Post: #1

Quote: The death of a 21-year-old Bank of America Merrill Lynch intern has raised questions about the dangers of going too long without adequate sleep.

Moritz Erhardt was found unconscious in his dorm in London last week. An ambulance was called, and Erhardt was pronounced dead at the scene. The 21-year-old German student was finishing his summer internship at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, a competitive seven-week program in which interns often work overtime during their work placement, the bank confirmed.

A spokesperson for the London Metropolitan police said the death had been ruled "unsuspicious," and that the medical examiner was expected to release its findings later this week.

According to the U.K's Independent, an unidentified intern, who lived in the same building as Erhardt, said the German intern had been working through the night during the last few weeks of the internship.

"He apparently pulled eight all-nighters in two weeks. They get you working crazy hours, and maybe it was just too much for him in the end," the intern told The Independent.

Another intern in the program told the newspaper that long hours were expected, since they were all competing for jobs that paid well.

"We all work long hours, but the guys working regularly until 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. are those in investment banking," said the intern. "People working in markets will have to be in at 6 a.m. but not stay as late, so what time you can leave the office depends on your division."

On the financial blog Wallstreetoasis.com one commenter wrote that Erhardt had pulled three all-nighters in a row before he was found unconscious.

John McIvor, a spokesman for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said the company was "shocked and saddened" by Erhardt's death.

"He was popular amongst his peers and was a highly diligent intern at our company with a promising future," McIvor said in a statement. "Our first thoughts are with his family, and we send our condolences to them at this difficult time."

The company had no comment on the unsubstantiated reports that Erhardt had been working multiple nights before he died.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/bank-americ...d=20023305

So was it worth it?

Post: #2

"Work hard play hard bruaaaaaaa"


Unfortunately most of NYC feels like this. It's a damn shame. And it's becoming normal. It's articles like this that make me love my relaxed schedule and free time.

Post: #3

Another victim of the business world's ideal of "live for work".

I work to live thank you very much. These kids think if they put in 150 hours a week they'll become rich.

No you idiot, the ones that make the money are using you. They'll put one of their frat brothers in a place of power before you get promoted on merit.

Idiots.

Post: #4

I had friends who did this in college as well. They survived, but I have no idea how.

Sleeping 2 or 3 hours a night, sometimes not sleeping at all. Sometimes the maniac would get out of work, get home, hit the gym, shower, "close his eyes" for 20 minutes, and go right back to work.

I never understood how they could do this. One or even two nights, ok. But this was an entire summer. It's pure abuse.

Now he works in an IBank and he, y'know, works until 8 or 10 every night, gets in at 6 every morning. So at least he has, I dunno, 5 hours to sleep a night.

Crazy though. He has all this money and doesn't enjoy it. Give me a free concert in the park any day instead of expensive drinks and no sleep.

Post: #5

Not sure how guys can trade health for money. Health and youth is itself a form of wealth, so by trading your youth and health for money you aren't actually becoming richer. You're just exchanging one form of wealth for another.

Post: #6

Quote:Another victim of the business world's ideal of "live for work".

I work to live thank you very much. These kids think if they put in 150 hours a week they'll become rich.

No you idiot, the ones that make the money are using you. They'll put one of their frat brothers in a place of power before you get promoted on merit.

Idiots.

To be fair, investment bankers do have a pretty good shot at getting rich.

Post: #7

You wonder why people in banking can be so in thrall to greed at any expense. Well who else would put up with this, except someone obsessed with money and prestige?

Post: #8

I want to see WestCoast comment on this...

Post: #9

I bet warren buffet would give up all his billions to be 25 again.

Fools who give up their youth to be rich old men.

Post: #10

The kid also had epilepsy and hit his head on the shower. Besides that, the usually hours in IB are 80-100 hours a week and it depends on which group you are in. While it does suck the first two years, you have a great financial background to work with even if you do not stay with finance. I have a few friends who went off to tech companies after working in IB, or started their own business. Also the fact that you making over a 100k and do not have time to spend it, allows one to put money into other business ventures, real estate, etc.

