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Monkey Business

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Monkey Business

Swinging through the Wall Street Jungle

Warner Books,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Text available

What's inside?

Why would an associate investment banker agree to a life of tedious toil, long hours, obscure tasks, imperious supervisors, and balky support staff? Money, lots and lots of money.

Editorial Rating

6

Qualities

  • Eye Opening
  • Insider's Take

Recommendation

Two young bankers have written a revealing book about investment banking. John Rolfe and Peter Troob, both graduates of top ranked universities and business schools, joined Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette (DLJ) in the1990s. They were drawn to DLJ by the opportunity to make a great deal of money. They earn and tell, with lively stories from the thirty months or so that they spent plying their trade. These stories are presented as representative of the entire investment banking industry. The writers’ in-the-trenches anecdotes make the book entertaining and valuable. getAbstract recommends this recreational tale to anyone interested in how money is made in the world of investment banking.

Summary

Recruiting, Interviewing, and Summer Boot Camp

The world of Wall Street investment banking has a clearly defined hierarchy. Analysts are at the bottom of the pecking order. They are typically recent undergraduates from top schools, such as Harvard, Princeton, and Wharton. Associates are the next level up. They are recruited while still in the nation’s best business graduate schools. The top levels are occupied by vice presidents, senior vice presidents, and managing directors. They all have the power to dump work on associates’ desks. When you are an associate, people in the organization are either below you - the analysts - or above you - everybody else.

Associate recruiting begins with business school orientation, during which schools distribute a survey ranking average starting salary by industry. At the top of the list are management consulting and investment banking. This survey reinforces the natural inclination of entering business students: greed.

A few days after classes begin, the formal recruiting process of corporate presentations and cocktail parties starts. Each organization has an hour to present the glories of working for their firm. Each presentation...

About the Authors

John Rolfe, a southerner, entered the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business in 1993. He edited the Wharton Vulgarian. Following his sentence with DLJ, he was a principal with a private placement investment organization. John, now a freelance man of sport and leisure, is honing his panhandling skills for the next bear market. Peter Troob grew up on the rough and tumble streets of Scarsdale, New York. In 1993, he entered Harvard Business School, where he edited the humor section in the Harbus and wrote the "Kosher Korner" column. He is a partner with a private investment organization.

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