An old man looking for advice

I'll be honest man I would not advise an IB analyst gig for someone over 30 with a family.

I think somethings you have to consider are the possibilities that: 1) you change your mind while attending school and decide you are no longer interested in finance, and 2) you potentially strike out with recruiting for finance roles. Not saying that these are going to happen or that they are even likely to happen, just saying these are things to consider when evaluating the decision to attend university just so you can get a finance job. My personal opinion is that it is unwise to attend a university simply to obtain a very specific job - having a general direction you’d like to head towards is fine, but the advantages and benefits of attending school go way beyond just having a marketable degree. Much of the allure and benefit of going to college is you get to connect with other bright people who are at a similar life stage as you - not at all trying to say you are too old for college, but this will be an aspect of university life that may be less accessible for you. At the end of the day, this is your decision to make - it’s a matter of evaluating whether the cost of college is actually worth the experience and the degree. Also, who is to say that you will not hit a similar career wall once you enter the finance world? Happens very often, and at least right now you likely have more free time to pursue other things you may find fulfilling.

Obviously based on preference and whether or not you could, but at your stage in life and situation I’d lean Asset management or the like over IB

I am a 2nd year analyst at a boutique investment bank (PWP/Moelis/Lazard). Ignore the my title on here. Your goal is not realistic for several reasons.

1. You will not get into a target school for investment banking in your current predicament. You will need to do 1-2 years of community college first to transfer to a good institution. Once there, you will need to pay 70k+ a year. That is a lot of forgone wages and student loans.

2. Once you are recruiting, many places will not even consider you on the spot. You will be "too old" in their eyes. Exceptions are generally (and very rarely) only made for veterans or other candidates in extremely unique situations. Banking recruiting is extremely competitive. The kids you will be going up against are well polished and connected. You will need to not just do well, but go above and beyond in your unique situation.

3. This is going to extremely harm your relationship with your wife. This is not a 2 year endeavor. Realistically, this is an 8-year endeavor. Four years where you are siphoning away your family's savings in college, putting off having children. Then two years of 80-100 hour work weeks? Do you know what that is like? Do you even think your body can handle that, let alone your relationship? Because I sure as hell don't think I would be able to do what I have done for the past year if I was 10 years older. Also, having kids in college will screw you. having kids as an analyst will screw you. The path in "high finance" doesn't get easier from there. Unless you exit to a corporate role, you are going to be working just as hard for the next few years. You are putting off spending any significant amount of time with your wife for 6-8 years at a bare minimum. Similarly, you are putting off having kids (and being anywhere near a decent father to them) for the same amount of time. Did your wife sign up for this? Is she truly on board?

4. Your post really demonstrated no real interest in investment banking or general knowledge about the space. You seem to think that just since you aren't traveling as a consultant, it will be easy to spend time with your wife because you will live close to work. That is not really true at all. I hate those youtube videos that glorify banking, which seems like what you've been watching. It is not the easiest way to make money. It is not an exciting thrilling career. If you have no real interest in the space, I would advise against it.

Sorry for being harsh but its the truth. Looking forward to getting MS for telling this man the truth. I 110% hope you are able to break into banking, keep your relationship intact, and launch a successful second career if you attempt to do so. However, if I was a betting man, and it happens to be that I am a betting man, I would bet against it.

You want to make money and provide for your family. My advice? Go to community college. Transfer to your state school after 2 years on a scholarship. Major in computer science. Become a software engineer. Work 30 hours a week and be making low-mid six figures in 10 years. Good luck.

Before you go any further down this rabbit hole read the myriad of posts from people on this site that are unhappy about ib and the ways in which it impacted them.

Also maybe you can meet halfway. How much money are you making now and how much more do you hope to make? 

Maybe there are less demanding career paths that are more easily achievable that still look relatively attractive (accounting? Tax? Programing like the other user said?) 

You'll also notice on the site many people dreaming of side hustles. Perhaps this is a more effective way of raising your income? 

This is not to discourage you - just looking for a more reasonable and realistic solution

As someone who worked in construction during the summers for about a decade, I would just ask yourself if you think you can really spend day after day after day sitting at a computer making endless pointless changes to pitchbooks and cims and administering a data room and sitting on yet another pointless diligence call that you don't give a shit about. I think back to the personalities i worked with in the constuction business and they would go insane after about a week max just sitting at a desk all day, they just aren't wired for that kind of work. As I sit on yet another diligence call that I don't give a shit about, I often find myself daydreaming about going back to a construction job / starting a construction or HVAC company and actually contributing something tangible to society. I don't think you mentioned what trade you do, but is it possible to try to start your own company? That would give you a new challenge and give you true operating / business skills that you wouldn't actually get out of undergrad / IB. 

