Back in Action

Well sorry it's been so long. It's been a good week. A few good friends from BYU were out here this week for training before starting at a different office. It was really great to see somebody familiar out here. We had a good time talking about how to excel in our internships and I think they're both going to be really good. One of them started a blog similar to this one and you can check it out at ibdwestcoastintern.blogspot.com. Good stuff.

So today we had a (mandatory) volunteer service project. It was really fun actually. We went out to the Bronx to a school and taught kids about malaria and other diseases around the world. They made flags, posters, and played basketball. For each shot they made, the bank donated a certain amount of money to help fight disease. It was cool to interact with hundreds of 7th and 8th graders from the area. They were really energetic and lively, and it was very fun to be out of the bank and doing good for other people.

The other thing that everybody talks about right now is compensation. This is the time of year when the analysts find out their bonuses, and when somebody from JP Morgan in London sent out an email telling what their bonuses were for the first-third years, it was immediately forwarded all over the street. I got this email from three different people, and the email chain had people from JP Morgan, UBS, Lehman, Credit Suisse, Goldman, Lazard, and other places. I of course perpetuated the chain and forwarded it on to another bank. Pretty crazy how interconnected the Street is. Most first-year analysts have about a $60-65K base with anywhere from a $35-80K bonus depending on where you are and how you do. It's a lot of money for your first year out of college.

Well I'm going to get back into the day-to-day flow of things and the posting will be daily again. Sorry for the hiatus. Back to banking!