Week in the Life of a Banker: Easy vs. Hard Weeks
A Practical Guide for Ambitious Professionals and Entrepreneurs
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, Last Updated :
Feb 25, 2025
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Investment banking conjures up images of boardroom negotiations, multimillion-dollar deals, and the unrelenting hustle that keeps Wall Street ticking. Yet behind these glamorous headlines lies a stark reality: no two weeks are the same. Sometimes, a “light” week glides by at 60 hours—relatively tame by industry standards—while a “hard” week can mean burning the midnight oil until the early morning, day after day.
Why should this matter to professionals or entrepreneurs? If you’re eyeing a career in finance or strategizing a partnership with an investment bank, knowing the contours of bankers’ schedules can help you set realistic expectations, plan workloads effectively, and maintain seamless communication when deals intensify. In this article, we’ll dissect both the “easy” and “hard” sides of a week in the life of a banker. You’ll learn how the type of projects, client demands, and firm policies shape an investment banker’s hours, plus tips to stay efficient and resilient in the face of varying work cycles
An investment banker’s schedule might appear unpredictable, but certain patterns often emerge. Knowing these rhythms is invaluable not only for bankers themselves but also for entrepreneurs seeking capital or professionals collaborating on deals.
When you understand how “easy” and “hard” weeks unfold, you can:
Set Realistic Expectations: Anticipate when responses might be delayed or when calls should be quick and direct.
Align Project Timelines: For critical tasks—like business valuations or due diligence—aim to schedule deep work when bankers are less likely to be inundated.
Build Trust and Credibility: Demonstrating awareness of the banker’s workload can position you as a strategic, empathetic partner.
Ultimately, recognizing what drives a banker’s schedule—live deals, pitchbooks, client preferences, and internal staffing—can spell the difference between a smooth collaboration and a series of misaligned deadlines.
2. Dissecting the “Easy” Week: Where 60 Hours Feels Manageable
investment banking, a more relaxed pace is possible when a few key factors align.
Common Traits of an Easy Week:
Dormant or Early-Stage Deals: Deals are either wrapping up or just kicking off, leaving a gap before deadlines tighten.
Routine Pitchbook Work: Marketing pitchbooks for upcoming client pitches often follow more predictable timelines than live M&A.
Minimal Client Revisions: Clients aren’t sending urgent last-minute changes, allowing bankers to plan their tasks methodically.
During these calmer stretches, bankers might arrive around 9:00 or 9:30 a.m. and leave as early as 8:00 p.m.—a marked contrast to the all-nighters that characterize more stressful periods. Friday departures could occur by 5:00 p.m., especially if a firm’s “protected weekend” policy is in effect.
❗Tip: Treat lighter weeks as opportunities to refine pitchbook templates, update industry research, or learn new financial modeling techniques. These proactive steps keep you prepared for sudden work spikes.
Even a relatively laid-back week can still mean late nights once or twice, particularly if small deliverables or pop-up tasks appear. Nonetheless, these intervals of 60-hour productivity offer a vital breather, occurring around 10% of the time for many bankers.
3. The Hard Week: Late Nights, Early Mornings, and Constant Urgency
On the flip side, a “hard” week is what many outside the industry envision when they think of an investment banker’s life: think 1:00 a.m. or 2:00 a.m. finishes multiple days in a row, plus weekend work that gobbles up your Saturday or Sunday.
Key Drivers of a Hard Week:
Active M&A Deals: Time-sensitive deliverables, deal negotiations, and frequent client communications drive the tempo into overdrive.
Multiple Live Projects: Balancing more than one live deal simultaneously—especially if a team is understaffed—can spike workload overnight.
Client or Director Demands: Sudden changes, from revised earnings projections to new slide requests, can blow up even the best-laid plans.
In these scenarios, finishing at or after midnight becomes routine. Fridays can run past midnight if a deal must progress over the weekend. Bankers often log in a few hours on Saturday and Sunday to tackle model updates or finalize presentations before Monday rolls around.
⚡Important: Many top-tier banks track hours on internal platforms. If a colleague logs a 105-hour week, the entire team knows it, sparking both concern and respect for the intensity of that workload.
While these relentless stretches can be taxing, they also foster resilience and create an environment where junior staff sharpen skills rapidly—financial modeling, negotiation tactics, and the art of concise communication under pressure.
4. How Pitchbooks and Live Deals Define Workflows
To fully grasp why one week might be pleasant and another nearly unbearable, consider the two core types of projects investment bankers juggle:
Marketing Pitchbooks
Produced to propose potential transactions to prospective clients.
Usually involve broader market analysis, strategic ideas, and polished decks.
Deadlines can be flexible, but a looming client meeting can still accelerate the pace.
