Macquarie Bank - the millionaire's factory

I have an interest in finance despite having never worked for a retail bank, merchant bank, finance company or credit union. Yet I look on with interest at Macquarie and the famed reputation of the millionaire's factory.

It has been rumoured that once you secure a contract at Macquarie, it takes approximately 5 years for the high flying consultants to become millionaires - that's pretty impressive. I can only imagine that competition for places at Macquarie Bank and a job would be outrageously difficult to secure.

During my finance course plenty of manual calculations included net present value, present cash flow, discounted cash flow, the weighted average cost of capital, bond yields and market interactions, share markets, capital budgeting, inflation, interest rates and a whole load of other stuff that kept my head spinning.

The world of finance appears to be pretty lucrative, so one has to ask what exactly what does Macquarie finance and where do they draw their funds from? I guessing that whilst many of these guys know the financial calculations, this is an position requiring the use of jargon yet the position is really a technical sales role - nothing more, nothing less.