Leaving IB for the military and then going back into IB/high finance
I have a very strong desire to go into the military after my analyst years. Yes, it sounds cheesy but it feels like a calling and I know I would regret it later in life if I didn’t. I come from a family of men who served in the military and went on to be successful and many of the qualities that I look up to seem to be ones they pick up during their years of service.
I totally understand that I’d prob have to go the MBA route to secure an assoc position - which is fine by me bc I’ve always wanted to get an MBA.
My questions for you guys include:
• do you work with/know anyone who has done this? (I know a few people who went military and then banking but haven’t heard of anyone going banking -> military -> banking).
• will this limit my exits from banking? I know I’ll be “old” when I’m exiting, but will that really make that much of a difference?
• most people who exit into PE do so in their analyst years but have you guys heard of anyone doing so after assoc? (I think people on WSO overhype that you need to secure a PE position during analyst years)
Any and all advice is apprec’d.
You can definitely land PE as an associate but it's 1. harder (you're not getting HH inbounds every day and you need to hustle/network) and 2. you need to be okay with a small fund; MF PE is unlikely from associate.
Any reason you wouldn't do IB -> PE -> military -> MBA -> PE/job of your choice? If you can do the typical IB/PE route, secure an MBA spot and defer a year or two to serve, you would have a wide menu of options post-MBA. Don't think it makes sense for you to go back to banking after b school if you already have IB experience.
My military contract would be 4 years. I'm 22 now so if I did IB -> PE -> Military -> MBA, I would be 25/26 going into the military which puts me out at 30/31. It's doable no doubt, but in a perfect world, I would rather serve while in my prime from an athletics perspective.
i would suggest IB 2 years (save all your cash - live as cheap as possible) --> military 4 years --> MBA (paid by military GI Bill) --> career of your choice.
a lot of IB guys joined the military after 9/11...nobody looks down on you for it...you are best off joining military as young as possible.
i wish i did this...i thought of it, but my family talked me out of it.
I am not looking forward to the pay cut.... less than 1/3 of what an IB analyst makes lol. And part of the reason I am so set on doing it is bc I don't want to look back and think to myself that I wish I had served while I had the opportunity.
Just wondering why you want to go into the military now? With the announcement of the withdrawal of all troops in Afghanistan by 9/11, there is very little chance of you deploying and seeing any action.
I'm assuming you'll be enlisting for 4 years and in "peacetime" military, you'll be doing more lawn mowing and latrine (bathroom) cleaning than gaining leadership experience.
I wanted to join out of undergrad but I ended up needing knee surgery which delayed my ship date for a while. I accepted a banking job in the meantime bc I thought it best to be productive with my time.
"Seeing action" is not the reason I am joining - well it's very low on the list when I think about why I want to do it. Obviously, I would prefer to be in combat but that wouldn't be an option if we're in peacetime.
The military is a complete joke and it's certainly not what you think it is. Just recruit for PE
Ehh I have a good idea of what I am getting myself into. But I think I know what you're getting at. Most people go in with a huge misunderstanding of what they are getting into and are upset when it's totally different. Fortunately, I have close family members who have/are currently experiencing it first hand (the same branch & job that I want to do) and have always given me "no-bullshit" answers when I ask about it. When I told them I wanted to go in, they made sure I was completely understanding of what I'm getting myself into.
Good luck! I hope its not the Marine Corps
This is from a current Army officer's perspective.
I do not know of anyone has done banking --> military --> banking. However, nearly all of my mentors went military --> MBA --> finance. Once you get an MBA, you can try to pivot to almost anything.
Your past experience in banking would likely be a leg up compared to other post-military candidates. Just keep in mind the last time you would have been in banking by the time you were recruiting post business school would be 5+ years. They might discount that a little bit more than you would like.
Moving on...
If you want to enlist, I would suggest only doing so if you plan on going the RASP route and do whatever the MOS of your choice is in the Ranger Regiment. You will be dealing with more competent people than you will be in the regular army. I could see you enlisting as an 18X and going to SFAS, but that path is usually taking people on a longer career trajectory than just four years.
If you want to go the officer route, which I would suggest... I would still caution you. I know you said you have a pretty good idea of what you are getting yourself into, but sometimes it is out of control. I know highly competent dudes who wanted to be infantry officers and go to the 82nd Airborne or 101st Airborne (Air Assault) and they ended up as logistics officers stationed at Ft. Polk. You have some destiny over your outcome, but there is a small-to-decent chance you could end up in a miserable place with a job you hate without a way to leave for ~ 3 years.
Also, if you are an officer, even if you get your dream job as an infantry platoon leader (a job where you theoretically should be doing the most training), you will spend 90% of your time in the office doing office work. You are dealing with soldiers' lost property, sexual harassment complaints, soldiers' positive drug tests, female soldiers prostituting themselves out to male soldiers and only getting caught because an ugly female soldier told on everyone because she could not get boys to pay her for sex, soldiers going AWOL, re-counting inventory at 2:00 PM because even though you counted it at 9:00 AM that does not count because you were only told to count it 1:00 PM, soldiers killing themselves, DUI's, your NCO's beating the shit out of their wives, the wives posting videos of themselves battered to leadership FB pages asking how leadership could allow a man like this to be a fellow leader, and much more!
This is not to dissuade you. It is just to tell you that the guy above me is not totally off. It is not like the recruitment videos, it can really suck. However, it does not mean you are not gaining worthwhile experience solving other problems and getting the occasional opportunity to do cool training. You are also exposed to a diverse group of people from wildly different backgrounds/upbringings.
presumably if OP recruits as a Trans candidate he will get any special forces / top notch assignment he wants because that is the target focus for US military going forward - diversity, inclusion, equity, trans capability etc., all whilst still fighting all of Israel's wars/conflicts for it because "only democracy in the middle east". Not containing China or w/e else one might think should be a priority.
Would OP have a better shot at A&D groups coming out of the military though? It would be easy to craft a story for that with a military background and IB experience. The spin of ‘I wanted the opportunity to get a more realistic understanding of the industry’ would be doable no?
Hope the last sentence is sarcastic lmao. In a 4 year military stint, he probably wouldn't gain anything remotely relevant that would help him in an investment banking role (in terms of tangible knowledge). Not to mention of all the reasons to leave banking to join the military, that shouldn't even be in the top 100
Thanks for the insight - I appreciate it. I've been told that based on my PFT scores, I will be able to pretty much choose my job (I don't say that to be cocky, just to give context); is it fair to say that if you have a very strong PFT, you'll be able to write your destiny? I'm 6'3" 220 lbs, and my recruiter told me it would be a waste if I didn't go the infantry route.
That's not really true. I am an infantry officer and most infantry officers have maxed out APFT scores and really high ACFT scores. That is not considered something special to you. It is an expectation of being an infantry officer.
Why not join the reserves (or NG if you're a yank?)
Are you thinking of enlisting or doing OCS?
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