What do you think was the best decision of your life?

Answering that text from a former coworker saying they had an opening, taking that chance, leaving a really comfortable rent controlled NYC apartment where I was living for free (roommates not on the lease paid it all) and moving to Philly on two weeks notice to work for a start-up ETF shop.  It got me out of the ass-end of WM and onto the pointy-end of asset management.

Sending that hook-up app message to my now SO is a very close second tho.

Doing unusual career steps was the best thing I did - moving countries, taking a shot in different industries, ignoring job titles and even income. It was really worth it.

I’m still super young, but going to college is the best decision I’ve made in my life. In HS, was super social and expected to live out my frat dreams in college. Ended up at a state school and it completely changed my perspective on life. The environment pushed me to be more. Wouldn’t have had the same outcome if I went to any other school. Still became a frat president (lol), landed in IB, travel, and live a very full life. Also accumulated a healthy net worth over my college years. Choose a school that’s a good fit > optics.

I'm young but going to my safety school. It's still a pretty reputable school but I could've "PGed" for a year after high school and went somewhere more "elite". Not only did I end up with a great job anyways, but I had a lot of fun and just a really interesting experience in general. 

It wasn't always great. Very few of my friends or just people in general there were as career oriented as I was, and I had to isolate myself somewhat at points during my time there to achieve my goals. That being said I don't regret a thing. I feel like that's just life. I think a lot about the quote "you can have anything you want but not everything you want." Pick the 1-3 things you really care about and put those above all else if you want to avoid regrets. 

Honestly buying Plan B the several times I went raw. Just imagine having a kid at 20 when you’re a college student with $7 to your name, and with some thot you barely remember the name of.

Much more careful of who I hook up with and always use protection now and trying not to sling dick on the weekends but I get too horny

Going to public college. I went for free on scholarship. I consider it the best decision for two reasons: 1) I grew up in a low-income community where like 99.9% of the adults you knew were either poor or were doing something illegal. Getting my degree allowed me to get into a relatively high paying career in banking and honestly, probably sets me up long term as I’m pretty confident that at bare minimum I’ll always be well off in life. Looking back on it, most people I went to HS with ended up doing nothing special after HS graduation. 2) Since I went to college for free, I have no student loans. Fellow analysts in my class and other colleagues in my industry regularly tell me how their student loan payments are a hindrance on their finances. I wanted to go to a fancy private school but realized early on that I never wanted that financial burden. 

Not getting a girl pregnant before I could even afford to support myself.

Letting the family friend who runs a HNW PWM practice talk me into quitting just stocking shelves at BB&B looking for an easy/lazy life to intern for her practice and then pushing me into an econ degree by showing me what's possible if I actually got my BSc. There's a couple of close runner-ups too though. Good thought provoking question.

And since you asked the question, what about you Isaiah_53_5 💎🙌💎🙌💎?

Am still young, but probably picking my group during the intern placement process based on how much I liked/got along with the people, rather than picking a group that may have been more "prestigious" or may have had higher total comp on avg.

Not something big because I just started my career, but probably gunning for things I really wanted to do, instead of the most common or most "logical" step. I didn't study at a business school, I didn't do any fancy IB internships, I didn't get a job straight out of undergrad (I had an internship in something I really loved instead), and now I'm doing something I love and learning a fuckton every day.

So far, quitting IB and PE.

Leaving NYC. Thoroughly enjoy no longer having to watch homeless people take a dump on the subway on my way to work. Living in a reasonable sized apartment is nice too. 

For context, I'm class of '23 undergraduate (so my freshmen year was the first year of covid):

I was recruited to compete in division 1 track and field and have absolutely loved it for my whole life. However, during junior year, coming back from Covid, it had been a long time since I'd competed and I just wasn't jumping the marks I had in high school (which was really mentally taxing) and I was so close to quitting the team. In the end I sucked it up and rebuilt myself as an athlete during the entire indoor and beginning of the outdoor season. After a lot of grinding, I got a silver at our conference championships despite being fairly physically beat up and not as technically sharp as I would've liked. Not only was it rewarding to be jumping well again, but it was one of the first times I really had to show resilience in my sport. If nothing else, I'm just thankful I didn't quit and am getting one last year doing what a love before going off to work for 40 years hahaha

Most important decision of your entire life is choosing who to marry. Not being facetious.