I think I would have liked this book more in college, prior to joining the industry. It’s funny, somewhat like a Big Short plot with explainers sprinkled throughout. Overall fine, but not great.

Very funny, very honest

Hilarious!

LOL

This was a really entertaining and insightful look into the world of investment banking. Peter Troobe and John Rolfe, graduates of Harvard and Wharton business schools, dish the dirt on their jobs as associates at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, a former Wall Street giant that was later acquired. Monkey Business traces their journey from bright-eyed students dreaming of prestige and big bucks to their eventual disillusioned exit. As associates, their job consists of churning out desired valuation figures to win business, slaving away (by enlisting the help of the word processing, copying and printing people) to produce that aesthetically perfect pitch book or prospectus, and jetsetting around the country and globe at a frenetic pace to conduct due diligence on a company or roadshows to promote an IPO. All this takes place under highly stressful conditions - the bankers are constantly in a sleep-deprived state and have to endure an endless barrage of demands and abuse from their bosses.

As someone fresh out of a business-oriented college, I know that the investment banking world is tough but this book really drove the point home and did it so engagingly. The various tasks and processes (and motives behind them) were explained in simple terms, and the authors had a knack of drawing out the humour in everything by using apt analogies and throwing in their personal takes. I see a lot of similarities in narrative style to the Wolf of Wall Street (the book made into a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio about a guy who built a huge stockbroking firm by selling overpriced stocks and saw it all come crashing down). The afterword also does a great job of explaining the roots of 2007 global financial crisis.

I'd highly recommend this to anyone interested in finance! Even if you don't intend to become an investment banker, it helps to know what goes on among the deal-makers, not to mention the book's extremely high entertainment value.

This book is what every Investment Banker NEEDS to read before going into the field and also why I chose to divert my path far away from it! It gives you the actual facts and feelings of these guys experienced within the field of Investment Banking.

Very funny account of the authors experience as investment bankers.

A fun and accurate look at what it was like to recruit for a be an investment banker. It’s a breezy and funny book that fits into a genre of books one should read when deciding what to do with their life.

(The English review is placed beneath Russian one)

Одна из лучших книг жанра – «моя жизнь в компании N» – прочитанных мною за последнее время. Я не могу оценить правдивость книги, т.к. никоим образом не касался никогда темы инвестиционного банкинга и слышал о компаниях Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs и пр. только из газеты «Ведомости», но, не смотря на это, авторам удалось написать ясную, понятную и с отменным юмором книгу, для всех кто любит подобный жанр.
Суть книги проста: есть работа, которая приносит очень много денег, но часто это работа, на которой человек работает «от заката до рассвета», когда не существует личной жизни, когда к пятидесяти годам человек не женат, а все женщины появляются только благодаря кошельку и когда человек хоть и получает огромные суммы денег, но они, во-первых, уже не приносят никакой радости (также как и лимузины, роскошная еда в лучших ресторанах, лучшие отели и пр.), а во-вторых, нет времени, чтобы эти деньги потратить хоть на что-то что приносит радость. Человека на таком работе выжимают по полной. И только проработав в таком режиме как минимум десять лет, есть возможность получить повышения и стать «большим боссом». Авторы поняли, что это мираж и что единицам суждено достигнуть этого оазиса. Но самое главное не это. Самое главное то, что деньгами нельзя купить молодость. Что жизнь проходит в бесконечных командировках, работе 24/7. И что время уже не вернёшь. Так стоит ли игра свеч? Наверно, есть люди, которые упиваются такой работой, но как показывают авторы, большинство всё же сгорают, так и не добравшись до заветного кресла начальника.

One of the best books of the genre - "my life in company N" - read by me recently. I can't assess the truthfulness of the book, because I've never touched upon the topic of investment banking and heard about Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, etc. only from Vedomosti newspaper, but nevertheless, the authors managed to write a clear, understandable and with excellent humor book for everyone who loves this genre.
The essence of the book is simple: there is a job that brings a lot of money, but often it is a job where a person works "from sunset to dawn", when there is no personal life, when by the age of fifty people are not married, and all women appear only because of the wallet, and when a person receives huge amounts of money, but they, firstly, do not bring any joy (as well as limousines, luxury food in the best restaurants, the best hotels, etc.).), and secondly, there is no time to spend that money on anything that brings joy. A person at such a job is squeezed to the fullest. And only after working in such a mode for at least ten years, it is possible to get promotions and become a "big boss". The authors realized that this is a mirage and that only a few are destined to reach this oasis. But the most important thing is not that. The most important thing is that money cannot be used to buy youth. That life goes on in endless business trips, work 24/7. And that time will not come back. Is it worth the game of candles? Probably, there are people who enjoy this kind of work, but as the authors show, most of them still burn up before reaching the cherished chair of the chief.

IBD must-read. Slightly dated, but incredibly true to form; both hilarious and scary in its accuracy of banking

3.5

An informative book which gives a good insight into the life of having the coveted job of an investment banker.