Corporate strategy to finance post mba

Looking for some inputs from seasoned folks here.

I am a mid career corporate strategy professional in 30s who is looking to switch to finance focus on credit research. My BG: I've gone through the consulting path + top 5 MBA + corporate strategy. There is a clear ceiling in terms of pay in corporate strategy (~$250K ish) and it take a luck to even get there in a reasonable amount of time just because corporate strategy is and will always be a support function to any organization. Caveat is there is a paycut involved in switching, arguably since I've never done pure finance work. Rationale for wanting to switch is the pay ceiling, work on transactions vs. projects

If I do switch how difficult will it be difficult to lateral after a short stint at my initial firm (due to age, experience etc) to other credit or finance related finance roles to make up for the paycut (i.e corporate banking, credit research, )? Has anyone seen/taken similar paths? I am not sure if I should just be content with where i am at and not gamble my career.

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