If you never broke in ...

If you hypothetically never broke into IB or any of the other areas of high finance, and you ended up working in a completely unrelated industry, would you continue to do the learning that you do now? Would you continue keeping up with deals and buyouts in the space, would you continue reading, would you continue modelling your favourite companies and toggling with inputs, would you continue developing an above average understanding of finance, etc?

Personally I feel like this question is somewhat important for myself, because I want to really dig deep and know if my work ethic is borne out of motivation for breaking in, or is it borne out of intrinsic passion for finance (which I have).

6 Comments
 

I think about this too sometimes and I think it's a mix of both. There was so much effort trying to break in and now that I have, I think I would say 60% of the motivation came from me just wanting a high paying job/social pressure from peers getting offers and 40% of it is genuine curiosity in finance (btw looking back at it who gives af about social pressure and comparing yourself against peers -- comparison is the thief of joy)

I'm pretty decent with numbers and finance has the path of least resistance imo compared to other fields like medicine, rocket science, etc. No regrets as of now. 

 

Yea it's the same for me. I can't really attribute my motivations into exact percentages like you did, but it keeps me thinking - I know finance is a true passion of mine. I don't fake it. I do it in my own spare time, just to learn. Intrinsic motivation there.

But what if I actually never break in? What if I work in somewhere completely unrelated? Would it be a genuine waste of time to keep doing what I do? In that case, should I invest my learning and my passion into the field that I floundered into? 

And I feel like, until that day really comes, when I'm an old man filled with regret, only then will I truly know whether my motivation comes from the prospect of breaking in, or from true intrinsic motivation. I can never really know for sure, now

 

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