Getting married early when working in IB/PE/HF

As someone who'd consider themself a traditionalist Catholic (of the sort of preconciliar type), I'm of the opinion that all relationships are and should be intentioned towards marriage. Although I enjoy having fun, even sometimes going out to nightclubs and that sort of thing, I haven't ever engaged in casual dating let alone sleeping around with women and so on.

I know these views might be a bit different than your sort of stereotypical Wolf of Wall Street debauchery, but I think we all know that Wall Street doesn't really look like that either -- but I wanted to get a sense of how my views would be perceived in IB/ PE. And in particular, how would people perceive getting married early? Is it possible at all?

For context: have joined buyside from undergrad and I am hoping to stay at shop I'm at for at least a few years (and then stay on the buyside long-term too). What would you think of someone getting married in their late Analyst/ early-mid Associate years? I don't even want to start dating anyone now or in the next year or two if I know that any relationship won't be able to go anywhere within the years after that -- so just curious to hear.

Anyone else out there who thinks similarly? Did you get married early or just wait until you were more senior before you started dating at all?

34 Comments
 

I'd guide you away from your binary view of relationships as: a) "sleeping around" or b) getting married. There's a huge middle ground. Personally I think the arguments for getting married on the young side are just not that compelling, for men or for women. Fertility / healthy baby concerns don't really crop up for most women until they hit the mid (if not late) 30s, and the further along you are in your career, the more control you'll have over your time, and the fewer family events you'll miss due to work. (Think about your frustration level last time you missed some social event due to work, now multiply it x 10 for missing your kid's birthday party or sports event, weekend/vacation day, etc.)

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