How to become an investment banker?
Apply for a job/internship to get a first impression of what it means to work in investment banking. Go to a tier one business school and try to get an CFA. Most importantly: work, work, work... Get practical experience as much as possible. Since you are only 16, you still have time to mature what you will do with your life, always keep your mind opend. If you are really passionated about investement : read 1 book every week about investement, read the website investopedia, financial time, know about macro economic be good a math in school, learning coding and infrastructure can also be interesting since the stock is on server. learn about the history, you can watch on yoube shows about the history of money. learn accounting, the basic at least open a  broker simulating account online ( you will play with a fake wallet but on real value) for 6 month, and after open a broker account with 100 real dollards and plays the penny stocks ( stock under 3 USD a share). after doing all this for 1 year you should know if you want to spend your life doing this and can choose universtity and intership accordingly. You can look on linkedin the profile of investement banker to know what school they attended. Best of luck for your future.
Depends what type of finance you want to do but it boils down to being passionate and demonstrating your interest I.e.  If you want to go into investing have a PA and invest it in individual stocks and understand why you're long or short something  If you want to go into banking follow wsj bloomberg and understand what's going on w deals and companies in certain sectors you're interested in  Etc Agreed. This is such an open ended question with no real answer. I assume you're asking for recruitment into the finance industry, which honestly recruit from a wide variety of schools depending on the division within the firm and which firm location the firm is hiring for. Its more about the program in the school, than the school itself (business/finance/comp sci/electrical engineering/physics/math programs). Also bank alumni also play a large role in recruitment, and are sometimes whom you might speak with during an interviews and at career days. Most of the recent bank grads I know are from Rutgers, MIT, UPenn, Penn State, Princeton, Carnegie Mellon, Villanova, NYU, Stevens, etc...the trend here is North East schools close to NYC (where I work). This was during undergrad.  If you are in undergrad, get a high GPA and study finance and accounting.  Try going the investment banking or fortune 500 internal finance/M&amp;A route.  Or if you like the broker idea, interview for private wealth management at legit firms (merrill, goldman, citi, etc).  If you absolutely want to be more of a broker, try interviewing for merrill lynch, wells fargo advisers, edward jones, etc. to see if you can handle it.  Even at merrill you are basically cold calling, but you have a legit firm at your back with the opportunity to build a legitimate business.  In general though, these cold calling broker jobs are hard to stay with.  If you aren't cut out of it, you wont last more than a few months. "If that's your goal.   Watch the entire webinar on warren buffet books by Preston Pysh first for a good intro into stocks bonds etc:  https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PLECECA66C0CE68B1E&amp;v=KfDB9e_cO4k  Read Dale Carnegies book ""How to Win Friends and Influence People"" in order to learn how to communicate to people effectively and create networks. The most important skill in any field you choose to go into.   Read ""The Everything Store"" for essentially an MBA in business.   Read ""The Intelligent Investor"" by Benjamin graham for a bachelors in finance.   Then take classes that get you the very best professors in the field of finance, economics, and business at your school and make sure you never stop asking questions.  Continue to develop your skills and create good saving &amp; communication habits.   And if you want great jobs, get internships. To get internships be involved in as much as you can in campus and take leadership roles (especially when you think you can't handle it) you will grow quickly as a leader and businessman if you do it right.   If reading is a bit much for you, try audiobooks.   And make sure you enjoy college and surround yourself with ambitious youngsters like yourself. It will help you grow. Enjoy school and be social, make mistakes and do whatever it takes to get a minimum 3.5 GPA (get old tests study groups easy teachers or GPA boosting classes if you need to)   Aight that's all I got haha" Check out research: equities, credit, fixed income, quant, ECM. Typically research analysts need the 7/63/86/87, strong financial modeling skills (VBA, other kinds of coding help here), and the necessary financial background to perform valuations. Like the other commenter suggested, starting on your Level One CFA is a good start. Non-target undergrad in the south, but I networked with right people. Through the finance clubs I got an equity research role for the school's investment fund and leveraged that for an interview at a home developer but the partners there ultimately went with someone else. They happened to be investors at the firm I currently work at and thought my background would make me a good fit. Once I started working there, I took on as many projects/responsibilities as I could. I'm actually in the process of partnering up with the trader to take on some outside investors and get his algos running. He's been trading for ~25 years and I couldn't believe what his returns were at first, so I'm fairly excited to work with him. I think he meant Oxford University in the UK, but he's wrong.   