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Career Resources
Based on the most helpful WSO content, if you're looking for a 9-5 finance job that aligns with your interests while maintaining a balanced lifestyle, here are some solid options:
Best 9-5 Finance Jobs:
Corporate Finance Analyst
Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)
Commercial Credit Analyst
Treasury Analyst
Wealth Management Analyst
Is it a "waste" of a target school resume?
Not necessarily. While these roles may not have the prestige or compensation of investment banking or private equity, they still leverage your finance knowledge and skills. Additionally, they can serve as stepping stones to more demanding roles if you decide to pivot later. Many professionals prioritize work-life balance and find these roles fulfilling without the burnout associated with high-stress finance jobs.
If you're aiming for a "normie" route, these positions still allow you to utilize your target school background and strong resume effectively.
Sources: Finance Career Path & List, Over 30, still no undergrad, finance career options?, Accounting vs Finance: Part 1 – Career Paths, Accounting vs Finance: Part 1 – Career Paths
Yes
Lol. Elitist enough for banking, would do that
Please point out the elitism. Nothing wrong with playing The Game in college.
Aim for FLDP programs. F500 offerings are quite competitive, good salary, and good wlb relative to IB
Just go into banking bro . I used to think the same as you and thought i wouldnt want any of this stuff either and aimed for corp fin and did an internship in it and hated it. if ur someone smart enough for banking u will hate ur time in a corporate IMO . absolutely think its a waste of all ur factors to go this route.
if having good WLB is extremely imp for u, there are always groups that aren't as pretty for exit opps but ull have a much chiller time and get out of office earlier. networking will help u figure out whos chill n whos not
Thx. Honestly "WLB" isn't as important to me as getting 8 hours of sleep at night, especially if the job is stimulating and I'm learning a tonne. Maybe I'm too naive about how I'd like to have a fulfilling/intellectually stimulating career but get the beauty sleep as well. I still have a lot to learn about finance careers in general, hoping to come across something that suits me but I can see how 'The Path' 2+2 is probs best careers wise. Maybe the MBB + 2yrs PE but consulting recruiting in the Uk is rlly small and oxbridge focused from what ive heard...open to correction on that
FWIW, im not keen at all on the 2+2 route in PE, and actually want to go into corp fin as exit for chiller lifestyle. im just a firm believer that its almost always better to start ur career in banking because why spend ur jr years in corp fin making sub-100K and waiting 6 years for a promotion to manager that u can get after 2 years in IB
Consulting in the uk is definitely Oxbridge focus especially newton
People in good corporate programs like FDLPs are no less "intelligent" than bankers (which bankers themselves often aren’t)
A lot of F500 have good FLDPs, Exxon and Chevron come to mind if you like Houston. You can even look at back-office jobs at places like JPM, my friend is a VP in one of their back-office functions and likes it - as long as you're not in NYC/LA, the pay is pretty good and WLB is great.
Thx. Is FLDP's the best Finance offering in (obvs non financial sector) F500 companies?
Like the best scheme for grads.
They usually call them "leadership development" programs because you'll be moving around between corporate finance, tax, audit, etc.. It gives you a good career path to become a P&L leader, controller, etc. as you progress in the organization
Great learning role, but not crazy hours. For some reason, a fund of funds role jumps out to me (or a specialist advisor to LP’s like in real estate, like Townsend Group). At the beginning of your career, you get to learn about different investment companies, their sectors, performance over time, big bets. And, you get to understand LP’s. I’m sure after a stint doing this, you’d be able to say you worked with some brand names. You might even want to stay (I enjoyed working with pension funds when they did direct investments with the company I worked for, they seemed like good people).
To answer your question, if you have the pedigree, you should go the banking route and pivot from there; but since you're asking about WLB I'd point you to financial advising / private wealth management especially for HNW and UHNW clients. It's a different type of early grind because pay starts significantly lower, but if you have the ability to develop (or better yet inherit) a book of business, this is the most flexible finance role there is.
You just have to be okay with the early years of being broke and being grouped in with the Northwestern Mutual idiots. But long-term it can pay off; my dad was a financial advisor and we lived in the same neighborhood as doctors and lawyers and he worked a fraction of their hours.
Thx. Yh I kinda threw in a few questions. Thanks for answering them all!
Investment banking
Internal Audit
Consensus: Good pay, stable hours, slow growth, boring
Not looking to get bored chief.
What about relationship manager / coverage banker roles?
S&T 7am-5pm
Yh I've thought about S&T, the trading side, seems interesting but need to do way more research
Coming from an FLDP (promo)> Business Analyst at a well known financial services firm, typically those higher than average roles have a lot more give than traditional banking.
If you’re going out of your way to get those 8 hours, though - weekdays won’t spare you much time. My weekdays look like wake up, work, gym, meal, then bed with very little free time. I average 50 hours with occasional 60 hour weeks
A true work life balance where you’re doing activities after work, etc. is usually reserved for true operations roles or a really sleepy team. Often more intellectually stimulating roles have higher work ethic people who naturally do more work. It’s tough to find that perfect balance but I get my 8 hours in which I care most about.
Hmm
Were you ever interested in the IB route or even S and T/ER?
I was heavily considering the route and had interviews for a couple IB roles lined up, definitely poised to recruit in that space. I decided it wasn’t for me when we had some 1 YoE IB analysts come in, and they looked completely different and far unhealthier than their senior photos on the keynote powerpoint. It seemed like a sacrifice of everything that was a step beyond what I was willing to do.
That being said, if I could go back I’d have looked into the consulting route and tried to recruit there, which I may consider during a future MBA program. My school did not recruit for MBB, but maybe could’ve landed a T2 gig - I don’t see uniformity in the hours as much so it’s hard to say if it’s as bad as banking or not (seems like it varies)
Equity research
Good balance of pay, time and longevity
Even actuary is the perfect job mentally stimulating without the long hours
Thx for the input. Actuary seems like the definition of pigeonholing tbh
Credit analyst. Even credit analysts in BB banks generally work 40-50 hours, and there are lots of them across the industry (think rating agencies in particular). It's excruciatingly boring though!
Lol, all jobs have a boring side to it. Investment Banking, PE and HFs becomes boring. Honestly, almost everyone is working for the comps, please.
I don't know, man. What you do every day matters to your health, your confidence/ego and who you become. It's not just comp at all.
Credit analysts operate at the mercy of front office as they're more of a middle office function. They don't really have any autonomy to make decisions or influence their work. And they do the same thing every day with little social interaction. It's also not attractive to anyone to say you're a credit analyst. It's brain numbing work.
Also would like to know what is the next best option after banking in terms of pay, optionality and learning
Commercial banking
Project Finance and asset backed lending (commercial banking) have decent WLB and pay. Project Finance a bit more intense in periods, but you would still get 8 hours of sleep most nights if you prioritized that.
There are some entry level roles in corp dev like disney or capital one that are solid
Im guessing the biggest companies have the best entry level finance roles?
Yeah typically since it’s more institutionalized. It also depends whether you want to do more pure play m&a work vs FP&A or FDLP which I know less about.
I’ve heard analyst roles at pensions and endowments are really chill, interesting, and pay well. Not sure what the typical path to get in is, though.
Being in charge of Harvards endowment would be nice
"The great thing about working in pensions is that it cuts across and is impacted by everything from Geo-Political events, politics, tax, finance, HR, medical science and human behaviour. Not many careers can offer something that is so diverse/interesting."
Haha yeah sounds like a pretty good job 😂.
Who’s that quote from?
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