Jobs with least responsibility

Transfer to Equity Research or Investor Relations within the same firm or a different firm. Hours are better so you get the lifestyle, pay is also pretty good, and easy to transfer because you have a great educational background and you work at an EB.

Haha thanks for one of the most realistic posts of being an IBD analyst. I'd recommend ER - while the work itself still consists a lot of ass-kissing, at the very least you are in control of your own time, rather than by your clients.

The problem you're going to have is that $250k jobs outside of banking, consulting and big law are considered pretty high paying jobs and you have to work hard at them. Maybe the ER route would work but if you were to leave finance for a corporate job, you'd work less, get paid less and office politics and bureaucracy can be awful. I see it in portfolio companies: procedures and rules that make no sense, bosses that just blow (at least if you have an asshole MD they're successful and most likely at least intelligent-that is very often not the case in a lot of corporate America, I often see some real dumb dumbs at mid to sr level management) and a generally miserable experience. My father in law worked at a F500 job for something like 25 years, rose to sr management (right outside of the c-suite) and I'm not quite sure how he didn't kill himself.

But you should find something you really want to do and pursue it. Think about your dream job and go for it. You're young and intelligent and can make it happen. Life is a lot better when you're passionate about what you do-if you like classic cars, open up a restoration shop, if you like the restaurant/bar biz get a job managing one with the goal of opening up your own. If you like teaching kids, become a teacher (a friend of mine who is probably te happiest and most content person I know did his IB stint after undergrad and absolutely hated it, after his two years he decided to go back to school to get a teaching degree and loves what he does).

I think @Ambani @monkeyleverage are underestimating the hours/lifestyle in ER - while usually better than banking, I know people who work/worked in ER who do/did banking-like hours and even at places you don't, hours can be unpredictable and brutal around earnings season.

That being said, ER would be a good "step down" hours/lifestyle-wise.

Sales has better hours. It doesn't matter if it's fixed income derivatives, cash equities, prime brokerage, or private clients sales.....you will have better and more enjoyable hours. However, your liver will pay the price.

You will still have pressure to produce, but it will be different. Not less.

Or how about looking at a fund-of-funds? Compensation is pretty good and the job, I believe, is pretty easy. Not sure about the hours, but they should be pretty good, mostly because there is no reason for them not to be. You'll be the guy with the money that everyone wants so you're in control.

Edit: or perhaps look in to real estate, especially the buyside. Real estate is generally much less sophisticated as in most cases the investor is just buying a steady cash flow stream. This, of course, means less grunt work. I can't speak for the US, but I believe the hours should be much better than banking, and there are still tons of money to be made.

If you think ER/Credit Research has easy hours, think again. Banking-like during earnings season, still very high unpredictability during off-seasons due to client requests, calls, idea generation, etc.

Sell-side generally does not give you easier hours - look into corp dev if you want the guaranteed 9-5.

From what I've heard, VCs don't guarantee you work/life balance. PE/HF are similar to sell-side, albeit less BS.

Fund of funds. Prepare to take a comp hit at the lower levels, though.

Agree with DickFuld and thebrofessor; everyone thinks buy side is synonymous with HF/PE, when there are a ton of other options that offer decent pay and a way better lifestyle.

Never going to make $250k but underwriting (especially residential mortgages) is very cut and dry work. You are almost not allowed to use judgement at all. If the borrower fits the criteria you authorize the loan, otherwise not.

Ratings agency might be similar? I have no experience there. Anything with some kind of legal/government tie-in will be low responsibility because the task will be so highly regulated.

I definitely think you are looking at an F500 job. Almost anything in professional services is going to be big hours and responsibility. Be careful what you wish for though, the type of work you are asking for can be really mind-numbing and frustrating. I find it hard to believe you did so well in school and are really going to be happy doing assembly-line style office work with no critical thinking. Hope you find what you're looking for and don't burn any bridges when you leave your current office. Good luck.

won't hit 250k but governmental work will be close to what you are looking for.

