Just wondering if any monkeys here have done this route, or know of people who have? Im personally interested for a couple different reasons, but dont know how feasible this is
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ppl want to jump from CorpFin to IB until they realize the jump isn’t a step up it’s a fucking trench crawl through broken glass, and most don’t make it.
read this--
Corporate Finance ≠ Investment Banking
You’re not doing deals. You’re not building sell-side books. You’re not running M&A processes. You’re building budgets, tracking variances, and reporting to people who might report to people who matter.
CF vs. IB Core Differences
Corporate Finance:Work Product
Forecasts, budgets, variance decks
Hours
9-6, maybe spikes during close
Stakeholders
Internal (Ops, CFO, BU heads)
Comp (Early)
$80–120K
Exit Opps
Stay in corp, maybe CFO in 15 yrs
Investment Banking: Work Product
CIMs, LBOs, DCFs, merger models
Hours
90-110 hrs/week, every week
Stakeholders
External (CEOs, founders, PE, boards)
Comp (Early)
$150–250K + $50–150K bonus
Exit Opps
PE, VC, HF, corp dev, anything good
You're not in the arena,you're watching from the mezzanine.
Still wanna get in-
Realistic Paths which *may*work
Why Making the Jump Can Be Dumb as hell
1. Leaving Stability for Misery
In cFin, you have a life. In IB, your life belongs to a VP who texts you at 1AM asking why the “Sources & Uses” tab isn’t centered. You’ll get paid more sure but you’ll also question existence weekly. And that prestige? Worthless outside of finance bros and your LinkedIn echo chamber.
2. You're Probably Too Late
Trying to break in at 27+? You’re competing with 22-year-olds who’ve already been slapped around by deal flow. You're the “ops guy” trying to speak M&A fluently in front of career killers. The gap shows. Fast.
3. The Pay Looks Good Until You Do the Math
$200K sounds great until you’re working 100-hour weeks. That’s $40/hour. Less than a union welder with none of the freedom and 5x the anxiety. You’re formatting footnotes while your friends in cFin are chilling with equity grants and long weekends.
4. The Exit Dream Is Overplayed
Everyone thinks they’ll do 2 years in IB and jump to KKR. Reality: you’re not getting into PE unless you came from a top group and actually closed deals.
You’ll likely end up back in corpdev at a worse lifestyle-to-comp ratio, just older and with caffeine-induced tremors.
5. You’re Thinking Ego,not outcome
Most CorpFin-to-IB moves are driven by FOMO, not strategy.
“IB sounds cooler.”
“People will respect me more.”
“I’ll finally feel like I made it.”
Cool story. Meanwhile, your CorpFin peers are stacking RSUs, climbing ladders, and getting actual decision-making power while you’re editing pitch decks for deals that won’t close.
6. Long-Term IB Is Hell Unless You Make MD
VPs are overworked and under-respected.
Directors are middlemen getting squeezed from both sides.
MDs? Sure, big pay but they’re constantly pitching, politicking, and praying a deal lands to stay relevant.
If you don’t rise fast you burn out.
That being said- you can make the jump.But don’t kid yourself 90% of people trying to go CorpFin> IB are wasting their time chasing clout that won’t matter in 5 years.You ll eat shit for 3 years, sacrifice your sanity, and probably land right back where you started just with a thinner hairline and a broken soul.
great advice, appreciate you looking out. puts things in perspective, thank u a ton m8
nothing personal towards you, have seen similar pivots in the past but 7/10 times they dont workout well...dont get into IB or any job while money being the sole factor
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