IB delete

I traveled to multiple countries and countless towns to figure out the question...: Should I go for a PhD in [finance subject]?
After a year of intense research, meeting peers, professors, adcoms staff, clicking through reddit and other forums... I decided not to do it.

The first reason was my eligibility for a PhD in the first place. I was lucky enough to have met other PhD candidates, and they were nothing like me. They were totally focused on academics and weren't even sure if they ever wanted to enter industry jobs. They were published, well read on massive topics, peer-reviewed and had a real scientific approach. On top of that most went to not one, but multiple top-tier target schools and were almost always the best scholar in their groups.
While I always had good grades and was interested in academics, I just didn't see myself going down a rabbit hole in an area of finance, math or economics.

The other reasons were time, lack of income, TA/RA duties, PhD locations, and overall funding of the programs offered. I also didn't think that a PhD would really kickstart my career as I hoped. The entire research around this topic took me about 18 months.

edit: for additional clarification, I looked at PhD programs in the US, France, Canada, Netherland, and Sweden.