Advice regarding career choice

Hello everyone, this is my first post to WSO, and I eagerly await anyone's advice. I'm a 28 year old RN with 4 years experience; the money has been fantastic, and with the OT rolling in, I've been able to save/invest a fair bit over the last 4 years. I have realized that I have a bit of a passion for finance, and frankly it is all I read about. I have lost most/all of my interest in nursing, and have been seeking a career change. I have always been interested in wall street, however, since I began investing a few years ago, this hobby has really taken off to a whole new level. In addition to this, I am seeing a lot of improvement in my management, and have been beating the S&P over the last little while using a conservative value based approach. I have decided that I am far too burnt out at my job, and I realized that I want to pursue a career in finance.

I have spent a lot of time researching the different careers in the industry, and it seems that based on my interests, an MBA in finance or a CPA designation is the best route, with the goal of eventually obtaining a CFA certification. I've noticed that my passion revolves around reading balance sheets, analyzing, and predicting target prices, which seems to suggest more of an MBA-Finance route; however, it also seems like a CPA cert is a more stable career choice with a slightly higher starting wage than an MBA (exluding the Harvard and Columbia type grads). I also figure that if my long term goal were ultimately based around Security Analysis, it just seems more logical that one would first have to master the finance of an individual company before they can understand the bigger picture; therefore I'm wondering if this would offer a more practical career progression? Also, it seems like an MBA-Finance is way more theory based than an accounting degree, and although the theory maybe is more practical to my ultimate goal, I question if there will be starting jobs that could either A: lead to the same level of progression as a CPA or B: offer the same initial salary which would allow me to invest in my early years.

Now I have a BSc in Psych and a BN in nursing, strong GPA in both, but I have never taken a single business/finance/econ/accounting/commerce course in my life; I fell in love with this stuff more so in the last few years. It seems that an MBA is more geared towards people like me that have worked in a different field and want to go into management, and I was also reading that lots of MBA schools even prefer people with a background like mine, provided that they can meet the pre-reqs, as it shows more well rounded personality and interest. Accounting, on the other hand, seems to have very specific universal prereqs that would take me a full two years (With summers) to complete. I think that with an MBA, I could get the prereqs for most programs within a year, thus saving me 1 year of lost wages; on the other hand with an MBA I am paying high tuition, while with a CPA designation I'd be making around 30-35k/year for the 30 months I'd be in training (both would be a big deficit from the low six figures I was making as an RN).

My hope is that I would take a pay cut in the first few years, and then eventually start my own firm, with the goal of earning beyond my max pay as an RN. I am seeking ANY advice as to what seems more suitable for me; I have done my best to research the topics, but any other info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

Oh, I also forgot to mention that I work in Psych Nursing, and was lucky enough to get a really 'good' job with lots of professional experience, as I would conduct Psychaitric interviews in the emergency room; I know that this could almost for sure be viewed as 'professional work experience' as we were conducting interviews and discussing the case with the on-call Psychiatrist; this of course would not show any accounting experience. Thanks again! And sorry for the super long post.

 

my little advice is to make yourself marketable towards top programs. If you're taking a lower-tier MBA program, you'll soon end up feeling that the job is as taxing as your RN job. you'd have an interesting diversity to start with, but note that it is concurrently a deficiency against your pre-MBA knowledge of business fundamentals.

Maybe outside of your investing gig, you could start on Wharton's Foundation Series? Or some coursera or EdX stuff? If you can finish a few, then it's a strong proof to your interest in business, not just money - IB people who are in the jobs for money often get out pretty quickly because its pressure outweights their love for money sort of things.

 
Best Response

Thanks for your advice. I agree that I would need to get into a top-tier program to make the investment worthwhile for an MBA, but it also seems that the prestige of the school correlates well to the cost; it seems that on average 50k/year plus living costs (20-30k) over two years (plus lost income and lost gains on capital) would pretty much wipe out most of my investments. So I have to calculate the long term (from a purely fiscal perspective) consequence of lost income, plus lost potential growth of my portfolio, versus the potential gains. As an RN I'm on level 4/9 of the pay scale and make a base wage of around 85k, but with OT I've averaged about 125 over the last 4 years. Lets say I have 150k of liquid right now, and lets assume 8% growth over 2 years, plus if I was working FT as a nurse I could continue to contribute 2k/month into my portfolio, this is roughly 232k upon when I would be starting work with my MBA, so my average pay would have to at least make up this difference, in a reasonable amount of time to offset the further potential growth of the portfolio Assuming further 8% growth over another 10 years, we would have exactly 500k. So using a 10 year post-graduation as the benchmark to break even on the investment, I would need to make an additional 50k/year, excluding the effect of growth in capital investments. Using the same 8% rule to reverse the compounding growth, and assuming I had 0 dollars at the start, I would need to make 2740/month extra to break even at 10 years (this would be about 320k in direct deposits, and 180k in growth). Putting in the same figures for a 20 year period would turn the 150k into 740k, or a 1300/month spread in income over 20 years. Putting this into a 30 year break-even point (as I am 28, and would be around 31 upon completion, this is the most realistic). 150k=1.6 million, or 1080/month. Now I know the two big confounds with this math is that I am only on step 4/9 right now (step 9 is about 100/year base) and in the MBA world, it seems the average end of career wage is twice that of a starting wage (very different from the 75k-100k spread in nursing). I am aware that with an MBA I would likely take a slight cut (without OT calculation) in wage for the first couple of years, but my hope is that within 5-10 years I would be breaking even with my current OT wage (about 125k) controlling for inflation, and beyond ten years I would hope to make more than I could as an RN. It seems like I would need at least 1k/month in after tax earnings throughout the lifespan to essentially pay for an MBA. Is my math highly flawed? Any thoughts? That was a huge tangent, i'm sorry.

