Pls educate me on this. It seems like every datapoint on this industry is negative or downtrending. Individual experiences at top brand name funds, by word of mouth, seem largely abysmal. I.e., probably 90% of my friend group at top PE firms hate their life.
I got the old deal. Grind a few years, move up the ladder, get the carry. This contract seems completely broken?
A large part of the unpopular answer is that people do not really have that much else to do. Most finance people follow the very standardized/cookie-cutter type of path that rewards one handsomely in exchange for cruel hours and almost no personal life.
The same path, however, also limits optionality. People often act as if finance would open any door, also outside of the traditional recruiting paths of private markets.
I remember (when I was looking for exits) that jobs like "corp dev", "portco ops", were thrown around like they were just up for grabs. Thre reality could not be further from the true. Nobody waits for a junior/mid-level finance professional in a top corporate dev. role. If this is a somewhat reputable company, there will be a gazillion of desperate people lining up to fill it. Same as for operational related roles. Those are just perfectly geared towards consultants.
So taking 1+1 together. If you are used to earning a high salary, have build your social circle in a finance city (i.e., NYC/LDN) it is just the well-trotten, risk-averse and very plannable path to go and stay on the buy-side.
Even if it sucks - and yes it does - there is not so much optionality to do other (good/exciting) things.
I am struggling with this right now. Have zero idea what I want to do.
Really just trying to optimize for upside and monetizing my social skills / network.
you could learn the PE craft and then, for example, go to Cambodia, raise some funds, use your own savings or borrow, and start acquiring companies that are run inefficiently and professionalize them. You could use one company as an acquisition vehicle, pursue add-ons, etc.
this, for instance, would be exciting if you were to ask me
but the reason many do not consider this an option is that the field predominantly attracts pussies who have never taken a risk and therefore cannot even fathom this possibility
there are always options, it is just a matter of how heavy your balls are.
It sounds like your balls are pretty heavy LB
I do think this is actually a good career gamble for PE people to pursue, especially if they have some ties to a developing country. But if you don't have ties, I think it's much harder and not super realistic to move to a non-English speaking country to do this especially if you don't speak the local language.
Is there anything ~similar to this but that you can do in the U.S.? Like doing an HVAC roll-up but moving to bumfuck Idaho or some other rural state/area that has less competition?
Please educate you?
There are millions of smart and motivated people and a limited number of high paying job.
God what an idiotic question. Stop acting like you have a bounty of options between PE, corporate America and AI start ups.
Hey guys, PE pays way more than an average finance job, why would anyone do it? You can only make millions now, not multi millions. So what’s the point guys?
If you can make money, do it. If you can’t, don’t. Nothing really has changed recently besides interest rates going from 0% to 5%. The industry started at like 15% rates. Still plenty of money to be made if you are actually good. If you suck and just want to keep sucking, then yea go suck somewhere else. Peace
risk adjusted return is good - sacrifice is just sleep.
people are idiots and actually dont know what they wanna do in life. 95% of high finance people shouldnt have been here in the first place. they are basically equivalent to accountants. mega funds arent real btw - you are just indexing with some leverage.
(1) You like the job.
(2) You like the pay.
Where else are you going to make a low risk +/- $500k/yr in your late 20s?
Just be a sales Chad
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