Almost bonus time - would taking a year off be the worst or best decision of my life
4 years into the game, I’m pretty much completely and utterly cooked and sick of it. It doesn’t feel worthwhile to stick around till 2027 bonus or to VP and continue losing years of my life. I reckon in Feb I just walk. The constant deadlines, bs requests, etc etc. 3 months to indulge in hobbies, 3 months to travel, another 6 to find a new gig and the thing I’ll dedicate the rest of my career doing - which certainly is not IB/pe.
Please convince me this is the worst idea ever before I go ahead and implode my career, otherwise I don’t see any other way forward
Sorry for another bitter/ whiny wso post. I don’t see a lot of discussion here on taking extended periods off, and I think more recent discussion should be had given where the money/grind trade-off is today vs the more lucrative past
Not a bad idea at all
Took a year off after analyst years to travel the world. 14 countries, 5 continents, Antarctica, carnaval in Rio, Patagonia, hitchhiked across New Zealand, trans-siberian rail from Russia to china (pre war). Best year of my life. Banking will always be there when you get back (that’s where life took me!). Enjoy
What happened for you - did you come home and re-recruit for banking? Did you have a revelation as to what you wanted to do during your travels?
Although I hear what you’re saying - the banking door will always be open
You are young. Life passes by quick, and the years you have with your health and the ability to explore your community, your self, and your world are scarce. I'd think carefully about what you want to do with your year, and highly recommend finding a cause you care about to spend your time on. You'll feel like you're spending your time on something worthwhile, and have the benefit of learning something new.
If you're in the financial position to do it, you should. No one here can give you the certainty that the job market will be strong, or that you'll be able to slot back in to this world when you're back. But if you don't enjoy what you're working on and you're not growing, you're wasting your time. Life is not a dress rehearsal. Act accordingly.
Thank you - really resonates
Just putting it out there - I’m deeply passionate about fitness and boxing (every spare minute in IB I’m in the gym) - I would train and compete amateurs. I recently went on a trip to China and find the country fascinating - both its history and its progress - I would travel around and learn more to satisfy that curiosity. I’d take my grandpa around China to visit his hometown before he is too old
Both are selfish matters. I really would like to spend more time with my family and partner - I have young siblings and neglected being part of their lives the last ~6 years given the toll of studies and this profession.
Beyond that you’re completely right and I need to think carefully about what else I do - I would love to give back in some way (I spend too much time helping students break into this industry) just unsure how exactly - maybe helping the family business in a small way, maybe mentoring. Maybe shadowing founders of startups I find intriguing
Although all in all just clearing the backlog of “life stuff” I’ve put off due to this job and rediscovering true passions and intellectual curiosities. Reason for making this thread is really on that last part - maybe a 9-5 is a less drastic way but I feel like I’m in a race against time
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Glad to hear it thank you for sharing
so you want to return to IB from FP&A?
Take the time off. I made it 3.5 years at a well known bank and was crushing it and making more money than I knew what to do with but decided to quit and travel. I’m about 4 months into 6 months off doing cool stuff around the world (Spain hiking, Germany, Hungary, Thailand, scuba in BVI, skiing in Japan, etc) which has been great in both fun and deep ways.
It’s been helpful for me to take the time to step back and reflect on my life and career, what I like and don’t like. You can’t really do that while you’re in it. Worst case you can go back and you’re a year behind in the rat race (oh no!) and can be confident in your decision to make a career out of it. Otherwise it might be the best decision of your life, but you’ll never know either way unless you do it.
P.S. there are lots of other personal reasons to do this…
-mental and physical health
-get some rare life experiences at this unique time in your life where you have both the freedom, money, and health to do it
-learn how to be a person again (this was big for me): (re)discover hobbies, regrow your personality, try taking yourself not seriously, be nicer to people, smell the flowers
-unlearning the rat race tendencies associated with banking culture and comp
Thank you that’s great to hear - enjoy your travels
I’ve never been skiing - that would be one to tick off!
How have you gone with it all, any clearer on what’s next for you after your break?
Yeah this is what I’ve decided. Things I liked about banking:
-intensity + adrenaline
-really challenging + fast learning at first
-smart, motivated ppl
-rapid career advancement -comp, prestige
-client facing, top of the sellside food chain
Things I disliked:
-I just don’t love finance that much and want to try using other skills
-unpredictability (not quantity) of hours
-the challenge of learning kept me motivated, and after 1.5yrs as an associate I felt like I was not learning very much (but that is probably group specific)
-I felt like it was a) draining my personality and b) turning me into a dick
-Despite liking them a lot I didn’t want my MDs (or VPs) life and I didn’t want the golden handcuffs
-not building anything original or that continues to create value after you’re gone, and I want to do that
-wanted to build a wide variety of new skills and flex new muscles, but banking is rather narrow
I did a bunch of research, networking, and soul searching and where this all led me is when I’m ready I’m going to look at Chief of Staff / generalist roles at startups in NYC. It’s a big career pivot and huge paycut but at this point in my life I’m choosing to prioritize learning and experience over money. That won’t always be the case so why not do it now? Same rationale for why I took time off.
My unprofessional opinion is to go for it. I was in a similar spot (except in PE) and decided to bounce right after receiving my bonus in January. Just felt super burnt out after a few stressful years and decided that taking some time to myself would be the best way to gain clarity around where I wanted to be long-term.I decided to join my family business to 1) gauge if this was my path moving forward and 2) help them out during a time of need. Ultimately, I decided against joining the biz in the long run and decided to jump back into investing. It sounds scary taking a hiatus for a year but in reality no recruiters or interviewers I spoke with seemed to care when I explained the context. If anything, I felt like it helped me differentiate myself.Best of luck to you my friend!
