If you are considering a career in investment banking, you have probably already heard the numbers: 80, 90, sometimes more than 100 hours per week. These figures circulate in every forum, but they only tell half the story. The truth is more nuanced – and it depends heavily on your level, your bank and the current deal workload.

The working hours are the price you pay for the high salary and the excellent exit opportunities. Those who understand that price before they pay it make a better decision – and come across in interviews as far more mature than someone who romanticizes the grind. That is precisely why you should understand this topic before you apply, or before you claim in an interview that you know what you are signing up for.

In this article you will get realistic hour estimates by career stage and bank type, the specifics of the DACH region and Germany's working-time law, a typical day and week in Frankfurt, plus concrete tips on how to get through the intense years in good health.

Why working hours matter so much

The salary attracts the applicants; the working hours decide whether they stay. For many entry-level bankers, the question of hours matters more than the question of the bonus – because money can be earned back, whereas lost health and relationships are hard to recover.

A well-known turning point came in 2021 with a leaked internal survey of junior Goldman Sachs analysts. The juniors surveyed reported an average of roughly 95 to 100 hours per week, about five hours of sleep per night, and a marked decline in their physical and mental health. More than half said they intended to quit within six months unless something changed. The survey made headlines worldwide – and ever since, “How many hours do investment bankers work?” has been one of the most searched questions among students seriously considering a career in finance.

The toll was pushed back into public consciousness in brutal fashion in 2024 with the death of Leo Lukenas III, a 35-year-old associate at Bank of America and former Green Beret, who died of a blood clot while reportedly working more than 100 hours per week on a multibillion-dollar deal. The case – together with a Wall Street Journal investigation finding that juniors were in some cases pressured to under-report their hours – forced the banks into public responses. Whether those responses amount to more than cosmetics is something we address further below.

The basics: what “investment banking working hours” really mean

Before we cite numbers, three important points of context – otherwise you will be comparing apples to oranges.

Presence is not the same as work

An analyst can be “at the desk” from 9 a.m. until 2 a.m. without being productive the entire time. A large part of the long nights is spent waiting: for comments from a VP, for feedback from another department, for the next version of a document. The pure “heads-down” working time is often less than the time spent present – but the unpredictability is grinding all the same.

Average is not the same as peak

The horror figures of 100+ hours describe peak weeks on a “live deal” – an active transaction shortly before closing. Averaged over a full year, a typical analyst at a large bank sits closer to around 80 to 85 hours – intense, but measurably below the scare-story picture. In between, there are just as many quieter weeks of 55 to 65 hours.

Predictability matters more than the raw hour count

What makes banking work so draining is less the number itself than the lack of control. A late phone call can blow up a planned weekend. This constant on-call state – also known as “facetime” – often weighs more heavily than the hours on paper.

How many hours do you work per career stage?

The rough rule of thumb: with each step up, average weekly working hours fall by about five – but responsibility, client contact and travel all rise. The hard nights shift from your own desk to being reachable around the clock.

Analyst (entry level)

The toughest stage. Analysts are the “engines” of every deal: they build financial models, create pitchbooks, carry out research and due-diligence work, and implement countless rounds of comments. Expect 80 to 100 hours in intense phases and an annual average of around 80 to 85 hours. In the first twelve months, free time during the week is the exception.

Associate

Somewhat more humane, but still demanding: usually 60 to 80 hours. Associates manage the analysts, review their output, coordinate processes and take on more substantive responsibility. They are the bridge between the junior and senior levels – and they carry the stress when deadlines get tight.

Vice President (VP)

Roughly 50 to 70 hours, but with significantly more client contact and responsibility for the process. A VP may spend less time on the model but carries the deal mentally – reachable by phone in the evenings, with high, sustained stress from the responsibility.

Director & Managing Director (MD)

Senior bankers spend the fewest hours at the desk, yet the line between work and private life all but disappears. Their job is origination – winning deals. That means a lot of travel, client dinners, weekend calls and constant availability. The hour count on paper masks the true, unrelenting mental load.

Working hours by bank type

Not every bank works equally hard. The size of the firm, the team structure and the deal size make a considerable difference – in the DACH region too.

• Bulge-bracket banks (Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and others): usually 70 to 90 hours. Large teams, a broad deal range, and a bit more structure.
• Elite boutiques (Lazard, Rothschild & Co, Evercore, Moelis, Centerview, Houlihan Lokey): often 85 to 100 hours. Small, lean teams, high responsibility per head – and frequently somewhat higher pay to compensate.
• Mid-market & regional firms (including Berenberg, Jefferies, smaller M&A boutiques in Frankfurt/Munich): often 55 to 80 hours, with noticeably quieter phases between deals.
• German firms & mid-cap M&A: very heterogeneous. Smaller advisory shops often offer the best work-life balance in the industry – at lower pay and with less prestige.

