Will Take Paycut to Get My Life Back! HELP
So I'm looking for advise on transitioning to a different part of a bank that has better work life balance as a potential exit from IB. Anyone ever done this succesfully?
Post MBA, i have spent 6 months in IB and I think i am done. It doesnt seem to add up logically.
I transitioned from a different industry into the front office, but with each passing day the opportunity cost of working 100+ hour weeks seems greater and greater; and i feel like i am losing net net.
I have fantasies about closing from work at 6pm like a regular person and just going on a date or to see a movie. Having weekends that do not need protected time to cover and allow me breath. And I keep telling myself- it cant be this hard to get rich. wtf?
I literally dont have a life anymore- no dating, work till midnight, poor sleep, constantly groggy. And im thinking... this cant be it.
I dont have student loans, and Im open to new experiences, but dont want to leave my organization as it is a premium brand and helps profile- but i really need to get some more work life balance in my life.
Advise needed.
Move to wealth management / private banking. Idk if it’ll be perfect 6pm out and you might have client dinner type commitment
You should consider DCM. Better hours and still investment banking
Try ECM, DCM or corporate banking. The work may be less interesting and the pay is probably at a 15-25% discount but you'll have 15-25% of your life back
You could do PWM or you could go to a MM buyside
MM buy side seats want prior IB experience, a 6 month associate is going to have an uphill battle.
FP&A has entered the chat
FP&A slaps OP with a fish
“To be part of the 1% you must be prepared to do what the 99% won’t do” (Source: Unknown)
I'd suck a dick with mayonnaise on it to be in the top 1%
former REGAL banking associate. IB is a brute force route to get rich for people who don't want to truly apply themselves and explore their capabilities. There are certainly better routes. I moved to a small REPE fund where I have strong WLB (aside from live deals), carry, and a team that has allowed me to develop the skill set of an investor.
Current REGAL Associate who came from REPE. I think this is partially right but I wouldn't say it has anything to do with applying oneself or exploring your capabilities. The end skill-set isn't that different and I work harder at IB (which is a negative). I'd say it's more about how risk-adverse you are. I was always scared in REPE that I'd get stuck at the Senior Associate level and not be able to find a VP role at a real shop that would give me carry in a worthwhile fund or set of deals. Or that I would get that role but due to market timing or external factors the actual carried interest would be de minimis and not worth the 3-7 years spent waiting for it. In IB I feel massively more confident I can find a VP and beyond level role somewhere decent and massively more confident that it'll pay out immediately. Of course the tradeoff is that the maximum upside is way lower than it would be getting carry at a REPE fund or developer. Different strokes for different folks.
Maybe move into analytics or strategy, maybe look into tier 2 consulting firms. Public finance is great for WLB, I have control over my life, my weekends are usually free and my vacations are basically sacrosanct.
If you can stomach it, a commission role will solve your problems. Stop working so hard for that $250k salary.
Edit: $150k? Idk where you’re at but it isn’t enough for 100 hour weeks.
This post is depressing, investment banking is paradise, and I highly encourage you to read the threads on this. If investment banking is not for you, there are many other fields in finance that are paradise as well.
In all seriousness, your career is in your hands. Some people leave right away, some people raise up the ranks at the bank. You've got to call the shots.
Try to rationalize whatever time you have in IB. IB opens lots of doors - period. It sucks in the moment, but should get better after you clear your first 8-12 months (learning curve period)
Should have gone into trading..
to be honest even when finishing at 6pm, what do you have left? like 3 hours before you need to go to bed so you can get up at 8am next day. yeah you can take a girl on a date and drop $100 and not be able to bring her back to your place cause there is no time and it's late and you both need to get up early. and if you wanna watch a movie, watch it while waiting for comments from your VP/MD. it's not like you actually work every second of these 100h work weeks. a lot of it is waiting for comments. regardless of what you do, if you work full-time, the vast majority of your life is controlled by work. might as well stay in IB, save up $2M and retire in your 30s and enjoy life properly.
This is certainly an argument to be made financially, but IB definitely eats away at your mental and physical health. Saying you still won't have much time if you get off at 6pm... many people in IB would stab themselves in the eyeball to get off at 6pm one or two weekdays every week
if it's to this extent, then you should just stop caring. cause you're ready to quit the job. why not just do it unbothered, and if you get fired, it's fine, you were planning to quit anyway.
like somebody tells you to prepare something by Mon morning. you just tell them on Mon morning: sorry was wrapped up with something else and didn't have time to finish - I'll work on it today if it's ok. reply to emails and messages and calls whenever you can. etc.
Waiting time is highly dependent on how many processes you get staffed on which can be variable. I agree with you if you are staffed on one process at a time than you can spend several hours waiting for comments. However if you are staffed on several time sensitive processes you can actually spend 95% of the day working without any breaks or gaps. No time for movies or even time to eat.
Even if your workload is less, you still have to be on call the entire time. Going to the gym is near impossible because you can be pinged about something regarding your work product and asked for a fast response. You can’t do live gaming either because interruptions would lead to a loss. You can’t call your parents/friends (although texting works). You can’t hang out with friends in your flat (believe me they will get irritated if you keep interrupting leaving to respond to “work”). I mean I guess you could watch a movie or stare at the sky but people pay high rent in prime locations in the city to be able to do much more than that. And your entire response assumes that banks will continue with hybrid/allow people to leave by 5/6. I am very skeptical this will actually continue long term.
if you're at the gym, reply "I'm at the gym, will be back home in an hour and take a look"
if you're gaming and somebody messaged/emailed you, finish the game and then check and respond.
You need to go to bed by 9pm to wake up at 8am? Bruh.
you need to take a shower, floss and brush teeth, apply skin care products, then it will also take some time to actually fall asleep. I like to watch or read something while in bed before falling asleep. so if I start doing all this at 9pm, I'll probably fall asleep by 12.
Strategy, corp dev, investor relations
Key problem here is that many (most) banks won't let you do an internal transfer until you are 1 year in. And lateraling to the above roles externally you won't impress anyone too much with 6 months experience. Could you try to tough it out to 12 months?
Annnnnnd this is why you don't hire Post-MBA Associates who come from corporate finance or consultants.
This. Why are MBA associates such pussies?
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