Vault Blogs / Contributor Network / Posts by Derek Loosvelt
Derek Loosvelt is Vault's senior finance editor. Derek has a BS in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an MFA in creative writing from the New School. His writing has appeared in several online and print publications. Previously, he worked in investment banking as an M&A analyst and associate.
Last week, a 21-year-old Bank of America intern in London died after reportedly working three all-nighters in a row. Although the cause of death has not yet been determined-there have been reports that the investment banking intern, Moritz Erhardt, suffered from epilepsy, and neither BofA nor anyone outside the bank has substantiated rumors that he worked 72 hours straight-the news is shining a rather bright light on the long workweeks and high stress that young bankers routinely deal with... Read More >
Yesterday it was just a rumor but today it became official: the U.S. has filed criminal charges against two ex-JPMorgan traders in connection with a controversial trading position/scandal commonly referred to, for its largesse, as the London Whale. The position (a trade in credit derivatives) went extremely south last year and so far has cost JPMorgan more than $6 billion. What the U.S. is alleging is that the two traders attempted to hide the losses and in the process committed wire fraud... Read More >
Just over a handful of years ago, working on Wall Street carried nearly unmatched prestige for undergraduate and MBA students. It was widely accepted that only the best and brightest from the top schools in the country were admitted into skyscrapers housing the likes of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and a defunct firm formerly known as Lehman Brothers. But come 2007, when it was discovered that those same firms played more than a small part in bringing the U.S. economy to its... Read More >
To many people, the phrase "Wall Street" conjures a young Michael Douglas, hair slicked-back, red suspenders over his shoulders, manicured fingernails curled around a microphone, standing at the head of a classroom filled with eager MBA students as the words "Greed is good" proudly spews forth from between devil-red lips. To others, it conjures a line of imposing skyscrapers inside of which clean-shaven men in blue and gray Italian wool lean back, place their feet on desks, and speak into... Read More >
Investment banking analysts and associates notoriously work very long hours. It's not uncommon for a corporate finance analyst at a prestigious bank in New York to regularly work more than 90 hours each week, or for an M&A or restructuring associate to put in more than 80 hours week after week. And it's not even all that unusual for first-year analysts at busy Wall Street firms to log in more than 100 hours in a single week (which means, on average, working more than 14-hour... Read More >
Many moons ago, when I worked as an associate for a small investment bank in New York, there was one particular managing director who commonly scheduled Friday morning meetings during the summer in Connecticut, not far from where he lived. I was often involved in these meetings, which meant I had to wake up rather early in my East Village apartment on those summer Friday mornings to get to Grand Central Station and take a Metro North train heading north, to Connecticut. This wasn't always... Read More >
Often forgotten in the conversation about the difficulty of raising children while cultivating a career is the other half of the equation: working fathers. Of course, historically, since working fathers have been the primary breadwinners of American families and mothers the primary caregivers, there hasn't been much sympathy for fathers when it comes to helping them achieve a better balance between their work and home lives. However, given that women are now increasingly becoming the... Read More >
There is a lot to dislike about Citi Bike, New York City's new bike-sharing system. First of all, there are five Citi logos plastered onto each Citi Bike. This means, once all 10,000 Citi Bikes are in circulation, there will be 50,000 new Citi logos clogging the streets of New York. Citi, which paid $41 million to fund the program, could very easily have put just one of its logos on each bike. Or, better yet, could've left the logos off of the bikes and just put a few of its logos on the... Read More >
Dear Class of 2013, I know what you're thinking. 'Why didn't I just drop out of high school, create a simple blog service, then sell the darn thing to a company down on its luck for a you-know-what's-cool one billion dollars?' No, seriously. College is much more than a path to gainful unemployment. It's about connecting with your peers. It's about sitting in your dorm room, alone, eating Doritos, Facebooking, tweeting Kierkegaard and Louis CK quotes, choosing between the Early Bird and... Read More >
If you're preparing to interview for a position in investment banking, sales and trading, or investment management, it's likely you've already practiced answering a host of interview questions, including: What are your strengths and weaknesses? Why do you want to work for this firm in particular? How do you value a company? Can you walk me through a DCF? Can you pitch me a stock I should buy? Can you tell me about a time when you worked on a team? Why are you interested in finance? What gets... Read More >
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