If you and your wife can agree to hold off on kids it’s doable. I would spend some time reading on MBAmission. They have free guides that describe different finance fields. It’s meant for MBA prospects but it’s gets a ton of info in truncated documents.

I won’t repeat what others have said above because I agree with the general consensus, I would not stake out on a Wall Street career or any corporate career given your age and situation.

If I were in your shoes with a specialty in a trade, I’d take the cheapest accounting courses I can find then I’d pay for financial modeling courses either through this platform or their competitors and I’d spend time learning “business” by either buying books or renting them through the nyc library system. You can teach yourself all you need to be successful if you’re disciplined and focused. The old fashion American 4 year liberal arts college degree is really in training the mind how to think, not what to think. Once you’ve crossed that stage of development and you learn how to find relationships between concepts or things, you can teach yourself.

Before the internet, the university system was where people went for education and enlightenment because that’s where knowledge was concentrated. Now, that’s not really necessary. Yet, employers still require the 4 year for entry level positions. That doesn’t mean you can’t attain the same amount (or more) knowledge, in a less traditional pursuit. You absolutely can. You just won’t be able to access most entry level work at corporations or banks but at your age and given your situation it’s really not a good bet to chase that corporate role with a 4 year degree. And as others have said I really do wish you the absolute best that’s why I’m taking the time to write this.

If I were in your shoes I’d look for opportunities to buy a small company that performs the trade you specialize in. From there, and with your knowledge of financial concepts by spending some time at the old fashioned public library, you can leverage your existing cash flows to buy another company, etc., etc.

You have a skill and a specialty which means you have a base of knowledge that many others do not. I’d utilize that on top of the new knowledge you gain of finance and accounting to build a company. The game all college kids are in, whether they understand it or not, is to become a specialist in whatever they pursue. By becoming a specialist in a demanding field you are then naturally paid more because there is a need for what you offer but not many people who can offer it. That’s really the name of the game. It’s developing an area of interest that you can then market to others. Why not lean into your current specialty whilst enriching your mind in financial knowledge and go from there?

“If I were in your shoes I'd look for opportunities to buy a small company that performs the trade you specialize in. From there, and with your knowledge of financial concepts by spending some time at the old fashioned public library, you can leverage your existing cash flows to buy another company, etc., etc.”

This is the correct answer right here. Drop the IB ambitions and build a holding co. You’ll make way more in the long run if you play your cards right. 
 

For what it’s worth, know many folks from high finance who left that track to pursue this. 

somegyy How old is your wife? Is she 28? Like others have said, this is about an 8-year commitment. A lot of women say they don't want kids when they're young, but around 28-30ish comes around and they realize the reality that they really might not have any kids, then their motherly instincts kick in. She'll be in geriatric pregnancy when she's done waiting for you, and she might start reevaluating her life and thinking she is truly not ok living her whole life without kids. You're talking about enjoying your life together without kids, but you're not going to be enjoying anything working 80-100 hours, and she's going to be sitting at home without any kids and without a husband. Is that really the way she saw her life going in her mid-thirties? Women are emotional, they make decisions based on how they feel in the moment. Just because she said she didn't want kids when she was in her twenties and life was still filled with dreams and possibilities does not mean she won't switch up on you when the clock starts ticking, she's alone in a quiet house at 34 or 35, she doesn't have a family, and you're working on a pitchbook. Really truly make sure she's on board or you may get hit with some divorce papers and the whole, "I'm not happy, I don't feel the same way." speech and you end up giving her half your investment banking savings and salary. Don't just assume she's down just because she's saying it now. This is a grueling endeavor and she can change her mind at any moment. You're up against a woman's biology and motherly instincts. I'm telling you every time she sees a baby on TV, or her friends/sisters/cousins have kids, or she sees a baby or family at the store, or holidays come around and you're working she may have feelings. You're going to be stressed and tired af and may not have the patience to deal with her like you should have. Tread carefully or you might destroy your relationship and family. Many relationships have been lost to investment banking.

