Margin Call Movie

Does anyone feel like Sam from Margin Call these days? I left PE after a decade (not by choice) and looking back at it, it feels like I didn't accomplish anything much from it. Sure I made some cash, which is mostly tied up in funds and carry, but it's not like I've generated some kind of wealth I can coast on, and it feels like even after doing a bunch of deals and driving a lot of significant initiatives at companies, I don't have much to show for it. 

John Tuld:
You're one of the luckiest guys in the world, Sam. You could been digging ditches all these years.
Sam Rogers:
That's true. And if I had, at least there'd be some holes in the ground to show for it.

8 Comments
 

When did you start feeling so sorry for yourself? It’s unbearable

More constructively, I’m not sure if you’re supposed to be able to coast / semi retire after only 10 years in any job. And you still have plenty of time to do something ‘meaningful’ with your life. You’ve got a good skill set, put it to use where you think it’s worth it - whatever that may mean for you

 

Plenty of areas in finance where you can coast on liquid wealth after 10 years if you perform to PE standards - PE is extremely illiquid and honestly a substantial amount of seniors (late thirties and early forties) I know share these frustrations. They know they are rich but the persons who will benefit from this wealth are their children and grandchildren, not themselves. At least not when they are still somewhat young.

 
Most Helpful

It is not an invalid sentiment. While a lot of work is done in PE, in many ways what you specifically are doing is not particularly unique. In almost every way, most of what is done in PE can be done by over 60% of the people in the field. There are very few people who bring some form of unique value add. 

But this is pretty normal. This is the case in most fields. There are only a very small number of people where their contribution to the job is genuinely differentiated. There are only so many John Williams, Michael Milkens, Hilters, von Neumans, Steve Jobses, Lenins, etc, in the world. 

 

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