Figuring out exits as a jaded banker with no clear interests?

Let’s say your a jaded 2nd year banker at a good bank, good ranking / respect in group, etc but you know banking isn’t for you in the long run. I see the lifestyle of my MDs and I’d never want to do that at age 40.

PE always seemed like banking 2.0 so I skipped the early recruiting and am glad about that, but I just don’t see how to even think about what’s next at this point.

I’m so busy all the time / trying to survive day to day that I don’t really focus on what’s next or think about different paths. I feel like the last 1.5 years went by in a blink and now I’m nearing the end of my analyst program. I’d have a spot as an associate and wouldn’t oppose doing a year or two there, but I want to escape the golden handcuffs before it’s too late and don’t want to blink again and now I’m a VP that will never leave banking.

How do you even think about different options - direct lending, IR, secondaries / co-invest, VC, growth equity, Corp dev, FP&A at a tech co, startup world, etc. there’s just so many things that people suggest as a “non-PE exit” that I’m overwhelmed. I know I can Google any of those and say “oh GE is a lot of sourcing” but I don’t know if I’d like that and I feel like I’m getting to the point in my career where it’s time to figure out what I want and not just jump to the next thing.

This is more philosophical, but how do you take a step back and think through that? Especially when constantly sleep deprived and working banking hours? My focus day to day is finishing a model so I don’t get yelled at and maybe have time to sneak in a workout, I just can’t seem to get my head past whatever deadline is coming up.

Im probably in a similar position to many of you where I obviously like money and don’t want a big pay cut but also don’t like working 90 hour weeks. At the same time, I don’t want to go work a 9-5 where I take my brain out and scroll Twitter all day. I’d say my ideal next job would pay $150k and be more in the 60 hour a week ballpark, and most importantly have a strong long term career path where I feel like there’s a high ceiling and I can be successful in the long run.

Not even asking for advice on “oh look into IR at hedge funds”, more so just asking how you even start to break down the options and tackle that decision while working IB hours

 

Exact same spot, no exit lined up but good reputation in the group with a potential A2A opp. I am interested in doing something operational, and actually learning the ropes of a business but I’ve seen the roles I’d like to pursue are mostly open to consultants. 

 

You just need to think about it like an investor. Evaluate the facts and come to a conclusion. I know what you mean, trust me. But you gotta do it - just like you have to force your eyes to stay open as you send that model at 4am and get 1hr of sleep before doing it all again.

You want lower hours and will take a short term pay cut but want to do something where you have a high ceiling. Am I interpreting that correctly as something in the LSD $M when you're in your late career as a base case, MSD+ $M as an upside case?This is not a large pool of options.

Such a late career situation, while common in the comments posted on WSO, is an unbelievable edge case in the grand scheme of things. Generally you get there either through PE hours up to and through your late career, or through a high risk approach such as HF.

Here are some options for you: AM, Growth Equity, Secondaries. You could also go do something in tech, but I don't know much about that world, and now is not a great time to recruit into tech.

I think Asset Management might be the right option for you. There is some risk but it isn’t like going to an MM HF or anything. Probably won’t face a drastic pay cut, and probably will get shorter hours. In the long run, PMs can make in the LSD $M.

 
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Dude I’m in the same exact place. It’s insanely frustrating. Feels like the same cycle week in and week out. Speaks to how banking can, in ways, punish you harder the better you are. Might just be me but one thing I always fall back to is the idea of sticking out the rest of my analyst stint and then taking a couple months off (although I think I’d probably get bored sooner frankly but who knows) and then getting back to the ‘drawing board’ with a clear head. I feel like that’s such a faux pas in finance for some reason though so there is always the opposing thought of that somehow being inherently risky. I’m going to give it another few weeks to clear up and hope that I can chalk this up to just a bad stretch or whatever, something tells me I won’t be doing that tough. Anyway, until I fio I guess Spotify is just going to have to keep hooking me up with Marvins Room on repeat

 
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I'll just say this having counseled friends who went through this. Don't feel downbeat or out on your ass because you haven't figured out what you want to accomplish next after banking. It is a totally normal and frankly vilified at times feeling to feel lost after slogging in ib for a while. My advice is to not so much disengage yourself from your staffings, but definitely allocate less of a sense of purpose / self-worth to your work on these and channel that energy into yourself with some concentrated time to think about what it is you want to do next. And I know im some anon guy on this forum but hear at least from me that you shouldn't feel ashamed if that introspection leads to you not working in a finance-related industry which has been normalized by your banking colleagues. You're at a point where no one but the worst people worry about prestige and you need to look out for your own happiness. Forget mental health and all that for a sec (not disregarding them) but really focus on what would make you happy, not what would be a logical or "makes sense" next step and really consider what it is that would make you a happy camper in your next role.. 

 

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