You can still pursue a career in Investment Banking even if you do not go to the aforementioned Ivy Leagues. As long as the university you are at is well-respected and you have few summer internships and leadership activities under your belt, it is possible but harder to break into! 1) get good grades  2) get into top school  3) continue getting good grades  4) get an interview and kill it  5) enjoy the fruits of your success with copious amounts of drinking to deal with the hours  Done, and I don't even need to be a banker to tell you this If you are intent on becoming a quant, I concur with most of the opinions in this thread - you will *need* a graduate degree, because it is a relatively small field, and it is densely populated with people who have graduate degrees specializing more closely in the field than Engineering will ever touch upon.  However - don't give up searching for killer work opportunities, like the kind you are currently getting. If you maintain an excellent GPA, in combination with these work placements, you can easily secure a spot in a top degree program - you are placed in an 'EngSci' comparable program, meaning you will possess a top-notch understanding of math, and have demonstrated experience in business.   If you plan to search for work in Canada after graduation, I would highly recommend getting your graduate degree from University of Toronto - while it is often a poorly regarded undergraduate finance school, when employers are looking for soft-skills (Ivey and Queens slaughter Rotman undergrads for job placements), absolutely no one disputes that University of Toronto students have a top-notch grasp of theory, and it is commonly regarded (from what I have heard, at least) as one of the toughest schools.  At U of T, there are two degrees that might fit for your field - the [mmf](http://www.mmf.utoronto.ca/), and [MFE](http://www.economics.utoronto.ca/index.php/index/mfe). It would probably be prudent to call around, or tap people in the industry in NYC or Toronto to let you know which is preferable, or a best fit (I sense the mmf, but my opinion is next to worthless here).   If you are interested in working in NYC, and have the money for a graduate degree in the States without putting yourself under a mountain of debt, get educated there - your program directors will know the Street better than those in Toronto, most likely. black_cows gave excellent advice, though I would add one thing - know that doing this work in Canada and the US are *very* different propositions, especially for the sell side. You probably know this, but look no further than places like WSO, or colleagues at internships, for horror stories related to hours, conditions, perks, pay, etc at American banks these days. (I have friends that have worked 55 hours *straight* in their offices. If you consider that a point of pride.. go crazy! Otherwise.. be wary.) Hey OP, Don't listen to the negative comments, they don't know what they're talking about. I just got hired as an associate i-banker at the top investment bank in my country , which is roughly at the level of American bulge bracket banks.   I'm an introvert. Yes, I like to drink and socialize, and part of the interview process involved cocktails and dinner with other candidates and several ibankers at all levels . But I-bankers are just geeks in suits. As long as you are comfortable in social settings , you don't need to be an alpha male or frat jock.  I recommend meeting as many ibankers as possible. Have coffee chats and learn about the people that work in the industry. Good luck. "Wikipedia says ""The Canadian Securities Course (CSC) offered by the Canadian Securities Institute (CSI) is the initial course required for becoming licensed to work within the Canadian securities industry (outside Quebec) as a securities dealer or securities agent."" Src: Candian Securities Course EfficientMarket Canada adds "" You require it and further courses for other jobs in the investment industry. Generally some work experience is also required. All of this is governed by various self-regulatory agencies. The material in the course is strong on money making products, and fairly weak on material that would actually protect a consumer from harm. Passing the course is very little indication that you understand what's important about investing, for example, you won't be taught much of anything about the theory of investment, or the markets, or things like the efficient market hypothesis."" Src: EfficientMarket.ca on