Is it normal to feel things will never get better in Finance?
Is this a feeling at every downturn/recession, or more this time? Everyone I speak to in my network from people at HF to banks are telling me things like: dont come into this industry, go do what you love, you'll never get a good opportunity here unless ur ridiculously lucky, you can't make money easy here anymore, things are not going to get better...etc
It's getting really old hearing that. I'm 2 years post undergrad, if things truly don't get better over 2 years, is it just not in the cards for me?
Get an MBA then and restart the recruiting.
It will pick up, it's just a matter of WHEN. It also depends on what you're trying to do.
What part of finance do you want to move into?
Don't think an MBA is do-able for me, kids on way, undergrad loans, saving for a house etc.
I would like to be on the markets side, HF hopefully
But obviously except for a few openings here or there (which ive interviewed for) there aren't many junior openings without direct banking/hf/am experience. I'm starting to get the feeling that it's passing by, and another year I won't be able to interview for those junior spots.
Just keep going. The markets are more stable than they were a year or two ago, just keep plugging away.
I think it will be this way till prolly 2016
Well, we hit a long-term secular peak back in 2007.
The displacement will be lower in 10 years, but the velocity will be in much better shape and it will be easier to get a job.
Well, that's because due to a litany of factors, financial services--arguably the most pro-cyclical industry--is being affected by the bearish long-term economic outlook.
Will list more doom-and-gloom later
I was expecting some positive remarks. Ugh.
It's like, just because I believe I'm smart, have ambition, some fairly good experience, an okay network, a really hard worker and passionate about the industry, I feel I deserve it. But no, that is not the case anymore.
I doubt even entering business now. The reason I went this path was to be able to analyze companies/make investment recommendations etc. (which I like) but that seems never attainable at this rate.
Everybody has to choose something to prioritize in life. And worshipping at the altar of money or success isn't a lot of fun. Success doesn't always keep its promises and money takes away years of your life.
It's a fun game to play, but it's not as fulfilling as you'd think. This may sound crazy, but why not be a community banker? It's a lot more social and you get to see the net impact of your work on a daily basis. You gave Janet a plan to save money for retirement and now she can work part-time while raising her kids as a single parent and make more baseball games. You helped Fred and Vanessa get a loan to buy their first home.Find something to do with money that lets you get more human interaction. It won't pay as well but it will be a lot more fun and a lot more fulfilling. You have to feed your soul on some level and Wall Street isn't very good at doing that. It's really not that big of a surprise that a disproportionate number of folks on Wall Street show some level of mental illness.
IlliniProgrammer...I used to hate on you (like an idiot) for living in NJ, but in reality, you say some of the realest stuff on the site. Really great perspective that everyone should listen to.
If you can't get out to go to business school for a few years, I would just stick to Big 4 valuation. By the time you're 35-40, you'll be partner (w/e the equivalent title is at Big 4) and raking in 500k+ / yr.
Remember, shit flows downhill... at the senior level most jobs devolve into pretty much the same thing--maintaining the client relationship, bringing in new clients and fees, and managing the countless corporate minions below you--regardless of whether you're at Big 4, BB, PE, etc...
In terms of HF, you're out of luck at the big guys because you'll be competing with premier M&A bankers and people with engineering degrees. You may get lucky, but I wouldn't bank on it. Business school is your best option here, unless you can get lucky this season and lateral to a BB as an associate. My advice would be to keep trying to lateral to a BB (idk how you're planning to have / raise kids as an associate), and start reaching out any fund with AUM > $1b. Smaller, regional funds hire on an ad hoc basis so you might just get lucky.
I know direct to HF is nearly impossible these days (i've had a few second round intereviews at them though, which leads me to believe there's a slight chance it could happen).
People are different and not everyone needs as much human interaction. Many people going in at the analyst level are INTJ and these are not exactly the types that are fulfilled by interacting with people and helping Jane. You are assuming that everyone needs to 'feed their soul' (lol) in the same way, which is wrong. Btw, the clinical definition of mental illness is not as robust as you think and chances are that these people on WS are normal but just different from you.
Ehh, I'm on the borderline between the four rationalist personalities and can test as an ENTJ or an INTP with strong N and T and weak I/E/P/J tendencies depending on the day. Rationalists may not do a lot of sensing or feeling, but you do start to get burnt out after four years of engineering and four or five years in trading. We still have consciences- they may be a little more subtle- but they still ask us late at night what we've done over the past few years to make our community a better place. And we're left without a good answer or explanation and a bit of an empty feeling inside.
Money and success are nice, but they're not foundational to what life is about. And the folks who are really missing out are the ones who don't even realize that and don't even get that empty feeling inside about not making the world better. Money is the most envied and least enjoyed thing in life.
Haha, I wound up listening to you on this after reading a few studies that one of the best ways to spend money to make your life happier is to reduce your commute. It's one of the few things that doesn't put you on the hedonic treadmill and leaves you feeling better about life on a permanent basis. Starting next month, I'll have a 10 minute walk home to my studio walk-up vs. 40 minutes to NJ.Maybe I'll use the extra couple hours a week I'll be getting for some volunteer work. No, knowing me, I will probably spend it fretting about the extra $800/month I now have going out the door for rent and trying to figure out how to reduce it. :D
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