Inheriting~75m USD, No Motivation - What Job to Do Next?
I am completely at a loss for what to do career wise.
I went to a very good US undergrad (top tier ivy) and did 5 years (ECM / DCM) at a tier 1 bank. I’m not American and want to live overseas to be closer to my family, so I chose to attend one of the best business schools outside of the U.S.
The country I live in does not have capital gains tax, so I can comfortably live with the ~75m USD inheritance amount for the rest of my life (and of course even if there was tax).
For background, all the money is in a trust of which I am the sole beneficial owner. There are no restrictions to usage, and I’m not a flashy person at all, so all my spending is on traveling and hobbies (I own a cheap used car, no watches, and live in a fairly modest apartment - always had roommates too).
My question is what am I going to do with my career? Have you seen other rich kids with some early career success completely flame out? Honestly, I am a very lazy person but when I was younger I was obsessed with prestige so worked super hard just for the external validation. My father had a terrible education background and got lucky with a business that he then later sold, so my family always pushed me to pursue education / corporate when I was younger given it was not something in their path. I aimed for ECM / DCM precisely because I was scared of classic IBD hours and thought the role was "good enough" prestige wise. I still burned out so dabbled in a tech start up but without structure and a boss telling me what to do - I pretty much didn’t do anything and had very little drive.
I’m not rich enough to have a real family office and have no family business to go into. I don’t really have any marketable hobbies, so can’t easily turn any passion into a job. I don’t have the work ethic to really run a start up, so I’m really at a lost and worried what I will do post MBA.
As absurd as it sounds, I’m worried about sense of purpose and of external validation - I don’t want to be known as a rich kid who does nothing all day. But on the other hand, I don’t care enough to actually work in a corporate anymore - and I feel like I have this terrible attitude that I’m “wasting” my pedigree and work experience that I’ve accumulated. Because of this, I haven't looked for "easy" corporate jobs and even then the idea of going to a corporate 9-5 seems daunting.
I’ve thought about managing some family real estate (but again, this isn’t really big enough to be a job it’s just 10 or so units and it’s really just collecting rent). I’ve thought about doing angel investing / “VC” - but again I’m not rich enough to do anything beyond say 5-10m usd in super risky investments so it seems a bit conceited to call myself a “VC”.
What is a socially acceptable job for anyone who has seen folks in this net worth? What would you do?
Become a professional poker player!
Imagine having $75mm and you decide to go grind $1/2 live for 80 hours a week lol
I get what you mean lol. You have to start somewhere to develop game sense tho and def don't have to grind for 80 from the get-go. I'd say you only have to stay at 1/2 stakes for 3-6 months unless you're genuinely bad and can't get into a rhythm. Can meet a lot of interesting people when you escalate to 2/5 and 5/10. Last month I was playing 5/10 with the Founder/CEO of a mid-size company owned by a UMM firm regularly talked about on here & his wife, along with a famous DJ known for his love of trading cards & his wife. And scenarios like that happen 3-4x a month if you're getting invited to high quality private games.
I think you really have to love the game to do this. I would do this. I just timed out on KQo to write this damn. Currently in 3 tourneys.
There's a meaningful difference between cash game and tournament pros, but yeah, obviously only works if you genuinely enjoy the game.
You don’t have to call yourself anything.
Just invest into a variety of bonds, real estate, and private companies, depending on your risk profile.
Doesn’t matter what is socially acceptable. You could take a year long vacation with passive income and could potentially get bored. And then your work motivation might be back.
So, just invest and explore some hobbies and countries. Work to live not live to work.
If you have $75mm I wouldn't be looking at any sort of a conventional career, ie. working for someone else. Finance is a means to an end, and that end is cash... and you now have that cash.
Starting a family office or running your own VC is a great way to light $75mm on fire if you're not passionate about it. I would only take this route if I really was interested in investing seriously as forget about prestige with this route unless you turn out to be in the 1% of investors and can spin your fund up over the next decade or two.
You mention that you have no passions that could be turned into marketable skills. Sure, because you have been chasing prestige your whole life so far. Take some time off to just live and figure out what you like. No, don't stay at home, go travel, go learn. Maybe you end up going back to school to do a Masters and PhD, maybe you find out your lazy hobby of playing video games lends you to want to stream for fun, etc.
It sounds like while you have accumulated work experience which is valuable, and won't be a "waste" even if you never pursue finance in the future again, (you'd be surprised where you will apply this knowledge in the future) you lack perspective and self understanding. Go work on the Self for a year and come back to this, I'm sure you will have a better sense of direction and will see a path to more meaning than external validation by a small few who you have been competing with.