Live Deals
The bank is officially engaged to execute a transaction—equity, debt, or M&A.
Intense, time-sensitive, and subject to real-time market changes or shifting client goals.
Typically demand rapid-fire model updates and near-constant communication with clients, attorneys, and internal teams.
📌Example: You might be fine-tuning a pitchbook for a meeting scheduled two weeks from now. Suddenly, a live M&A client revises its revenue forecast at 5:00 p.m. on a Thursday. Overnight, your priorities flip—every other project, no matter how important, moves behind the urgent model revisions for that live deal.
Pitchbooks can become intense when clients require quick turnarounds, but they usually pale in comparison to the frenzy of live deal execution.
5. Strategies for Navigating the Peaks and Valleys
Successfully managing unpredictable hours takes more than work ethic—it demands tactical planning, strong communication, and self-awareness. Here are four strategies to help professionals thrive, whether they’re gearing up for 100-hour weeks or capitalizing on the calmer ones.
1. Prioritize Ruthlessly
Identify the tasks that carry the highest risk if delayed (often live deal work).
Cluster similar responsibilities—like updating slides or verifying numbers—so you don’t waste time switching contexts.
Keep an updated checklist or project-management tool to track deadlines in real time.
2. Cultivate Flexibility and Transparency
Accept that last-minute changes happen regularly in finance.
Communicate proactively: if you’re triple-booked, inform associates or VPs early so they can adjust the workload or find additional support.
Revisit your schedule at the start and end of each day, factoring in any new priorities.
3. Leverage Team Support
Offer assistance when you have spare bandwidth, and don’t hesitate to seek help if you’re at capacity.
Knowledge-sharing fosters efficiency; if a colleague is an Excel wizard, let them handle intricate portions of a model.
Frequent check-ins ensure no major project falls through the cracks.
4. Protect Mental and Physical Well-Being
Use any “easy” week to rest, exercise, or pursue a hobby—small efforts go a long way in preventing burnout.
If a protected weekend is scheduled, aim to honor it unless absolutely necessary.
Set boundaries where possible, such as stepping away from your desk for short, invigorating breaks.
❗Tip: During slower weeks, strengthen foundational skills—like advanced financial analysis or presentation design—so you’re better prepared to handle the tidal wave of tasks during peak seasons.
6. Toughest Moments: Common Hurdles in Banking Weeks
A banker’s life can be filled with extremes, from finishing at 5:00 p.m. on a Friday to coding a valuation model at 3:00 a.m. Below are a few recurring hurdles that encapsulate the highs and lows of typical weeks:
No Protected Weekends for Months: Time-off policies can be a lifeline—until a critical deal overrides them. Missing them consistently erodes morale and physical health.
Under-Desk Power Naps: The hallmark of an extreme schedule, these happen when it’s too late (or too early) to go home, yet a deliverable looms.
28-Hour Benders: In extreme cases, an all-nighter can spiral into an all-day affair, usually to finalize a major client deliverable, like a complex DCF model or a sensitive M&A pitch.
Collectively, these situations reflect how intense the role can become—but they also highlight the resourcefulness of bankers who manage to adapt and deliver in such challenging conditions.
7. Making the Most of a Career in Finance
For all its volatility, investment banking offers rewards beyond the paycheck. The sheer variety of deals you’ll experience—from IPOs to cross-border M&A—builds a robust skill set in problem-solving, negotiation, and relationship management. Understanding how to pace yourself through easy and hard weeks can be the gateway to longevity and success in this field.
Advance Your Skills: Make downtime count by refining industry knowledge, mastering new financial software, or reading thought-leadership articles.
Expand Your Network: Deals are rarely executed in isolation. Nurturing relationships—whether with fellow bankers, attorneys, or entrepreneurs—can yield career-long benefits.
Plan for Transitions: Whether you remain in banking or pivot to private equity, venture capital, or a corporate strategic role, the resilience you build handling demanding schedules is a valuable asset.
❗Tip: Keep track of lessons learned—be it a more efficient way to consolidate data or a particular negotiation technique. A personal “playbook” can guide you in future engagements and help you replicate successes.
The Bottom Line
A week in the life of a banker unfolds in two distinct forms: the “easy” stretch of around 60 hours where tasks feel manageable, and the “hard” slog, pushing past 100 hours as live deals peak. Navigating these ebbs and flows requires precise organization, open communication, and a commitment to self-care.
Understanding the difference between marketing pitchbooks and live transactions—along with the nuances of protected weekends, client demands, and team dynamics—positions you to excel, whether you’re an aspiring banker or an entrepreneur collaborating with one. By balancing your drive for results with practical strategies for handling periods of intense work, you’ll turn the seemingly endless hours of investment banking into a powerful engine for professional growth, innovation, and sustained success.
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