Foolish to leave 35 hour $200k strategic finance to return to IB associate?
Did IB at a MOE/EVR/CVIEW and was sweated so hard, did not have any time to interview at all. Once 2 years hit I instantly just accepted the first offer I got, which was strategic finance associate role at a $15bn private company.
While $200k is undoubtedly a lot of money for someone only 24, I am starting to really want the earnings of IB. Obviously as we know the pay scale is crazy in IB and at my gig, I have no idea what the future looks like at all, the scale, etc.
I caught up with the group head in my IB group because we had an amazing relationship, and he mentioned that if I wanted to tomorow I could show up at the office and be an associate and they'd hire me on the spot, no interview process.
Is this trade off worth it? I know it differs for every single person and what they value, but I wanted to hear some thoughts. I currently work around ~35-40 hours a week, and have not worked past 5:30pm in my first like 6 months here or weekends at all, and fridays whole team logs off at 1pm.
Is this foolish to leave? Others in my network have said I have the "dream" exit opportunity and I would be so dumb to leave this job I currently have, but I am getting this comparison is the thief of joy and grass is always greener mentality that makes me want to hop ship back to the stressfull side.
Interesting question, but in the end nobody will be able to answer this for you.
Perhaps helpful to try to avoid nostalgia and other bias and recall / write down some facts about your old and new places, respectively, and also to remind yourself why you left in the first place and what supposedly has changed since. I can tell you that the current IB workload is probably worse than when you left and is ~2.5x your current gig — that’s a pretty significant factor for WLB and any other factors. The cash factor is nice but if you’re miserable 364 days of the year, it does not help you much…
Would probably make sense to ask for a sitdown with your line / team manager and perhaps also (separately) someone else who’s more senior and has some perspective on progression plans. You could share that you like the team but had quite a different pace beforehand, with some pros and cons, and would like to understand their medium to long-term plan for you, if any. It should not be misunderstood since it shows that you treat this gig seriously and are thinking long-term — I would appreciate such a chat, fwiw.
Stating the obvious, in case this is not the holy land, you can also check different options — bank/boutique with better WLB, different corp dev with more deal flow, small/mid PE/FO… other roles… doesn’t solve your “problem”, but perhaps worthwhile keeping in mind.
Amazing response, thanks so much. Very insightful and helpful. Cheers and have a weekend my friend.
Don’t do it. After 6 months you’ll likely want your old job back and you’ll miss having a life outside of work
100% agreed don’t do it
You say you got crushed to the point you couldnt interview and jumped ship at the first offer back then. If you go back now, I can assure you things in this industry have gotten worse so what would be different this time around? Wouldn't you just jump ship again?
Good point, thanks. Can you elaborate (and others have said this) why the industry has gotten worse? I was in banking just 1 year ago, so I don't imagine its changed super significantly. Deal flow was pretty dead though for me a year ago, so I assume you just mean in a macro sense everyone is just busier?
The pay has stagnated but more importantly there has been a brain drain in this industry for a few years now. You can cite the "younger generation", COVID or whatever, but the fact is the talent is much worse now. If you go back as an associate, your analysts will be less capable than before putting more strain on your plate. And then the VPs will also be less talented creating more headaches for you. I understand the pay progression may look great on paper, but the sacrifice to get that pay has become much worse physically and mentally. What is the point of trying to chase that progression if you will jump off the ship before you get it? And even if you do get there, what kind of barren wasteland will your soul and personal life be in by then? I don't know much about your current position, but I would rather enjoy the balance and work on moving up within the company or building the skillsets to climb up a different ladder than IB. You are young so my advice is chase the money for when you hit your career prime and focus today on building both personal and career skills and growth.
Agree entirely with the first response around now taking this opportunity to really dig into career progression at your current company. I've been in this exact situation, both taking a paycut to leave banking and turning down the opportunity to move back into IB & PE seats later on. Ultimately, it was the belief and eventual proof of continued and rapid elevation with the company I left for that won out over the "comparison" thoughts.
