3.5 years in IB now and still grinding away
No plans to stick around long term but not sure I have a choice given how quickly AI is automating everything away.
Nowhere hiring. Buyside / PE sucks. No point learning to code.
I am just aggressively saving money waiting for the day we all get laid off and get sent to iPhone assembly lines
Work. Gym. Work. Gym. WORK GYMWORK GYM
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I'll just copy and paste what I've said elsewhere.
Times have changed (not for the better). To much social media rot, cost of living has gone out of control for white collar workers (outside of IB/PE) compared to any other point in the last 40 years, social expectations are higher, women's expectations are higher (not to sound like some incel but the truth.) If you decide to leave and go corporate? ~120K base in a HCOL with corporate level bonuses is hardly staying afloat.
It's a shocker for the people out of touch or who drink the kool-aid of finance actually being a good career path in 2025, but newsflash outside of IB/PE/HF/ER and other adjacent buyside roles, you will not be comped well in finance relative to other professional fields.
you mention no role in finance outside of IB/PE/HF/ER is worth doing, but you literally just listed basically every role in finance lmao, unless you count like FP&A or something.
Wow you're missing the whole point and very misinformed. People come onto this forum trying to exit out of those roles, which believe it or not, are actually a very small segment of all finance roles. Those are all FO "high finance" roles that *maybe* comprises 10% of all people in finance? Probably even less just throwing a number out there.
The whole point is those are very selective roles with strong comp and progression, yet 90%+ of people who start out in those roles (and certainly many people on this forum) want to exit out for a multitude of reasons we don't need to rehash here. Those subsequent exits being weak are the issue we are discussing.
FYI, there are more people who work in FP&A than probably all of high finance combined.
Op here
Agree but I think for people of non-exceptional intelligence this is still one of the best starting points
Engineering? Law? Consulting? All of these pay less or work you similarly as hard. Maybe you could find alpha in the trades.
myth of buy side exit has largely died given how poor returns are across most asset classes, unless going to VC to make very little money is still appealing to you as a passion
Tactically I’m not sure what to do given all of this other than aggressively save and buy my freedom, give up hope that I can find a job that aligns with my interests in finance
Although this probably aligns with what is happening elsewhere in the world. The koreafication of everything. How much harder is it to get into an Ivy League today vs 10yrs ago. Everything is harder and more competitive.
My advice is simple but unfortunate. Stay in the sellside for as long as humanely possible and retire early. There's no other career out there frankly in the world (for the intelligence level required and not including buyside at all) that allows you to get wealthy at a relatively young age. Now do I think the industry is deranged and full of some of the worst people in human existence? Absolutely, but I'm just trying to answer the question in a hyper competitive world where money has become so important to even exist (I don't think it was always like this but that's another discussion.) Do I think this is a good thing for the world? No. Again, I'm just trying to answer the question.
If you're not going to stay on the sellside or have the passion and intellect for a buyside career, then I do not think people should go into finance at all. Law will pay you more. Medicine will pay you more. Consulting will pay you more.
I totally get the work gym work gym routine, sometimes I love it somedays it makes me feel like a robot. Just part of the human cycle, you will figure it out mate. Just keep an open mind and think about what you really want to do. There are options, maybe not immediate, but there always are. Make a plan, scope things out. Talk to a bunch of people in different areas.
Thanks man appreciate it. Trying to embrace the grind/routine. You’re right it’s just life - try enjoy the little things more and keep an open eye. Maybe the traditional exit pathways are unattractive today but who knows tomorrow what could come around.
Sucks even more when I golf with a tech sales guy who is younger than me pulling in 300k comp to golf once a week with clients and work max 40 hours a week.
How many people in tech sales are actually pulling numbers like that? There’s so much noise on the role online it’s hard to get a read on it
I think some of the middle market company tech sales roles are grimy, pay less, and have hardcore sales cultures. So not all equal. But I personally know many people in tech sales that seem to be doing very well. At the very least, they are making very good money for hours worked. Then again, you would need to be relatively outgoing to enjoy the job. I know it’s not for everyone….but I also know people in big ticket sales selling industrial equipment, pools…all seem to be doing well. Heck I know a guy selling home insurance and is clearing 200k+ playing golf all the time in his late 20s. Not very “sexy” but the older I get the more I realize who cares…
Selling home insurance playing golf all the time and clearing 6 figures is way "sexier" than doing bureaucratic bitch work for 90 hours a week lol. Get your head out of your ass. Bankers are autistic, socially inept cucks.
I’ve worked in finance my whole career in different roles. There are some, like endowment investing, that are very enjoyable and great WLB. The prospect of every other finance job to me is extremely unappealing. I’m at a shitty LMM PE currently that doesn’t pay well and is terribly boring. I have offers for a couple BB/MM IB roles which would be high pay but that sounds so unexciting. I’ve thought about lot about what is the point of this and I really don’t see the point of chasing a finance path that will make you miserable, wreck your health, and give you no time to explore a personal life. If you have a partner, it will likely ruin that relationship. If you don’t, good luck finding time to meet someone.
Luckily I’ve saved well ($775k, just turned 29) and have a H/S MBA which has really opened me up to the idea of doing something more entrepreneurial that would give me more control over my time. Maybe not less hours but more control. Still TBD whether that means buying a business, joining a startup, etc. But I’ve concluded that my current role (which involves turning NDAs and that basically it) is not doing anything for me. I can plug my current savings into a retirement calculator and see the FV even if I never save another dollar, and it is very high. So what is the point of saving so aggressively if I don’t leverage those savings to allow me to regain control over my time.
775K??? Wow that alone is pretty impressive even knowing how much these careers pay. Any advice on how to manage things well or are you just riding the market's gains?
Those savings include the cost of the MBA? If so, that’s insane. You’re pretty much set
Yes took out loans for the MBA but have since paid them off except for around $70k. There’s about $150k in market gains and the rest is just saving. I always am thinking about how to save around $3-5k a month on base. Then any bonus is all saved. That probably averages out to $100k a year or so. Started out of undergrad with about $30k undergrad debt and around $20k savings.
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