IBD: Easy exit opportunities that pay well?
I was an IBD Associate in London, I hated my job, I hated the hours, I hated the stress, and I truly hated the two faced toxic culture - I can't even begin to explain how many times colleagues f**ked me over to benefit themselves.
So yep without having anything lined up, I quit my role. I've now been out of work for a few months relaxing at home away from all this shit and I couldn't be happier. However.. three months out of work I've realised fuck... I'm eating up all my savings on living expenses and I'm running out of money fast so I need to get a new job ASAP.
However, I'm unsure what I can apply for. I definitely don't want to go back to IBD so I'm looking for something that has:
1) better hours
2) easier, I don't want anything "intellectually challenging" f*ck that stuff I was something mentally easy I don't want anything to do with building complex financial models or waterfalls and shit. Something (relatively) easier.
3) still pays well
Wondered if anyone has any suggestions, would really appreciate any advice? Thanks in advance
Corp Dev or Corp Finance
that does meet requirements 2 and 3. Corp dev involves quite a lot of brain thinking like modelling and (on average) pay is very low
Since when was low six figures “very low”? Sure it's not PE comp but think some people on this site are out of touch when it comes to how much normal people are paid
sales
Bump
Investment Banking Vice President
haha friends said the exact same thing, to just wait to the VP promotion and then i'll find it easier but the truth is I've seen directly the role of seniors, it's so much stress of having to pitch to win deals and then so much stress to try actually sell the business to investors. Plus managing the transaction process of multiple deals is quite stressful.
Thanks for these, this is acc quite some helpful suggestions going to research into your bottom two suggestions (FoF and IR).
I don't think I'd find any sales roles interesting, I'm very introverted so not really the typical extrovert guy that enjoys public speaking enough to be a good salesman.
Does software sales provide good base comp or is it mostly from commissions?
You want a low effort, low skill, high paying job. So do I. So does everyone. Issue is, they don’t exist. Best you’ll get is some industry PM-based role that requires you to attend a handful of meetings a week and keep things on track, but they require luck to find.
My friends in SWE make $150K and work 15 hours a week. I’m not joking at all
Sounds incredible but what does SWE mean, software engineer?
Yah
SWE lifestyle is sweet, but have you tried debugging stuff? It is one of the single reason why I will never code. Some people are just built different because I would rather tear my hair out than go through a debugging process.
You quit with nothing lined up and no savings past a few month? Why do people lie like this? What finance professional do you know just quits with no exit plan and no real savings?
Thanks for your insightful comment. To answer your question - someone who hated their job and couldn't stand the toxic culture, you work in banking you should know how badly people are treated. You really find it so hard to believe a junior can quit IBD without having another job lined up then clearly you have a lot to learn in life.
Yes I find it hard to believe that an intelligent person who understands the value of cash flow, would choose to quit with nothing lined up vs interviewing hard while slacking off a work.
Literally makes no sense to quit when you could half ass at work for awhile.
You know I’m right, so why argue?
Lmao if you spent more than 5 seconds reading through various threads on this site from analysts complaining how much they hate their jobs, you would not find this unbelievable at all.
The fact that you're skeptical about this actually makes me very skeptical that you've even worked in IB. That or you’re one of the extremely out of touch, hardo senior bankers than make analysts like OP quit without anything lined up. Because they’d rather take a leap of faith than spend one more second working for you
- Corp Dev & Strategy are the "standard exits" in terms of getting better hours... will take a hit on comp tho (still making great money in the grand scheme of things)
- Corporate finance (FP&A) at a F500
- Could maybe make the move to commercial banking
- Someone else mentioned it up there, but PM is def slept on
Real Estate Investment/Development roles offer massive comp upside (as you get more senior and start getting carry) and the job/modeling/DD is massively easier. The amount of modeling and presentation work you do for 1 sell-side M&A deal is equivalent to the amount of work somewhere between 4-10 vanilla real estate acquisitions would take. Acquisitions are templated AF, as are IC Investment Memos. You can get a first look at a deal on Monday and be at Investment Committee by Wednesday easily. Then you can be submitting a Term Sheet and negotiating terms by Friday, be visiting the properties the next week, and be working towards close within a few short weeks.