Post: #11

Granted this is their London office, but remember that Bank of America received $20 billion dollars from U.S. taxpayers during the Wall Street bailout.

Yet they're still overworking college interns while there are millions of unemployed in the UK, Germany, and the rest of the EU.

Fuck Bank of America.

Post: #12

(08-22-2013 12:42 PM)Samseau Wrote:  Not sure how guys can trade health for money. Health and youth is itself a form of wealth, so by trading your youth and health for money you aren't actually becoming richer. You're just exchanging one form of wealth for another.

Agreed, Roissy had said something that struck gold for me

"A mans value is how many women he has been with. It's why the rich and charming entrepreneur who has been never been with a woman and has no kids to show for it has very little value."

I hate to say it, but youth is an asset. A depreciating one. You're only young once. I don't see the enjoyment of working long hours and burning yourself out to climb a ladder.

Work smarter, not harder.

Post: #13

Quote:Mr Erhardt appears to have been one of many interns caught on the so-called “magic roundabout” – a process whereby a taxi takes interns home, waits outside while they shower and change, then drives them back to the office to begin another long day.

Post: #14

Post: #15

(08-22-2013 02:10 PM)Therapsid Wrote:  Yet they're still overworking college interns while there are millions of unemployed in the UK, Germany, and the rest of the EU.

At least they're paying their interns. Most companies that make money refuse to pay interns and some small businesses run completely on unpaid interns.

I have a buddy who quit his $9,000/Month internship with Blackrock to travel to Libya during the civil war. He's working bodyguard/pimp gigs nowadays, nothing like an adrenaline rush.

(08-22-2013 03:27 PM)cardguy Wrote:  

Quote:Mr Erhardt appears to have been one of many interns caught on the so-called “magic roundabout” – a process whereby a taxi takes interns home, waits outside while they shower and change, then drives them back to the office to begin another long day.

This happened at an engineering company in Dallas. There was a Crown Plaza in front where they showered and changed. The best solution was renting a home and using it as a hotel. Cheaper prices, all the convenience.

Post: #16

I wonder how SO MANY people can be stupid enough to compromise the second most pleasurable experience of life(sleep) for money.

Post: #17

This will be a short rant to TL;DR 1) he likely killed himself by trying to please too much yeah not a PC comment, 2) at Wall Street being easy, 3) health/wealth makes no. Sense you're playing a game of time. How can you maximize the happiness of your total life - different for everyone and 4) 2-3 years sucks but then your hours come down to 50-60 with 30%+ bump in pay.

There is not really much to say, some people get it some people don't. This is not a PC comment but he more likely killed himself rather than getting killed by overloaded work.

In IB you work about 80 per week if you're smart.

Another one that is going to get me some heat is LOL at living in the moment at ages 20-30. You should work hard and build a skillset, travel and have fun in your thirties (you're not max physical attraction till then anyway).

Unfortunately when I write that comment people think "working to please" no you work smart, run politics etc.

Anyway he was a type A person who simply wanted to please his boss and killed himself because of it. Sad story no doubt.

The news is fucking hilarious though "wall street is lazy crooks" okay guys raise your hands if you've done 80 hours per week? Alright... Now take a wild guess why anyone who does 2+ years on the Street never has to worry about "employment". If you're decent by year 3 you have head hunters and recruiters calling you monthly.

Finally I strongly disagree with the health/money argument. Every 2-3 years your hours are cut down by 20 per week and your pay goes up 30%+. Anyone can grind for 2 years, people do it in the military all the time. Hence why the street hires military people.

(Note this went Bloomberg viral a couple days ago)

Post: #18

"The news is fucking hilarious though "wall street is lazy crooks" okay guys raise your hands if you've done 80 hours per week? "

It's not that they're lazy, but that they don't create value while taking a cut of he money that flows through their hands. Even mainstream economists are echoing this, eg Jeffrey Sachs.

