What seat in finance promises the best life?
Basically title. I’m going to be joining MF PE when I wrap up as an analyst and to be honest, I’ve gotten less excited about the offer as time’s gone on. Yes, I’m very lucky, and yes, there are people that would do heinous things to be in my position, but I’m so tired of banking and hate it so much…the “I’m going to be working at a MF” sparkle has vanished a bit when I think about the fact that it’s probably just going to be the same thing for a few more years.
That being said, I don’t know what PE is going to be like. Maybe I’ll get there and the lifestyle will be considerably better. But from what I’ve seen from people on this site, that seems like an unlikely scenario.
So, from people who’ve been in the industry for a while, or maybe people who’ve just done a lot of research on this topic, what path in finance promises the best life? It seems like with PE, you get job security, a nice paycheck, and carry dollars that can create effectively generational wealth (maybe not the case anymore?), but you go home every day at midnight hating your life because your girlfriend’s already asleep and you’re balding from how much you think about work. At a HF, it seems like there’s no real ceiling on the amount you can make, your hours are significantly better, and you enjoy your work because it’s much more intellectual than some of the BS that often comes with private investing — but the whole time, you’re shitting yourself because you can get fired at any minute.
For someone like me, who still cares a good bit about comp but also is realizing the value of having a job where you can enjoy your life, what do you guys think is the best path forward? I’m lucky enough to be in a position where most doors will be open to me quite soon, and understand my privilege. I can stay in PE, try to recruit at a HF, or get the fuck out of finance entirely. The issue is that I genuinely don’t know what I should do with all of this optionality. Which paths forward offers the highest chance of a “good life”, assuming that someone is concerned both with creating as much wealth as possible and doing it while actually being able to enjoy their life? Appreciate any thoughts here, and apologies in advance if this post reeks of naïveté.
Sad to see. Stop optimizing for shallow variables like comp and job security, and start doing shit you actually find exciting. Besides, you’ve already optimized enough it seems.
I maybe a little biased here (and possibly just lucky) because it's the career path I choose but it's possible to minimise the amount of hours worked (~10 hrs / week) and maximise upside (solid base + % pnl cut = 7 figures) while loving the job you do. This job is to be a Systematic PM. As long as you have a decent alpha insight (a difficult thing to achieve) and are able to automate what you do, then I believe you can optimise across all of WLB, comp and job satisfaction. This may lead to what you believe is the "good life"..
Bingo
Top LO
Is this still true? Seems like a quickly shrinking industry and the comp upside of being a career analyst moving forward is quite capped
Look at proxy statements for large-mid size LO; seems like you get comped very decently for a 9-5.
Have you considered roles within an RIA/PB/OCIO/Endowment/Family Office? Typically the WLB is pretty solid. If you work on one of those manager selection/manager due diligence teams, you occasionally need to travel (although most managers are in NYC or CT) but the work is really interesting (talking to fund managers, dining with them, learning what they think about markets, etc).
Other alternatives within these roles range from security selection teams (although not all firms have them due to allocation to active fund managers) to portfolio analysis teams to macro research/investment strategy teams.
The only issue is that comp tends to be lower compared to HF/PE/PC for these roles due to the better WLB. However, quality of life is def way better due to the more relaxed nature of work. I guess what best sums it up is that you won’t be a millionaire but you’ll earn enough to have a decent middle class-upper middle class life.
My friends in sector-dedicated private credit are kinda living the life. Easy path to 300-350k all in most years, 8-6 schedule no weekends, LSD deal sprints a year, clear sight to carry on 1-3 deals a year (not scam carry like PE that takes 10 years to vest). Problem being I don’t think this set up would exist outside of biotech lol due to structural factors. Does TMT PC have anything similar? I do not know
You want to find a chill L/S team within a large multi strategy hedge fund. You get HF comp because it’s a HF fee structure. You don’t worry about AUM bleeding if you have a bad year because L/S is just one strategy in the fund. The lack of horrible consequences from one bad year likely helps the culture in general so WLB could be ok. Hard to find but I’m sure these seats do exist.
issue is most multistrats do not have a chill culture - talking baupost, goldentree, silverpoint, elliott, sculptor, etc.
Farallon maybe? Also don’t think any of the multistrats u names even have l/s strategy
Someone mentioned RIA world above. Pretty sure I shared some thoughts in another post recently so I'll chime in again. Quite a few RIAs that do their own independent research and investment work (not manager selection) and you get to be a LO analyst and become a PM relatively quick if you want. The caveat is that compensation is pretty bad relative to rest of high finance until you start building your own book (250k-300k all in is probably the cap for most pure research analyst seats).
Great work life balance though. And while returns are important, there are other factors that determine whether a client sticks with you and how successful you can be. Tons of RIAs/advisors who underperform or do a so-so job, but still run massive books...
Fantastic job at the upper levels though; get a decent amount of discretion to invest in whatever way you think is most appropriate based on client goals and your own process. Get to help people pursue their major life goals / generate returns for people you have relationships with. You also get most of the analytical rigor of investing in individual equities. I know a couple PMs who pull in 5mn-10mn CONSISTENTLY. Downside is it takes time to build a book that big, and the more you have to work on that book the less time you have to actually invest and analyze things.
Also every competing platform/firm is expanding while de-emphasizing investment management and emphasizing wealth planning or "family office" services - I can expand on this if anyone cares.
On top of the consistent earnings profile without too much headache, all of the substantially rich people I know in this biz were equity owners when they sold their firm or moved their book to a new firm - another factor that can take a long time to achieve.
Grinding to build a book is pretty soulless though.
This honestly doesn’t sound like a good deal. You’re constantly grinding to build a big book and the right tail scenario is a very backend loaded $5-10m. I’d honestly rather be at an SM working 9-7 clipping 7figs and then taking a swing at the MM model when you’ve built sufficient of a wealth basket.
Oh for sure; I'm not trying to push anyone to a career at RIAs (in fact I am trying to move out of an RIA if I can).
If you are talented enough and capable of getting a seat at a good SM to clip LSD millions, 1000p please pursue that track. Realistically though that is not a middle of the road outcome... But obviously a top outcome in HF world will beat out a top outcome in RIA
I was just sharing some stuff on a part of the industry that isn't talked about much here. As mentioned, your comp is extremely limited until you get to manage a book, and building a book can be very difficult. It is also why the industry can skew towards salespeople who know very little about investing, but are phenomenal at relationship building and networking.
Clearly you don’t work in the industry if it’s as easy as “clipping” 7 figure coupons working 9-7. Not many seats like that buddy
following
Small family office with a mandate you enjoy.
good answer
Being Nancy Pelosi's broker.
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