the CSC So it appears that the CSC is necessary to work as certain types of financial agencies. That being said, I doubt it will be enough to get your foot in the door. This seems more like a prerequisite rather than a true qualification, so you'll be competing with MBAs/Finance students and other people who either have experience or training in the financial industry. I'd recommend you look into the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certification as that will provide you with a rigorous knowledge of financial theory as well as asset management, which seems more appropriate for what you'd like to do. From there you'll have to network like crazy and leverage your experience to get in at a Canadian financial firm and eventually wealth management. So yes, I suppose a CSC is a good first step but more will certainly be required and I doubt it will be enough to land you a full time position.  Another important factor is age - nobody expects undergrads to have extensive certifications or experience, but it's harder for a 35 year old to enter a new industry, especially finance." depends IB is a huge area, are they quant traders, portfolio construction researchers, ML researchers, data engineers,analysts, software engineers?  One year in $150k is unlikely however if a trader, quant trader or quant researcher, software engineer certainly possible. $1m by 30 good luck I own a recruitment business for IB's, HF's, its not common to earn $1m at a bank, certainly not these days, buyside again very difficult but more likely.   I work with directors/MD's predominantly and Barclays for sure will not pay that by there 30, they have some MD's on million dollar sums but they are not common. They have a hell of a long road before they get there, at Barclays he could be canned in 2 years regardless of his performance.  Citi VP's are capped at $180k base if you perform exceptionally matching bonus realistically between 30-50%of base, though this can vary.  Depending on the role typically goes like this: associate - 2 or 3 years, then VP 3- 5 years, director 7-10 years MD 12-15 years + depending on area, role, bank you join. Each area is different.  If you go into finance research your area it's highly competitive, if you cannot explain your enthusiasm for finance and why you want to do it beside money you will find it hard.  School is not that important JP hires shit tonnes from Baruch and Lafayette College its about your GPA. Learn to code Python, KDB+/Q, C++ and Matlab are decent languages that are universally used.  EDIT - Citi also pay higher than Barclays generally across the board. There are well established recruiting paths into the big bulge bracket banks. They recruit heavily from target schools, both undergrad and MBA. You don't just career switch into a front office role.  If you want to become a banker, you would typically enter as an Analyst, with a two or three year stint directly out of undergrad. You would have needed to get top grades from a target school and be successfully chosen from a very, very competitive recruiting pool.  If you already graduated, you will need a few years at a top firm, score 700+ on the gmat, get into a top bschool, deal with similar recruiting situations, and then enter as an Associate from your target MBA.   Competition is so tight I see CFA on everyone's resume. Lots of MBAs.   source: i work at a BB in NYC 1.   It is difficult.  There is no formal process outside of undergrad and MBA programs to easily gain access to interviews.  At your level, its mostly about connections.  If willing to start near bottom, go to your business school and start applying to bank associate programs.  Sounds like you would like sales and trading more than M&amp;A, so focus there. 2.   If you got in at associate level, you would do 1-3 months of training and then get assigned a desk.  Finance going through a tough time right now, so trajectory isn't what it used to be.  Expect to be a VP after 2-4 years, then its all dependent on luck and skill. 3.   If you land a job at a top 15 bank, you should be making total comp of 150k or more after the first year.  Salaries not quite at 150k, but most VPS make over 150k salary, not to mention bigger bonus's.  4.   If you did M&amp;A you would be working very serious hours.  If you go into Sales and Trading your hours will be anywhere from 40 to 60 hours a week depending on the desk.  Trading hours tend to be the shortest. 5.  Boston isn't a hot bed for i-banking finance.  NYC, London, Sing, Hong Kong tend to be the places to be.  I know nobody in Boston that could help. To quote their disclaimer: Data is provided by financial exchanges and may be delayed as specified by financial exchanges or our data providers. Google does not verify any data and disclaims any obligation to do so. That means that they buy it from a reseller such as IDC. It probably differs in source between the different exchanges depending on price and availability factors. They do specify in some cases which reseller they use and one of those happens to be Interactive Data (IDC) who are also the data provider used in my day job!