I did investment banking for a little over 2 years and I would say that the money isn't worth it in the beginning. As an analyst, you make 60K+bonus your first year, 70K+bonus your second year, and 80K+bonus your third year. Bonus will depend on the year you are working. If you are in a bull market, you'll probably make out pretty well even if you're not the top analyst. Last year, the top 2nd year analyst made 115K in bonus at my bank. Keep in mind, that this is all pretax income. Taxes will literally take more than 35% of your income. So, like I said, you shouldn't just do it for the money. Money is a great incentive, but shouldn't be the sole reason you do it.
You won't know if you want to do banking for a career until you actually try it. You may realize that you are really good at it and love the adrenaline of getting a deal done. You may find doing all the quantitative, technical analysis comes easy to you. You may find a sector that really piques your interest. Think of an investment banker as an agent. If you watch Entourage, Ari Gold has the exaggerated personality of an investment banker. It's very fast paced. A lot of wheeling and dealing goes on and the general motto is "do whatever it takes to get the job done." I think the reason anyone should get into it is for the EXPERIENCE. Even though that's pretty cliche, it's still very true. Investment banking will train you hardcore in finance and business in general. Think of it as a 2 year boot camp. And if you have i-banking experience on your resume, you will already prove to your future employers that you know how to work hard. You will learn a ton on the job and learn how to get things done quickly, build complex financial models, learn how to deal with clients, learn different financial products/services, as well as industries. Yes, you will have 100+ hour weeks, you will pull several allnighters in a row, you will drink coffee and red bull like no other. But it's not always like that. There are times (esp. now I bet) when you don't have much to do and you can get home before 10pm. Overall, I think banking was one of the best learning experiences in my life. I wouldn't go back into it, but it's definitely worth trying as your first or second job out of college.