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Discussion Materials: Tales of a Rookie Wall Street Investment Banker
A newly-minted MBA recounts his first years as a Wall Street investment banker—unredacted.
“Why aren’t you using LTM EBITDA for credit metrics?” asked the managing director who sat across from me, his widow’s peak clearly visible as he inspected the sheet in front of him. His spacious office looked out onto New York Harbor.
“Bust,” said the vice president, a younger, douchier version of Widow’s Peak. He slashed his red ballpoint pen across the sheet and flipped to the next page.
“Walk me through the debt paydown and your interest rate assumptions,” continued the VP.
“Pretty dovish view. Maybe the Fed knows what they’re doing after all,” said Widow’s Peak. He shot a glance at the VP. They shared a chuckle—at what, I couldn’t tell you.
This question about interest rates I knew: Dovish, I thought. Doves fly south for the winter, so dovish is downwards…low interest rates—
“We’re running short on time,” said Widow’s Peak. He flipped to the cover page of my presentation. “One final point—all pitch decks should have the same title.”
“Since this presentation was geared towards an LBO analysis I was thinking—”
“No thinking. All decks—same title—Discussion Materials.”
Noted.
Discussion Materials gives the reader an honest look at Wall Street from someone in the trenches. After graduating from Columbia Business School, Bill Keenan joined Deutsche Bank’s investment banking division as an associate where despotic superiors (and the blinking red light of his BlackBerry) instilled low-level terror on an hourly basis. You’ll join him in his cubicle on the 44th floor of 60 Wall Street as he scrambles to ensure floating bar charts are the correct shade of orange and all numbers are left-aligned, but whatever you do, don’t ask him what any of it means. Leaning heavily on his fellow junior bankers and the countless outsourcing resources the bank employs, he slowly develops proficiency at the job, eventually gaining traction and respect, one deal at a time, over a two-year span, ultimately cementing his legacy in the group by attaining the unattainable: placing a dinner order on Seamless one Sunday night at work from Hwa Yuan Szechuan amounting to $25.00 (tax and tip included), the bank’s maximum allowance for meals—the perfect order.
“Why aren’t you using LTM EBITDA for credit metrics?” asked the managing director who sat across from me, his widow’s peak clearly visible as he inspected the sheet in front of him. His spacious office looked out onto New York Harbor.
“Bust,” said the vice president, a younger, douchier version of Widow’s Peak. He slashed his red ballpoint pen across the sheet and flipped to the next page.
“Walk me through the debt paydown and your interest rate assumptions,” continued the VP.
“Pretty dovish view. Maybe the Fed knows what they’re doing after all,” said Widow’s Peak. He shot a glance at the VP. They shared a chuckle—at what, I couldn’t tell you.
This question about interest rates I knew: Dovish, I thought. Doves fly south for the winter, so dovish is downwards…low interest rates—
“We’re running short on time,” said Widow’s Peak. He flipped to the cover page of my presentation. “One final point—all pitch decks should have the same title.”
“Since this presentation was geared towards an LBO analysis I was thinking—”
“No thinking. All decks—same title—Discussion Materials.”
Noted.
Discussion Materials gives the reader an honest look at Wall Street from someone in the trenches. After graduating from Columbia Business School, Bill Keenan joined Deutsche Bank’s investment banking division as an associate where despotic superiors (and the blinking red light of his BlackBerry) instilled low-level terror on an hourly basis. You’ll join him in his cubicle on the 44th floor of 60 Wall Street as he scrambles to ensure floating bar charts are the correct shade of orange and all numbers are left-aligned, but whatever you do, don’t ask him what any of it means. Leaning heavily on his fellow junior bankers and the countless outsourcing resources the bank employs, he slowly develops proficiency at the job, eventually gaining traction and respect, one deal at a time, over a two-year span, ultimately cementing his legacy in the group by attaining the unattainable: placing a dinner order on Seamless one Sunday night at work from Hwa Yuan Szechuan amounting to $25.00 (tax and tip included), the bank’s maximum allowance for meals—the perfect order.
