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1-Page Summary of Young Money

The Wall Street Workforce

In the 2010s, a new generation of young bankers became disillusioned with their jobs. They had to deal with public backlash against investment banks for causing the 2008 financial crisis. Many people thought that these bankers were greedy and selfish. However, they still wanted to work on Wall Street because it was prestigious and lucrative.

Private Equity and Technology

Arjun Khan attended Fordham University, which is not a target school for Wall Street hiring. He was an Indian kid from Queens with no family connections, and he faced the worst Wall Street hiring climate in decades.

After working at a hedge fund, Khan later sought to move into private equity. Private equity firms traditionally recruit people who have worked in investment banking for two years; they now recruit people from investment banks after their first year. However, Khan found it difficult to get a job with private equity because he did not have an Ivy League degree. He ended up moving to Brazil and joining an infrastructure firm as part of the company’s management team.

By late 2011, technology companies were competing with Wall Street for graduates who want to work in finance. Facebook was preparing its initial public offering of stock, Apple was the world’s biggest consumer products company and start-ups were forming at a faster pace than they had been since 1999.

Regulatory Clampdown

After the financial crisis, the government passed a lot of new regulations for banks. This made it more difficult to find work on Wall Street. It also forced banks to hold more capital in case they took a big loss and needed extra money.

Talent Migration

Chelsea Ball was hired by a large corporation for $70,000 a year before bonuses. Her workdays usually lasted until midnight. She received criticism from her boss and felt like she was in trouble. However, after getting a bonus of $25,000 that brought her pay to $95,000, she decided to switch jobs and start her own business.

Derrick Havens grew up in Waupaca, Wisconsin. His father owned grocery stores and wanted his son to take over the business when he retired. Instead, Derrick went to work for Wells Fargo in Chicago as a first-year analyst. He was so busy at work that it caused problems with his girlfriend who moved from out of state to be with him during his second year at Wells Fargo. During one busy week, he worked nonstop from Sunday through Thursday without leaving the office or sleeping much because of all the work he had on his plate.

Havens left Chicago to join a private equity firm in Manhattan for an $80,000 base salary and a personal expense account. Six months into the job, he realized that there were things about his profession that bothered him: “It’s a completely rigged system.” He also thought it was unfair because if one of their companies went bankrupt, they never had to lose money on it. Haven’t you ever wondered why some people are so successful? Well now we know exactly what makes them tick! We can apply this knowledge to our own lives and become more successful too.

Goldman’s Glitter Fades

In the summer of 2010, two former Goldman Sachs interns started working at the company. Jeremy Miller-Reed did well in his first year and was more successful than most other analysts. His work was centered on derivatives that were sold to companies as a hedge against price volatility for gas and oil. He made deals himself after booking trades from senior members of the bank’s commodities group.

Meanwhile, Samson White worked for a different division of Goldman Sachs. He was tasked with selling off the company’s mortgage assets since they were no longer profitable. The public viewed Goldman as one of the main causes behind the 2008 financial crisis and this weighed heavily on White’s shoulders. Miller-Reed and White rarely discussed their employer’s unethical practices or moral culpability because they focused on doing their jobs well rather than questioning them.