I screwed up, then I caught up. What next?
Hi Everyone, good to be here.
I'm looking for some honest advice on career options, what can I feasibly move in to and what is definitely off-limits due to my background?
The Full Story: I started out as a musician, so that's what I did at university. I have a first class honours degree but it's in music from a no-name university. Two years after graduating I realised I cared more about making money than I did about music, so I decided to try and get in to finance/banking. Obviously there was no way I could get in to IB with my background, but I was advised you can get in to finance/banking by qualifying as an accountant first. After 2 years in a small accounting practice, I managed to get a job in management accounting at the head office of a big PLC (high street retailer). Within 5 years I had qualified with CIMA and been promoted 3 times, from an assistant accountant to the finance manager in charge of accounting/reporting for the UK & Ireland. I'm already fed up of accounting, but I enjoy financial modelling, FP&A and finance business partnering. I'm determined to move in to the higher paid world of finance, but at 33 I've accepted that front office IB/PE/HF is probably impossible by now. I'm thinking of applying for buy-side or sell-side equity research positions, or FP&A jobs at investment banks/PE firms, my last resort might be product control. Do these seem realistic, and have I missed anything obvious? My top priority is earning potential, so I want to identify the highest paid opportunities possible with my unusual background. I think I could get in to the back office at IB/PE/HF but does this usually pay more than the same type of role at a big non-finance company? Otherwise I may as well stay where I am and keep climbing in corporate FP&A.
TLDR: 1. What are the realistic options for a musician who re-trained as an accountant and wants to get in to finance/banking? 2. Do back office jobs at investment banks pay much more than equivalent back office jobs at F500-size companies?
Thanks in advance!
#MBAOver30
Get one.
Do an MBA and CFA
This comes off as a huge red flag to me and a bit immature, especially since you mention so many different roles like ER, FP&A, IB, HF, PE in your post. Yes they all earn a lot and share similar skills, but they are still very different careers.
In my early 20s I was also obsessed with maximizing my earnings potential and gave IB recruiting a shot. However, I never converted my internships because I wasn't interested in the actual job, just the money and status. I did find parts of the job interesting, like modeling, but that really only fooled me to stick to the pipe dream longer than I should have.
Despite wasting my 20s obsessing over money and prestige, in my 30s I ended up turning down ivy league acceptances and BB front-office quant offers. I did all of this pretty naturally without really even trying to recruit or grind. The main difference in outcome was because I learned about the Japanese concept of Ikigai, which explains how to pursue career growth in balanced way as opposed to optimizing a single thing.
Age is really just a number. Nobody cares how old you are as long as you get the job done. Get an MBA if you really need to break into finance. However at 33 you have already consumed half of your youth. You need to be doing things for the right reasons and not thinking like a 20 year old anymore. Why do you even need to maximize your earnings despite having established a strong career already? Do you owe million dollars in debt to the mob or something?
Point taken, I know I'm flip-flopping a lot on roles, mostly due to panicking that I've missed the boat on the higher paid industries because I wasted so much time on music before. If I carry on with the FP&A route it looks like I could just about get to £100k but it's frustrating knowing that if I made better choices years ago then I could potentially be in an industry paying multiples of that for the equivalent years of experience. I genuinely don't mind what kind of role I'm in so long as it's intellectually challenging and pays well.
As for the obsession with maximising earnings: 1. Always been money-hungry, don't think that's ever going to change 2. I'm high-IQ but had to start with a minimum wage accounts job because I screwed my education and missed out on grad schemes, still carrying a hefty chip on my shoulder over that and determined to catch up to where I could have got to 3. I just became a dad and want my family to have the best I can possibly provide. Yes there's more to life than money but good neighbourhood, schools, holidays etc just comes down to money. If I have the potential to acheive that then I think I should go for it.
Thanks for the detailed reply, appreciate it. Lots to consider...
Disagree. A lot of people wish they could've dedicated their lives to music for a few years. Sure it closed some doors, but it was probably a critical part of your character development. I wouldn't see this a huge negative. Music is a beautiful thing.
This is just speculation. You also could've washed out and just as unhappy with yourself as you are now. Money is a drug and many people can't seem to find happiness no matter how much they make. We always tell ourselves we'll be happy when we hit a certain amount. In my experience that never really happens. You'd be surprised how insecure those high earning individuals are sometimes. Just look at the culture on WSO and Blind.
I don't know you so I don't judge harshly. I only want to warn you that this kind of thinking is dangerous. It's ok to want more money. But to discredit yourself simply because you don't make as much as you possibly have could seems unhealthy to me. I would really dig into why you feel this way. Did you have bad experiences with money as a child? A lot of kids get fucked up because they grew up poor and grow up not knowing how to balance their desire for money with everything else in life.
This hits home for me as I used to think the same. I really think you should let go of your past and accept two things.
1) you likely made choices to the best of your knowledge and level of maturity at the time.
2) Intelligence is really just a small part of your character that gets over emphasized in our youth.
Kids who focus too much on intelligence end up as very shitty adults sometimes, because they carry themselves on their wit and never develop grit. The real world is full of bullshit impeding our success yet has nothing to do with intelligence. Sometimes the smarter kid is the one who realizes that the world doesn't care if you are smart, but rather if you are practical, reliable, and deliver impact.
Forgive yourself for the level of maturity you had at the time. Intelligence is highly overrated and drives people to make poor assessments of themselves. I'm sure you've met a few pretty women who are crazy because they've always got the princess treatment. Well, smarts is the same double edged dagger.
Everyone has unlimited potential. I don't doubt you'll become a financier if you truly wanted to. I just don't think you've considered what you'd have to give up to get there. Try to be balanced in your decisions. Focusing just on money is like putting all your eggs in one basket. You need to diversify and lead a balanced life. I guarantee your kids would rather you spend more quality time and act as their role model than sending them to good schools and whatever else money will buy. Kids who have those things can still end up pretty screwed up.
Honestly, I'd wager you are doing great. You don't need to catch up to anyone. You just gotta be yourself.
Bumping this to say
1. Thanks, you were right! I've calmed down a lot about "maximising earnings", I think I was just in a new-dad phase of wanting to provide the best for the family, discovering the world of extremely well-paid high-finance jobs then realising it was probably too late to get in. Someone I work with just did the same thing - found out he was about to become a dad and instantly bailed out to get the highest paying job he could find. I told him don't worry, that phase soon passes!
2. I've taken a logical next step. I've managed to score a relatively well-paid FP&A role for a group which has just been taken over by a PE firm, and need a completely new FP&A team. I'm hoping once I've made a positive impact I can repeat the exercise for another PE acquisition or two, then use the combined experience to potentially move to a PE firm, although I know this is a long-shot. Worst-case scenario seems to be staying in senior FP&A roles, I like the work so that's not a bad option. Best case scenario...let's see what happens!
Cheers guys
Now that's a clever way of taking your context into account and positioning yourself for success! You didn't give up a single thing while opening a door that is exciting for you. Perhaps this will grow into a good niche for yourself, reorganizing financial controls for newly bought-out companies.
Congrats and genuinely happy for you.
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