Post: #19

^ does a real estate agent add value?

Why don't you vilify them. It's the same job. I am not going to get into a pissing match though.

If you work in M&A all you are doing is being the intermediary on buying and selling companies. This is no different than a real estate agent taking a cut when you buy a home.

Most people don't have he faintest idea of how the street works.

The crooks you guys are referring to are in EVERY industry, you basically vilify CEOs which is legit. Vilifying a guy selling companies is not legit.

More examples:
Entourage = same shit as a M&A banker
Neil's movie script if he hired a negotiator and they bumped it up by 20% how is that valueless?

It's not, people just have no idea what the industry does and couldn't tell you the difference between a registered direct, a pipe, a an Ipo or a bridge loan.


Ask yourself this:

If I own a company and the best offer I got was $2M. You walk up to me and say "I can sell it for $3M today". You bet your ass off I will pay you a $20K fee for that service.

Shit man, that's cheap.

Post: #20

(08-22-2013 04:44 PM)WestCoast Wrote:  ^ does a real estate agent add value?

Why don't you vilify them. It's the same job. I am not going to get into a pissing match though.

The bankers in the USA are the biggest crooks in the world today, and their recklessness and irresponsibility is a direct cause of the current recession.

The banksters offer someone a home loan when they know that they will likely default on it because they will make money on the deal, the bank will ultimately lose money, but they will be bailed out by tarp funds that were funded by tax payers.

Investment bankers will deliberately make stupid and reckless risks on investments and lose most of the time because they know that big government will bail them out if they fail. If they get lucky and the investment pans out, they keep all of the money. If they lose their shirts, they can count on the tax payers to bail them out and save them again.

Looks legit.

Post: #21

(08-22-2013 03:38 PM)Kingsley Davis Wrote:  

pretty sad reading up on this. death rate is astronomical. pay is around $100 per month.

http://archive.tehelka.com/story_main36....INSIDE.asp

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/20...t-job.html

Post: #22

FYI guys the bailouts were paid back years ago with interest.

Anyway master_thespian is the best example of someone who knows nothing of the space. This is the exact reasons why I rarely speak about the street and will now exit the thread.

Notice that there is NO mention of my logical statement.

A real estate broker sells houses
Bankers sell companies
Real estate brokers charge a ~4% fee on transaction value
Investment bank M&A charges 1-2% of transaction value.

I won't be dragged into an argument here due to the updated rule changes on this forum so with that I'll leave again and keep quiet.

Post: #23

(08-21-2013 01:17 PM)pghGame1234 Wrote:  Ask yourself this:

If I own a company and the best offer I got was $2M. You walk up to me and say "I can sell it for $3M today". You bet your ass off I will pay you a $20K fee for that service.

Shit man, that's cheap.

What if they were only able to get that $3M price by lying to the buyer? Then because $20k isn't enough they short the company because they know they sold it on a pack of lies. That's pretty much exactly what Goldman Sachs does. Did they still provided value?

Post: #24

Ahh fuck it, the above comment is financial illiteracy. You cannot short a closed transaction.

Anyway honestly lol at lying about financial information on an M&A transaction. You would have the SEC and accountants up your ass in two seconds. Not to mention your bank is restricted on the security if it's public... Simply put the above comment is certainly written by someone who has never seen a single transaction in his life.

"Selling a bad company and shorting it" makes no sense to anyone with a sliver of knowledge of the space.

If anyone wants to make a logical argument based on facts I will happily answer.

If you're saying the top of Wall Street is crooks, I will agree with you to the T. But this also applies to the CEOs at any company world wide.

Post: #25

"does a real estate agent add value?

Why don't you vilify them. It's the same job. I am not going to get into a pissing match though."

Depends on what you can get without the agent. If the agent's commission exceeds the price you could get yourself minus the search costs, then he's not really worth it.

There are countless examples of industries that to a large extent don't create value. All the money spent advertising Coca Cola and Pepsi is a classic example. Some call it value transference, or rent seeking. Or occupational licensing.