34 Year Old , Non Finance background. Possible to break into ER?

Long time lurker here. I would like the community to be brutally honest with me. Graduated college in 2008. I’ve been running a family owned business since. Right now its looking like the transition to me is now going to happen as I planned so I’m looking for other opportunities.

I’m immensely interested in research and currently manage my own portfolio of about 750k I can model , but I would further sharpen those skills. Thanks in advance!

409 WSO Academy Equity Research Session Reviews: 4.83/5

Class of '25 Nov 2026 Cohort

5.00/5

Equity Research Career Roadmap (optional)

“Chris was very easy to talk to and made the session feel relaxed and genuinely useful. He gave me clear, actionable tasks that I can go away and work on straight away to expand my network. I hope to reconvene with him at a later date to discuss the progress I have made and get his feedback on the work I have been doing.”

Springfield College

Class of '29 Sep 2026 Cohort

4.85/5

Equity Research Mock Coffee Chat

“Craig gave me a really clear picture of how sell-side equity research actually works. The biggest takeaway was that research is a service business built on trust, not on picking stocks, and that analysts are paid on rankings rather than on whether a call is right. He was honest that even a 60% hit rate is excellent, and that it matters more to understand where you went wrong than where you were right. I also liked his point about not being “unintelligently wrong”: own the mistake and explain it well. On the practical side, he told me to start now by running a blog, posting on Seeking Alpha, using Koyfin as a cheap Bloomberg alternative, and using AI to draft commentary so I have more time to think deeply and explore other sectors. He also explained that research recruiting is much more targeted than IB, since sector teams are fairly autonomous, so I should reach out to senior analysts in specific sectors and recommend based on fit. His own path from no finance background, through China, to Wharton was encouraging. My one suggestion would be a quick walkthrough of what a strong first report looks like beyond the core pieces (recommendation, risks, summary, price target).”

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Authored by: Certified Equity Research Professional - Vice PresidentCertified Equity Research Pro

+13	Is Equity Research Dying - Where Are the Future Opportunites?	4	1d
+10	Associates who stuck around for > 5 years working for the same analyst. Why?	4	6d
+9	UBS ER SA27 Superday	7	3w
+9	Detailed Revenue and Cost Builds	3	1w
+7	Analyst with no coverage or ranking	5	1w
+7	Uiuc or Ross or UChicago	8	2w
+1	IB SA -> ER FT	4	2w
0	Equity Research Rankings	1	1w

1	redever	99.2
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3	BankonBanking	99.0
4	Secyh62	99.0
5	GameTheory	98.9
6	Betsy Massar	98.9
7	CompBanker	98.9
8	dosk17	98.9
9	DrApeman	98.9
10	Mimbs	98.8

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34 Year Old , Non Finance background. Possible to break into ER?

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34 Year Old , Non Finance background. Possible to break into ER?

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