320 pages, Hardcover
Published March 31, 2020
84 people are currently reading
2259 people want to read
About the author
Bill Keenan
3 books91 followersBill Keenan played hockey at Harvard University from 2005 to 2008 and professionally in Europe from 2009 to 2012. After completing his MBA at Columbia Business School, he worked for two years in Deutsche Bank's investment banking division. He currently serves as COO of Graydon Carter's Air Mail.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
May 10, 2020
Pls fix tx
May 4, 2020
From a former investment banker - Keenan has written our generations’ version of Liar’s Poker. And it is hilariously written (very accurate as well)!
April 7, 2020
Too true
November 28, 2022
This is an awesome book to whoever is interested or been through investment banking, except for the ending, which is… not existing.
The writer tells the horror stories from his time as a junior investment banker, but the story ends at the associate level. There is no epilog and we have no idea what happened next, so we are left with no answer for the question “was it worth it in the end”? Is he a billioner now? Who knows. Terribly unsatisfying ending.
There are also several mysteries along the book that don’t get any payoff by the end and are just left open.
Bottom line - happy I read it and would read again, but the ending left me with bitter taste.
The writer tells the horror stories from his time as a junior investment banker, but the story ends at the associate level. There is no epilog and we have no idea what happened next, so we are left with no answer for the question “was it worth it in the end”? Is he a billioner now? Who knows. Terribly unsatisfying ending.
There are also several mysteries along the book that don’t get any payoff by the end and are just left open.
Bottom line - happy I read it and would read again, but the ending left me with bitter taste.
September 15, 2020
Fantastic, enjoyed every minute and hated for it to end
The most entertaining book I have read in years. Bill is a fantastic author with an amazing memory for detail and a great sense of humor - had me laughing out loud thru much of the book. This is a must read for anyone in the investment field who wants to be entertained.
The most entertaining book I have read in years. Bill is a fantastic author with an amazing memory for detail and a great sense of humor - had me laughing out loud thru much of the book. This is a must read for anyone in the investment field who wants to be entertained.
January 30, 2023
For anyone that works in Investment Banking and understands the outrageous stuff that goes, this book is a god send.
Honestly has improved my day to day work life and just allowed me to further laugh at the meme at a regular day.
Honestly has improved my day to day work life and just allowed me to further laugh at the meme at a regular day.
December 6, 2024
“At 9:13 a.m., my roommate texts me: ‘U alive?’ I don’t answer–feel dead inside.” - Chapter 20
What is investment banking? No clue, but from this autobiographical humorous account of Bill Keenan’s early years on Wall Street, the best descriptive word I can give is soul-sucking.
Keenan takes the reader through his time as an intern and then a full-time employee at Deutsche Bank, bringing them into the world of investment banking which includes, but is not limited to; notifications of emails on a blackberry, loads of jargon, and extensive projects that lead to you being up for 48 hours or more straight.
One of my worries going into this book was my limited knowledge of this world. Although the banking terms were lost on me most of the time, Keenan offers a fairly understandable approach. He thoroughly explains what needs to be, but even in those cases, it does not feel like he’s asking you to have a full grasp of it considering one of the main points is about how no one knows what they’re doing. Also, I felt like the further I got along, the easier it was to understand, which I will say is the doing of Keenan being very thorough in his narrative, giving you the right details without explaining too much that it gives you a headache.
The ability to weave humor into a topic of this caliber is what initially intrigued me about this book and I am glad to say it paid off. The humor Keenan embeds leads to an engaging narrative that turns more and more satirical as you keep reading. It is clear from the get-go, but he is showing the truth of this industry and how intense it is, and this only ramps up as the narrative continues. To display the idea that no one knows what they’re doing and one will become like their annoying higher-ups eventually, this book delivers its message clearly and concisely through little insights into Keenan’s emotional well-being.
