Too Old for IB at 34? Exploring the Big 4 TAS Pivot
I am seeking advice on breaking into investment banking at 34, following a non-traditional career path. My background is unconventional, and while I understand the challenges, I am determined to make this transition successfully.
I graduated from the University of Miami with a degree in Economics in 2013. During my undergraduate years, I completed multiple investment banking internships at boutique firms to position myself for a career in finance. However, my parents strongly pushed me toward medicine, and I ultimately pursued a post-baccalaureate pre-medical program at Columbia University from 2014 to 2017. Despite completing the program, I faced financial and emotional obstacles that prevented me from continuing on the medical path.
In 2021, I underwent kidney stone surgery, which was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. By 2022, I became a licensed real estate agent in California, but I quickly realized that it was not the right long-term career path for me. Recognizing my strong interest in finance and investment banking, I have since enrolled in WSO Academy to strengthen my job candidacy and gain relevant skills.
I have tried cold emailing, networking through LinkedIn, and applying to MBA/MSF programs, but none have led to a successful outcome. Given my background, I have been advised that the best path to breaking into IB is through Big 4 Transaction Advisory Services (TAS). The suggested plan is to secure a TAS role, gain experience in financial due diligence and M&A, and then pivot into investment banking after one or two years.
I am looking for insight from those who have made a similar transition. Specifically, I would like to know:
- Is Big 4 TAS the best way for someone in my position to break into IB?
- What are the best strategies for securing a Big 4 TAS role without prior full-time finance experience?
- Have others successfully made this pivot, and if so, what were the key steps?
I appreciate any insights or advice that can help me navigate this transition. Thank you in advance for your feedback.
Breaking in is not achievable for you. Would focus on trying to do corporate finance / FP&A and make your way to the C-Suite of a middle market company
So it is just not possible for me, no matter what?
You left out your true experience and background so can’t say for certain but you did say you have no prior relevant experience.
You’re 34. Nobody is going to take a 35+ year old analyst. You have a 0% shot at any name brand, reputable firm. You have a 1% shot at a no name boutique given your education and if you can spin any experience as relevant.
Also for TAS (I did this route) you need prior accounting experience and a CPA. No big four will hire you straight into TAS. You need 2-3 audit busy seasons. They also have a pipeline of 25 year olds with 2-3 years of direct audit and tax experience.
Unfortunately this career path is beyond you and would suggest getting comfortable with that fact and moving on. Sorry to be blunt and harsh
I get it—34 is old for IB, and the odds are terrible. I also get that no reputable firm is hiring a 35-year-old analyst, and that Big 4 TAS isn’t a realistic entry point without audit experience or a CPA. I appreciate the bluntness.
That said, I’m not some random guy with zero finance experience trying to “manifest” my way into IB. I actually did multiple IB internships at boutique firms (New Century Capital Partners and Cappello Group) back in 2014. Worked on M&A transactions, financial modeling, due diligence, and market research. I also spent years networking, cold emailing, applying to MBA/MSF programs, and getting ignored. None of it has worked.
So yeah, I know I’m not walking into a name-brand firm. But I refuse to believe that every boutique bank in existence would turn me down purely because of my age. It’s not like I’m showing up with a resume full of irrelevant jobs and no technical skills—I have some experience, I’ve taken WSO Academy, FMVA courses, and kept my skills sharp.
If Big 4 TAS is dead without audit, fine. But there are guys who’ve gotten into IB through valuation firms (Duff & Phelps, Stout, BDO, etc.), corporate finance, or FP&A, then lateraled in. Is that still a viable path, or is literally every single door closed for someone in my position?
If the answer is just “move on,” fine, I’ll hear it. But I want to know if any realistic options exist outside of “you’re too old, give up.”
Anything is possible and sounds like you’re pretty determined.
I would just keep expectations low. Even if you started a valuations role tomorrow, by the time you could pivot you’d be 36.
Nobody is going to hire a 36 year old analyst I’m sorry. A 36 year old analyst is a tough sell, a 36 year old associate with no true IB experience is even harder. You can spin your internships but assuming those were 10+ years ago, likely irrelevant.
The worst that can happen is you get told no and move on. Might as well keep trying but I would say your time is better served elsewhere
I appreciate the response. I’m not delusional—I get that a 36-year-old analyst is a tough sell and that even an associate role at that point would be almost impossible. The internships were a decade ago, and I know that in IB, if it's not recent, it might as well not exist.
