Anyone else been feeling like this lately, with how difficult the world has turned (war, AI), I feel like all of my dreams of moving to another country or trying a different line of work have all been put on ice for a while longer. Hence just playing defence and stacking paper to whether the storm.
To some extent, it feels like wasting my youth to not be living dangerously… 4 years on the path and who knows how much longer to go. I thought about taking some time off but looks like a bad idea now.
To another extent, and looking at the big picture of it all, I suppose I am very grateful to not be too stressed about money or real issues like losing my life… still young and healthy, and at least I’m not in college - I really feel for all the students out there scrambling to figure out their careers. In another life I might’ve moved to a software startup and now be worried about getting laid off
Ultimately can only do the best with what we’ve got, and at least as finance professionals, have the privilege of a pretty high savings rate vs other people our age really struggling to save anything
Senior monkeys feel free to share advice for these troubling times
bump
My advice? Open your aperture and start playing offense. There is virtually no career risk you can take now, that you cannot recover from. Learn how to leverage AI and stop being frozen in place because of it. Geopolitics got you glum? Pull up a timeline of all of the wars, military actions, famines, droughts, recessions, diseases, etc. - this is nothing. Could it be a nuclear war? Sure - and in that case, well, we are all toast. Markets have been hitting highs all over the place - you think this is bad? Just wait till we start hitting lows day after day, and week afer week - this is a blip today. Besides - finance is the king of layoffs and headcount reductions - software may be a first mover advantage, as there's a bit more red tape to firing your entire risk department to rely on an AI model - but rest assured, it's coming. You could very well be a rockstar, totally immune, and become rainmaker - and I hope you do! But it's no sure thing.
I don't mean this as a nihilist either - my biggest mistake in my 15 year career is not having taken more risk younger. That doesn't mean quit your job, do cocaine, and bottom out in a club in Ibiza - it means if you have an interest that isn't banking and you have the means/interest/tolerance - try it, test it, maybe you take a role or you simply start something in your spare time.
The ultimate privilege of killing yourself for years in finance, with a high savings rate, is the optionality you are talking about. Fuck the path, the rainmakers, the gilded handcuffs or the tales of being the next Buffet - optionality is what you are earning. The ability to say 'you know what? I want to go kill it at XYZ' and the means to take the chance - or simply stay put. Make it a conscious choice to stay or go and strive to leave on your own terms.
This is really motivating and helpful in principle
Main constraint atm is just being burned out in banking and the hours of the job
I’ve been thinking about taking a 9-5 LP FoF role just to take a rest and recharge but worry it’s also somewhat of a perilous move to drift off course just because it’s a safe place to park.
Issue with being burned out is I have no idea what interests me other than just going to the gym and relaxing. Maybe a 3 month sabbatical in IB will fix it?
Nope. Quite the opposite really.
The world melting down around us really only highlights how nonsensical it is to fill your day with teams calls and check-in meetings and having four tiers of reports and all of the corporate bullshit.
Move from nihilism to absurdism or existentialism. Go out there and create something. What do you have to lose exactly?
"Prestige"
A error a delectus atque. Quo sit voluptas saepe sed. Accusantium sed aut asperiores mollitia. Consectetur natus deserunt cupiditate ipsa ipsam voluptatem. Aut sapiente natus magni aut facilis. Quibusdam iure repellendus vel aut et odit laboriosam. Tenetur in sed aliquid vel temporibus quia enim.
Ut rem aut quis magni. Deserunt sit saepe alias qui sed ea laborum.
Eum fuga fugit architecto soluta similique aut aperiam. Ipsa aut ab fuga nihil voluptatibus harum.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...