Transitioning into Finance mid-career

Morning monkeys,

Question about career next steps. I'm working in financial journalism currently and I have 1 (soon to be 2) children. I'm also pursuing a CPA after getting a Masters in Accounting. I'm doing fine and can continue doing what I'm doing, but now that I'm in my early 30s, I want to turbocharge my career, and really, mostly my salary, and build long term wealth for my children. I've been trying to speak with a number of finance/accounting industry professionals to see what's out there.

As I look specifically at accounting and my current life situation, I'm not sure getting into that field makes the most sense. If I want to get a nice salary bump, I'd need to go to a Big 4 (and take a big pay cut), and work my way up with tough hours. If I tried IB, I wouldn't take much of a pay cut, but same deal hours-wise.

However, I've spoken to a number of folks in the general WM field. It seems like starting at a private bank could make some sense, and then possibly switching to an RIA or WM firm with better hours down the road. I figure Private Banks have good starting salaries, are in major metro areas (where I am), and offer pretty decent hours, compared to my other options.

Can anyone speak to these experiences, or offer other ideas on my current situation? Thanks for taking the time to read and advises. Cheers,