How can a person make the most money with a 30 year career in finance? Is the outcome best in PE, VC, HF, IB?

How can a person make the most money with a 30 year career in finance? Is the outcome best in PE, VC, HF, IB?

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Founding your own top HF > Founding a really good VC > Reaching partner at GS IBD > Founding a mediocre PE firm > being a great MD in IBD > Founding an eh HF > Being an okay MD in IBD > Founding a very eh VC > Never making it to MD in IBD because you couldn't source deals > Founding a failed HF that collapses very quickly as most do > Not being able to raise a fund in PE and not being hired by anyone because you're too old and expensive so now you have to move to some boring corporate strategy role

Hopefully you get the point - you can have a very lucrative or very bad career in any of these fields. Do what you're good at, not what you think might make you the most money. The money will come.

 

This seems about right, I'd imagine the top HF and VC partners are making way more than top PE partners.

 

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