Latest age to break into IB
What’s the latest age one can break into investment banking,is there a cut off age banks stop recruiting and if recruited in your late 20’s early 30’s do you still start at analyst level?
You still start as an analyst, unless you have an MBA.
I had an MBA Summer Associate who was 32 and married. I questioned his sanity.
You should question the sanity of anyone in banking but if you think 32 is highly abnormal for an MBA associate, you'd be wrong. Many of the military guys come in around that age in the US.
Interested as well. I'm going to be getting my MBA soon as was looking to transition to IB from sales and trading. I would be a few years under 30 with some capital markets experience.
Your age doesn't really matter. What does matter is if you don't have an MBA, you're going to be coming in as a first year Analyst and your peers are going to be 21 years old. The older you are, the less patience you're going to have for being treated like a trained chimp on a unicycle by VP's that are your age and for the overall lifestyle that your children peers are going to try to force you to adhere to.
There is a hard cutoff at 23. If ANY US bank finds out that you're older and somehow swindled your way into IB they will decapitate you in front of the office. This is to serve as a warning to other boomers that they aren't welcome.
Dude, these questions are so dumb. The top MD at a MM bank I worked at got into banking at like 36. Yes, he worked in finance before, but not banking. You can join at any level if you are willing to learn the technical skillset and if you are more senior, have strong people skills and know how to sell.
ok boomer
The cut-off is the legal drinking age. This can vary by jurisdiction so be careful when applying
Worth noting some jurisdictions do it by legal drinking age plus x years and some do it by age of consent plus x years. Years added also varies obviously so worth checking the local regs wherever you are applying.
Good luck.
I know scientists (PhDs) and doctors who were around 35-40 start off as Associates in the healthcare group.
That might be the worst trade I've ever heard. Doctor to be an IB ASO.
Agreed. Those must be some weak ass Doctors...
ib associate comp easily surpasses salaries of unspecialized doctors who dont have their own practices, and continues to ramp up like crazy. lifestyle is a significant trade off though.
seriously, what the fuck were those doctors thinking?
I think the right question is: “Is there a cut off period in your life, where you feel that you need to get into investment banking?” I say this because after certain period of time in your career, you may find that other career paths may be better in term of work life balance. And rather than pure investment banking, you may want to look into business development, consulting, corporate strategy, investor relation, financial planning & analysis - which are quite similar to most of the functions related to investment banking.
Oldest I’ve seen at my bank 1st year analyst - 25 years old MBA Associate - 36 years old
I’ve seen folks come in at the Director/MD level from very senior government and industry roles. In some spaces it’s actually relatively common.
cutoff might be younger for sweatier shops
Depends at which age your body can’t function on 4 hour sleep for a month anymore
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