Thank you - glad it worked out for you, that is great!
if anything this is the time to do it before you have a wife and a kid and a goddamn mortgage
1000% do it. Everyone wants to do it (myself included) but we’re all scared to do so. You will remember this year for the rest of your life. If you made it into banking the first time, why wouldn’t you make it again if you really really want to?
We don’t appreciate how young we are until it’s too late. Every single person above the age 40 says that.
do it. did it, recommend. just keep as many doors open as possible on the way out.
Do it - I did it and actually never even came back to the US. Way happier now in Colombia and Thailand than I ever could be in the US. There's a lot more to life than prestige and money, and now I'm making a great living for myself online and living life at a much slower pace. I still get busy some weeks (where work week is 60+ hours), but it's nothing compared to what I did in finance or consulting in terms of stress and effects on my health. The moment you get married or have a mortgage (which can be GREAT things in life, if done correctly), you can't make these kinds of decisions, and you'll be wondering "what if" for the rest of your life
Wow that's great. What do you do now post-travels?
Freelance consulting and then run a real estate services business as well. Live very comfortably on about $200k per year, depending on the year.
Little different perspective but relates here, I was in the military and spent 6 years working 70+ hour weeks in super challenging environments, by the end of it I was spent and my wife and I were just tired of the grind....we decided to take 6 months to travel and just rediscover what we enjoyed doing, I loved going running through the different cities we visited and got super into fitness during that time, also took the time to master a language of one of the countries that we spent significant time in...all this to say that it was a much needed reset after a different career period and it actually helped me mentally prep myself before I made the career transition INTO banking
The other thing I'll say is that this will make you a much more interesting person, if there's one thing I've noticed in banking it's how boring the personalities are, the career is so all encompassing that I just find a bunch of people who have never traveled and don't have any hobbies and who's only goal was to make it into finance, taking 6-12 months traveling will make you an infinitely more interesting and well-rounded person
Thanks all, incredibly helpful to hear all your stories and experiences.
I’ve also thought there’s no harm in structuring as a sabbatical initially to retain the option of coming back, and to remain technically employed if I want to try line up another chiller gig.
Open to thoughts but it’s been very encouraging, at least to know my heart is in the right place
Ignore title. Did IB/buyside summers + ~1 year on the buyside (depression, quarter life crisis, family stuff all at once). I quit early last year, travelled & reconnected with friends, and identified what I wanted to pivot into (product marketing). I’ve been getting interviews and am in the final round for a startup fellowship in a LCOL area.
TLDR: you have the financial runway, no responsibilities, and a cohesive plan, so send it.
Thanks and all the best for your final rounds
Thanks and you got this
I am literally about to do the same if it adds any moral support.
Top ranked Senior Assoc. at a GS Classic group. I actually wouldn't say I am burned out at all, just coming to the point where I feel I am incrementally learning extremely little.
Going to spend 1 year on personal development; overcome a couple minor addictions, read every book on finance / philosophy / literature I ever wanted, spend a month learning to ski, get back into great shape, build stock pitches, network aggressively with hedge funds and see where the winds of phenomena take us.
Find it much more exciting to think about how well that person will do when operating at their cognitive ceiling vs. the glide path I'm currently on.
Congrats and best of luck… how are you finding conviction in the idea to quit when everyone telling you it’s crazy? I just got top bucket and not sure how I’ll look my md in my eye and tell him - not that his opinion matters (it’s my life) but it’s quite a drastic thing to do in this industry
I completely understand where you’re coming from - an older friend today told me that when you’re grinding this hard the rest of your life is just maintenance mode
What do you hope to do for money on the other side
Yeah I think it comes down to a couple of mental models and then a few observations.
It is self evident to me, that a year spent on self development should theoretically lead to compounding benefits that clearly outway the costs. Using an edge case for example, if one were able to build immense self discipline (like David Goggins for instance) / mental toughness; that in and of itself would obviously lead to compounded benefits over the remaining 30 years of your career and life that outways the costs. This also assumes you obtain an appropriate re-entry point into the industry, which again comes down to execution risk. Although the pool is small, I believe that if one were able to clearly articulate the story and their ability was commensurate, that they would be able to break into a hedge fund as it is purely performance based.
I believe this extends to many other aspects of life as well. A year focused on your health / diet / fitness, that you can maintain going forward, can realistically add a decade to your life if maintained throughout the remainder of your career. Even more trivial things, like having a year to focus on developing key hobbies like Tennis / Golf / Running, may imbue your work life in a healthy way. Dramatically easier to get through a stressful work week if you have a range of hobbies that you have developed or look forward to your next ski trip. Fully overcoming even 1 or 2 unhealthy habits or addictions is evidently worth it.
With a full year to take strikes on goal, it just becomes a question of execution risk which is something you need to be intellectually honest about. I have received sufficient proof from the workplace that I know I have the ability to do investment banking and have the ability to be 'great' in this industry if I really wished to. I just genuinely believe that I can set up a process that allows me to execute to a level required for a year break to be a slam dunk even if that is a difficulty that surpasses banking.
bump
Did you end up walking? If so, how's it going. If not, why? In the same position and considering the same so curious
Still grinding
Reason why: I’ve been working on a deal for the last 6-9 months and not far off finishing - I’m emotionally committed to seeing it through.
Then we will see
can we get an update?
Still grinding
I recommend this. I did this twice in banking career, both times when I was totally cooked. I didn’t plan on coming back to banking (in one case I did a stint in PE) but in both cases I did and it was the best thing for my career and my life.
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