Grass is greener in a life beyond IB/PE?
Hi all - writing this for advice as an a2a dreading getting back to the office
Is it a delusion to feel like I am meant for more in this life? That I’m capable of doing more than what the IB PE path offers - or not MORE (ie to get more prestige/status/money) but is it ok to do something more intrinsically aligned?
Part of thinking along these lines feels like absolute hubris. There are people in other fields working as hard or doing more meaningful work who make less than I do. How am I supposed to justify the pursuit for more “meaning” when any logical person would think you make more than 99% of the general population (hours are reasonable ~70pw) - go play golf or something and stop wanting to blow up your current life to pursue some random startup thing
Yes, life is for living. But how many people truly enjoy their jobs and what they do? And if they do (ie being a school teacher) does it pay enough to even live?
Khamzat won the belt at 31. When I’m 31 I want to look at why I’ve accomplished and be proud of myself - is this hubris or perfectly reasonable? I mention because I look at the VPs and Ds around me and feel utterly uninspired. Not that they’re not nice people but I don’t look at them the same way when I was in college - now I just see versions of myself who lost ambition and just kept trudging along the path
As an aside, I see others in their late 20s with heaps of spare time and they generally spend it doing all sorts of random things to fill time. I suppose life is nothing more than just doing things to fill time but idk at least for me without audacious goals I feel lost. That used to be breaking into IB as a non target. That used to be just surviving the two years. Now I have no clue.
tldr: what does it take to feel excited about life again
Really open to thoughts - I struggle to find people with more life experience to talk about this with so would really appreciate it
Honestly the thing that concerns me most is the little discussed effect of the work environment on health?
I mean by now there are tons of studies that link lack of sleep (and that is below 7-8h!) and bad sleep (I sleep horrendous if I sit in front of a screen from 9 am to 2 am) with all sort of bad health outcomes (cancer, heart, etc.).
Add on top the lack of physical movement, non-optimal diet, constant elevated stress/cortisol level and I feel really concerned about how long my body will keep up with it.
I don't care at all about working hard but working hard for me would be regularly clocking out before 10pm so at least I can get in some cardios and my sleep on most days. If this shit with constant midnight work keeps increasing it is just sickening.
And unlike others who always claim the hours get less once you are VP in banking I've never seen that. Even my friends in consulting work more and more once you climb the letter. The pressure is constant and I see most VPs still grinding away to the wee hours on most days.
Absolutely fair point. Perhaps unique to me is I ensure I get 8k steps by walking everyday as my commute, hitting the gym on Friday Saturday Sunday at a minimum (weightlifting and mma), plus hitting the gym on weekdays wherever possible
This is possible due to my promo and slightly chiller group but had I not had this and my health deteriorated I’d be gone for sure because health is of utmost importance (even though I can hardly sleep at night, I roll around bed for an hour at least after finishing work)
But to your point dispire all the discourse growing around healthmaxxing (hyrox, whoop bands and shit) I don’t see a lot of it on this forum. The main thing for me is getting enough sleep - I am horrible. Minimising personal screen time also a weak point
On diet I’m tracking macros with macrofactor on a 200cal bulk and eating high protein foods I can consistently track, and a lot of fair life
I’m no athlete but with good habits/choices I’ve stayed relatively healthy and strong thru almost 4yrs in the game
I’m also with you on the 10pm thing I think 12 hours of intellectual stimulation is enough vs 16 which comprises too much on health
I am concerned with the effect of cortisol and stress on my health as I think it’s the main thing impacting my sleep
My vps all eat garbage and hardly workout so it really doesn’t bode well for a long term career in finance if you’re concerned about health and fitness
No longer in banking but I think you’ll find many mid level and senior bankers heavily prioritize exercise / health / fitness outside. That was true in my team at an EB.
Now at a large single manager hedge fund (think Baupost Pershing Darsana Saroban type place) health and wellness and working out is a huge focus and if you were to look around you won’t find a single fat person in our office, investment team or otherwise.
The only known of leaving IB / PE is that you will have more time and control of your schedule. What you choose to do with that time will largely determine if you are happy with that decision or if you regret it.
IB / PE are great jobs for the uninspired because they dominate your life and you have the perception that if you can put the rest of life on cruise control and just focus on this one thing you’ll be rewarded with money and prestige. The snuck premise behind this is that everything will work out perfectly in the office and you won’t get ejected from the industry involuntarily like most people. Outside of the idealized IB/PE career path, everything is more ambiguous. Careers are less clear and when suddenly you have a bunch of unallocated time, it might reveal to you how little depth your life has outside of work which can be very frightening and off putting for people. You blame the career switch for why you don’t feel great about yourself and your life rather than realizing it was the complete lack of non-professional things you can be proud of that now leave you feeling vulnerable and inadequate. You compare yourself to others still on the path and extrapolate what their outcomes will be in 10 years and, because of the ambiguity of corporate careers, discount where you’ll be in 10 years. All of this reinforces an inferiority complex that dominates the people posting on WSO about regretting their career change.
So only leave if you’re willing to take more agency in your life and have the stomach to deal with ambiguity about what the future can hold.
Thank you - wonderful advice
Jesus this gave me chills. I have some thinking to do after reading this.
Terrifyingly clarity dense comment lol
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