Regarding your information, i am completely unaware of these programs, but will research them right now. My plan was to start taking some general finance/business/accounting courses right now, so I'm hoping I'm not totally deficient in knowledge. To be honest, my love is not in relation to money, but in the analysis. I am just fascinated by the process of Security Analysis, and I just can't stop reading about it. Thanks again.

 

you had a lot of calculations. That's nice. however, I regret that I wasn't able to follow them all.

my clear point would be, that MBAs at best get ~$140k from the top top schools. If you really like this industry enough, that you would take 2 years off or part-time study, pay $100k towards a top MBA program unless you get discounts, and seek a job that is more or less same priced like your current job.

If so, do it with conviction. However, prepare hard so that you don't end up regretting.

In addition, consider how your cash flow will be after taking that MBA. whatever resul you get might be ugly but still can be do-able in real life situations. But I hope you don't get too hot-headed and enter some useless MBA program and can't really return to the job you've given up.

 

Why is there more upside potential with an MBA? It seems like accounting is easier to break into, but MBA/Finance allows you to climb the ladder within the organization? I just questions how I could land my first job without any connections.

 

MBA would be the right choice, but you need to understand what type of job you want it to lead to

"Security Analysis" is pretty general but probably sounds closest to equity research.

The CFA designation is a long process, and would eat up roughly 1000 hours of your time. Since you're already 28 you might pass level one now but it's mainly going to be a designation to help you advance in your career later (if it's ER/AM type role)

The CPA is for public accounting

 

Thanks for your reply. In Canada, I am referring to CPA as in Certified Professional Accountant, the soon to be merge of CMA, CPA, and CA. And you are correct, equity research is what I want to get into, with the hopes of eventually moving into IB if I play my cards right. I am looking for the best route to get a FT entry level job as an analyst, or any profession related to equity research. I understand that a CFA designation is a fantastic way to climb the ladder with analyst experience, but I honestly have no idea how to break into the field with my Nursing and Psychology degrees. I am just starting a 2 year diploma in accounting (could change my mind to finance within the first year) but I doubt that would be enough to get into an entry level jobs, aside from the Canadian CPA program (2 years PT education and 2.5 years work experience, and I believe they set you up with a firm). I just wonder if having a 2 year diploma with level 1 or 2 CFA would get me into an entry analyst job, then after 4 years, try and pass step 3. The one significant edge I have right now as the ability to work pretty much anywhere as a Nurse earning a good wage while I wait for job offers, so I wouldn't mind if it took a few months.

 
Mike32110:

Thanks for your reply. In Canada, I am referring to CPA as in Certified Professional Accountant, the soon to be merge of CMA, CPA, and CA. And you are correct, equity research is what I want to get into, with the hopes of eventually moving into IB if I play my cards right.

This doesn't sound like you're interested in Security Analysis if you want to leverage an ER role to move over to IB. Before deciding on something as big as getting an MBA, make sure you really know what you're interested because if you tell someone you looking around in finance, no one will take you seriously at your age. ER would make additional sense if you have your CFA designation, but if you say you want to become banker they wouldn't get why you would even waste your time passing the test.

 

To break into accounting you'd need to have an accounting background. They don't just let people sit for the CPA, you have to have certain prerequisites. I would advice not to go that route. I recommend actually going after a graduate program. Holding an MBA will bolster your career outlook.

Here is the best advice I can give you. Just because you've been investing in the market for some time and have been doing well doesn't necessarily mean you're cut out for it. Since this thread is titled "Advice Regarding Career Choice", here is my 2 cents.

My sister is about to start her MBA and she is an NP with a BS and MS in Nursing (I really don't know how you're making six figures only as an RN, but whatever). She is pursuing an MBA in Health Enterprise Management at Northwestern. Other variations of this program are called Healthcare Management. Nurses specifically thrive in this field. Many graduates either go on to consulting, pharmaceuticals, hospital management, insurance, financial services (investment banking and venture capital), or medical startups. I know you want to get out of nursing, but this is probably one of the biggest exit routes.

 

Pass level 1 of the CFA in December (don't fuck it up) and go back to b-school next year. CFA 1 will help your b-school app and also help you network in b-school. It will absolutely help you break into the industry and to move around in Asset Management later in your career. Also, Level I is mostly undergrad business topics so it will give you some prep for grad school and Level II is graduate level, so you'll have had exposure to some of it in school. Almost every successful analyst has done the program, it is the gold standard. It is also infinitely more interesting than the CPA. I just took level III.