That being said, the way I see it, there are only two paths left:
I’m not looking for false hope—I just want to make sure that if I’m going to spend the next year trying to force this, it’s not a total waste of time. If the general consensus is that no amount of networking, experience, or persistence will change the outcome, then yeah, I’ll cut my losses and move on.
But if there’s even a small opening—whether that’s through valuation, corporate finance, or a boutique bank willing to take a chance—I’ll keep pushing. Worst case, I get told "no" one more time, and at least I know I tried everything.
If IB is completely off the table, then what realistic options are out there for someone with my background? If you were in my position, what would you do?
"I'm not here to give you false hope."
Look, my guy, I'm not trying to beat a dead horse here as you've put in the effort.
I don’t want to discredit your experience, I'm sure you do bring something to the table, but the reality is that when hiring managers review your resume, they won’t be viewing it favorably given your age.
When firms hire analysts and associates, they typically look for one of three profiles and don't forget, 99% of these individuals are all younger than you on average by 7-10 years:
The challenge is that, fairly or unfairly, your experience and resume doesn’t clearly fit into any of these categories, which makes you an easy pass when firms have plenty of strong candidates in each bucket knocking on their doors.
With that being said I would sort of accept my fate at this point and go down the FP&A route, nothing wrong with that. If you have a 'killer' mentality and grind you can easily climb the corporates ladder and it may end up being better for you in the longer term (5-7 years) rather than tunnel visioning into banking / adjacent fields
I remember when I was trying to break into finance, I would hear all of these rules people set on here. “You can’t break into x firm because you come from a non-target, etc.” The reality is WSO is a toxic place for the people to take out their frustration from their job on people here. I used to be discouraged and even began to count myself out of opportunities because of the things people were telling me. Take everything you hear on here with the most enormous grain of salt, as it’s most likely BS. You can break in. It may not be the picture perfect path that you may be envisioning, but you can manage. It’s a marathon, not a race.
I think I read your post on here some time ago as well. Anyway, I want to say that growing a career in let's say FP&A is very different to breaking into IB. Personally, have FP&A experience which (so far) didn't land me a job in IB. This being said, I suggest to genuinely understand which career path you want, because FP&A is different to IB, even in terms of knowledge required. A regular FP&A person will be rather clueless when having to do a valuation etc. it's just not the muscle that is used on the job (at least in my company). The more you know the better, but FP&A is different and much easier to break in, just target smaller companies, not F500.
What's your actual work experience? Is there anything finance related (full-time, not college internships) before being a real estate agent? No offense but even the jobs that you are viewing as less competitive like TAS or corporate finance are going to be tough as a full pivot at 34. Why hasn't applying to MBA programs worked out? Would be the easiest way to get a shot at some structured recruiting.
The problem is that I lack full time work experience, any experience, aside from those IB Internships from 2014. Between 2015-2017, I was enrolled in Columbia's Post Bac Pre Med Program.
MBA's require work experience, which I don't have. And I never worked as a real estate agent, I only earned my real estate licence.
What have you done since 2022 to pay the bills? And what did you do from 2017 to 2021?
Not sure if this is real… but there are certainly some MBA programs that would take you and that could place into regional IBs.
Do you personally know of such MBA programs that do not require work experience? If so, could you care to name a few?
Chat GPT generated answer.
1️⃣ Realistic MBA Programs That Accept Candidates Without Work Experience & GMAT
✔ WUSTL (Washington University in St. Louis) Olin MBA – Offers GMAT waivers and takes early-career applicants.
✔ Babson College (Olin MBA) – Entrepreneurship-focused, no GMAT required.
✔ University of Illinois Gies MBA – Online MBA with no GMAT requirement.
✔ Rutgers MBA – Has waived GMAT in recent years, accepts some candidates without work experience.
✔ DePaul Kellstadt MBA – Often accepts applicants without work experience and waives GMAT.
🚨 Best Shot? WUSTL Olin MBA – They actively recruit non-traditional applicants and offer strong finance courses.
2️⃣ Is an MBA Even Worth It for You?
💡 If your goal is IB, a low-tier MBA won’t help you.
If you can’t get into a top 25 MBA with an IB pipeline, you’re better off skipping the MBA entirely and going straight for:
✔ Valuation (Duff & Phelps, Stout, BDO, Big 4 TAS) → Then lateral into IB.