To everyone else: As long as he isn't walking in there bald or with gray hair and looking like everyone's dad, and he should be an MD then I don't see how they would really dwell on his age. It's illegal to ask and his resume would have him looking like a typical undergrad. It might feel weird for him to work with some kids in their early twenties. It might even feel weird to have people that are younger than him giving him tasks and orders, but if he can swallow his pride then it's been done before. No one is going to ask him his age in an interview.

There is a 30+ year old married women in my Summer Analyst (Internship class.) 

So no, it's never too late.

I think a lot of us on this website can tell you what it is like growing up with parents in the field you’re trying to go into. It effects the kids. It effects you. It effects marriages. And it might be decades til everyone realizes what the fuck actually happened…. 

You state you want to improve your family’s life. But it is likely you’ll be absent for a large part of it. There will be no coming home at 5pm to dinner. No little league games on Saturday. No trips to the in-laws for Thursday dinner.  Little Johnny doesnt care you bought him a new PS5 and funded his 529.  Your wife will get bored of the gifts. They are used to and want your love, not your money. It’ll be hard to be present even when you are there physically in this job. 

I’d focus on distilling what your  real motivations are for making this change. Are you simply chasing some form of prestige/personal growth/money?  You are in a trade, with a decade’s experience. The best way to make money is leverage what you already are an expert in…. Not start from ground zero 

I really like the advice I’ve read above: buy a business in your field and grow it. I know a number of people who’ve taken that path and are worth far more than any banker at the same age!

If you’re doing this for money, then you have to beat out everyone else who’s working longer  & harder without any outside commitments….  if you’re ok with divorcing your wife/losing your kids then do it. That outcome is more likely than not given the game you want to play. 

I think the best advice in this post has to be the computer science route. It may be a bit more challenging to initially pick up and learn conceptually (finance will ofc be hard as well for a complete newbie but comparatively easier than CS) - BUT it’s in demand enough that even if you get a very low tier job or take a year or two extra to learn it fully(does not need to be google or what not and the age really does not matter in that industry especially), it will still likely pay well(70-90k yearly for a web dev for example? This is a rough guesstimate and honestly a lower end estimate, I know a buddy making 150k all in right out of college doing basic web dev bullshit for a financial company) , for 40hr weeks max, with benefits and all. He’s not even a computer engineer, all he’s doing is managing/debugging and updating their website and nearly making as much cash as FAANG engineers for half their workload. Would seriously consider that if you are 100% sure about going to college.

Personally if I was in your shoes tho, I’d leverage what I’m already good at and try to start a business there. It does not take much, you can do it on your own at first and slowly hire a friend or two. A Strong start will build the momentum up quick through word of mouth and good marketing especially if it’s a service in demand.

Thanks guys for info

Let's break this down:

1. You're not talking specifics. What I mean is,  you're throwing out terms like "finance" and "more money"; those things are hard to determine if not specific. Take finance (and this is personal), what do you mean/think of when you say that? I mean this in a nice way, but do you know whats involved in say banking, research, trading or did you basically watch some movie about finance ( Wall Street, Wolf of Wall Street, The Big Short) and think thats it? Banking and finance require work as well, its not just, go to college get a degree and they throw $800k at you. You didnt say how much you make, but you could end up doing all this and make the same amount, it would just cost you more to get there. That's a lot of professions though, take Steve Harvey hosting Family Feud. He didn't just wake up one day and get a hosting job, he had to grind for years in seedy comedy clubs across the country, but most people don't think of that if they think of a TV show host. Point is, a lot of times people look at the end point and don't look at the path it would take to get there. Ask yourself this, what if your current employer would match what you deem a "banking" salary, would you still be trying to switch?

2. You said your purpose is to help your family, so do you really want to do finance or are you trying to make the most money possible. Meaning, what coding paid more, would you want to do that? Same as what people said above about buying a business. I know you said you're in a trade position, don't look down on that. A big problem in America is people just want to wear suits and do things that sound fancy, but good plumbers/carpenters/electricians are killing it right now, they just don't make a money or news story about it. Also, helping your family is a noble thought, and more noble your parents, but, just take care of yourself and your wife for now. Unless your siblings can't work, their life is on them, they can work too. 

3. Warren Buffet (if i remember correctly) has a saying long the lines "the best way to make more money is to succeed at the job youre at". I know you said you have basically hit your limit, but what about starting your own side gig?

