That sounds like a very aggressive compensation target. Maybe at the senior-most levels, you can earn 400-500% of your base salary in bonuses, but it sounds implausible within 1-2 years. But who knows, maybe you’ll enjoy it and advance quickly anyway. Good luck!

Yes. I agree with you. You know, I am extremely extraverted and love interaction with people. And my hobby is psychology and influencing on people. This is a reason why I potentially can have a great career in PB. Moreover, Head of PB at the bank told me that it’s achievable in next 1-2 years for me to earn bonuses and fees which are 400/500% to base salary by selling investment products to clients and managing their portfolio. I don’t know it’s truth or lie but anyway:) But I realise that experience, salary and exit opportunities which are offered by IB are so tempting that it’s hard to choose. Age is 24, despite I look like 20, so time has come to form career path in the horizon of 10-15 years. I think research is not for me because this work requires perseverance and thoughtfulness. Considering I’m fit for more fast and unpredictable atmosphere like IB and PB- these are my two favourite choices but what I will choose next 3-6 months- it is very tough question)

I think you should spend a few months there and then see what you want to do. Yes, some bankers don’t like to see PB experience, but the reality is tons of people do PWM/PB internships before IB, so it can’t be that bad. If you don’t like it, you could also think about other areas at the bank, like equity research, that have somewhat better exit opportunities than PB (and yes, I realize ER is worse than it once was, but it’s still a good starting point for careers).

Yeah, I agree with you. I’m graduating this year, private banking offer is not an internship, it’s full-time job. Only thing I’m afraid that IB guys are not so happy about experience in private banking in CV. Maybe, the best way I should consider is to work in PB 3-6 months, gain skills in corporate finance/modelling and then move into IB. Moreover, who knows, maybe PB is my real career path where I would want to work long time and during the work I’ll be realising it is mine or not:) What do you think about it?)

Thanks! Yes, I expect more banks to become dependent on wealth management revenue. But I’m still not sure I would recommend it as an “alternative career” to IB because of the issues you cited (bad exit opportunities, lots of stupid cold outreach early on, etc.). It’s the type of field where it’s really good if you’re at the top, but it’s not fun or interesting to advance to that level at all.

If you have a private banking offer and no other relevant internships, I would take it and see if you can leverage the internship into something else. It may not be ideal for the long term, but you need some type of finance-related experience if you want to go for IB roles in the future. And it’s not worth delaying this offer or turning it down just to spend months looking for something slightly better.

P.S. Thank for your efforts, I really appreciate it, this is the best financial resource with Zerohedge:)

I know what you’re referring to, but I can’t find that specific article at the moment. You can find plenty of results from a Google search, but most seem like thinly veiled ads for various crypto services. The main use cases probably relate to emerging and frontier markets where people have no legitimate places to store their money, invest, or transfer their money out of the country.

Thanks! Glad to hear it.

Thanks!

Would you happen to remember which article?