While we are mostly getting a play-by-play of certain projects he’s worked on, there are moments, notably towards the end, that show Keenan reflecting on his emotional state at this point in his life. This inclusion, while strong at the end of the book, is weaker towards the beginning and middle. If it had been incorporated more, there might have been a better full-circle moment by the time we got to the end.
On the ending, there is a melancholic air that I felt after finishing and I think that feeling was satisfying. This is a book that can sit with you and make you think more about the investment banking life than you ever had before.
What is investment banking? No clue, but from this autobiographical humorous account of Bill Keenan’s early years on Wall Street, the best descriptive word I can give is soul-sucking.
Keenan takes the reader through his time as an intern and then a full-time employee at Deutsche Bank, bringing them into the world of investment banking which includes, but is not limited to; notifications of emails on a blackberry, loads of jargon, and extensive projects that lead to you being up for 48 hours or more straight.
One of my worries going into this book was my limited knowledge of this world. Although the banking terms were lost on me most of the time, Keenan offers a fairly understandable approach. He thoroughly explains what needs to be, but even in those cases, it does not feel like he’s asking you to have a full grasp of it considering one of the main points is about how no one knows what they’re doing. Also, I felt like the further I got along, the easier it was to understand, which I will say is the doing of Keenan being very thorough in his narrative, giving you the right details without explaining too much that it gives you a headache.
The ability to weave humor into a topic of this caliber is what initially intrigued me about this book and I am glad to say it paid off. The humor Keenan embeds leads to an engaging narrative that turns more and more satirical as you keep reading. It is clear from the get-go, but he is showing the truth of this industry and how intense it is, and this only ramps up as the narrative continues. To display the idea that no one knows what they’re doing and one will become like their annoying higher-ups eventually, this book delivers its message clearly and concisely through little insights into Keenan’s emotional well-being.
While we are mostly getting a play-by-play of certain projects he’s worked on, there are moments, notably towards the end, that show Keenan reflecting on his emotional state at this point in his life. This inclusion, while strong at the end of the book, is weaker towards the beginning and middle. If it had been incorporated more, there might have been a better full-circle moment by the time we got to the end.
On the ending, there is a melancholic air that I felt after finishing and I think that feeling was satisfying. This is a book that can sit with you and make you think more about the investment banking life than you ever had before.
October 17, 2024
This is the only book on IB you will ever need to read, especially if you're an MBA student thinking IB is your future and will land you a CEO position someday. Banking sucks. You learn plenty, but at what costs?
I currently work in finance and deal with P/E shits all the time... including the ones at "Greek God Capital," which the author's description of an interaction with them is spot on. There are plenty of ways to make deals without the sadism of working in IB. The author's experience was at the junior level, and believe me, it becomes more shady, and the people are more untrustworthy the higher you go.
I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone without an already passing interest in finance, as the jargon might have you bored and for little payoff.
Who would benefit from this book? Let's break down what it does well. This book is an excellent, realistic-ish insight into working in IB ("ish" because it makes it sound a bit more fun than what I've experienced. I'm a woman, so maybe that's why it's less fun, though). It's also a surprisingly great introduction to financial language and patterns. Above all else, for those working in/with bulge bracket teams and mega fund P/E, you feel understood and less alone reading this.
I currently work in finance and deal with P/E shits all the time... including the ones at "Greek God Capital," which the author's description of an interaction with them is spot on. There are plenty of ways to make deals without the sadism of working in IB. The author's experience was at the junior level, and believe me, it becomes more shady, and the people are more untrustworthy the higher you go.
I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone without an already passing interest in finance, as the jargon might have you bored and for little payoff.
Who would benefit from this book? Let's break down what it does well. This book is an excellent, realistic-ish insight into working in IB ("ish" because it makes it sound a bit more fun than what I've experienced. I'm a woman, so maybe that's why it's less fun, though). It's also a surprisingly great introduction to financial language and patterns. Above all else, for those working in/with bulge bracket teams and mega fund P/E, you feel understood and less alone reading this.
