I love finance, I really enjoy working in it. The numbers, the models (excel), all of it.
However the hours are somewhat getting to me. Although I probably don't have the very worst hours out there, having my weekdays being constrained to long days in the office and limited sleep is just not great. Little by little I've been forced to give up so many of the things I enjoy in life as banking takes up more and more of my time.
Then when I do get to the weekends I'm so tired that I just don't want to do anything really and just want to relax. Meaning I'm doing even less with my life.
Yeah the money is ok, but it's not that amazing considering all you're giving up. Not sure I want to look back on my 20s and think that all I did was work.
Has anyone else been having thoughts such as these? How do you deal with it?
I only do about 50 hrs pw but always wonder that if there's genuinely people that work consistent 100hr wks in their 20's, and are only really motivated by money or business, they could always take 2 years out of work and put their time towards being a rapper or something. After 2 years of 100hr weeks I recon you'd come up with at least one hit.
Grind in your 20s so that you can live the life nobody else is able to later on, you need to learn to love the hard work. It only gets better from here, just stick it out and don't give up.
I am transitioning from a job where 60 hour weeks was the max to a job where 60 hour weeks are normal and could go up to 100 hours per week.
The way I see it, sure less hours now are nice and sure it gives me time for my hobbies and spending time with friends. But to be honest I feel like I'm wasting time, like I'm just floating and not working towards anything. I think I'd rather work crazier hours towards a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow rather than working an idle 45 hour week so I can go to more thirsty Thursday's, or build that PC I've kind of wanted to build.
So I think it comes down to what kind of person you are. I'm a workaholic at heart that wants to be the best in my niche for better or worse. So career is a very important priority to me. While I know some friends that just want a stable job so they can settle down and start a family. For you I suggest figuring out what's most important to you in your life and steer it towards that direction. At the end of the day it's your life and it's up to you to make the most of it.
For everyone advocating killing yourselves at work in your 20s so you don't live in a shithole in your 40s, and who know all these rich older folks who "did it right", why don't you go ask them what they'd rather be: wealthy at their age (40s, 50s, whatever) or to be 20 years old and have to figure it all out again.
I'll bet you'll be surprised by their answers. For me it's a no-brainer.
I was placed in the unfortunate position of having a foreign work Visa withdrawn three weeks prior to my start date (first job out of undergrad). I spent three months without a job, networking and grinding all while working part time jobs to make ends meet. Those three months were brutal, not because of the financial burden, but because I was so anxious to begin my "career." I remember thinking to myself how nice it would be to be able to sit down and grind out a long workday at an office job. Fast forward, and I have terrible weeks when I am burned out, frustrated, and demoralized, but NONE of it is worse than the feeling I had in the pit of my stomach during those three months. This is probably not an easy feeling to relate to, but for me, it comes down to remembering how awful it was not having the chance to work hard, which far outweighs the sacrifices we make to work at the places we do.
One thing I want to share with you guys who are working these long hours is that the social life you see is mostly a mirage. Selfies at bars/night-clubs, yacth week, and people pretending to be each other's friends. I've seen so many instances of your typical college girl smiling in selfies in a split second later resorting to putting on her usual resting bitch face. To the hard working banker, it may seem like everyone is having this alcohol fueled fast life filled with good friends, fun times, romance, and the kind of stuff you would see in a Taylor Swift video but it is rarely so. How quickly you realize that the guy who is taking selfies with a few cute girls in his social circle is actually stuck in the dreaded friend zone.
By the way, stop comparing yourself and your life to that of hot girls that are either college aged or in their early 20s. You will never have it as easy as those girls who practically have it all handed to them but that's okay, sometimes being spoiled brings upon its own set of problems.
I believe this is a classic example of the grass being greener on the other side. Believe me guys, your situation is definitely a lot better than that of these starving 20 somethings who partied their lives away and now put up the few good moments of their lives on social media in an attempt to come off as the modern day Great Gatsby.
I know, I brought into this whole "20s are the time to try it all" mentality and lost the ambition and drive I had at the time. The whole "friends and family", "take it slow and enjoy life", and "you're young, you have plenty of time to turn it around". All the while, my few friends who did pursue their academic passions pushed themselves hard and missed out on the partying. Most of these guys are now working for places like Google, JP Morgan, Microsoft, and other prestigious places making bank in their 20s. I am happy for them, they are my friends, but damn I feel like total shit to know where I am at my age (25) compared to where they are now.
My friends who also bought into this take it slow idea with me? Back home with parents after college wondering how they are going to get out now, some working retail jobs, some working low level jobs that barely pay 40k, and a few having to go back for a second bachelors because they learned the hard way that a liberal arts degree is mostly worthless.
I can see it now, when the 30s come, the former are going to be in a much better shape as the latter have to play catch up in a huge way.
Unfortunately, I was pushed into being a science major by my parents who were pressuring me to go to med school, a path I did not want to go on. I did the dumbest thing a guy can do and didn't look out for my grades my final two years of college, that led me to graduating with a bio major and a GPA in the low 2s. Just didn't enjoy the subject, did not have the guts to stand up to my parents and switch majors, and I could not see myself ever going into the field at all because I really hated the sciences. My mind was elsewhere and I was not 100% focused in a major where you have to be on top of your game or else your GPA will go right down the toilet.
I had to find work as a lab tech which didn't have banker type of hours or hardly any pay (lol 30k), ended up having to take up a second job as a bartender just so I do not have to live with my freaking parents at the age of 25.
I recommend reading a book called "The Defining Decade" by Dr. Meg Jay, it will open up your eyes to the situation commonly encountered by a lot of 20 somethings. The book is a short read as well, it definitely gave me some perspective.