✔ Corporate Development (In-House M&A for a Company) → Less competitive than IB.
At 34 we have senior directors and junior MDs at my bank. And while I am not one to make a huge deal about age it will be hard for you in the bullpen w a bunch of 20 something’s when the boss your age goes home at 7 or 8pm and expects you in the office all night turning comments.
After reading your profile, my thoughts are instead of going from 0 to 100mph trying to make it in IB you should leverage at least some of your professional experience and look at corporate jobs in the healthcare sector
Go Big 4, forget America & maybe set your sights on London IB—with relevant years of fulltime TAS/M&A experience at Big 4–ish, IB is doable in that geography. A prestigious master's in Europe (oxford/INSEAD/LBS) with a CV that sticks to the most relevant IB internships of the past can make another IB internship opportunity in London hypothetically possible. If you're not ready to move to London (& you'll be competing with master's students from the entirety of Europe} – like everyone else is saying – forget about IB in America
Many of the advice on here isn't too far off. Age will play a part, but you have to look at it from the employer's viewpoint too. Our age (I am older) will be a factor along with education and work experience. Many students graduating from top schools are also struggling to find work.
That being said, instead of hypotheticals, get into Big4 first and begin there. I've met quite a handful of consultants from EY offices who had people in their early 40s starting as Audit Associates. It is a good place to start since you do not have a solid work history. Plus, who knows? You might like audit.
We do not know the future either or how the landscape will change in investment banking (finance altogether), but one cannot simply go from 0-100 for a high salary with the current resume profile. There is no easy path to success. I'd work on diversifying your searches though, since it will not hurt at all. Not going to lie, I like the hours my friends in FP&A are working.
it seems like you've already gotten some good advice but just keep asking the same question. nothing is impossible, but your case is nigh improbable to say the least. there's not much more people can say, if you fancy your chances go for it, but the RR at your age is pretty poor. you seem like you're just looking more for a well paying job/career and there are other paths to that.
could you please suggest some alternatives.
Whether or not it’s possible — why? Joining IB as an analyst at 22 is already becoming a less pristine trade off every year, if you could theoretically join as an analyst at 34, why would you want to … cons are way worse especially health wise I imagine you will be fucked. exits will be worse as well because a) your background will be less desirable even if you come from the same bank and b) many of these exits are low probability shots at very high upside through things like realized carry at PE firm etc, becomes less likely and less worth the risk the older you are
Why would you want to work 100 hrs a week as 34 year old for paycheck that will honestly barely cover NY cost of living while miserable, surrounded by superiors (associates VPs even maybe MDs) who are younger than you. Will be much harder to be pulling these hours as VP/MD if you did make it that far to finally pull in the big bucks — look at the hairline of avg 30yo career banker
I've heard of MBA associates starting their career in their early to mid 30's, but I'm not an MBA associate, so I guess that doesn't apply to me- but I digress.
Plus, bankers make heaps of money, how could they earn so little to barely cover the costs of living in NY?
yea MBAs come in as asso, most are more like 28, and even most of them hate it since A2As r like 24
junior level bankers do not make that much, esp in the current market and also esp since you won’t be able to recruit to an eb — weak MM is going to pay you $160k all in at an1 at least nowadays, NY cost of living is insane, you won’t save any money
I hate to rain on your parade, but since everyone else is beating around the bush, no remotely reputable bank/B4 will hire you. Not because you’re 34, but because you’re 34 and have no real work experience. Sorry dude but your situation is weird, you’re middle aged and haven’t even had a real job (being a “real estate agent” doesn’t count if you didn’t ever close a deal). Wish you the best and seems like you’ve had a hard lot but IB is not gonna happen, there are interns in BBs that were born when you were in high school and have more relevant experience than you.
Would try to get into any MSF/MBA and take any corporate job you can get. Good luck n sorry for the negativity but you need to hear it
I’ve tried applying to MBA/MSF programs and I still haven’t had any luck.
Del
Worst WSO academy promo I’ve seen in a bit
This has nothing to do with WSO academy, it has to do with the fact that my career opportunties are severely limited, as the window has already closed.
That’s just not remotely accurate.
The window has closed for jobs with a well defined pipeline into relatively guaranteed high professional comp — that’s just the reality.
