Did I Cook Myself Leaving my Cushy Job for IB?

Was in a random project finance job making $110k base + 35-40% bonus, working 3 days a week, maybe ~4-5 hours a day. The job was so easy a 5th grader could’ve done it. I wasn’t learning anything, and I genuinely felt like my brain was shrinking.

So I made the jump to a no-name boutique investment bank in the middle of nowhere: $95k base, no clue what the bonus will be. I’m now clocking 12-hour days, and while the learning curve is steep, I finally feel like I’m being challenged again.

Did I cook myself? Or would you guys have done the same?

Am I cooked?

Yes – you fumbled the bag. Easy money > long hours
62% (86 votes)
No – short-term pain, long-term gain. Solid move.
38% (52 votes)
Total votes: 138
11 Comments
 
Funniest

With those circumstances why didn’t you just take up a hobby, go travel, or create a start up or something. Plenty of ways you could’ve challenged yourself without selling your soul. Such lack of creativity. Guess you’ll fit in.

 

Anonymous Monkey:

homie wants to make more money you nerd it's not that serious.


By taking a base pay cut and working 3 times the hours?

 
Most Helpful

i mean it was clearly a move made with long-term aspirations in mind geared towards making more money in the future. If that was his goal then your recommendation of playing pickleball on Tuesday nights and traveling to Italy to see some cool architecture was not going to get him there. No hate against pickleball or italy.

 

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