Where does this misconception come about ER doing fuck all? If they are at the moment it's because the business is DEAD. You know what that means? They don't fucking hire, they FIRE. They have to keep a bare bone team just to show clients that when they take the client's company public one of the kids in the back can write some meaningless reports about it. You have to travel a lot depending on what type of ER you do, you have to go see clients and spend some evening with them. Road shows etc... You want something easy - quit banking and do something like teaching or accounting.

corporate finance at a Microsoft or GE seems right up your alley

Ok let me tell you something. I have a job in a BB in markets. If i stick there in 5-6y ill be making around 300k$. I have a little bit of stress but very limited, get to do stuff at my pace to a certain extent. Hours are 8h30 to 18h30-19h with occasional extra time when too much work. The mood in the team is excellent, no asshole, no jerk, etc...

Sounds like a dream job ?

Guess what, i absolutely hate it, i am about to quit without having anything lined up. I almost got my "dream position" a few days ago but blew the final round interview so now i am so depressed just to go back to work in this gig.

Reason is : the work is extremely boring, i feel i am wasting my time everyday, i see no personal development, i got tricked into accepting this position by a very convincing manager and now i feel so dumb.

Now i am thinking the same as what you think, but please dont put aside the content of the job and focus on the hours/pay only. It's one of the most depressing feelings ever to feel that your intelligence is insulted.

250k/year jobs dont grow on trees...I think OP has a bit of a misconception about how many jobs that pay that much with no stress exist. If you really want no stress you are going to have to take a step down in pay and be a teacher or some other type of civil servant. Any corporate job with that type of pay is going to have politics and will require time commitment beyond 9-5p 5 days a week. It is not easy to be upper middle class in america (or anywhere else) unless you were already born that way or you are willing to work hard.

What team were you in OP? A tip a BB friend of mine gave was to search 'exit opps' on LinkedIn to see where your former group analysts/associates went. He did the same thing, found a former analyst at a top F50 company in an interesting role, got a referral and manged to exit after his first year bonus. Both analysts are still there/have been promoted and are happy. So many people leave finance for other (quality) roles - you would be surprised what you can dig up. Often 1 years experience is more than enough for IBD to exit so please do not worry too much.

I would definitely advise equity research at a major Asset Management firm. The work life balance is very reasonable. Its a bit more tricky at the beginning of your careers as you are usually expected to do CFA but its much more relaxed after that. Most of the senior analysts at my company ( top 5 asset manager globally) fo something like 10 hour days and no weekends. Its also a pretty intellectually stimulating job, and you usually work individually on your own stuff and then just pitch ideas to the PMs

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If you live in NYC or LA, you might want to consider the retail/apparel industry in a corp fin or sales planning role. No nights or weekends (except for quarter-end close), and expectations are much lower than in any financial services firm. The major downside is that the average person in this industry is of significantly lower professional caliber than someone you would encounter in Finance, which inhibits learning and motivation. Also, comp is usually quite low starting out (low to mid 50s base) and exit opportunities to other industries are non-existent. Due to the lack of internal competition however, high achievers get promoted quickly and can hit low six figures in about 3-5 years.

if you can hack it - HFT.

period I Am:

I've just recently realized how pointless corporate america is

period I Am:

....a career where I can start at the bottom and work my way up by means other than working 100 hours.

The way I see it..... if you want to be GREAT at something in life and be "at the top" you're going to need to put in a lot of time doing it if you want to be better than everyone else and rise to the top. You need to be constantly trying to get better and pushing yourself outside your comfort zone when everyone else you compete with doesn't wants to.

I get that you don't like banking, that's fine. I wouldn't either But my point is that rising to the top doesn't come by cruising through life. It doesn't matter if you're an athelete, a painter, a banker, doctor, or a chef. You need to practice you craft or trade more than anyone else who is doing it get to the top and be the best.

If ever you find yourself not wanting to put in the time to be the best, get a new job because you really can't like it that much and it's a waste of your life. Our time here is very limited. Spend it doing what makes you happy.

Maybe that's just me though?