I'm repeating some of my prior comments here but I find it easy to romanticize the grind and completely disregard that there were times I wanted to throw myself into the hudson. You can, and should, do whatever you want but, to make an informed decision that you won't waffle on in 10 months, try to be objective about ALL the aspects of IB. Recall the weeks of 4-5 hours of sleep, the never being able to commit to plans, the periods where you couldn't take a walk in the park on a Saturday without checking your phone every 5 minutes, the firedrill pitches that always seemed to pop up around major holidays, the stacked staffings, etc.
Sitting at a desk for 80-100 hours and doing the work was never difficult for me but once I started to look out the window more I resented being chained to my computer at all times. That feeling corresponded with getting older, finally having the means to take weekend trips/vacations/enjoy where I live, getting obsessed with time consuming hobbies, and getting engaged/married/wanting to start a family. My current role affords me the opportunity to do all those things, while also satisfying an ego/complex that wanted to do IB in the first place. That was a personal decision that worked for me. You have to figure out what works for you.
As an aside, don't beat yourself up too hard about this decision. You've done well for yourself to even be in this situation where you have multiple great options. It's all good my friend!
Thank you so much Brother!! Love hearing about your little "awakening" and I agree 1,000% on everything you said. Cheers. Means a lot writing this all out for me.
Curious what your current role is?
"strategic finance associate role at a $15bn private company"
I’m 26 with similar hours + pay. Call me biased but when I’m watching Monday night football and my buddy in banking has to leave in the 4th quarter to go back to his laptop for some random scramble (he showed up during the third from the office) I dont feel like I’m missing out at all. I’d say unless you really want to be a lifer banker stay where you are it’s not like you’ll be at 200k for the rest of your life or this specific role. Prime earning years are late 30s-50s.
What’s your current role?
says it in title, vp in AM
Mutual fund and ETF wholesaler
You would be an absolute fool to go back to IB unless you have nothing going on in your life otherwise.
I 100% get that, but what about being a VP by age like 28-30 and making $600k+ while I could potentially be at my job making $200k for a while? I know I should have asked about progression and stuff etc at my strategic finance gig, but without a doubt know the scale won't come close to IB.
You couldn't pay me $1MM to be an IBK VP. As the commenter above notes, this is entirely subjective and we can't really answer this question for you.
The older I get the more I am certain that time is ultimate commodity and my only focus is minimizing the amount of work I do without sacrificing so much comp that I can't fund my personal interests. You have to ask yourself where the balance is for you.
Is your current more relaxed job in NYC or a lower cost of living area? I find what people often forget is that yeah you may be making $600k as a VP, but after tax that is $300k and if you are paying $60k in rent etc well… how much more $ in absolute terms do you have at the end of the year versus your way lower taxed $200k with lower expenses. You should compare the net savings amount between the two when asking yourself if worth working the extra 60h and stress, not the gross headline total comp.
Posters here are being a bit dramatic about how bad VP life is. I work 60-65 hrs. a week and make $625k. Realize there are worse VP gigs out there though. The net savings are much higher
Posters here are being a bit dramatic about how bad VP life is. I work 60-65 hrs. a week and make $625k. Realize there are worse VP gigs out there though. The net savings are much higher
Posters here are being a bit dramatic about how bad VP life is. I work 60-65 hrs. a week and make $625k. Realize there are worse VP gigs out there though. The net savings are much higher
Posters here are being a bit dramatic about how bad VP life is. I work 60-65 hrs. a week and make $625k. Realize there are worse VP gigs out there though. The net savings are much higher
Posters here are being a bit dramatic about how bad VP life is. I work 60-65 hrs. a week and make $625k. Realize there are worse VP gigs out there though. The net savings are much higher
Posters here are being a bit dramatic about how bad VP life is. I work 60-65 hrs. a week and make $625k. Realize there are worse VP gigs out there though. The net savings are much higher
Posters here are being a bit dramatic about how bad VP life is. I work 60-65 hrs. a week and make $625k. Realize there are worse VP gigs out there though. The net savings are much higher
Posters here are being a bit dramatic about how bad VP life is. I work 60-65 hrs. a week and make $625k. Realize there are worse VP gigs out there though. The net savings are much higher
If I could leave banking for even $150k with your hours I would take it right now. One thing that people don’t seem to consider is the health toll that working in this industry will have on you as you age - the human body isn’t designed to handle 80 hours a week hunched over a desk, getting minimal sleep and exercise with immense stress.
