Long timers, how has your health fared over the years?
Im sure this gets posted a bit but how has the stress changed your body while working in this field? I’m looking to enter finance and am aware of the stark difference in hours compared to other fields. What is your go-to for managing stress? Do you hear about people who have stayed in IB and it has wrecked their health? Is this something you think about? Do you ever think about if the money is worth the effect the career has on health and is it really that extreme? How much sleep do you realistically get (pre-Covid) at each level? Are you still woken up at 3:00 am to email notifications as a vp or md?
My thoughts in no particular order:
- Yes, absolutely. People all the time forsake their health, mentally/physically/emotionally, for their jobs. Life is a grind, not matter what you are doing.
- It's all about priorities, and frankly health is number one. When you are traveling, entertaining, living life - it drags on you fast. A few missed nights of sleep here, a tight deadline here, life events, maybe some travel... before you know it, you are one big cycle of caffeine, sugar, alcohol, and shitty food all held together by sheer force of will. It's not fun, nor is it worth it. The good news is that if you prioritize the right things, take care of what you need to do daily, and keep things in check you don't need to fall a apart health wise.
- Physically I keep in shape and focus on consistently working out every day whenever I can. That might mean a 20 minute run - it might mean an 80 minute lifting, cardio, stretch type workout - it could also mean a sport i do. Working out is mental for me as much as it is physical - I process A LOT while running. I'm somewhat of an emotional headcase otherwise. Get in shape, stay in shape - that will do wonders for managing your stress.
- Nutritionally I'll just get this out of the way - don't eat like shit. Especially if you are a drinker, you cannot sustain both. Pay up to eat cleaner food. Choose a salad with steak instead of something shitty. The extra money won't matter, and you'll feel better. Alcohol - look, I drink way more than I should. I'm still not sure how I survived my early 20's intact. Limit it when you can, don't develop a bad habit, and know your limits.
- Sleep is something that I've always had a hard time with. I'm not in banking, but generally I've let sleep be secondary to anything. After 30 this doesn't work as well - I'd protect sleep at all costs.
- Keep a tight leash on your emotional and mental health. Build a friend group outside of work. Confide in people. Build relationships, activities and an identify outside of what you do for a living. Not only is it good for your career, but it's just good for you as a person. Took me a long time to figure out that you are you - not just what you do. Don't tie all your self worth to your career. See a professional if you need or want to.
I've been very fortunate that my health has held up really well and I've avoided any major issues outside of my direct control. Not only is there no amount of money that's worth you compromising your health, you simply do not need to.
IB is tough, and thankfully I never did that but I am at a HF and see the stress.
I’m approaching 40 and consider myself at about the best shape I’ve ever been in (not just physical shape but healthy overall). The things I’ve focused on:
1) protect your time and communicate: Too often people just assume things (this must be important, I have to say yes to everything, I must turn things around quickly) vs asking questions and protecting their time. You need to make time for yourself, find time to workout, etc
2) sleep: I sleep 7-8 hours a night and basically have throughout my career. This goes back to protecting your time and not going out all the time. I go to bed early and I’m up early, it helps me workout, I can get work done in the morning and start my day off well
3) food: I’m a big fan of food, but I’ve never been a junk food person. I eat mostly healthy, and when ordering food I am thoughtful about calories, etc
4) balance: For mental health and to be able to keep your overall health, you have to find balance. That means having interests that get you out of work all the time.
+1 on protecting your time. That's something that I learned way too late, and really struggle with till this day.
Health is good but hair is greying. :/
Haven’t had any issues yet but this is not a “high-finance” specific problem or any career/job specific problem. It is purely a problem of discipline.
Look at a lot of tradesmen, many have eaten terribly and not taken care of their bodies outside of work and after a 20 year career it shows.
look at teachers who never work out or take care of their bodies and after a 20-year long career it shows.
it is not an issue of what career you do although difficult finance careers take up more of your time than other careers. You just gotta take care of your body from early on and continually do so. Eating right, exercising, and having mental stress relievers are not complicated- you just need to find what works for you and stick with it.
First year in sales and trading, just lost about 1cm in hairline. I'm 24. If we extrapolate, that's roughly 1" at associate, 2-3” at VP, bald at MD. Ordered that Copenhagen Grooming hair growth kit the other day, let you know how it goes.
I assume you are joking or may be not. Working in sales and trading or IB probably has very little to do with hairline. Hairline is probably mostly a function of three factors with genetics being the most important. Hair care products as well as diet also factor into the equation.
Yes, working in S&T/IB doesn't automatically make your hair fall off... The stress associated with these jobs does, since stress plays a huge role in hair loss
To be off of financeabc - the Copenhagen Grooming product you bought is more of a marketing product, rather than something that will get you real results. Best thing to do is to hop on Finasteride 1mg oral and to use topical Minoxidil on your hairline at night. The kit you bought has neither of these things, and they are the most researched, used, and effective hair-loss combatants.
The order of how things will age you:
You might be able to conquer stress and stay away from alcohol/drugs while on the job, but bad sleep is unavoidable and will destroy you. You might believe otherwise, but bad sleep is not avoidable with this career path, so recommend you find a job/path that solves the above in your first 2 jobs or you are in for a world of hurt in your 30s/40s. After my 4 year BB IB/MF PE run, I had probably aged 8 years. In the 4 years since, I've managed to crawl my way back with tons of sleep, exercise, no drugs, minimal alcohol, and solid eating habits, but it's a tall mountain to climb vs. just getting it right at 21. I look at my friends that stuck around and are seasoned VPs in banking/PE and they've almost all had to give up something big to fix the above. Usually relationships or kids or speed of promotion.
Not quite a "long-timer" but an A2A associate, frankly surprised by all the people with more than >1yr of experience who still cite significant stress. The lack of sleep is very annoying and it is frustrating to see how long hours frequently occur due to inefficient seniors/clients (which ofc causes stress sporadically).
However, after two years it should be increasingly obvious that most situations usually get resolved positively and the "Nightmare" situation almost never happens. IB is weird in that the chiller/efficient people end up leaving IB quickly and the ones prone to stress or accepting of inefficient methods, stay in IB and perpertuate a cycle of stupid.
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