Framed another way, I don't think Cristiano Ronaldo cares about any family office investment manager, yet I would say Ronaldo receives a whole lot more of external validation from more diverse crowds.
Alternatively, give me half and I can help externally validate whether you're living a good life or not.
Man why would you care about external validation if you have $75 million?
Congratulations. It sounds like you already have a pretty mature perspective. You have already "proven" yourself, with your academic credentials and 5 yrs of work experience. Given this newfound freedom, I would not worry about that. I would plan to spend 1-2% annually, invest conventionally/conservatively to let the rest compound, and spend a lot of time with my family. It sounds like you're ~29ish. If you're not married, taking a serious approach to finding the right person (and getting a pre-nup) is probably the most impactful thing for your happiness in the long run now. Parenting may not be on your radar near term, but it changes life a lot and takes up a lot of time. In terms of applying yourself / getting bored, VC/angel stuff would not be for me. Philanthropy, and (depending on the dynamics of your home country) politics would suit my interests much better. Perhaps getting involved in education at a prep school, or helping ambitious kids figure out how to get to the US / wall street like you did. But I would take your time if I was you, and when you move back home get the vibes from your family around what they are hoping is in your future. They don't own your choices, but hopefully its a net positive (some families are great, others are toxic).
You don't need more $ to run a family office.
One of my friends created a family office with his father, capital in the fund is shared with another family (one of his father's long term busines partners). Not entirely sure on the money they manage but it's definitely less than yours, in the $20-40M range. And they've done very well for themselves in terms of returns.
His father didn't even finish high school so it's not like he's some ex-PE partner or some Ivy big shot. Develop some self confidence. Agree with the other poster, why in the f*** would you want to be another corporate drone with this type of windfall.
It is genuinely sad that someone with 75m is worried about what meaningless low level office job to take to find fulfillment in life.
You can literally do anything and you chose the corporate cube.
Open a restaurant. Hire an amazing chef and a good manager so that you don't have to be there all the time. Stop by and check in whenever you want and make rounds with the regulars. You will be admired/loved and maybe one day you could get a Michelin Star.
Also, if you go this route, give out a lot of equity as you can afford to do so or employ profit sharing with top management or even everybody. Change the way the traditional restaurant model exists and incentivize everyone to give top notch customer service, high quality product, and overall customer experience.
If you're not going to be there that much, profit sharing will get everyone moving as it is coming out of their pocket. Everyone will want a job there. You will be the hero of the restaurant and the community.
Disclaimer: Never said opening a restaurant would be easy. You might have to put in some time initially to get things going. Could be a lot of time to start things.
I don't know if this is the route, no offense but many successful restaurants already have slim margins (15-20%). This would literally be him supporting a restaurant and lighting money on fire and due to the size of the restaurant could easily cost him a few hundred k a year to run if things do not go well.
Even if it was just break even with local, honest, fresh food that people liked … I think it would be worth it.
Just enjoy your life and see what makes you happy
Book a 6 month trip to Europe. Spend a month each in Spain, France, Italy, Germany, England, & Greece. Stay at fantastic places, drink fantastic wine, work out on the beach, hook up with gorgeous women, and for six days of the week, just enjoy life a little.
Then, once a week, you pull out a notebook, and you write down things you think would be cool to do. Every couple weeks, flip back and re-read what you’ve read. Cross out dumb shit. Circle good ideas.
By the time you come back to the States, you will have fantastic stories and be fully decompressed from the corporate bullshit mentality. You will have an idea of what to do.
Damn. Bravo dude. Jealous as hell of that idea!
I'd add Thailand and Nepal to the list. The beaches/ocean in Thailand and the Himalayas in Nepal are both fantastic for self-introspection and discovery.
Admittedly haven't been to Asia outside of Singapore. I'll take your word for it. I'm hoping to get to Japan in a year or two.
Would add a few other more exotic locations too (Taiwan, Malaysia, Nepal, South Africa, Mexico), if he's down for a world expedition.
I’d say join a more interesting job like McKinsey
i worked at McKinsey a definitely had a few colleagues with 50m+.
that could open door to working with some small CEOs and dabbling in lower MM later
that’s what I’d do
McKinsey folks try to act like they are some old money types, mostly just douchey
Your advice to someone with $75M in the bank is to work long hours being a corporate ghoul who never creates anything or benefits anyone but instead provides overpriced cover for coward CEOs who can’t make independent decisions?
This is easily the worst advice in this thread. OP could do anything and your recommendation is to be a fucking management consultant? 😂
rofl right???
Your positions has a lot of risks that I don’t think many on this forum have dealt with.
