About
I previously spent 4 years with J.P. Morgan. The last two years were spent as a Leveraged Finance analyst in the Investment Bank, working primarily on LBOs and Acquisition Financing for the General Industries team (Healthcare, Consumer Staples, Industrials, Auto, and more sectors). Graduated with a BA in Finance and a minor in Computer Science. Played Division 1 tennis all 4 years and co-captain senior year. Ask me anything about my background or current occupation.
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WSO Podcast
In this episode, Maxwell Peara, former leverage finance analyst at JP Morgan talks about how he broke into JP Morgan initially as a credit analyst coming out of Fordham. How he managed to transition to the front office in leveraged finance and why he left to pursue his dream of playing tennis professionally.
What kind of compensation range and hours per week can a tennis pro expect?
How have you adjusted to the sudden drop in income?
Hours is an easier question to answer. Pre-injury, my training schedule was 4-6 hours on the court 6x a week and 2-3 hours in the gym (weights, stretching, prehab, etc) on certain days so roughly 40 hours a week of active work (exc. travel, film, stringing racquets). Changes when its tournament schedule or when injured, which is my current status unfortunately
As for money, it depends on what your ranking is. Most pro tennis players (like golfers) are paid with prize money or sponsorship deals. For people just starting the journey both of those options are poor. Prize money is minimal with low rank tournaments paying out below a $750-1,000 for the winner. Also, keep in mind you have to travel for most tournaments so unless you win every tournament, you're going to be losing money every time. Getting a sponsor is more challenging as you need a good pro ranking to show proof of quality (very good college / junior career will help). From other tennis buddies, I've heard that most don't breakeven over a year until they reach about 300ish in the world.
Lol I've got 4 or 5 part-time jobs and always looking for alternative ways of getting paid more on the side (challenge has been flexibility of work around tennis) and budgeting like crazy to preserve my war chest, but simply said it bloody sucks
Exit ops?
I looked up this guy’s dad. He went to Chicago booth for his mba. Must have made some serious dough for him to finance his son’s dreams which politely are ambition-life at best. I mean seriously your goal is go to top 300 in 3 years...is that ambitious enough? He’s already planning his exit when he says oh I’ll reassess after a few years...second, this confidence seems dumbfounded....you’ve already played tennis at a competitive level in college and before and in your own words weren’t the champion material...I don’t know why you think that suddenly now you’ll become one. Take a break man and do some serious thinking - you seem to be thinking with your penis
How much time did you waste listening to this podcast / doing diligence...salty much
I did waste some time, but I posted some unique insights for wso. You seem like a natural hater
congrats on the career change. i guess you're now spending less time dealing with other dude's balls these days. commendable.
hope that helps.
Max - I don’t think this forum has any questions. I suggest you continue working on your game.
Let me give some insights on the tennis world. For reference, I grew up in Europe, got a full ride to play college tennis D1 and was ranked top 100 in the country D1 out of 3,000+ players. My sibling was top 30 in the country in singles and top 5 in doubles, played in the ACC. Actually real tennis players.
This guy went to IMG for high school, about $60k a year all in (thanks mom and dad). Went to a very weak tennis program which is embarrassing coming from IMG and spending probably a quarter million alone between tuition and traveling for his high school years alone.
Don't understand why WSO would promote this guy, he's clearly burning his parent's cash to travel around the world, and fuck around playing amateur level tournaments.
Plot twist in 3 years >>> Instagram full of pics from traveling around the globe, calling daddy to find him a job back on Wall Street, annoying every single co-workers lying about having been a professional tennis players when in fact he was just dicking around.
For the record, went to IMG for 1 year and left (wasn't worth it). Didn't go to college for tennis, but for academics. Our tennis conference was terrible haha I'll be the first to admit it. Never said I was this amazing tennis player. I am a solid player. My parents aren't funding me, I am with my savings from banking.
Also, dead serious, good for you and your brother for playing at that level that's awesome, but instead of hating with assumptions and misinformation, ask questions first.
Now that you've got more info, please feel free to hate more.
Yeah this guy definitely didn’t mention he went to a top boarding school for tennis in this video. This is clear misrepresentation and I think we should sue him (LOL). Anyhow, i think the verdict is pretty clear on this. Thanks to Max though for letting WSO and by association its users know he is quitting finance. I thin that’s the only takeaway WallStreetOasis.com if you host folks like this, then people may stop taking this new ama service seriously
Is he guilty of being born in a privileged position? I think he doesn't deserve the hate.
Congrats on the career change Max. Truly inspiring.
add your name to the list: https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/jonny-kim-is-a-navy-seal-harvard…
Yeah, that's true, but people is bashing him like if he has done something terrible. I mean I get that ppl doesn't like how he sells his story but I think that we are going too far.. we are acting like if he is guilty of smt terrible, whereas he is only living the life that his privileged position allows him to live.
Some of you guys are so salty... He did wso a favor by coming on the pod and sharing his story. Just because he has the balls to put himself out there and not hide behind an anonymous message board doesn't mean you should rip on him. I really enjoyed my conversation with him and his transition from MO to FO was actually really insightful.
I learned a lot, not sure why a few users are harping on his background.