Development gets more complex for sure, especially office / retail, but still not as much of a pain in the ass as Corporate Finance when it comes to pure modeling rigor. But if you're tired of massively complex deals that drag on for almost a year and require 24/7 upkeep, I think you would be amazed at how much more fun doing simple apartment/warehouse acquisitions is.
Is this the same as REPE? This seems super interesting.
I was referring primarily to REPE. Don't get me wrong, the guys like Blackstone who are buying out entire REITs or the guys working on master-planned commercial/mixed-use developments have their work cut out for them. But being at a middle-market REPE that just invests $15-$50M equity slugs into single asset acquisitions and/or small portfolios of 2 - 4 apartment/warehouse properties is an unbelievably cushy gig.
The best part is quite frankly the funds that focus on bread and butter value-add industrial/MF deals were putting up top quartile returns throughout the last cycle. It's not like the simplicity of the strategy lowers the upside, you can absolutely crush it off of an insanely simple, bread & butter type of strategy.
Personalities in RE suck ass though
Interesting take. From my time in RE, I actually really liked the culture. It was much more "bro" in a good way. People aren't as competitive and cut throat as they are at the top IBs or PE funds. Also everybody travels together all of the time so the "airport test" is a huge factor in hiring. Some of the most fun times of my short career were flying out to other cities with the team to meet with a Sponsor and tour prospective acquisitions. You spend a few hours touring the properties and talking shop then get to fraternize at a bar in town somewhere for the rest of the day and night.
Can confirm development modeling is very easy and comp is solid. The real pain in the ass comes with staying involved in the process though, there are always unforeseen things going wrong and can be stressful
What I always disliked about Development is really the same thing that frustrates me about Corporate Finance, and that is how long deals can drag on. Depending on what type of Development work you're doing, deals can easily be several years in the making just trying to coax the right people into selling you the land, entitling & permitting your project, finding an anchor tenant, etc. Whereas with regular old acquisitions you can get sent a deal on Monday and be submitting your Term Sheet by Wednesday. Acquisitions deals can literally go cradle to grave in like 4 weeks without even having to rush too much.
Now if you're talking about a Merchant Builder type of development shop, like JPI, those guys are still pretty quick paced. Finance, buy, build, flip, rinse, repeat.
Now that I think about it, I've sold myself. I'm going back to REPE once I knock out a few more IPO deals lol. I'm sick of models that take 6 months of iterations to receive sign off from my MD.
Investor Relations? Do you like client lunches, interactions and the wining and dining aspect of the industry? While you may not want to go back into IB, have you ever considered FSG at a different bank? Some banks' FSG groups require no modelling, all relationship management
Agree, IR is underrated
looking into IR now, but isn't IR very low pay/bonuses? Also I heard IR is very stressful because it's like an extreme version of Sales constantly trying to raise money for the fund, then once you've finished fundraising you need to plan for the next fundraise so it's non stop hard grinding Sales? would appreciate any insight
what banks have FSG groups that require no modelling? can you give any specific names, please?
Nomura
Honestly onlyfans fits all three of your criteria — good hours, easy, and decent pay
I would aim for smaller places. If you go to a family office/small mutual fund/small investment company you will likely have much better hours and better culture. However, that will definitely require you to think. I'm currently in a LMM fund at a large PE firm. About 10 people in the team. Great culture that is really forced from the top because it would be difficult to run such a small team with a bad culture.
1) Family office (insane WLB)
2) Corp. fin @ startup
3) Corp. fin @ F500
4) PWM (pay isn't insane but WLB is great. (can earn in the millions if progress properly)
Investor relations
+1 for those that cited Commercial Banking. Of course you will make an absolute fraction of what IB makes but amazing WLB and interesting work (IMO)
You’re reaching for the stars my man. I’m sure your dream role exists out there but let’s be clear - you’re not getting something which exists within the current paradigm of jobs barring certain anomalies. You’re jobless currently and you’re looking for a role which pays better than your last role in IB while also being more laid back. Think for a sec how unrealistic that comes across as. As for real suggestions, if you want work with no brain damage then yeah do corpfin / FP&A but know you won’t get comped nearly what you’re looking for. Idk I love the idea of you getting what you want in your predicament but make sure you are managing your expectations. Good luck my friend
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