The DACH reality and the working-time law

A common misconception goes: “Germany has a working-time law (Arbeitszeitgesetz), so banking can't be that bad.” The reality in Frankfurt looks different.

Germany's working-time law (Arbeitszeitgesetz) generally provides for eight hours per working day, temporarily extendable to ten. The European Working Time Directive caps average weekly working time at 48 hours over a reference period. In investment banking, these limits are routinely exceeded in practice – in part because interns and juniors sign a voluntary opt-in to longer working hours. One J.P. Morgan intern, for example, was reported to have signed such a declaration waiving the 48-hour limit.

A typical day for a Frankfurt analyst: at the desk around 9:00 to 9:30 a.m., finishing between midnight and 2 a.m. from Monday to Thursday, and often earlier on Fridays (around 6 to 10 p.m.). On weekends, an active deal quickly adds five to eight hours per day – although at many firms Saturday morning is now regarded as “protected”.

Important: apartments in Frankfurt are almost always a short walk or a few subway minutes from the office. The short commute is no accident but part of the system – it is what makes late nights and a quick return to the desk bearable in the first place.

A typical day & a typical week

Example: an analyst's day (active deal phase)

Example: a full week

Monday to Wednesday are often the longest (9 a.m. to 1–2 a.m.), Thursday a bit shorter, Friday an earlier finish if nothing urgent is pending. On a live deal, everything shifts later and the weekend becomes working time. In quiet weeks, by contrast, you can leave at 6 p.m. on Friday and have the whole weekend off. It is precisely this variability – not a rigid 100-hour block – that defines everyday life.

Why the days are so long

The long hours are neither an accident nor pure hazing – they follow from the structure of the business:

• It is a service business. The client sets the pace. If a board member needs a revised presentation on Sunday evening, it gets delivered.
• Deals don't keep office hours. A transaction has phases of extreme intensity just before signing or closing – and quieter stretches in between.
• A model has an owner. Tasks are rarely handed off “to the night shift.” Whoever builds a model sees it through – which prevents handover errors but lengthens their own nights.
• Lean teams. Elite boutiques in particular run few people per deal. Fewer heads mean more hours per head – and higher pay as compensation.

What the banks changed in 2026

The public pressure since 2021, and especially since the 2024 death, has forced responses. The most important measures:

• Hour caps: Several firms have introduced guideline limits – J.P. Morgan, for instance, a benchmark of around 80 weekly hours for juniors.
• Protected weekends: Officially, analysts are supposed to have Friday evening to Sunday morning off (the “protected weekend” or protected Saturday).
• Control instead of trust: J.P. Morgan reportedly began cross-checking self-reported hours against actual computer activity – including video calls and keystrokes.

Expert tips: how to get through the intense years in good health

• Protect your sleep strategically. Not every night is the same. Use quieter evenings deliberately to recover, rather than staying late “on principle.”
• Get efficient, not just enduring. Building models cleanly and quickly shortens the comment rounds. Solid Excel and modeling fundamentals are the most direct lever against long nights.
• Communicate your capacity upward. Saying “I have three live deadlines right now – which takes priority?” is professional, not a sign of weakness.
• Choose the bank on culture too. The difference between an elite boutique and a mid-market firm can be 20 to 30 hours per week.
• Think in years, not in nights. Most people see the analyst program as a two- to three-year springboard toward private equity, corporate development or the buy side. A clear “why” carries you through the hard phases.

Common mistakes

• Romanticizing the numbers. Saying in an interview that 100-hour weeks are “no problem” comes across as naive. Maturity means assessing the load realistically.
• Treating peak weeks as the norm. This stokes needless anxiety and distorts your decision.
• Neglecting your health entirely. Chronic sleep deprivation erodes, over time, exactly the performance that earns the bonus.
• Joining without an exit plan. Those who come only for the prestige and have no goal rarely last through the hard years.

Best practices for getting started

If you know the working hours are going to be hard, you can prepare – both technically and mentally:

1. Master the technical fundamentals (DCF, LBO, accounting, M&A) before you start, so the first months don't hurt twice as much.
2. Build an efficient Excel and modeling routine early on – speed saves nights.
3. During recruiting, dig into the team culture specifically: ask your network about the real working hours of the specific team, not just the bank.
4. Define your personal “why” and your time horizon before you sign.

Comparison tables

Working hours by career stage

Working hours by bank type (analyst level)

Figures are typical industry benchmarks and vary by team, sector and deal workload.

Pros and cons of the working hours

Frequently asked questions about investment banking working hours

Conclusion

Investment banking working hours are genuinely hard – but more nuanced than the forum legends suggest. A realistic analyst average sits at around 80 to 85 hours per week, with brutal peaks during live deals and quieter phases in between. With each level the hour count falls, while responsibility and availability rise. Bank type and team culture can make the difference of an entire working day per week.

Those who know the load honestly, have a clear “why,” and start out well prepared technically not only get through the intense years better – they also stand out in the interview. That is exactly what you can prepare for, deliberately.