but for finance as you age the work gets much better and less glued to desks, when you are late 20 early 30s you are getting paid min $500K in IB/PE, and prob hitting only ~60 hrs chained to desk, the money upside makes the job much better ( salary / hours at desk)
This is a falsehood parroted by college students and first year Analysts that don't know any better and don't understand the nature of the IB / PE work environment.
Even “only 60 hours” isn’t really “only” when you’re married with kids sports school etc like you may also want free time. Not a horrible life at all a great one actually but you have to accept your career is part of who you are and your personality at this rate and not something you can really seperate after a decade straight of grinding. Every promotion will essentially lead to another “I gotta work for that better promotion” unless you start your own spot.
A lot of analysts and college kids don’t seem to understand that most of the MDs VPs and Directors aren’t big swinging dicks like the c suite and are still stressfully grinding for their own deliverables. There is no coasting
Fundamentally, it is what you want out of your life. No one can tell you what is right. The only thing we can do is help guide you and make sure you are considering the right things.
But, assuming by strategic finance you mean an m&a/capital raising/corporate strategy role, I would not be looking to move gigs. Especially for what is basically just moving horizontally. Unless there is something structurally problematic with that company (ie - your company is a 1 product company like Spirit AeroSystems, is about to get wrecked by some larger economic change such as AI, the company is a family business and the CEO grandfather is about to die and has no succession planning, etc), I am struggling to see where my interest in going back to IB would be. I emphasize that this is just me talking about my preferences because I don't know you. I don't know if that incremental comp is worth being a slave to you.
Thank you, appreciate the response. You bring up great points. Thank you for writing this out for me.
Personally I would go back to IB (I wouldn't have left in first place) but I'm also a hardo so depends whether you would rather prioritise comp/prestige/career progression vs WLB essentially.
Offering different perspective since other commenters seem to be people who have left for WLB roles.
double the work for less than double the pay.
I would shank my best friend with a rusty butter knife to get a role with 35 hours and 200k. Don't fuck it up.
IB instead of that would be wild!
Dude. I hate you so much.
I have to imagine that if you broke it down you are earning more now per hour than you would make as an IB associate. If you want to earn more money, you could instead become a freelance consultant - that way you aren’t giving up your current job, and you can control your hours.
If you don't have any other real reasons why you want to do the job other than exits or comp, definitely no
Ok yeah go back to banking (so I can take your current job)
I think you need to put more thought into what you want to do longer term
Why not try for something like LEK or MBB? 60 hours per week, interesting projects, protected weekends . It’s quite nice compared to IB
cuz OPs move is money motivated why would he move into a consulting rule that pays the same or less
del
Yes - it is foolish to leave.
Bro you are still young, enjoy life to the fullest. And also, your mind plays tricks with you, you are good where you are now, appreciate and enjoy it, and don't "overtest" yourself. Give yourself some joy and freedom. Go find a girlfriend Better of, if you have a lot of energy on your hands, go put into learning leadership skills, influence, soft power, networking mastery, coercive, Expert, Reverent influence styles, public speaking. At then end of the day if you continue in your pace with the same drive and with amount of time on your hands you'll end up in leadership positions. Imagine yourself at 40, you'll definately be in leadership positions in your organisations, and those spots require completely different set of skills to those you obtain now, not financial and technical. You have to put time to master them. When you do, you'll slide into those roles, like knife through butter, and excel
My man thank you
What are the promotion prospects at your new job? I'd stay if it's been communicated that you can be promoted quickly. Is this also an industry that you want to be in? Is the work interesting to you?
Also, like someone else said, if you have literally nothing going on and have no aspirations other than getting the most amount of money at any cost, then it may be worth considering going back to IB.
Hobbies are the fruit of life. I'd stay in your current position and enjoy life.
Well said
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