4. On a positive, my cousin did the same thing. She worked on a cruise ship for years, didn't have a degree, but found someone to take her on at a financial advisory firm. It's just a right place right kind of thing.

As people said above, don't get discouraged, just have an idea of what you're trying to do and how long it will take to reach that goal. Also have a clear goal. If this is what you really want to do, and you've research it, then go for it. Just don't think go in thinking if you get a degree then you can work for a firm just trading stocks and make lots of money. 

I would not try this path if I were you and it's not necessarily because of age, because I've seen guys w/in a few years of you break in.  It's a very significant risk to be taking this late in life.  You're going to pay an arm and a leg for college for the potential to get a banking job.  Banking jobs aren't easy to get - the rejection rate is very high and it can be somewhat of a crapshoot even for highly qualified candidates.  That's aside from the fact that the hiring market is likely going to suck for the next several years.  It's not because you have to be a genius to be a banker, it's just that there's a limited number of spots and an unlimited number of people who want to fill them.  There's a very good chance that you'll pay 6 figures for school to wind up w/ offers for non-banking roles that don't pay more than what you're already making and don't have a clear path to $500k+ comp in the next ~5 years like banking does. 

Also, there's a very good chance that you would hate banking and age does have something to do w/ this.  It's a lot easier to work 100 hour weeks and sacrifice virtually all other aspects of your life when you're 22 and essentially have no life.  When you actually have a life, and the obligations that go w/ it, it's highly inadvisable to neglect your wife to re-arrange logos in powerpoint until 3am.  I couldn't hold a girlfriend for very long as an analyst because I worked too much.  If a girlfriend in her early 20s won't put up w/ it, I can't imagine that your wife of x years will want to.  

Anyone telling you to "go for it" or "take your shot" is giving you really bad advice.  In short, it's tough to get into banking and you may not make it, wasting a lot of time & money in the process.  And, if you do get into banking, it's probably going to go poorly on the homefront.  I don't know what trade you're in, but guys I know who went into welding, plumbing, and being an electrician all make a good living.  I'll assume that you do as well, and it would be an insane risk to throw that away.  A more sensible risk would be starting your own company w/in your field.  Owning your own plumbing business instead of working for the guy who does. 

Don't make a big mistake because you think the grass is greener, brother.  The grass will look greener wherever you go and it's never as green as it looked when you actually get there.

Others above have articulately explained "why not banking," but I would like to add that there are many, many paths to financial success.

Note to my fellow investment professionals: Yes, I realize I am grossly oversimplifying here.

TL;DR: You can make a whole lot of money in a trade, particularly if you hire more people to work for you and create a business around your trade.

I'm a dipshit private equity investor; what that means is my firm (in which I am a well-compensated cog, not a true decisionmaker) buys businesses. I specialize in what's called the lower middle market, or businesses where annual cash flow is less than $10 million and sometimes even less than $1 million.

If you are a master plumber, you might have some guys working for you in a few years. I, or someone like me, might be trying to acquire a lot of plumbing businesses (this is called a "roll up") because they are worth more when bundled together than they are separately. My firm will acquire you for a multiple of cash flow (so, if your business ends up generating $1 million of cash per year, I would pay you $5 million and take 100% ownership of the business). If I do this 10 times, I will have $10 million of cash flow that someone else might pay $100 million for, assuming everything goes right (it doesn't, but that's my problem, not yours).

So, you made $5 million. Taxes take a good chunk of that, and you've got $2-3 million. Since you're in New York, you can move to, say, NJ and do it all again because the court system won't let me prevent you from earning a living. Or, I pay you six figures a year to run the same business you already did, and maybe you get another six-figure payout if I sell the business to some other schmuck down the road.

Over the years, I've done deals where the following professions made more than $10 million individually: plumbers, HVAC techs, contractors (we lost all our money on this one), orthodontists, and a guy who built a landscaping business basically on the weekends while working for an accounting firm.

You seem pretty determined. If you really are, I would advise you to build a business. At your age, that would be the best way to make the kind of money you're looking for.

I applaud you in wanting a better life for your family. This is a big reason in why many choose this field in the first place. May I suggest given the circumstances you've laid out as well as being pretty set on attending college, that you look at the commercial/corporate banking route. Both are great gigs and your earnings potential will be several 100k's a year, although some corporate teams that are heavily connected with the investment banking division will have bad hours at times. Best of luck in whatever you pursue!