30+ yr olds - advice to mid 20s?

1. have fun in nyc. Do shit you’ll never tell your wife about
2. Pay really accelerates if you stay on the path… then you invest it and at ~30 you’ll hopefully realize your investments are generating as IB analyst salary passively and this will be the first time you start to think in earnest “well I actually do have more flexibility than I thought”… pretty great feeling but also it’ll test your commitment
3. To get to the next level you need to invest time on your own to level up your skills. Just to use PE example… making sellside models, pulling comps and changing slides won’t prep you to be a great PE ASO. You need to do more to prep and hit the next desk hard / free up bandwidth to move on to the next set of skills as early as possible (investment judgement)
4. Network a ton but not in the lame way. Be social. Introduce people to each other. Be there for your fellow analysts when they are down… people remember and appreciate it.
5. Find 3 good mentors and try to emulate the parts you like most about them
6. Take the calls from the younger kids trying to be like you
7. Outlook for PE isn’t as rosey as it once was. We’re all struggling with this… but I still think a few years of investing is worth it to get the skillset if you’re into that
8. Don’t dunk on your VPs etc even if they suck as people… try to patch stuff up
9. Do an annual weekend trip with your friends from home/college. Don’t look down on them for having less demanding careers (easy to do this as a coping mechanism)… related but have friends outside of finance too.
10. Workout 3x a week even if it’s only 20mins a pop. Don’t need to be Ronnie Coleman in there… it can be Pilates, especially if you’re that dude
11. Find ways to become an interesting person. Talk about that. Nobody really cares about “your deal” which isn’t actually your deal… it’s the buyers deal. I did this as an analyst and now I cringe a little bit when I hear current analysts talk like this in passing (it’s an understanding cringe)
12. People want to help younger people more on average, I think it’s hardwired, so ask a lot while you’re young
13. Do a trip with your parents in mid 20s even if it costs you couple Gs… none of us are getting any younger and time can really fly on the path

Have lots and lots of 

Because girls are at the prime peak of appearance 

I'm late 20s but I'll bite.

• Ride the highs and the lows. There will be tough stretches during your analyst years and beyond. Remember that they will eventually pass, and that the hardest moments are often the most formative. My hardest project was the one I learned the most from.
• Be explicit about your goals. Staffing can’t read your mind. The best opportunities I got -- in and outside of work -- came from reflecting on what I wanted, identifying opportunities that could offer it, and actively seeking out those opportunities.
• Know the tradeoffs. These jobs offer a steep learning curve and rapid growth -- but it will cost you in other ways. Learn to prioritize what matters most. As Scott Galloway says: you can have it all… just not all at once.
• Don't chase the "right" path. There is no one script. Success, happiness, and fulfillment come from applying one’s own intrinsic passion and talents to a pursuit, and the right path for one may be the wrong path for another. (E.g., don't recruit for PE just because everyone else is... speaking from experience)
• Fight complacency. If you're feeling stuck, do something about it. The worst combo is feeling unmotivated and doing nothing. Burnout brews in that gap. Complacency is death.
• Invest in people. The network of your firm and your analyst class is a superpower. Use it. DM people. Grab coffee. And make sure to pay it forward. Also, your analyst class is one of the best parts of this job. Don’t take it for granted.

• Use the benefits. My firm offered unlimited teletherapy appointments for $5 a visit. Been going to therapy for 2 years now. My firm gave us free money to buy a phone, but a lot of people didn't know about it and/or were lazy and would pay out of pocket.

  To expand on the career vs. life thing. You need to think about if you are a person who lives to work or works to live. Do you want a meaningful, purposeful, impactful career, or do you want to clock out at 5pm every day and have protected weekends? The two aren't 100% mutually exclusive, but in many roles you are often you are trading impact & compensation for balance & stability. To quote Scott Galloway again, "Balance in my 50s was the result of not having it in my 20s and 30s" and "The arc of your professional trajectory is disproportionately set in the first 2-3 years out of college"

  Also: if you hate working in finance/consulting, take your bag and leave! I invested aggressively in my 3 years in consulting and was able to hit $300k NW at 26 (granted, was very lucky to not have any loans). I can never save another cent, and with a 7% return, I'll have a comfortable retirement at 65. That gave me a lot of flexibility to be able to quit consulting and take a pay cut to work in spaces I'm much more interested in.
   

The real answer is that you need to take control of your life and make this decision yourself. 

You rightly pointed out the tradeoff between WLB and money. 

I don’t want to sound cringe, but there are lots of opportunities out there to make money outside of W2 and improve your WLB significantly. 

I’m on a similar path myself and currently freelancing at 3x my W2 $ rate. But ideally, you would want to create a company (easy now with AI) and gain total freedom. 

I would say, having had some health issues and seeing others around me, the most important thing is your health. If you work until 4am every day, and end up developing a disease, you can’t get it bad. Health issues a treasure only visible to those who don’t have it. 

Second, relationships & social skills. Important for both happiness and business. 

A potential escape if you want to grind and not feel like you miss out on life would be to take a gap year after a few years in finance. It would give you the opportunity to discover the world, but also think about your life. 

Btw in terms of IB/PE, I think we all know that many junior roles will be eliminated imminently so I would prepare for that new AI world. 

Note: as you can guess, I left IB. I couldn’t justify the hours and lost interest in the job. 

Don’t end up as a 40yo with a single autistic 2yo kid. Seeing the chubby, bald and/or gray 40+ year olds at the playground huffing and puffing trying to keep up with their only child toddler is peak cringe. Simply pathetic.

Put marriage and family first as you start to get into your late 20s