December 29, 2022
This book is a great way to understand what it is like to be an investment banker working with tough bosses, but doesn't go much beyond that. I felt like Keenan had a chance to go deeper, such as when he started really analyzing the senior bankers, or when he was a second year associate that was seeing the cycle of recruiting repeat itself. I think he had a chance to either give more of his own perspective, or to dive deeper into philosophical views on investment banking culture.
I picked up a few interesting things that I appreciated, so mission accomplished, but overall I think this book paints a more negative image on IB than it perhaps deserves. This isn't helped by the fact that the author himself cheats and lies multiple times throughout the book. I can't even say that is a function of the bank's culture, since he cheats as early as his pre-job training. I was disappointed by this, and think the book, though it does realistically capture how brutal the hours can be, has a negative bias for comic purposes and because the author does not actually like finance itself. I hope would-be bankers keep this in mind when they read this.
I picked up a few interesting things that I appreciated, so mission accomplished, but overall I think this book paints a more negative image on IB than it perhaps deserves. This isn't helped by the fact that the author himself cheats and lies multiple times throughout the book. I can't even say that is a function of the bank's culture, since he cheats as early as his pre-job training. I was disappointed by this, and think the book, though it does realistically capture how brutal the hours can be, has a negative bias for comic purposes and because the author does not actually like finance itself. I hope would-be bankers keep this in mind when they read this.
May 18, 2024
I honestly really enjoyed this book, way too relatable and honestly probably the most realistic finance book out there. Think he does a really good job of how ridiculous this job is and the absolutely insane requests MDs have and the genuine lack of empathy from senior bankers. Pretty funny at times and honestly i have felt every emotion which he has experienced throughout this book and the way takes over your life until youre standing over your phone stressed from a flashing outlook notification wondering what will make this all worth it. Kinda feels a little like in all quiet on the western front where u go from bright eyed recruit full of hope and naivete to the soldier at the end who has just survived too much and is numb and jaded now
Read this during work LMAO u either have nothing to do or too much to do and this wk has been nothing to do and looking busy
Ive literally never had an original thought in my life because the way the texts to his friend during work exactly mirror the texts my work friends and i send 😭😭
Read this during work LMAO u either have nothing to do or too much to do and this wk has been nothing to do and looking busy
Ive literally never had an original thought in my life because the way the texts to his friend during work exactly mirror the texts my work friends and i send 😭😭
February 12, 2025
Discussion Materials is the rare business book that reads like a novel. Bill Keenan brings sharp wit, self-deprecating humor, and unfiltered honesty to his journey from pro hockey to the cutthroat world of finance. His writing is fast-paced, engaging, and laugh-out-loud funny at times—making it an absolute page-turner. It’s not just a career memoir; it’s a crash course in adaptability, resilience, and the absurdities of corporate life. Whether you’re deep in the finance world or just love a well-told story, this book is a must-read.
August 16, 2020
A must-read book for anyone in Investment Banking, Consulting, Asset Management, or another similar industry. Bill Keenan is that rare type of writer who is both funny and analytical. What's most impressive about this book, however, is not its humor nor its analysis, but rather its narrative. There is a nice arc to the book's narrative and over the course of the ~300 pages, you can see how Bill's views on the world around him shift and how he grows and develops skills. A Highly enjoyable read!
January 10, 2021
3.5 stars
Read for PopSugar Reading Challenge / Prompt #15 - Book with a Black & White Cover
Bill Keenan, former pro hockey player, goes to Wall Street. What struck me most about this book was just how similar learning to be an investment banker is to being a consultant in a large firm (apparently.) I'm not sure that's comforting. I could definitely relate.
I would have liked a little more to the end, how / when he quit and what he's doing now.
Read for PopSugar Reading Challenge / Prompt #15 - Book with a Black & White Cover
Bill Keenan, former pro hockey player, goes to Wall Street. What struck me most about this book was just how similar learning to be an investment banker is to being a consultant in a large firm (apparently.) I'm not sure that's comforting. I could definitely relate.
I would have liked a little more to the end, how / when he quit and what he's doing now.
