Would you still choose IB in 2025?
Curious to get everyone's take on this. If you were graduating today, would you still take banking as your first career step?
Here's where I'm coming from:
Comp is still quite solid, IB gives unmatched training, deal reps, and opens doors to the buy side. BUT, fintechs, startups, and even corp dev roles are just poaching talent earlier, often offering better lifestyles or faster equity upside.
Feels a bit like the trade off (grinding now and benefiting later) is shifting. Feels like people are opting out of the 80-100 hour weeks to build.
So I'm wondering if you're in banking now, would you make the same choice in 2025? If you're on the buy side, do you still see IB as the best training ground? And for anyone who skipped banking altogether, do your regret it, or was that the better call?
Would love to hear candid thoughts, not just the "IB is the only path" boilerplate.
Probably would not choose banking. I graduated feeling like banking was the best field out of undergrad, but after being in the industry for 3+ years, it's been made clear to me that it's just not worth it.
Yes, the comp is good, but you pay. You pay in the form of your mental health, physical health, relationships, and lifestyle. All for what? Hit a fancy restaurant on a Saturday and live in a shoebox apartment you hardly see? Pass.
Instead I'd pick a field that I was personally passionate about, accept the lower pay at first, but with the understanding that it's much more sustainable and fulfilling. I'd estimate 1% of bankers actually feel fulfilled. The other 99%+ are still chasing that next bonus, closed deal, job title.
To your point, IB does open desirable exit opps, but again everything comes at a cost.
Yep, every job has it's tradeoffs. IB has the one of the most severe tradeoffs which consistently get worse and worse as the years go on. I'd say ER/IB/PE are top three where the yield curve has flipped in recent years.
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