The number one risk is your sense of self and identity. I have seen this happen to a few people once money is no longer a constraint, they end up becoming a slave to their addictions (drugs, women, gambling, booze etc) because no one taught them how to deal with their demons (related but different is the stories of lottery winners who blow it all).
I think it’s rooted in our psychology, windfalls feel great upfront and then rapidly decay, leading to people chasing this feeling and feeling empowered to do so.
I you sound like you have some demons around pride (prestige chasing) and sloth (not willing to work hard), to me it means you’re not driven by an anxiety of failure, which again to me, makes you susceptible to ending up addicted to things (you are PULLED TO good things and aren’t PUSHED FROM bad things).
the good news is, if you can carefully cultivate an interest in the arts (literature, art, music, mathematics, academics etc), you could find a career somewhere as a professor. This gives you prestige in the eyes of people, while also being flexible and allows you to chase things you might like, you also avoid the pitfall of most professors (being poor).
that would be my advice.
Being a professor purely for the prestige is the single dumbest thing I have ever heard. There is nothing more lame than that. Let those who are passionate about teaching or research do that.
Professors need PhDs lol
I would take a step back, analyze your interests and see where they intersect with business. Then I would take 73 of that 75 million and put it in safe investments. Take the remaining two and go on the hunt to buy a business with something in your area of interest or adjacent to it. Know going in that you will likely light that $2M on fire but think of it more as a learning experience rather than something that needs to generate a return. Buy the business in all cash, don't take debt on it after the purchase, and spend at least 2 years working on it.
This might sound insane but what it will do is completely change your brain. Running a business makes you think entirely differently. Doing a start up or being in PE are entirely different situations to running an operating business and trying to make all of that work. You will learn more than you did in your MBA and if you are any good you will end up making profit and you can sell flat if you want to after the two years. This will let you know if you want to take the next step and buy something bigger and really go all in on being a business owner or if you want to just kick back and chill.
I think you could enjoy getting involved in philanthropy for the social aspect. You don’t need to give a crazy amount but once you’re on their radar you get invited to a bunch of stuff that could fill up your calendar. You also get to meet a lot of cool interesting people, ask them about their projects, and help them bring ideas to life.
I donated a very small amount to my college this year and immediately got invited to a ton of events for that department. If I didn’t have a job I would definitely attend. The events are guest lectures from top physicists, and they have a dinner or gala after. Good way to still feel like you’re in the game and contributing, but you don’t have to do any actual work.
This is also the perfect opportunity to discover your true passions. I love the arts and outdoors and would spend much of my time traveling and appreciating beauty if I didn’t have to work. I have quite reasonable hours, so I am very fortunate to do that a fair amount already. Take a long vacation to relax without any deadlines, and explore things you’ve never tried before. I’m sure there will be some realization eventually where your perspective on “what we are meant to be doing” fully crystallizes. It’s nearly impossible to think seriously while employed.
Thank you for your comment. I agree, I have donated a small amount to my undergrad and already have been getting a lot of invites to a lot of high profile events. Unfortunately, they are all in the US so it's a bit too far for me to travel. I am doing my MBA at a country way closer to home, and part of the reason was to have affiliation with a school where I can give back and hopefully be very involved with as an alumni.
I know a kid like you, he does cocaine, plays golf, gets drunk every day and while he has good stories his life is completely vapid
I'm going to challenge the premise, that you need a job. if I were you, I'd do some soul searching and make as few decisions as possible about your money in the short term. do the camino del santiago/equivalent in your faith, get more involved in your local community al the while maintaining the same optics, try new hobbies, and so on.
all the while, you must ask yourself "would 18 year old me be proud of the person I am today?" I stole this from nassim taleb, but it's a great heuristic to see if you're a bullshitter or not. I have a feeling 18yo you would be ashamed if you had financial freedom but still worked like a slave, he'd probably be proud of you for trying to be intentional, not materialistic, and concerned about putting the funds to good use, you just have to define what good is for you
what I would do personally is learn/do things I always wanted to learn but never had the time - woodworking/carpentry, I'd surf all over the world, see if I can audit classes in advanced math at my local uni, train shitloads of BJJ, volunteer a lot, and use my resources to sponsor things that are important to me. this can be bootstrapping businesses, being charitable, starting scholarships, whatever, but I wouldn't put myself out there as a philanthropist because people are just going to leech off of you. I'd just do whatever I felt like with as simple of a set up as possible (e.g. no foundation, too complex) and as disguised as possible (wouldn't want my name on anything)
the most important thing however is to find a woman who loves you for you, so likely the first couple of years of your relationship you'll have to hide your resources, pretend you work in the family business and are doing well but not as well as you actually are, fly coach or premium economy, have a cracked iphone, stuff like that
It's interesting hearing about various amounts of money and what people think the best way to spend it is. To invest or leisure or anything. Also, I think it is notable that Elon Musk had $180M IIRC and risked it all. The balls on that guy.
