Another career-crisis / passion vs career post!
Hey everyone,
I know that WSO is inundated with posts about people wondering if the finance life is for them long-term but was hoping to get some more bespoke advice. To keep it short, I'm an IB analyst at "Top" IB group and have an offer at a Tech Mega Fund starting in 2024 that I don't think I want anymore. I have another life dream (which I'll get into later)
Now that I have had this offer for a few months or so, I have realized that I was more excited about the fact this MF deemed me "worthy" enough to get the offer. In other words, I realized that I was merely seeking validation of my financial skills and perhaps even acceptance into an "elite" community. I am not very excited about starting, especially knowing the rough worklife balance that awaits.
More importantly, I know in my heart I don't love finance, I don't love deals, and I don't have an incessant need to earn boatloads of money (would like to live comfortably, of course). I mainly did this to prove to myself that I am good enough. And that's where it stops.
There is, however, another piece of my life that I DO love and DO NOT feel this need for validation while doing: acting, standup comedy, and filmmaking.
I have been performing in theater and improv for 7+ years, done standup for a little over a year now, and have recently started my own Youtube channel for some short films I have been working on. That being said, I'm not generating any income from these sources yet and am mainly doing them as hobbies; I have yet to double down and go "all-in" on any of these paths.
Although, I do believe in life that sometimes you receive divine signals that can prompt you to make certain choices or explore certain thoughts (I'm a spiritual guy so bear with me). I've been feeling some signal or some feeling that I'm going down the wrong path with MF PE and that I need to shift more towards the arts and double-down on my loves and passions. And perhaps this post is me beginning to take action on feeling that out.
In summary, I would love to hear this forum's thoughts and considerations on my reflections and welcome any one else to share and provide their insight. WSO has helped me tremendously in my pathway thus far, and I greatly appreciate this community. More than happy to provide additional information!
Best,
Rick
TDLR; I'm going to a MF PE shop and strongly feel like I should reconsider the offer and instead following my love of acting/comedy/filmmaking
Easy. Practice something called 'prospective retrospective' thinking. Imagine yourself when you are 80 and reminiscing about your life. Which of the two choices below would you regret more?
1. Taking the MF offer and spending 1-2 years trying it out
2. Declining the offer and giving your best shot at something that may or may not work out
There is no "right answer" - just the right answer for you. Just remember - there is no "point" or "objective" to life - there is no "win" condition. Live each day experiencing the present. That's it.
Edit:
- Guarantee this will be the best 4 minutes you spend today.Great advice, totally agree. I think a lot of us have this idea of “winning” in life which is really just a manifestation of our need for validation from others and / or a manifestation of our need for security. It’s difficult to manage that inner calling but @ OP if that calling is loud enough perhaps you should listen… I as well struggle to find the balance between my rationality and spirituality. I think that’s really what “winning” is in life. It’s finding the passion in the first place, developing it, and crafting it to serve you in this life monetarily. That’s winning
I feel like I'm looking in the mirror when it comes to interests/passions. There's nothing in the world I like more than films and comedy. It would be my dream to make this a living.
I would recommend doing MF PE for a year so you at least have it on your resume. Then go full steam ahead with your passions for about two years. Make an LLC or something and call it a film production studio so it looks like an entrepreneurial venture.
Also, post your channel! Let us check it out to help with the YT algorithm.
Yup you can try both careers or other ones
Does the tech MF do anything in media?
I'll let you know after you post your YouTube channel
I personally would take the job knowing that it’s a 2 year commitment and leaving after those two years much more financially secure along with a padded resume.
After those two years are up you’ll be in a much better position to take a gap year and reassess after that. Best case scenario you get traction and are able to make it your career full time. Worst case you apply to get your MBA or take a job in Corp Dev.
My close friend’s brother does exactly what you are describing, when he graduated from college instead of pursuing an accounting career with his degree he started posting YouTube shorts and comedy sketches. He has been at it for nearly 2 years and finally broken 1k subscribers. While I’m not saying it’s impossible to do it quicker, it will be difficult nonetheless and take time. The kid has a couple of videos with 10k + views and in my completely biased opinion has potential. Recently just went to LA and collabed with a guy who has 50k subs so I think he’ll make it.
On the side he does a lot of freelance photography/videography to help pay the bills so there’s an overlap for him but he’s still living with his parents. I say if you have a good safety net and you’re passionate about it, fuck it.
The influencer path requires a ton of work and until you have over a million followers you aren’t going to make anywhere near decent money (I’m talking $60-80K not even six figures). After doing a quick google search 71% of influencers with under 10K followers are paid less than $100 for sponsored posts. It isn’t until you reach 1M followers that you’re able to make $1,000/sponsored post. So in other words while you may be able to get free shit at the lower levels you’re going to need to have a side gig in order to keep the lights on.
