I feel too old and missing out
I'm 24 next summer, when I'll start my job as an IB analyst. I worked with a big 4 firm for a year, did my MSc and will be joining a BB in the summer. Never ever had a single friend or a girlfriend. That's starting to change. Building my body and the job are already making me stand out more. I can't wait to leave for London and start my whole life over....only problem is that I feel like I'm too old to start. Like, my acquaintances are younger than me and already have had relationships and traveled the world and lived a truly fulfilling youth. Starting late just makes me feel like I better avoid the whole thing. I grew up poor so I had to nudge myself here, which meant having a crippling avoidant personality disorder.
Idk what I want to hear but I really needed to get this out of my chest.
So you’re a virgin?
As are 95% of my wso brethren
Stop comparing yourself to others. Some down bad Big 4 booger eater will be looking at you with envy in a couple months.
Sounds like you have made some good moves to be proud. Get off social media and keep grinding.
You're only missing out if what you did instead wasn't worth it.
Hey bro - I’ll be 24 when I start full time in IB too. I took 2 years in between high school and college. You’re Definitely not too old!
24 is young bro... plenty of time... I was a late boomer as well, let's just say I was really late on the GF/getting laid and life experiences part but it only gets easier...
This job may or may not give you "status" but it's not a healthy mindset to lean on that, develop yourself for your own sake. You're a successful and ambitious self-made professional with a good career, that is attractive, among the many other interesting things about you that make you desirable. Don't let this job define you though, that would be a big mistake...
Mid/late 30s here. I’m going to head into the quant finance side of the thing. I’ll be 40/44 by the time I finish undergrad/ms/phd (if possible).
So far the opportunities and connections I’ve made are endless.
Age is just a number. Show passion and an eagerness to learn, and doors will open.
better late than never.
however never having a friend or girlfriend by 24 sounds alarming (even when you're like 10, you are supposed to hang with some friends right?), but you do you.
24 is a great age to be where you are, professionally speaking. I wouldn't worry about it at all. You will have a great career ahead of you.
You never had a gf at 24? Why? How? You went to nurseries, kindergarten, pre-schools, elementary, middle, high schools... and you never met a girl who liked you? This is something I would work on. Get some feedback from your friends, not us. We obviously don't know you in person..
Same situation as you in relation to age (also starting next year as AN1 in London as a 24yo - can't relate to the dating/relationships/other stuff though) so happy to chat if you'd want to. Which (type of) a bank are you joining?
In frange people start working around 24/25yo
You are not old at all
Dude said "I'm 24 and too old" 🤣🤣🤣🤣 dawg you literally a kid still, here's some nice context:
Soros didn't even get his first job in finance till 25/26
I'm not sure what you feel you are missing out on. Is it more relationship-related or job-related? Relationship-wise, no advice on my end, but if it's job related…Your question doesn't sound silly at least to me because I'm 24 myself, just got into my masters degree and will be applying for summers soon. So presumably I will start my IB role at the age of 25 (pray Lord) whilst those who did bachelors with me years ago got into BBs back in '18 and are perhaps already associates today.I think you feel old and late because you tie yourself/compare yourself to a particular circle of people who are younger than you but are at the same stage as you which invokes the feeling of being late. Just try to disassociate yourself from it and focus on building yourself and not missing out on anything ever again. For instance, I was dealing with eating disorder throughout my bachelors and didn't think about my career path at all, which made me late to many things and made me miss out on variety of social settings that would have been useful for building communication skills and acquiring information. But, I did recover from the issue that was holding me back. So it is an experience in itself that taught me a lot. In your case, not to sound as if I'm romanticising coming from poor background, but since you did you sure as hell have strong character. Plus, many of your acquaintances could be softies who might not survive the pressure of work down the road (although I do not recommend framing it that way in your mind because it’s generally unhealthy to expect people to experience hardships even if it could be implicitly advantageous to you) and you will utilise the strength of character quite well. So, keep going, focus on positives, leverage what you have, never miss out on things again.
Half of my analyst 1 class in Ldn is above 24 (including myself)
Career wise, 24 is not too old whatsoever for any entry level job, and certainly not too old to start as an IB analyst. This is even more true in London where a lot of people do Masters degrees. You're totally fine there.
As for your acquaintances having lived 'truly fulfilling youths' ... this is social media playing games with your head. I didn't even get a passport until I was 20 years old. Sure, there are a small number of people that had luxurious childhoods, traveling the world and dating. But for the vast majority of the world population, childhood is far more mundane. You are not behind in experiences.
As for friends and relationships, you need to be very careful not to get into a downward spiral of 'I don't know what I'm doing so I'm going to avoid friendships / relationships.' I guarantee you that you aren't the only one with this mentality. I'll give you an example: You meet a girl and she is into you. You really like her a lot and don't want to mess things up. However, you've never slept with a girl before, so to avoid screwing things up / embarrassing yourself, you never sleep with her. Eventually the opportunity passes and another year or two goes by. Soon you're 28 and the feeling is intensified. You start avoiding potentially embarrassing situations and stop any romantic interactions with women completely. Before you know it, you're in your 30s and scared to death of intimacy because you have no experience.
^^^ Don't let this be you. Break the cycle. Get out there and take risks. You're 24 now ... the girls you meet online or at the bar are not your classmates -- you don't need to see them ever again if you don't want to. Once you start making friends and find a girlfriend, future interactions will just come naturally to you. You've got this.
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