Buyside to IR - am I dumb?
Currently doing L/S HF but realizing more and more than despite liking stocks/analyzing business, I can’t keep up with the level of stress that seems to grow more every day. Realize that there is comp downside (i.e. really no bonus) but other than that, am I crazy to move to an IR/Strategic Finance role where I can still interact with investors, get even deeper on a business, while having way less stress? Oh and I would have time to do personal investing, which today I have 0 time to do.
This move is common, but usually after the fund / pod has blown up.
I don’t think it’s dumb at all. At the end of the day, everyone’s circumstances, preferences and goals are different - buyside isn’t the holy grail of success for everyone.
Reading your post, it’s pretty clear that the IR role will significantly boost your happiness. Go for it and good luck.
Ps if you’re worried about how your friends/family/coworkers will perceive you - don’t. Over time you’ll realize that managing your career to other people’s optics is not a wise thing to do.
It's not dumb at all. Do what makes you happy. If you don't like IR (can get repetitive over time), can transition to other finance functions within company too.
It's only dumb to stay in a job that makes you hate life.
Agreed. Also, I believe there are a lot more opportunities in IR especially if you do fundraising and get compensated based on that. Add to that building relationships with (in some cases) very successful people which can lead to more opportunities that are not even related to your actual role..
People really need to stop conflating IR at a fund vs IR at a pubCo. Clearly OP is talking about IR at a PubCo, so there is no fundraising responsibility.
IR gigs vary, like every other job, but can be very cushy and you can generate a very consistent healthy earnings stream. If you are able to get other additional Corp responsibilities like treasury, FPA, Corp dev etc can leverage into a CFO gig down the line
Absolutely not dumb at all — fast forward 5yrs, my guess is the stress only increases. Life is too short to do something you hate beyond 2yrs or so (which you can do for the growth opportunity
I’d consider this shift at some point as well though the stress is significantly less in LO vs L/S
Why is the level of stress growing everyday for you? For some people once they set an exit plan 2-3 years out the stress should slow down. Moving to IR long-term is very common just not sure its something you need to do right away versus creating a mental plan to find the right job later.
Have a buddy who moved into a large corporate IR role. Can end 3-ways: you make it to CFO (rare, rather in midcaps), remain an IR guy with limited upside or you will hate it. Latter makes it hard to exit.
I agree that this is the 3 likely outcomes, but I'll frame it differently, particularly outcome 2.
A good IR guy/gal in a corporate function is a rarity and can be so much fun. Other than planned/scheduled events like investor days, NDRS, quarters, etc, you are effectively the company face and you get to meet and talk to everyone about the company. You'll be the subject matter expert (but caveat it'll be a thousand miles wide and an inch thick) and generally is a very fun gig. You'll most likely be in IR for your career (unless you internally pivot to a different function), but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The reason there are so few of these opportunities is when you land one, you typically don't leave.
Financially, plain IR isn’t very rewarding and you entirely depend on senior management. I have seen guys who were treated like a PA publicly.
How stressful is it?
Any update here?
Anything?
More common than you'd think. MTN posted an IR job last year -- apparently almost every single sr. analyst covering the space applied
Isn't the comp very weak relatively speaking? Junior positions seem like a huge pay cut and then senior level positions seem to top out pretty early unless you get equity upside. Or am I wrong? Are there professionals in the space pulling 1M+ annually?
Is perhaps buyside IR a better choice?
I think I've seen $350-450k quotes on compensation. Buyside IR is again just NOT comparable - either it's BD (fundraising, which is sales) or real IR (effectively accounting). Corporate IR is effectively taking your career and tying it to one public company and its management team - your upside is watching your cumulative SBC appreciate with the stock chart of a compounder.
TLDR - Corporate IR vs Buyside IR/BD - really not the same - you are either choosing to become a Succession character on the bridge of a massive organization vs. another version of a sales dude schlepping from pension fund to family office with a styrofoam cup in his hand.
interested here
any update here?
bump
bro no don't do this - I know multiple people who have done this and after regret, begin coping. Move to something intellectually stimulating but still easier on the stress - maybe something like LO / High yield investing.
What if I don’t care about the intellectual stimulation at all (couldn’t care less if it’s boring/I’m a bit dumb frankly) but am worried about comp? Still something like a LO instead of corporate?
Maybe then you're the perfect guy for the job but I can't believe that you would actually be able to just do boring stuff for your career and not regret it. It's easy now saying I'll just sit back, do brain numbing work and clear a couple hundred k in comp - but actually living that, day in, day out, is a different story
Moved to corporate IR and really enjoy it… and I know several IR peers who moved from the sellside and also love it… you do have to swallow the initial corporate paycut, but if otherwise it’s fantastic WLB in an extremely high visibility role within a company. Trusted IRs will play key roles in strategic decision making and have constant exposure to senior mgmt and the board. One thing I’ll say is that you should probably be someone who wants to build a “corporate career”… skillset and incentive structure in corporate wrt stakeholder management, organizational politics, leadership development, etc. is very different from being a public markets investor or sellside analyst.
Hey thanks for the helpful comment.Any chance I could PM you?
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