Has anyone ever regretted leaving Investment Banking?
Missed the salary, the prestige? If not, what did you go on to do in life?
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I left for MFPE and regretted it massively lol. My cash comp was the same in IB but the job became easy after a year and it was so fun working in that team environment (in hindsight, as you think it’s pretty much hell during your analyst years).
PE is lonely. And boring. And tedious. In banking there is a clear line of sight to close deals. In PE you don’t close shit as only 1% of IC submissions get approved for platform deals.
The only comp upside is carry but my fund is dogshit and posts a 5% IRR so that’s out the window. I got an offer to return back to my bank but take a year hit and I’m gladly taking it.
Same comp. Easier job. More fun.
Oh man, sorry to hear that! But I wonder why are you required to take a year hit when you were at a mega fund? Surely that counts and is even better experience than IB?
Would you ever consider doing something else, other than PE/ IB?
Different work and these days MF associate programs are so institutionalized, it’s unlikely the experience is as good as a strong IB group at the associate level
Sell side work as an associate is fundamentally very different than buyside even if buyside is a “better experience”. Sure, I am now able to think like an investor better, but the complexities of running a sell side process can get really hairy and requires sell side reps.
Fortunately my EB pays a lot so I don’t really mind being Associate 1 vs Associate 2.
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