The men with money to burn (Goldman Sachs)

The Telegraph ^ | Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 14/12/2006 | Jasper Gerard

[MEGoody]

Personally, I would not label this as 'successful'.

Agreed.

[Mr. Jeeves]

It's the kind of job you do in your twenties, when you are full of ambition and anxious to conquer the world. After a few years of big bonuses, people tend to leave places like Goldman to go work for more sedate firms.

[GovernmentIsTheProblem]

"You can do anything you want for 8 hours a day, Goldman expects you in the office for the other 16. Grounds for termination if you miss more than an hour a week for 3 weeks of your first 14 weeks. Few actually get their 8 hours away anyway.

Move up the ladder and the hours start to actually get intense. "


This is not out of the ordinary for most people who have started businesses.

[ProCivitas]

And what do Goldman-Sachs employees do for work? I think they try to make money for relatively rich people through investment. At least that was their 'business' when a member of my family was working for them. Predominantly Jewish firm as I recall, even as compared with other Wall Street firms.

Doesn't seem to be much constructive purpose to it. No endangered species saved and thriving ... no weak, innocent people defended .... no recycled/synthetic substitutional materials developed to preserve animal habitats....no tyrranical regimes overthrown...no exploration of space and discovery...no eco-factory WorkCo-ops funded to preserve American or British jobs...

Oh well, maybe the 'nouveau riche' will be happy with more vehicles, jewelry, sexual partners and realestate. Their politics probably incline toward what we politely call 'libertarian' i.e. 'mercenary,exploitative, and degenerate', so let's hope they don't fund much of that.

I wonder how this story is going to play on the Al Quaida/ AlJazeera news service.

[durasell]

Oh well, maybe the 'nouveau riche' will be happy with more vehicles, jewelry, sexual partners and realestate.




Oh boy, not even the same ballpark. This is legacy money, the kind of money that insures comfort, education, and well-being for several generations into the future.

[Irisshlass]

Looks like Paulson who left a job making 38 million as CEO of Goldman Sachs for the platry salary as head of the Treasury last May was a good investment for his cronies.

[ex-snook]

thanks for ping.

And to think, Exxon was investigated. Something is rotten on Wall Street. Maybe time for vote for a populist.

[Mr. Jeeves]

And to think, Exxon was investigated. Something is rotten on Wall Street. Maybe time for vote for a populist.

These are the people who actually run the country - the politicians just do what they are told.

[Paul Ross]

I admit to being slightly jealous

You needn't be. Money doesn't buy happiness. To wit, as quoted therein:

Then you feel really empty: why has that guy who is bloody useless got the same? Many can't walk away because they love the money for its own sake. So they just collect houses around the world they will rarely visit."

[proud_yank]

well, I won't judge them.

I wouldn't either, though I think if I had a friend who was screwing up his family for the sake of work I would say something to them.

I won't deny to anyone that I like having nice things, however it seems like nothing if you can't enjoy it. I don't have a wife, or even a girlfriend now, but wouldn't want to give it up to spend all my free time at work. I think you have to have balance, and do believe that you can have a good family or relationship, time with friends, a nice home, toys, etc.

I think for someone single, starting out with a firm like this straight from school would be a great opportunity. Work a lot, right away, bank/invest your money, and you can always go to work for a smaller firm that is not so rigorous. Having someone like Goldman Sachs on a resume would certainly open up lots of other doors.

I'll be starting my career this coming Monday (engineer- oil industry), and that is the approach that I am going to take, but I'll still have my fun and would like a family down the road too!

[aligncare]

P_Y;

Sounds like you have a healthy attitude towards balancing work and personal life. You'll need it in your coming career.

My best friend in med school was married to a man in engineering. His company would fly him out to sea where he worked on an oil rig. He would be gone for days at a time. We were deeply engrossed in medical training--two very different worlds. Well, my friend's marriage suffered, as you might imagine (and as it turned out--so did mine). But, everyone did manage to hold things together. Started a family while she was in school; as did I and my wife. It wasn't easy, though.

Based on my experience, I think a couple should have common goals and interests that connect them; don't diverge with separate friends and such. Very destructive to a marriage in my humble opinion. And certainly be home. There is no such thing as quality time together--just quantity time together.

Nice talking...and good luck to you.

All The Best.

[proud_yank]

Thanks AC!

I think that being married through school, especially advanced studies, would be quite difficult. One working a career like that, while the other is in school would be especially difficult.

I'm hoping that I will be able to work full-time (usually 2 weeks on, 2 off) on the North Slope in Alaska. I will likely spend time there, but am based in Anchorage initially. If I meet someone, we'll see how those plans change!

[durasell]

Actually it seems money does buy happiness.

http://www.livescience.com/othernews/050406_money_happy.html

[Aikonaa]

Capitalism at it's finest.

[oceanview]

this is the structure of the US economy. people was swap paper all day, make insider deals, make fortunes. and you can tune into any thread regarding General Motors on FR, and see people demonizing autoworkers trying to hold onto a $60-70K wage.

[oceanview]

I don't eant to hear about how much time they spend at work. anyone, even entry level people now, who work in IT - are tied to pagers and cellphones for their jobs, 24x7.

[oceanview]

you know how many of these types screw NYC out of the income tax - they live in NYC apartments, but declare their residents at their other homes in the suburbs or out of state, to skip out on the income tax.

[durasell]

Yup.

A lot of "country homes" are primary residences.

But look, NYC saw this Wall Street thing coming more than 20 years ago when the manufacturing jobs went buh-bye. The city bet big on Wall Street and media, now it's paying off.