I'm an actuary. I work 40-45 hours/week. 7-8 Months of the year I need to study for my actuarial exams which takes an additional 20-30 hours/week. After 4 years of working, I'll be making over 100k/year and working 45-50 hours/week, and I won't be studying for exams outside of work. The work really isn't too hard... but I don't understand any of the business.

if you want a relaxed job, join a rating agency. There are no assholes, anywhere. The hours are 40-50 at most, and the environment is relaxed. Only thing is you won't make much money. 70k for someone with your experience, maybe 120k in 6 years. However 250k will take until you are 40, probably.

pwm/pb might be for you. At some point you may be expected to sell, but you may be able to find a shop where they have people solely focusing on investments. This assumes you are interested in the markets since you are considering ER. In the early years you'll mostly just be putting together potential portfolio allocations or reviews of portfolio performance...not super deep analysis.

I second what has been said above, $250k career jobs are rare, especially if you are not interested in selling. Investor relations at AM firms are lower stress and lower pay with potential upside. I interned in IR at a $20billion fund. The people worked 8-430 5 days /wk. Not sure about pay. The team I worked on, all 2 had MBA and the other was working on CFA (none had worked in finance pre MBA). We would listen/read our PM/analyst meetings and write ups about our different funds and positions and then regurgitate the info to clients/investors or our wholesalers.

I know people who are BB FO caliber and took jobs that people on this site would talk shit on, but from what I have seen they excel and get promoted because of their hard work and dedication which stands out from their peers while most likely they would have been middle of the pack in BB FO. Think big fish in small pond vs small fish in big pond. But like others have said, politics can hold people down and the best and brightest don't always get to use their abilities to their potential which is very frustrating.

Ever given real estate investment a thought? The larger PE shops would be similar hours to IB and a bit mundane in the beginning (instead of excel you'd just be on argus) but if you find a smaller more entrepreneurial firm but with still some aum you could mix it up task wise and get involved at s higher level more quickly, work less (not 40 hrs/week but not a hundred) and still make good to great money. And in general, especially if you leave NYC, real estate guys tend to be pretty cool and more relaxed.

I worked at a few REPE shops and the hours are pretty good. If you are on acquisitions at a MM shop, I think you can get away with like 60 hrs a week. The modeling really isn't that hard and you get a chance to visit a bunch of properties!

Like others have said, Asset Management guys at BB's are total slackers. Avoid the hardcore equities and fixed income guys and you are good. FoF, alternatives, and portfolio solution desks are solid paying jobs with low hours.

Been skimming many of the posts. Many miss the point: The OP is aiming for a Career Max of 250k at the Peak of the career. This is very achievable for someone with his/her background, especially after having done a stint in IB for a year and being top of class of a good school (meaning that no matter how chill the OP thinks he/she is, he/she is still high achieving person). For illustrative purposes, a 3% raise YoY (in real terms) starting with a 100k salary for 30 years achieves that. That is very manageable outside of the world of high finance.

Hell, forget Equity Research altogether; with the OPs background, you can achieve that goal and more heading and growing a plumbing firm, starting a career from the bottom at Costco or whatever else floats your boat- know plenty of very successful people who have done such a thing.

OP, I felt EXACTLY as you did and took the jump from MBB into a tech job shy of being 1 year into the firm. Not gonna lie, work pretty hard still at the tech firm but the pay is better, the bullshit is nonexistent, my lifestyle is infinitely better and I do not even open my laptops on weekends. PM me if you want to hear more specifics.

I'm probably gonna take some flak for this, but operations. Seems to fit the bill for the OP.

STAY FOR YOUR BONUS....only a month or 2 months more... that 60K pretax is a lot man, especially when you are out of the business. You could sustain yourself on that bonus for 2 YEARS if you're backpack abroad like @"AndyLouis". or take a couple vacations on that, or buy a nice car.

don't make a rash decision. sure get out, but should be a cool and calm move. My vote is for SS ER under an analyst you know won't work you to death. Also buyside long-only. 50 hour weeks Max 60, these are not your HFs.. read blackhats post.

AND when you want to make bank, you can dial up the heat by transferring to a hedge fund down the road. keeps your options open.

Example: Dodge & Cox.. 50 hour weeks, long-only, stimulating work.