
For a quick start on Investment Baking, here is the simplest definition I can make
up from the top of my head:
"It largely involves advising companies on Mergers & Acquisitions, IPO's,
Business Trust Listings, Equity and Debt issuances, etc.". When you are able to

appreciate this Greek-sounding sentence (Greek for first-timers, otherwise simple

as 'A for Apple'), then I think you have a starting-idea about Investment Banking.
Critically read one financial daily and a monthly magazine. For example if in
India try reading the Economic Times daily along with Forbes India or Fortune
India monthly issues.
Then critically make a list of all the terms and phrases you are not aware of and
then hit Google with them, or ask around on forums.
You will be amazed at how much you will learn in six months. If you keep at it for
a couple of years, I dont think you will be far behind many.

Following are some of the best resources

1. Wallstreet Prep - http://www.wallstreetprep.com
2. Mergers and Inquisitions -http://www.mergersandinquisition...
3. Macabacus - https://www.macabacus.com
They provide a good understanding of investment banking and resources to train
your self for a career in it.