34 year old day trader to investment banker
When I left high school I decided I wanted to try day trading. I graduated in the top 5% in high school and got accepted to McCombs and Mays A&M. I knew I didn't have the elite quantitative skills to be an trader at a top prop firm or hedge fund, but I figured I could day trade, or at least try to. I'd give it a year and if it didn't work out I'd go to college. My grandfather left his grand kids about 60k each for college and whatnot, so I used half of that to day trade with while I took classes at the local CC. Over the last ~14 years I've built up a net worth that is now ~$7 million. No wife, no kids, no attachments, etc.
Since 2015, I've gone back to UT/Mays and I earned a BBA in Finance, Accounting and I've also been lucky enough to get into some great business schools (Wharton, Columbia, Booth, Darden, McCombs, Jones, Ross, Fuqua). Someone whom I truly admire, Robert F. Smith, got his MBA in his early 30s and became an associate at Goldman, but maybe he's an outlier? How difficult is it to break into investment banking at 34 when I finish my MBA? I have no prior experience (other than day trading, owning some real estate, and building my own investment portfolio), but I want to end up in venture capital or private equity as a principal/partner. Will internships be hard to come by for me in business school? Are my aspirations unrealistic?
Any insight will me much appreciated. Apologies for any spelling/grammar errors, I'm trading right now.
Not trying to be a dick, but you have 7 million dollars. why in the world would you want to go into IB.
Lmfao seriously. Imagine having $7m dollars yet purposely choosing to become an analyst monkey working 100 hour weeks cleaning up powerpoints and getting berated by your VP/MD.
you're going to really find yourself questioning why the fuck you're telling an analyst he needs to align left logos more properly. you're also going to have a hard time listening to your VP tell you that you need to "tick and tie these numbers. let's compare apples to apples" when you have the networth of both him and his boss put together.
do yourself a favor and skip IB. use the MBA as a platform to meet the right people so that you can get into a VC fund immediately. you're clearly a smart guy. there's nothing that IB will teach you that you won't pick up on your own.
While I agree with the above posters, if your ultimate goal is to work at a buyside shop or similar, having a couple years of IBD experience will not hurt your chances and will likely do the opposite. It will provide you with experience in a more structured environment than you experienced just day trading and will validate your background to potential buyside employers. No-one is going to check your trading statement to verify how well you did so having some reputable experience on your resume will help back that up.
Going from being an entrepreneur to sitting in an office 75 hours a week is going to be an overwhelming transition. I suggest that you continue to find ways to deploy your capital rather than your labor, as you're most accustomed to this and have been successful.
Mid 30s guy here. A few thoughts.
True props to the OP for his trading skills and for generating that net worth. That's just awesome. If you haven't already, give yourself a pat on the back. Seriously.
Why do you want to go into banking? What's the end game/what do you want to get out of it? A prestigious name? Some kind of network? Excel/ppt skills? Hopefully you have a concrete answer to this question because you'll be spending a lot of your time/energy doing mundane tasks and dealing with people who have a lot less money than you and are younger and probably dumber than you.
On the "lack of quant skills" if you have made $30k into $7m over 14 years, that's over a 47% compounded annual return. You are CRUSHING HFs/Prop Shops. I do not know your strategy or if its scalable or what your biggest drawdowns were, but if you have some track record (ie. broker statements) why not put some of that money into an account, set up a vehicle and raise some capital to start YOUR OWN SHOP? If you can make even a 5th of the return yearly that you claim and can back it up, I am sure there are a lot of shops who will take a look at you (if you want to work for some man that is). This is all of course, assuming that you want to stay in trading.
You have no commitments and money. Do you have other hobbies/passions/causes that you want to pursue? Why not set aside some money and time to really try those out and maybe you will find another path or something that you want to do/spend your time on. It's a big big world out there.
TLDR: Congrats on making serious dough. Why IB? Can you answer that question? Why not set up your own shop? If you have other passions, why not set aside money and chase/try those?
Good Luck
I personally worked with a friend who started as an MBA associate when he was 33 years old and he made it to VP at 37. I also worked with another person who started banking pretty much at that age, so it is definitely possible. Also, I know people that with no prior banking / PE background went to B/S, then IB and after 1.5 switched to PE.
That said, you do not want to do that. This is not the best use of your time, skills and capital. I echo the people before who said that it would probably make much more sense either to stick with public investing (and you can keep doing it while obtaining your MBA if you are interested in the cultural / learning experience) or trying to setup your own shop. Honestly, you have the capital and your best shot is probably to find another like-minded person who has the skills / experience but has no capital to start the venture now. Probably an MBA would make sense for this networking aspect as well.
Banking is just a huge waste of time, same with MF PE. You do learn things but you will be spending the 6 years after your MBA to literally do XLS and PPT for other people, with the risk to be burnt out in a year or so, while compromising on your income, brain work and quality of life. I am supportive of the MBA (if you feel you need it / it would make you feel better just go for it) but definitely not supportive for the IB. Just do an internship during your MBA and you will realize how your skills can be better deployed somewhere else.