What kind of lifestyle are you looking for? Investing in safe assets (5% IRR), you can make 3.75m per year, or 312.5k/mo (pre-tax, so conservatively half that) which is probably more than enough to fund a lavish lifestyle and ensure generational wealth
Anyone else read this with an Indian accent?
time to get into politics bro, become a senator and shit, its a good life if you have money
f-politics bro you serious??? haha
View from someone currently in the single family office world. Anyone who thinks you can't run a family office with $75MM in investable assets is wrong - larger family offices (in my experience) have far less interesting jobs than those that cut $500K-$5MM checks, which you'd be in a position to do. If you enjoy a specific area, mold a thesis around it and get to work, and if you like socializing (despite the laziness), family offices love sharing deal flow. You can live a life pursuing all of your hobbies and interests while managing your SFO, with enough $ to hire a CIO and an Analyst. Have a very analogous situation - happy to discuss by PM.
Midlife crisis, go get a therapist, and a good one that specializes in clients like yourself. I think that would honestly do you better than any comments on a form.
After speaking with a therapist you might decide to buy some more real estate and turn that into something. You may go work for an easier corporate role, or maybe you’ll dabble in the art world somewhere investing. Regardless of what you choose I’m confident that after speaking with someone to talk through your feelings you will find something you enjoy doing.
On another note if you happen to want to invest in a fun startup targeting developed unregulated markets and feature high social impact investments I’d be happy to introduce you to some founders who could give you purpose and use 5-10m in seed or series A.
Put away 50-75% of it in a place that you can't touch and where it will grow on it's own. Live luxuriously off of the dividends don't mean flashy brands or sports cars, get the life experience that you have access to that others don't; there is freedom with this kind of wealth that many people dream of. Travel to places that you'd never think of going to. Spend a year or two finding your purpose in life through travel, education, reading. Get a PHD? Make something of yourself beyond being a cog in the wheel. What do you need a family office for? You have enough to not think about it anymore.
As another mentioned above, consider public service or a profession that you feel will be fulfilling for both you and makes a difference in others lives (i.e. nonprofit)
Very high probability that you underperform a simple passive portfolio and no I don't mean 60/40
99% of people in finance would quit their jobs if they had even a small portion of the amount of money you do. It's primarily a means to an end. You're potential annual withdrawals are greater than what 99.9% of people are making pre-tax
Go build for yourself an interesting life, it doesn't necessarily have to do with the active creation of more wealth
unlike seemingly many others here, i understand why you asked if you should get a corporate job. you want some sort of routine, a dependability to something greater than yourself. i challenge you to think about who you are to your core (what lights you on fire? what do you wish the world had more of?). you are in a unique position to be able to bring more of that, whatever it is, to the world, and you will find belonging / community wherever that may be.
Personally, I find a lot of maturity in your views. The humbleness you bring in light of your personality, questions and wealth is refreshing . There are too many "spoilt kids" out there. Likewise I can understand where you are coming from. I do second the comments above for you to taking your time and finding out your next chapter. Any option is good, as long as it is a decision out of reflexion and conviction, and you put your heart and effort to it. In addition, most of the options are not one-way roads: you can pivot along if you decide. Do your homework, forget "prestige and what others say or think" and find your path... With all the qualities from your personality. What lazyness may mean in one context may be an incubator of creativity in other... You just need to be aware and act in a conscious way.
Fight in Ukraine and prove your worthiness to your ancestors.
get a job or volunteer in an area you are passionate about
what do you like to do in your free time?
Dude, you are inheriting generational wealth, you have a very special opportunity to pursue your passions regardless of their profitability. Go be the best underwater basket weaver in the world. If you can't make a business out of it, then make it a non-profit or teach others
Do wealth management. It’ll be helpful for your own sake, and it’ll be a lax job that you can relate to people a little better with
Wealth management is sales. Sounds like hell to me.
You don’t need to do $5-10M in VC investments in your PA to seed yourself a nice VC job where you laze around chatting up founders. You can write $25k checks into 20 startups and network yourself into a fund (doesn’t need to be Sequoia bc you don’t need a big paycheck)
How strong is your network? Any industries specifically that you/your family is well connected in?
Since you don't have the drive to start something, you could write angel checks in some startups and leverage your network to get founders connected with people that are of strategic value or can help them better operate/scale/exit.
IF it were me, I'd buy a humble place or two to live (5m-8m), set aside $55m for your legacy/family/standard investments, then use $15m to invest $250-$500k in companies you/your network can help, or in founders you want to back because you believe in them.
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