An 18-year-old fresh off an acceptance to one of the nation’s top universities was admitted for their unbelievable talent. They will soon join an academic environment curated by an admissions team of other ambitious, passionate students. 

When the student enters college, they lack a cohesive path to translate the immediately received praise into a profession. 

They trade intellectual complexity for “need money for Porsche” T-shirts and a vague and self-contradictory, yet socially acceptable path: two years in investment banking, 10 years in private equity and then being free to “live like Anthony Bourdain,” or, more precisely, a European.

A destructive and simplifying culture surrounding the finance career is sold to young, impressionable students as a stable way to “escape the matrix” and mirror the lifestyle promised by influencers, who vlog about weekends spent partying in the Maldives and make a living selling an idea of success to their susceptible viewership. 

This thinly veiled promise of respect and generational wealth has a unique ability to overpower the glaring reality of the physically and mentally taxing life of investment bankers. The finance recruitment mechanism has an exploitative history, yet continues to thrive on the same false promise.

A 2014 article by Vox explained how Wall Street’s systematic recruiting tactics in the 1980s exploited highly intelligent graduates who had little direction and a lot of anxiety. The hegemony thrives on the intelligence and intentional ignorance of its recruits. 

Junior investment bankers at Goldman Sachs, according to a 2022 Business Insider survey, worked an average of 98 hours per week. Prospective bankers ,formerly known as students, are well aware of industry expectations, but are influenced by investment banking pundits and undergrad hustle culture to naively join major firms.

Predictably, investment banking recruiter coach Sam Shiah critiqued the survey in 2024, citing the small sample size of 13 analysts in a Medium opinion piece. Shiah argued that the realistic workload a junior banker would take on is a 60- to 80-hour workweek, which is “not too bad, right?” Although Shiah argued against a 98-hour workweek, he concedes junior bankers should expect to work 1.5 to 2 times longer than peers in implied inferior jobs. 

Shiah’s statements mirror the language an anonymous investment banking analyst used when describing the culture that surrounded the death of Leo Lukenas III, a 35-year-old Green Beret and father of two, who died from a blood clot after working multiple 100-hour work weeks at Bank of America in 2024.

On the online forum Wall Street Oasis, the anonymous analyst wrote, “Typical banker behavior -— as long as the fees are paid, the machine keeps churning. Just another day at BofA, plenty more hungry MBAs ready to replace him in a few weeks.” 

Shiah’s opinion piece represents the values of a cultural hegemony that encourages a young audience to direct their energy and ambition into a draining profession while ignoring medical and mental health research. 

This mechanism works because those who were once extremely talented academically and socially, powered by their wide ambitions, burn out from pursuing an insatiable dream; they are replaced by another eager college-aged student who is fresh from four consecutive spring breaks spent spiritually rejuvenating at Cabo Wabo.

A 2017 Frontiers in Psychology review article linked high-pressure financial work environments, especially branch office workers, to measurable psychological and physical harm. Work-related stress and burnout in the finance position were observed at a critical level, along with signs of anxiety, depression and maladaptive behaviors. 

The work culture was described as a primary agent in causing these psychological consequences, as the environment was characterized by high demand, low control, low reward, counterproductive restructuring and weak social support.

We need to ditch the “need money Porsche” tees and the need for immediate predictability that Wall Street, 60 years later, continues to prey on. Ignore the life-path trajectory that allegorically maps a 20-year timeline — a midlife crisis with how-to stoicism books and Instagram reposts of the health risks behind pasteurized milk.

Retain self-belief and confidence and, if you can, postpone the great promise of wealth and security while you’re still figuring out who you want to be. Regardless of your professional pursuit, retain fluidity across disciplines and interests. Ensure that when you dedicate the majority of your time and mental attention to your work, you’re making that decision with confidence that you are pursuing a sustainable future for yourself.