Pay attention to specialty finance/lending

Hot take for everyone here (or maybe not so hot)...

If you want to kill it in life while still being able to have a life, go to markets where talent is lacking and demand for capital is plentiful. This is obvious to some, but everyone on WSO is obsessed with making it into MF PE while I personally know people in more "boring" financial jobs that absolutely crush it in terms of comp and WLB. There are people in fields like equipment finance, litigation finance, trade finance, etc. bringing in boatloads of cash while working half the hours. Some of these assets yield 25-40% with minimal work needed from the investment team (relative to a multi-billion dollar PE deal) if you can source deals. Hell, even generic LMM factoring firms can generate ridiculous cash flow to the partners (charge borrowers 1.5% per month, recycle capital constantly, deploy from a bank line costing you 9%...do the math).

Sure, this is less sexy work. And yes, you're capped by portfolio size as you can only scale so far in niche pockets of the market. And yes, you might be pigeonholed (likely). But you can still have an interesting career while having a life worth living.

Add in all the innovation that can be brought to these markets via fintech solutions and you have a pretty interesting opportunity for those who are ready to get their hands dirty.

Just food for thought. For everyone else, keep crushing it in whatever you're doing.

4 Comments
 
 

In quasi quas sit nulla voluptatem consectetur. Quos debitis quibusdam dolorem sit. Libero et nulla asperiores minus. Perferendis voluptas at ea voluptatem sed quia velit assumenda. Vitae quo sit autem non atque quidem.

Itaque nam ratione ratione quo. Corporis ullam fugit et blanditiis rerum.

Qui perspiciatis veritatis qui sint dolorem nisi voluptas et. Libero laboriosam velit a optio est expedita. Molestiae neque necessitatibus vel sint voluptatibus sequi. Voluptatum quia consequatur perspiciatis eius autem eos quisquam libero.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.3%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (44) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (79) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”