Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1471019 in Books
• Published on: 1998-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 323 pages

Synopsis
The author tells how he left small-town life for a harrowing year at Merrill Lynch, where he learned the methods--and the back-stabbing--behind the madness of Wall Street and found himself changing for the worse. 25,000 first printing.

Customer Reviews

Slow, but probably worth reading.
I was disappointed with this book which I read after finishing FIASCO by Frank Partnoy. Although FIASCO is curiously negative about Morgan Stanley, Mr. Partnoy was trained for his job at Morgan Stanley, and his book is well written. I have no idea why Merrill Lynch hired Mr. Stiles, who was clearly unprepared for his job at Merrill. Mr. Stiles did not have an MBA or a law degree nor was he even Series 7 licensed at the time of being hired. Morgan Stanley was right, "the fit wasn't right" and they didn't hire Mr. Stiles, nor did Goldman Sachs. It appears he was hired by Merrill because a Harvard classmate of his already worked in the group he was interviewing with. I think this may illustrate a common problem with top investment banking firms---they often don't make good choices because they have so many applicants from top schools and those with inside contacts often have an advantage for the wrong reason. A Harvard degree by itself today (or an inside contact) is just not enough. These firms should take the interview process more seriously and put up ads on the various job bulletin boards. Those stories of top investment bankers, traders, or salesmen, from firms like Goldman Sachs or Salomon Brothers rising up from the level of a janitor's assistant or a mailroom worker are interesting, but that era is over. This book, like FIASCO, deals with emerging markets, emerging emerging markets, exotic structured derivatives, Brady Bonds, inverse floaters, currency devaluations, Eurobonds, etc. But this time the alleged damage is done by roughrider Merrill Lynch, and it involves Merrill's so called Latin-Mafia traders & salesmen. Probably worth reading (wait for the paperback) but not as informative as FIASCO.

Slow, but probably worth reading.
I was disappointed with this book which I read after finishing FIASCO by Frank Partnoy. Although FIASCO is curiously negative about Morgan Stanley, Mr. Partnoy was trained for his job at Morgan Stanley, and his book is well written. I have no idea why Merrill Lynch hired Mr. Stiles, who was clearly unprepared for his job at Merrill. Mr. Stiles did not have an MBA or a law degree nor was he even Series 7 licensed at the time of being hired. Morgan Stanley was right, "the fit wasn't right" and they didn't hire Mr. Stiles, nor did Goldman Sachs. It appears he was hired by Merrill because a Harvard classmate of his already worked in the group he was interviewing with. I think this may illustrate a common problem with top investment banking firms---they often don't make good choices because they have so many applicants from top schools and those with inside contacts often have an advantage for the wrong reason. A Harvard degree by itself today (or an inside contact) is just not enough. These firms should take the interview process more seriously and put up ads on the various job bulletin boards. Those stories of top investment bankers, traders, or salesmen, from firms like Goldman Sachs, or Salomon Brothers rising up from the level of a janitor's assistant or a mailroom worker are interesting, but that era is over. This book, like FIASCO, deals with emerging markets, emerging emerging markets, exotic structured derivatives, Brady Bonds, inverse floaters, currency devaluations, Eurobonds, etc. But this time the alleged damage is done by roughrider Merrill Lynch, and it involves Merrill's so called Latin-Mafia traders & salesmen. Probably worth reading (wait for the paperback) but not as informative as FIASCO.

Slow, but probably worth reading.
I was disappointed with this book which I read after finishing FIASCO by Frank Partnoy. Although FIASCO is curiously negative about Morgan Stanley, Mr. Partnoy was trained for his job at Morgan Stanley, and his book is well written. I have no idea why Merrill Lynch hired Mr. Stiles, who was clearly unprepared for his job at Merrill. Mr. Stiles did not have an MBA or a law degree nor was he even Series 7 licensed at the time of being hired. Morgan Stanley was right, "the fit wasn't right" and they didn't hire Mr. Stiles, nor did Goldman Sachs. It appears he was hired by Merrill because a Harvard classmate of his already worked in the group he was interviewing with. I think this may illustrate a common problem with top investment banking firms---they often don't make good choices because they have so many applicants from top schools and those with inside contacts often have an advantage for the wrong reason. A Harvard degree by itself today (or an inside contact) is just not enough. These firms should take the interview process more seriously and put up ads on the various job bulletin boards. Those stories of top investment bankers, traders, or salesmen, from firms like Goldman Sachs, or Salomom Brothers rising up from the level of a janitor's assistant or a mailroom worker are interesting, but that era is over. This book, like FIASCO, deals with emerging markets, emerging emerging markets, exotic structured derivatives, Brady Bonds, inverse floaters, currency devaluations, Eurobonds, etc. But this time the alleged damage is done by roughrider Merrill Lynch, and it involves Merrill's so called Latin-Mafia traders & salesmen. Probably worth reading (wait for the paperback) but not as informative as FIASCO.