April 27, 2024
I wouldn't say that this book deterred me from pursuing IB, but it is definitely a lot more intimidating now. The book highlights the extreme technical difficulty and workload; however, I expected these things. What stuck out to me was how Bill's life outside of banking became completely non-existent as he became consumed with the work. It was pretty devastating to see him come full circle at the end of the book by mimicking the same behavior as the senior bankers he met in his first days.
September 29, 2024
Incisive, self-aware, well-paced. Lots of technical terms so you'd probably have to be in finance to get the most out of this book (if I read LIBOR one more time I was going to throw up from PTSD). Special mention to the two (2) separate times Keenan is bemoaning life as an investment banker then stops for a "At least we're not the lawyers. Those suckers do anything we make them do." comment.
pls revert with cmts at your earliest convenience. thx.
pls revert with cmts at your earliest convenience. thx.
May 8, 2025
I listened to this book on audio during my commutes to and from work, which I think was the perfect way to do it. It’s an easy listen and was very relatable, more than half of the little stories/comments were stuff that happened at my office too. I appreciated that it was just a collection of stories and little quirks, it didn’t try and get too deep or make any grand statements. I can see college kids really liking this as they get ready for finance careers.
October 9, 2021
Hockey Player Becomes Investment Banker
Bill Keenan takes us on a amusing ride through the world of being a newly minted MBA becoming an Associate at Deutsche Bank. Very sarcastic and completely true when offering up these Wall St anecdotes and sarcastic personalities. A must-read for anyone wanting to work those 100+ hour work weeks!
Bill Keenan takes us on a amusing ride through the world of being a newly minted MBA becoming an Associate at Deutsche Bank. Very sarcastic and completely true when offering up these Wall St anecdotes and sarcastic personalities. A must-read for anyone wanting to work those 100+ hour work weeks!
March 11, 2022
Discussion Materials is must-read for three types of people:
- the incoming analyst / MBA associate that has yet to be disillusioned by the reality of banking
- the current banker at their desk watching Netflix on a Monday
- the former banker looking to flare up their PTSD
Bill had me actually LOL-ing with Discussion Materials
- the incoming analyst / MBA associate that has yet to be disillusioned by the reality of banking
- the current banker at their desk watching Netflix on a Monday
- the former banker looking to flare up their PTSD
Bill had me actually LOL-ing with Discussion Materials
January 17, 2024
Good book. Written somewhere between a memoir and an online blog, it gives a great insight into the world of investment banking beyond the high paying salaries and the advertised careers and gets into the nitty gritty of the day to day grind. Would recommend for anyone interested in that career field
April 23, 2020
Hilariously written. Witty style. Story after story provide unique insight into the miserable existence of a Wall St junior banker. Yet Keenan chooses to be light-hearted rather than cynical (for the most part), making it a fun read as well as an enlightening one.
February 6, 2023
Laughing out loud from how spot-on the investment banking stereotypes are depicted in this masterpiece. This book was written after Bill Keenan’s farewell email from DB went viral. I loved it but probably not sure it would hit the same for others
May 29, 2023
I wasn’t expecting to pick up any real insights from reading this - and I didn’t - but I was hoping to be entertained. Unfortunately this guy isn’t as cool or as funny as he thinks he is. It was a very quick read though so I didn’t waste too much time on it.
April 14, 2020
Short and sweet. Entertaining.
April 16, 2020
Literally gave me PTSD, 10/10, recommend
May 11, 2020
Hilariously written and all too true.
May 22, 2020
Hilarious really liked it. I would recommend to anyone who wants an accurate story of an Investment banker.
June 4, 2020
Read this a year after leaving IB for PE. Easy read, reminds me of the ennui of that job, of this job, and the decision of should I stay or should I go
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 4, 2020
2020: 20
June 19, 2020
Very humorous yet true
June 30, 2020
Wow, very informative and funny book.
This was a great book, although I felt like the book could have been shorter since nothing new happens in the second half of the book.
This was a great book, although I felt like the book could have been shorter since nothing new happens in the second half of the book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews