Foolish to leave 35 hour $200k strategic finance for MM PE?
Did IB at a MOE/EVR/CVIEW and was sweated so hard, did not have any time to interview at all. Once 2 years hit I instantly just accepted the first offer I got, which was strategic finance associate role at a $15bn private company.
While $200k is undoubtedly a lot of money for someone only 24, I am starting to really want the earnings of PE. The MM offer I received just yesterday will be around $260-$290k all in, but it is the scale of the pay that I am most interested in. Is this trade off worth it? I know it differs for every single person and what they value, but I wanted to hear some thoughts. I currently work around ~35-40 hours a week, and have not worked past 5:30pm in my first like 6 months here or weekends at all, and fridays whole team logs off at 1pm.
Is this foolish to leave? Others in my network have said I have the "dream" exit opportunity and I would be so dumb to leave this job I currently have, but I am getting this comparison is the thief of joy and grass is always greener mentality that makes me want to hop ship back to the stressfull side.
Depends on what’s important to you. I learned a ton in private equity and it was the “finishing school” that IB was supposed to be but never was. It made me far more effective in my current role (finance at a tech company). That said, my time in PE nearly killed my long term relationship, destroyed my physical and mental health, and made me an unpleasant person to be around.
So I would ask you to consider what is important to you and where you are in life? Are you in a place to invest two more years in the meat grinder to learn some new skills, or are you in a place in life where you’d like to prioritize family, health, relationships etc. Do you love investing and want to do that as a career even if it’s at the expense of your sanity? it’s all a trade off. Some trade offs are easier to make when you’re young - the older you get the more things that are grabbing for your attention and the less “selfish” you can be with your time (and yes working 100 hours a week and neglecting your friends and family is selfish). But it’s all relative to where you are specifically in your life journey and what obligations you have to others.
If you take this offer, go in eyes wide open that you will get worked very hard for the duration of your time there and the incremental money will be financially insignificant in the long term. Your sole focus should be on learning and skill acquisition and coming out the other end a more effective professional. Oh and accept that youre playing Russian roulette with your romantic and personal relationships - maybe it works out or maybe you lose them forever but that’s the risk you’re taking here. Whether that is worth it to you or not or those risks are significant to you or not is your choice alone and no one else can tell you the answer to that.
Appreciate the response, helpful.
Mind if I PM you? 2nd year associate in pe and wanting to learn more about strategic finance at a tech company.
If you want to post your questions here, I’m happy to answer them.
What kind of strategic finance do you do? I see some roles are very generalist but for some of the larger tech platforms they have specialized finance functions by business segment or cost center
It’s a broad term for sure and can mean different things at different places, so you need to be ultra careful with what role you take.
Strategic finance (if there is a separate fp&a team) is basically doing a lot of new business modeling / bid pricing / m&a / supporting board decks. You’re doing a lot of evaluating new opportunities and producing analyses that inform setting the strategy of the business. You should have direct connection to the CEO and should be instrumental in how they make decisions and evaluate the performance of the business.
fp&a (excluding the strat fin portion which would be part of the job if there wasn’t a separate dedicated strat fin team) - Budgeting, reporting, helping to memorialize strategy within the forecast, holding other parts of the business accountable to performance. Within fp&a you can be aligned to a business unit or the business as a whole. You can also be assigned to a specific team modeling and tracking volume or sg&a or capital expenditures. The level of granularity in budgeting and forecasting is higher than what you’d see in IB / PE but you also have access to the teams you’re modeling and far deeper data so it’s not all bullshit SWAGs. You’ll be expected to work very closely with the people within the business units and understand what they do and negotiate with them for capital and performance targets so you get to learn about a lot of different parts of the business. I would not recommend an fp&a senior analyst role (modeling monkey job) for anyone coming from PE - you should be at the manager / senior manager / associate director level at minimum and you should be focused on opportunities where you get to see the entire p&l and not just volume forecasting or sg&a. You should really be probing during interviews to make sure that finance is a strategic role that is at the table at all executive meetings and setting strategy. You want to work on a finance team that has significant influence on the business and how it operates - not be a reporting function. A good quality post pe job will pay $175-$225K. Lower paying roles are likely less strategic and less meaningful so I would use comp as a filter honestly.
Finance at a corporate is a good job once you’re out of the weeds of execution (above senior financial analyst level). You get a ton of senior visibility, have access to understanding the entire business model, and become instrumental in most strategic decision making within the company. You get to really understand in a tangible way how to run a business, price products, and make financially driven strategy. It will position you well to lateral into corp dev or corp strategy or other roles within the company. The combo of an m&a background + a few years of financial planning (need to prove you can lead a forecasting cycle, manage budgets, and manage capital investment) will fast track you for a strategic CFO position.
The general rule is that the larger the company the more granular the forecasting that is done and the more specialized the jobs in fp&a are. This is a good thing and a bad thing. If you’re in an awesome seat it means you don’t have to do too much boring reporting work and can focus only on really interesting strategy work, but it can also mean that if you’re in a niche role you may not see the bigger picture. At smaller companies / startups you’ll do a mix of everything (reporting and analytical with likely a lot more reporting to keep the lights on frankly).
Very well put, seconded
interesting
Where you do work? Some of us would like your shoes. I desperately want to take a pay cut and go corporate, but I can’t find anything.
It’s so ironic, since I get cold emails from being trying to break into banking, but man the drama just isn’t worth it.
Make sure the chance at making lots of money is worth the grind you will go through when you join PE. 40 hours and 200k is a very enviable place to be at 24.
Don’t you like having the time to go on dates and party? I don’t understand why you’re feeling buyers remorse.
Unless your parents or siblings are losers and you’ll need to support them or something and need to be a major earner, I’d stay put and have fun partying rather than working late on an appendix for a CIM no one will read.
Wow, first real answer I have ever received from Smoke Frog. Usually you just call me an idiot or loser or baby.
-Only thing I can share is that my company is Non-tech.
-Absolutely love my free time right now. I go out to restaurants and drinks on like random Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, etc. I love the idea of sitting in office during day and getting bursts of happiness like "Oh shit I am going out tonight and having fun", or "Can't wait to leave office at 5pm and throw on my show" or something similar. It has completely changed my life. I remember IB days were just sitting in office and looking forward to absolutely nothing, such a dark way to live. No idea why I am getting buyer's remorse, I need to snap out of it.
-Parents are both partners in big law in NYC, will be way more successful than I will ever be.
Don’t say way more successful, you never know where life takes you man.
I dunno man. I’ve been getting slammed at work lately and wasn’t in the mood to troll.
Given the background color, it sounds like you will likely get an inheritance, or at the worst your parents will never need to rely on you financially, so that should free you up to not chase every last dollar.
I think you will always feel some sense of longing in your life, because successful (relatively, compared to the average human) people like us always want to be the best. That is something you will have to tackle yourself. I’m closing in on 40, worth a few million and never really have to worry about money in any serious way. But I’m still jealous of my colleagues who can afford the bigger house, or the second mansion in the Hamptons, etc. I’m jealous of the PE friend making 3 million this year while I only make 700k. That’s just how we are wired.
If you’re not smashing girls and partying, and are more introverted, then maybe chase the PE job. But don’t cash the little extra comp you will get after taxes, chase it because you think you will learn something and get excited about the buy side.
If you’re folks really are partner level at two large law firms and you have a loving relationship with them, I don’t think another 100 or 200j a year pretax will really impact your life.
The stress of banking and PE and hedge funds just isn’t worth it to me if you have winning parents. As I’ve mentioned before, my dad didn’t make it to the c-suite until I was 30, so I got into banking for the money as I grew up middle class. But without the hunger of growing up poor or middle class, I never would have chosen this path.
Even now, at my level, I have to work long hours and dread hearing my work phone ping.
So just make sure you’re ready mentally to accept your PE offer. Maybe if it’s not a mega fund offer it won’t be super sweaty, but it will definitely be a step up in grind vs what you have now.
I will leave you with one thing to ponder about your current gig. Do you see a long term path to rise? Is there enough white space above you? Does your company tend to value loyalty and doesn’t fire quickly like banks do?
Nah this can’t be Smoke Frog. I’m calling the cops!!🤨
Do you your company going public and will you have an equity windfall ?
Give me ur job pls. If you don’t want it I’ll take it.
On a serious note how sustainable do you think the lifestyle at the PE shop will be? The last thing you want is to find yourself being desperate to gtfo again in 1 year time (or even less than 1 year) after being grinded SHEIN sweatshop style. Think carefully and definitely speak to multiple junior members of the team to do your diligence
If you had the chops to break into one of those top banks, you should be a star in your strategic finance role. Work hard (but not too hard), get promoted quickly, and your comp should scale pretty nicely as you rise up to manager/director. If you want more upside, you could always join a younger startup as a VP of finance or even CFO later down the road. People that get stuck at VP level in PE don't necessarily have this option.
Thanks, appreciate the response.
Why do you want more money? What happiness do you think it’ll bring you which you don’t have now? Once I got to VP I quickly realised what I wanted was more time than more money. Your job sounds like a dream gig.
Thanks man I appreciate it - I am definitely giving a super juvenile answer coming from someone who is way too young, but for now I want a huge house, nice car, nice food, etc. However as I definitely get older I almost know for a fact these stupid wants will fade and I will want more time. Maybe I should stay in my role.
Bro is running the recently active threads
Lmao I just noticed. This guy got asked back to his old bank and got a PE job at the same time?
Recruited and got my PE offer but then also then saw my old group head who gave me the verbal offer to return as an associate as I was super super super close with him. Decided to get more inputs so did one in IB thread one in PE thread.
What component of comp is equity? How does the equity compensation work in terms of vesting etc
None of it is unfortunately. I know everyone above me has it, I am most junior by far. $150k base + ~50k cash bonus
What do you mean unfortunately? Lmao
Having all cash comp is almost always the better move.
Not foolish at all. Please do PM me the posting to fill for your old role though!
I can relate—I’m in a similar (and yet different) boat. I’m 30, getting paid over $250k+ industry in strategy not even finance. Very cushy. My background prior was in consulting. But like you, I’m feeling the pull towards a higher-earning path, either breaking into IB as an associate or pivoting back into consulting. It’s hard to ignore the flexibility and lower stress of roles, but the potential upside of something like PE or IB is tempting. Also really miss being around type A people, hard play hard culture, and the faster career progression. People have also said I’m foolish. I’m curious—what did you decide?
Still have not decided, have a couple weeks before the PE offer expires. I think I am leaning towards staying here at my current gig. Lots of helpful discussion and comments. Know to obviously not let an internet forum decide my future but like 99% of comments are saying I should stay and rise up here.
honestly you should give PE a shot, even if just for one year. what if you end up liking it? its easy to go from PE -> IB or corporate but incredibly hard to get back into PE.
I can relate to 100% of the things you say. Especially being surrounded by types A and having a mentor you can say: "hey, I want to be you in 10-15 years". Miss that and it really makes a world of a difference.
If it can help, I am making around $300k in a similar role at 32, with investment responsibilities in a very active and dynamic corporate-equity fund. 2-3 "large" deals per year, that I lead, around $200-300M each private-to-private. Sometimes working 100 hrs/week and sometimes 20. Got a very cushy position as people respect me and I oftentimes feel I'm the only one understanding what's happening, in the room. There are people out there with a better lifestyle but I can't complain! Was suggested to climb internally but I feel I've reached the ceiling comp-wise, unless I wait for hairs to fall/grey up, and they I may aspire to more senior roles. And I am dreading to climb higher, all-the-time. But I just can't, in my role.
