Damn, it Feels Good to Be a Banker: And Other Baller Things You Only Get to Say If You Work On...

Damn, it Feels Good to Be a Banker: And Other Baller Things You Only Get to Say If You Work On Wall Street | Leveraged Sellout | Simply amazing

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Damn, it Feels Goo...

	Damn, it Feels Good to Be a Banker: And Other Baller Things You Only Get to Say If You Work On Wall Street Leveraged Sellout Hyperion, 2008 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 6 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

In one word: egregious.

Damn It Feels Good To Be A Banker is a Wall Street epic, a war cry for the masses of young professionals behind desks at Investment Banks, Hedge Funds, and Private Equity shops around the world. With chapters like "No. We do not have any `hot stock tips' for you," "Mergers are a girl's best friend," and "Georgetown? I wouldn't let my maids' kids go there," the book captures the true essence of being in high finance.

DIFGTBAB thematically walks through Wall Street culture, pointing out its intricacies: the bushleagueness of a Men's Warehouse suit or squared-toe shoes, the power of 80s pop, and the importance of Microsoft Excel shortcut keys as related to ever being able to have any significant global impact.

The book features various, vivid illustrations of Bankers in their natural state (ballin'), and, in true Book 2.0 fashion, numerous, insightful comments from actual readers of the widely popular website LeveragedSellOut.com.

Thorough and well-executed, it's lens into the heart of an often misunderstood, unfairly stereotyped subset of our society. The view--breathtaking.

Reader Responses

"After reading this clueless propaganda, I strongly believe that you are a racist, misogynist jerk. FYI, Size 6 is not fat." --Banker Chick

"Strong to very strong." --John Carney, Editor-In-Chief, Dealbreaker.com

"I used to feel pretty good about making $200K/year." --Poor person

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A working definition of Schadenfreude...

I pity poor old "Leveraged Sellout", which would be the most wounding thing one could do to him ("one" being a person not blessed enough to work in front office advisory M&A at a bulge bracket investment bank), but only for his timing. After the events of September 2008 it's going to be a while before anyone preens about working in a Bulge Bracket investment bank on Wall Street. At this point (still in September 2008) there are only two left, one (Morgan Stanley) looking likely to go the way of all flesh in coming days (horror of all horrors courtesy of *Wachovia*!), and the last man standing, Messrs. Goldman, Sachs & Co, facing a very uncertain road ahead as an independent investment bank no matter how excellent its risk management, deal execution and intellectual capital may be.

So I pity the anonymous "Leveraged Sellout" simply because, as a result of his timing, this excellent and brutally funny little book will either disappear into the same gaping void that claimed Bear Stears, Merrill Lynch, AIG and Lehman Brothers or, worse, be held up by moronic lefties as a poster child for everything that was wrong with Wall Street.

It is no such thing. It's actually a riot - imagine a young Hunter Thompson or Tom Wolfe writing with verve about modern day Wall Street but not as an outsider or an ingenue, but fully steeped in the technical and cultural world of a 24 year-old master of the universe.

I have no doubt that whoever wrote this was a genuine insider - the observations and devastatingly funny sending up of the minutiae (such as the distinction between IBD and FICC and importance of never using your mouse when manipulating a spreadsheet) would never be apparent to an outsider who hadn't done a significant stretch. I spent 7 years at a bulge bracket bank myself (as a lowly inhouse lawyer, resolutely in unglamorous back office), and but for the inevitable comic hyperbole, Damn It Feels Good To Be A Banker rings very true. I loved every moment.

So it's kind of a historical document, even though it is pure satire. It captures the zeitgeist, circa August 2008, and if you've had any interaction with the IB fraternity in their prime - that is, before the Sub-Prime got them, you'll find this hysterically funny.

Olly Buxton

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Simply amazing

If this isn't funny then I don't know what is.
[...]

"Thankfully, there was a group of cute girls at a nearby booth, and I had finished off 5 surprisingly strong $[...] drinks. Feeling indestructible, I got up and walked over to the girls' table and tapped my glass on their table gavel-style a couple times. They stared at me blankly. They were indeed kinda cute. But, sometimes it's more about the entertainment.

"I'll tell you what I'm gonna do," I began the proposal. "I'll buy you girls your next three rounds of drinks if you can guess what my friend over there does for a living" I offered grandiosely, pointing at my friend who, on cue, raised his glass high in acknowledgement. The reflection off his Harvard ring was majestic.

The girls all looked at each other awkwardly, as if hoping some sort of greater group intelligence would instruct them on how to proceed. I stood slightly bent over, supporting myself with my palms on the table, and watched them. The DUFF was apparently also the most outgoing.

"Uhm. Let me take a wild guess. He is an investment banker?!" she responded in a fantastically sardonic tone.

Learned sarcasm from all those clever little [...] t-shirts, eh? I pushed myself back with my hands, leaned back, and let out a grand guffaw.

"WRONG!" I exclaimed. "He works in Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities which actually falls outside of the Investment Banking Division!!""

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Absolutely hilarious

Probably the funniest book I've ever read, even better than the blog. I read it cover-to-cover in one sitting. Twice as funny if you work in finance and know a lot about the industry, but nonetheless hilarious for anyone who isn't easily offended or can take a joke.

Awesome!

Having been a massive fan of the website the book was always going to be great fun! The guy who wrote it clearly got bullied at school..

reviews: page 1, 2

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