Furthermore, while your buddies brother likely has a stickier audience at 1K subscribers after 2 years he’s probably going to have to keep doing those side gigs for the foreseeable future to make ends meet. The partnership with the guy who has 50K subscribers will help grow his following but it probably won’t move the needle dramatically. In terms of monetization 10K views on videos is minuscule and looking up the YouTube pay rate for views he’d make between $21-23/1K views so on his best videos he’s made $210-$230. I’m not bringing this up to put him down as I highly doubt I could draw 1K subscribers but to just emphasize how crazy the influencer game is for those reading and how for 99.9% of people taking the accounting job or literally being a bartender would be far more lucrative.
I’m fully in support of OP getting off the path to try this out but I think there need to be some guardrails around this. 2 years of IB is solid experience but isn’t enough to differentiate himself from other candidates if and when he decides to re enter the workforce in a year or two. MF PE allows him to differentiate himself from other candidates and build more of a financial cushion before going out to do this.
Something else to consider as well is if he does this now it’s going to take a while for him to build a following and therefore he won’t be having any money coming in. If 6 or so months from now in the event he’s hurting for cash it’s hard to not seeing him regretting not taking the MF PE offer when some 6/10 chick who started at the same time as him has 1M followers and is making low six figures selling pictures of her feet.
I agree with your points, and no you’re not knocking my buddy’s brother down you’re being realistic. I pointed to his sub count and the years it’s taken him to help show OP what a realistic timeline could look like for organically growing a channel. There’s as good a chance he never gets more than 1k subscribers as there is he does that’s the risk of it. What OP has to understand as you and a lot of people mention is the risk to doing this. It’ll take time, they’ll struggle, and most likely need another job for cashflows but that’s part of the process. How feasible would it to have this yt channel or do standup while in IB/PE? I’m not in IB so I don’t know, but maybe if you could find some way to consistently do this while building up that nest egg for a year it could help.
But as OP mentioned they have no more passion for IB/PE so maybe finding a cushier corporate job where you’re working half the hours with a more meaningful paycheck then bartending is the solution. This gives you more WLB and a better possibility to transitioning to something better if comedy doesn’t work.
It seems like they still have their senior year to work through things so I agree it’s best to wait things out and not make a decision immediately but curious more on your response to this. It’s good to generate a conversation so OP can create a more comprehensive perspective, you only get one life.
This isn’t quite true. My friend has 150k followers on TikTok and brought in $200k last year and is doing $300k+ this year already. Sometimes he gets contracts for free merch and like $5k for a video or bigger ones where it’s like $40k for 6 videos. TikTok is very local demographic based so it’s easier for advertisers to use it to target audiences vs youtube/instagram.
Post his channel?
Yeah, no, go be a broke artist when you are 35 and have 3 mil in the bank.
that's not how it works
if Op is not motivated now, as a young 20 something who just got the dream job of many ppl, abt Tech MF PE, he wont last until 35 in finance, I can guarantee you that.
OP: looks like you have done some introspection and know deep down what you want to do. Browsing datarooms until 2am every night for the next 6 years is not what is going to make you happy, I can feel it.
Be brave and take a risk, IMHO
Most people on this website are risk averse as fuck so you’re going to get a lot of people telling you to go to PE. Asking a bunch of bankers whether to give up a high paying job to pursue something that is risky but you actually enjoy is like asking a morbidly obese person if you should keep eating or go on a diet. You feel better and happier on a diet but man does that junk food taste good.
Do what you feel will make you happiest. You will land on your feet if it doesn’t work out. Agree with the other poster RE: putting yourself in your future self’s shoes and thinking about which choice you’d regret/not regret.
It’s very hard to make a rational decision on this while you’re in the volatile and sleep deprived environment that is banking. I would recommend either you:
Banking is an all or nothing environment. Outside of that weird world, believe it or not, you can actually pursue multiple things at once. If you have steady income you can use that money to support / invest in this passion and pursue it without having to worry about how to pay rent each month or getting worried about spending too much when you go out with friends.
You should def pursue something you love that gives you joy, but don’t view it as a false binary between being all in on work or being all in on the passion. Sustainable shades of gray exist in the middle.
This is the way
And start living super cheap (while saving every $). This does two things:
1) Gives you dry powder for the artist life
2) And most importantly, it tests whether you can really stomach that artist life (cheap AF until / if you make it)
Ignore these risk averse monkeys.
Wouldn't the money support the dream? I don't mean long term, but like, a few years of getting paid while you think about your move toward the stage life.
One other thing you should consider is golden handcuffs. A lot of people like to say, "when I make a megaton of money, then I'll take risks and pursue my passion", only to realize that they're comfortable with where they end up and too much on the line to step off the path. This isn't a bad outcome per say because who wouldn't want to be comfortable and rich, but you do often end up letting your dreams slip away. I guess that's the sign of maturity. Been able to make tough decisions like this and accepting whatever consequences that come your way
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