Go to a top 50 school that places in finance. With zero business or management background a top 20 might be out of the picture but see how you do on the GMAT. Have reasonable expectations for the role you want out of school. Make it work with your story - grow a mindset of how your experiences will help you be a security analyst. Focusing your apps on being an analyst for healthcare could be a good place to start. Stop "hating nursing" and start thinking in terms of "my career to date will give me x y z advantages over other healthcare analysts that do not have direct experience". This is the horseshit that gets you into b-school and gets you through job interviews. Just keep it honest and buy into the story.

You need to invest in your future to make this sort of change. You're not going to walk into the field at a decent salary without taking up one of the tracks you mentioned. Don't worry about paying another $50k for a more expensive school if it actually places people directly into the roles you're interested in. At a top 10-15, for example, you can easily match what you're making now and making less will probably be an option, not a requirement. At a top regional you might end up stuck making $70-90ish. That seems to work with your goals though. At a school that doesn't place in finance you might end up making $50k as a desk admin back in the same hospital you work at now.

The CPA is probably a waste of your time. It's a great designation but I think most anaylsts who have it just happened to start in Big 4, not in AM, so they picked it up before transitioning. If you want to do corp fin it might be helpful (not my area, not sure) but to stay in research the CFA is better. I started at 28. Start now. The test is insanely hard, Level II is a total bitch, you don't want to have to finish this shit when you are 35 and have failed one or two levels because you have kids screaming in the background.

 

I am going to play devil's advocate here: it is going to be a long shot trying to gain admission to a top MBA program. Let me explain my reasoning.

You're some kind of nurse that all of a sudden discovered his 'passion for Security Analysis'. You kind of just sound like a dad who is getting some excitement from something new that he isn't getting from his day job.

You have nothing that screams 'business school' if you were to apply (minus your investing on your E-Trade account or whatever in your spare time). Yes the MBA is a 'career switcher', but in this case it just seems extremely random. It would be a little different if you had an MD or PhD and wanted to get into healthcare banking/consulting or something like that.

Basically, you would need to seriously beef up your profile because the only way you're getting into research is through a top-tier MBA + maybe the CFA. At this point, I don't think you have a strong enough application. If you really want to explore this route, you need an incredible GMAT and more things that show you're legitimately interested in finance/the markets. Yes you have 4 yrs of work experience, but it's in a completely unrelated field. Not saying it's IMPOSSIBLE, but I think you would need to do some serious leg-work to make this happen.

 
NESCAC:

I am going to play devil's advocate here: it is going to be a long shot trying to gain admission to a top MBA program. Let me explain my reasoning.

You're some kind of nurse that all of a sudden discovered his 'passion for Security Analysis'. You kind of just sound like a dad who is getting some excitement from something new that he isn't getting from his day job.

You have nothing that screams 'business school' if you were to apply (minus your investing on your E-Trade account or whatever in your spare time). Yes the MBA is a 'career switcher', but in this case it just seems extremely random. It would be a little different if you had an MD or PhD and wanted to get into healthcare banking/consulting or something like that.

Basically, you would need to seriously beef up your profile because the only way you're getting into research is through a top-tier MBA + maybe the CFA. At this point, I don't think you have a strong enough application. If you really want to explore this route, you need an incredible GMAT and more things that show you're legitimately interested in finance/the markets. Yes you have 4 yrs of work experience, but it's in a completely unrelated field. Not saying it's IMPOSSIBLE, but I think you would need to do some serious leg-work to make this happen.

I 100% agree. But with a strong GMAT and CFA 1 down it could be possible.

Maybe they'll be the next Michael Burry.....

 

If I were the OP, I would focus on gaining entrance into a top 20 MBA that has an healthcare management track (i.e. demonstrated departmental interest in healthcare backgrounds). Personally, I believe this is a two step process: 1) gain admittance into MBA; and 2) get job/internship during MBA.

In order to gain admittance, I would focus on a more "traditional" story, emphasizing your interest in moving into healthcare management/consulting that leverages your clinical experience. Adcoms can clearly envision that pathway, and thus may be more likely to accept. Remember, you're not married to your Personal Statement, while jumping from pure finance with even Level 1 CFA seems difficult. Obviously undergrad reputation and GMAT will also play key factors as well.

Once you're in the program, focus on AM, ER, or whatever other field you choose to specialize.

 

One advice I'd offer is to seriously question how much of this decision comes from reality (ie you do love finance) vs emotions (you said you are burned out). It's not something you have to answer here but I'd take some time to think about it. The reason I am concerned is because I don't see you saying "I want to trade" or "I want to get involved with IB" - you just keep saying "I want to do finance" - which really means "I like how finance sounds".

Just make sure you don't spend all your money and 5 years only to learn that this was some early middle life crisis.

The way Ah see it, is that it took a revolution f a bihllion people for your darn short to work out!
 

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