So I've decided to take the leap of faith and now will transition in 6 months, at 34 (& a bit ashamed of it), into more structured finance, where the ceiling is higher. Still deciding between offers in IB and UMM PE in the verticals I was in. I have also networked for MBB but here in the US the pay gap is so dramatic, going up.
For me, as it seems for you, compensation is a main driver. Personally, it's my monkey-measurement of success. Since the pay difference is tangible, especially if living in a HCOL, I decided to give it a try.
I've dwindled a lot on whether to do the jump or not. At the end, it helped me thinking of me at 85 and looking back. Would I be proud of myself if I didn't jump out of fear? No. It still feels scary because you never know and you may end up in a worst position, but that's how life is. Good luck & don't worry, either way you'll be fine.
ps. next thing you know, I'm crying on this forum on how big of an idiot I was for taking the jump.
Currently at an MBB and have an offer to get into a secondaries role and not sure whether or not to take it. Could you please elaborate on what you mean by the comp difference going up?
Great thread! In a similar dilemma.. current in PE and wanting to switch to a finance/strategy type role at a non-tech company (my PE experience is in consumer and business services type companies). Currently making $280k+ but don't like the job or time spent doing it.. really looking hard to optimize for WLB and ideally move to NYC as that's been a place I've been wanting to live in and enjoy for a while.
Any guidance on how to recruit for these type of roles? Recruiters, LI, cold outreach?
Network with ex IB / PE people at Corporates while also mass applying on LI. To get into large corporate you need to be referred in because you're competing with a lot of internal candidates who are going to be viewed more favorably than external candidates.
Approach networking the way you did for IB recruiting - identify a list of companies and then start reaching out to people at those companies and when you speak with them call out specific roles you see open online that are of interest to you. When you speak with HR, make sure that you echo as many of the items in the JD as possible (HR at corporates has no clue what PE is) and layer in that content into your resume as well. You have to spin your experience in PE to highlight why it is transferable to corporate - look at JD's of roles you're interested in and what their requirements are and try and highlight those items on your resume.
Super helpful! To understand 'identifying a company' a bit more - is there a approach you recommend or things to look for when figuring out which companies to shortlist? For example, what's the size range in terms of revenue or "valuation" I should look for? Is team size important? Is there a big difference between a $300M company vs. $3Bn company?
Assuming a business services company that's doing a lot of M&A and does $100M in topline every year pays their corp dev guy/girl a lot less cash but can get some upside vs. a company that's doing $500M that pays $200k+ and no upside and probably less oversight?
Hey dude I'm 24 and getting grinded in IB, I was recruiting for PE but thought about how shit IB is and I think PE will be mostly the same. You mentioned your parents are big law partners, my dad is a C Suite exec and my life quality will be much higher with a job like yours than it would be doing PE. I would love to work out for 1.5 hours 6 times a week, go out on dates whenever I want, travel and spend more time with my folks, etc versus this lifestyle of just working all the time and having the weight of the work on my shoulders 24/7. I feel the drive to compete with my analysts and friends and go for tough PE jobs to prove I can do it, but the thing is it won't actually improve my life I feel like, and you can prove yourself in other ways. Just a bit of a rant but some of my thoughts and life. I plan to hit the 2 year mark in IB minimum though before I go for a gig like yours, I hope I can get comp like yours with those hours.
Yeah dude my life is unreal right now I am so beyond happy it is insane. I took stress pretty badly in IB and IB was very difficult for me (some people tolerate IB a lot better than others I learned), and I did not like that life at all, no matter how much money. Appreciate you commenting man, I was the same exact way as you.
Bro 100% do not go back to PE. You say "I am so beyond happy it is insane" and you didn't handle the stress in IB well... no brainer.
I work 35-45 hours a week with a soft hybrid schedule (they don’t track hours as long as an I get work done) and get paid $155k. It’s the best.
What all do you do with your free time? I'm pretty jealous
Spend a lot of time on my key hobby (hint: it’s a co-ed sport).
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