Looking To Find My Fit

I’m posting this because I just came off a stint in the PMD Program at Merrill Lynch and it turned out it was not a fit. I have all my securities licenses. I’m looking for advice for career direction and this time around I’m looking for the best fit/culture given my natural network and skills.

My background and situation:

- Age and personality: 25yrs old, very aggressive and analytically inclined, very strong in building tight personal connections over time

- Former Division 1 athlete for popular sports school

- Finance/Investments/Banking BBA 3.5 Cum GPA

- Strong interest in the market (been investing since I was 15)

- Originally wanted to be in the Hedge/PE fund industry but lacking experience currently.

- Dad is worth 8 figures however very little of that wealth is in the marketable securities. Primarily in Real Estate, Oil and Gas Partnerships, privately owned business’ both individually and in partnerships, and high risk Venture Capital deals

- Want to build credibility and respect on my own so went into the PMD program at Merrill Lynch as first job instead of working with family. Loved the job aside from being structured the wrong way. Everyone tried to take advantage of my connections and had little actual concern for helping me. Didn’t have the integrity to try and bring personal connections in the front door thinking that I wouldn’t be there in a year to help service them. Wound up playing gatekeeper to my connections and resigned after the company wouldn’t allow me to work straight commission. I was a sponge and soaked up every piece of information I could and loved learning what I did.

- Dad’s best friend is interested in getting his 9 figure real estate portfolio liquid. I structured a hybrid PE fund idea where these guys become the GP’s of their own fund by rolling their liquid shares into a fund and then use structured finance to borrow against at 1.7% to do more deals along with outside investors. They are interested in this idea but aren’t completely sold on it.

- Have other large deals that I’m connected to in the pipeline. One business owner acquaintance with revs close to 1.5B has discussed possibility of a liquidity event. Also, Dad has discussed doing a large real estate deal in excess of 250M through some personal connections.

- Thinking long term would like to start a family holding company as well as a PE/Hedge fund along side it to expand and grow current business’ and do deals however I’m still young so need to be under someone’s umbrella of credibility. Would ideally like to do this while working at my next company while building valuable skills/credibility then eventually move full time over to family company.

- Thought about MBA at Ivy League, investment banking, real estate departments at bulge brackets, Private Wealth Management at other firms such as Goldman or JP Morgan, Private Equity firms or hedge funds.

Looking for advice on what direction to look into and pursue to build my skills and credibility while capitalizing on my opportunities through my personal connections. Surrounded by a broad range of opportunity just need to figure out how I can benefit from it. Not looking to use my personal connections to get someone else whom I don’t know/trust rich however don’t mind compensating people at company for genuine help especially if it makes my personal connections more money. Looking for someone with lots of finance industry knowledge or experience to point me in the right direction. Thanks for any help anyone here can offer. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.