Does the bank debt market lead to the good life? Depends on who you ask. One market veteran remembers his early years: "I'd get home from work at 9 every night, pass my wife in the hall and we'd say to each other, 'Why are we doing this?'" The answer was to get their dream home, which they now have and say was worth the toil. Still, life on a trading desk can come at a price. Some dealers are fueled on the promise of early retirement, but acknowledge the risk element of their job and say it's taxing on the mind and body. "At 25, I was still fully human," one 30-something trader recently quipped. "Now I get up in the morning and it sounds like Rice Krispies."