But that’s a tiny fraction of the jobs available in the world. Pretending that your career options are “severely limited” is absurd. There’s a giant universe of things you can go do. Most of them will never pay $500k, but that is what it is — you currently make zero. You’re never made any money. You have no realistic path to $500k without taking a lot of risk or putting in your own capital. But there are a whole lot of paths get a job and make more than zero.
If you are legitimately social / personable, maybe you could look into a job in Sales, Wealth Management, or being an insurance broker. If you were willing to work IB hours in one of these types of firms, you could have an extremely outsized end result, albeit it would likely take more time than your expectations. And, depending on what you didnt like about real estate, you may or may not feel similarly about this roles.
Could potentially laterally one of these into an mid-tier MBA or something too, especially if you were willing to work to get a great GMAT.
The paths that you listed have very traditional entry points, which is what makes it harder, especially for someone with your (lack of) experience. But there are many jobs that have the potential to be well paying if you are willing to work hard.
If you still want B-school, you could incorporate a business and try to apply again by presenting yourself as a real estate agent looking for a change.
Full time MBA is the only realistic path. You'd be on the older side
Not to hijack this thread but would the same apply to me? I'm 25 currently doing my CPA (equivalent).
I'll be 28 and I appreciate that's fairly old but I can possibly get into a transactions team in a year from now.
You're 25 who is currently working on your CFA, and you plan to pivot into TAS a year from now? By 28, you will have enough work experience to apply to an MBA program, and you could potentially pivot into IB as an Associate.
Because I don't want to:
a) Clog up the forum with another career post when this post seems to be pretty relevant to my comment.
b) Hopefully gives other people reading who may be having the same queries an answer without having to create their own post or search somewhere else for it.
c) No, I plan to transition into Corporate Finance M&A at a Big 4, not TAS.
I'm even older but considering doing an MBA associate summer next year for GS/MS. I know MDs who can get me the interviews, but even if am given an offer I am hesitant as I think I want a more low hours job. I need a lot of sleep and being a MS/GS IB associate wouldn't give me a lot of sleep. I've been booked for the last 8 years in healthcare so finance and moving was out of the question which is why I'm applying as an old old candidate.
OK so a lot of people on this website are commenting solely from an IB perspective, understandably so. I previously worked in FDD, am currently at a Big 4, and generally understand the hiring practices. Unlike many here, I actually think you could have an outside shot of getting in, especially if you're willing to grind out a couple of years in audit.
Instead of applying to an MSF/MBA, I would apply to a Masters of Accounting or just be qualified to sit for the CPA exam. Doing a masters is the easiest way, but could be slightly more expensive if that's an issue. It also gives you access to the recruiting pipeline. You might even be able to swing not getting a masters these days (I believe CPA has rolled back 5th year requirements in many states), but I do think you'd lose out on the recruiting pipeline by not going through a program. Plus, you'll have to pound the pavement independently with networking, which isn't always easy. Once you get your masters and can prove you can pass the CPA, you surely will get a job in audit and could potentially get a job in FDD if you're good right away. Otherwise, do audit for a couple of years and lateral to another firm for FDD. Then from FDD, you might be able to move into a boutique IB or lateral as an associate if the market is good/you're lucky and able to prove your worth in interviews.
What I will say though is that you really need to have a coherent story on what you've been doing, why you've done what you have so far, and otherwise give a hiring manager comfort about why they can trust you won't bail during busy season. Trust me dude, audit sucks ass and while FDD is slightly better, it has a lot of the bullshit of IB without the pay or exits. Big 4 want somebody who is resilient and willing to power through adversity. I haven't fully read through the comments here, but that seems to be a concern others have based on your replies. Whether fair or not, I won't be surprised if a hiring manager would have the same issues.
I'd be prepared to talk through all this and it'll still be a slog, but this could be the path to pursue if you're willing to grind it out. You'll be closer to late-30s when all is said and done, but better late than never, right?
Given how the economy is and the landscape with high-interest rate environment, Big4 Audit is a solid footstep for anyone in their 30s and 40s wanting to transition into a business environment as a whole. FDD/TAS are just icing on the cake once someone is able to pay their dues.
Also, regarding MS Accounting programs, WGU has a fully online cost-effective program that will allow CPA exam qualifications if costs are an issue. I think regarding Big4 is concerned, they just want people qualified to sit for the exam right?
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