Is 26 too old for an Analyst position?
Title says it all. After COVID, I took some time off of school to start my own company. It's been almost two years now and I've been extremely successful (1m annual revenue) and don't plan to finish my degree for another year in hopes of raising that number to 2m.
Ultimately, I want to matriculate back into financial services, and probably investment banking as I don't view myself as a business owner long term. The caveat is I'll be almost 26 years old if and when that happens. Will my age raise eyebrows, or will no one care so long as my resume checks out?
Definitely not. There are plenty of BYU analysts who graduate college and start at 25/26. And I've known analysts up to age 30
keep doing what you're doing
Yeah currently a 25 yr old BYU alum at a BB. No one cares and if anything you might be a bit more buttoned up then someone fresh out of the college scene
Is that a missionary thing related to being Mormon? They have to first do their missions upon graduation?
I think most do their missions after high school so around age 18/19 - would be hard to find a job if you have a 2 year mission commitment out of college.
But yes, they are 2 years older because of the missions. BYU places all over, so 25/26 is not unusual for analysts.
You’re going to be 26 anyway, FYI. Would you rather be 26 and an analyst or not?
I started as a AN1 at the ripe age of 28, so definitely possible. Been over 4 years now and best move I could have made.
Any advice in how you broke into the industry at that age?
While it's not too late to start, I'm very curious what about being a business owner doesn't appeal to you. Many people in IB & PE would be highly envious of your position of having built a growing business with upside potential. Why do you think working in IB would be more fulfilling than what you are currently doing? As an IB analyst, you will have very little autonomy and your work will feel very rote / unfulfilling for a lot of the time.
Really nobody cares. It is literally the same as with any other type of "do people care that I xyz" - in 99% I realized that nobody cares.
You'll find the same questions in different forums/reddit etc. alas "do people care if I get my hair transplanted? will somebody notice that I wear shoes that make me look taller? is it okey to wear watch xyz to the office as a junior?"
In my time at professional service firms I learned that literally nobody cares about anything but themselves and turning in the work well. Same as with age. As soon as you hit the desk and you are in the trenches nobody will even care about your age.
People rarely think about you.
Spot on
I just started my Analyst stint earlier this year at 27 and turn 28 soon. Never too late to start if that is what you want.
I joined at the age of 29
Just curious, in a similar situation, did you do any SA program? Or did you have any experience that was transferable, etc to lateral in?
It's definitely not, and the life experiences give you the wisdom you need to stay sane. The young guns move too fast, lick all the right boots, and lose themselves in the process. We old geezers, however, know our limits and talents much better and can thus plan better when faced with a highly dynamic environment.
Stay frosty, fellow geezer, it's all possible.
Hey,
I’m starting an additional one year MSc and will turn 26 when I’m done and (hopefully) get my first ever internship in IB. Never too late. I read a quote last time that went: “The best time to start was years ago, the second best time is right now.”
Best of luck buddy !
I summer interned with a guy who was like 27 or 28 in an entirely college composed Analyst class. I think people were surprised to learn it initially, but no one actually cared in the long run and no one treated him any differently. I wouldn't sweat it
Was 26 when I started as an analyst
not uncommon in Europe
28 year old first year analyst as we speak. Happy I made the transition. Hard to adjust to hours, you need to take orders from people under you, but Honeslty it’s also kind of nice having that added polish and maturity and once you settle in no one gives a fuck.
Do you want finance to be your career? Make the switch now. You’re only getting okder.
Definitely not too old
But hey, if I was able to one day create some kind of business that makes as much as yours one day, wouldn’t go back to finance ..
Totally fine, have seen plenty of analysts on that age and even older.
I started at 26. No one cares. Make sure you align boxes well in powerpoint. Will make you a superstar!
Do you mind if I DM you to ask what you did and how you built the business?
With a resume like yours where you highlight your own business it should not be any problem at all.
No, it's very common in europe, for example NL, new graduates are usually 24-25
In Europe, it's average 24/25 age start, so no you are not late.
Adding no incremental value except as an additional data point, no. Plenty of older analysts in IB as the higher comp easily justifies it. In my banking group we had a 34 year old 1st year associate, a role someone could get at 24 years old. Follow your own path
Why the heck do you want to go back and grind from the bottom in financial services?
And banking of all places. There's zero value add other than gaining skills to jump to PE
As most of them confirmed no one truly cares. Had a couple of 26 year olds and 30 year olds join this year at my BB. The experience and the knowledge they bring are their assets. So you’re good. Just go for it
Situated in Europe and it's very very common to see analysts that are 25-30. Pretty common that people take 1-2 gap years before starting their bachelor's here and then take another gap year between their bachelor's and master's to complete a few off-cycle internships. I highly doubt that anyone will ask or care about your age.
Why not just get an MBA-> Associate route?
An undiscussed factor:
You will enter as analyst at 26, meaning you’ll likely still be an analyst at 27-28 (assuming you start as analyst 0/1)
Are you okay with taking work from a 24yo associate?
Some people aren’t…
As many have mentioned before, it’s very common in Europe (on the continent most people complete a masters as well as a bachelors), and no one really bats an eyelid.
Honestly? Very few people care, if any. At least from my perspective. For context, continental Europe peeps do a 2 year masters too, so you’re looking at a 3ish year delta. Peanuts.
Context: joined Research as an analyst at 26, after being the offshore for a year and change. Now, top performer among peers in a much-less-than-ideal sector
Work hard, make your gaffer happy, hopefully he/she are a great boss, and you can catch up to some younger peers.
It's very doable, just make sure you can articulate your story and why you took time off / had a gap
The age thing really does not matter, quite a few international students were in my analyst class and were ~25 when starting, and I knew a few that did the military before school so they came in around that same age as well.
What you should realize though is that "Wall Street" junior roles are painfully monotonous, and you will learn a lot sure, but banks are corporate entities with plenty of politics, pain points, and faults - and your career trajectory definite has a degree of luck that they do not teach you about at school at all (working hard, is never gonna be the sole thing that gets you to MD.) I would bet that if you owned a business and ran it, you would hate the experience of being an analyst / associate because your life is NOT yours and sure people who come from undergrad don't care its their first job they are broke - trying to make a name for themselves - and just spent 13 years of their life doing homework and reporting to some degree of authority.
If you end up at M&A in a bulge bracket or EB / solid MM firm I'm sure you wouldn't regret the decision 10 - 15 years from now and could pay plenty of dividends, but it's not without it's own myriad of pros / cons as opposed to being a business owner, which I think I'd much rather do than have to backflip for corporates and sponsors like I do now.
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