Need some advice - feeling directionless

Hi all - I'm an associate at a BB in NYC. Since I was an A2A promote and that I skipped a year in school, I'm only in my early 20s. I'm having a bit of a mid-life crisis except 30 years early and could use some honest advice.

Basically I feel a bit directionless - I don't really love banking at all. If I'm being honest, I like the money and the status that the job brings - but the job itself is some of the most stupid, mundane stuff that I've ever done. That's not a huge problem for me because I get my satisfaction outside of work (reading, hanging out with buddies, watching movies, travelling, etc) and banking is what pays the bills for all of that. But I'm not sure if this is really what I want to be doing long term, and I'm not sure if the usual "exits" like PE or corp dev are going to be any more interesting, I doubt it.

So let's go back and see how I got here. I transferred colleges after my first year to a semi-target undergrad business program. I busted my balls and got a 3.95 GPA, did my sophmore and junior year internships at local boutiques and was able to pound the pavement and convert to a BB full time. What this meant is that I basically didn't experience as much of the social side of college as I could've (which wasn't helped by the fact that I transferred and therefore missed out on the first year of the program). I never lived in residence and quite frankly didn't go out and party / meet people as much as I should've. A number of my peers have ended up in industry and I've realized (unfortunately) that the social side of school is as important, if not more so, than the academic side. I feel that this has hampered my network in the industry as well as my social circle in NYC since I don't know a ton of people here unlike many of my peers. And quite frankly, I feel like I missed out on the "college experience" - I know that sometimes it can be mythologized by media as being better than it is, but nonetheless I don't really look back at my college days as "fun" - more so, as a means to end of getting the job that I'm in now.

I also never really traveled during college or afterwards before I started work. A bunch of my peers went on exchange or traveled to Europe or Asia after undergrad. I was always focused on working hard, getting ready for my job, etc and never could justify going. Now I look back and think that I'll never be able to do that. I mean sure I can travel to Europe and stay in nice hotels, but even on a "vacation" I'll still be checking my BB several times a day. There's a big difference between that and backpacking in Europe for four months, celebrating St Patrick's Day in Dublin, etc..

So: I don't particularly like my job and feel that I missed out on undergrad and its freedom compared to the cold realities of "the real world." Part of my problem is that I'm really interested in a lot of different things and I really wish that I could go through life a couple of times to go down all of my different career paths. I thought I might be a lawyer before I decided on I-Banking and I've also been interested in science so thought about maybe doing an engineering undergrad before deciding against it.

I have a decent chunk of money saved up (I'm a pretty frugal person) and I'm trying to figure out what I want to do next and could use some advice. I'm thinking about pulling a Van Wilder and doing a second bachelors just for shits and not because I'm particularly keen to do that with my life (i.e. go to another target finance undergrad program, do an undergrad degree in engineering, etc) just to go back to school for a couple of years and experience some of the stuff I missed out on. I'm also thinking about maybe doing a law degree (again, not because I want to practice law per se, but just to go back to school / network / party / meet people etc). So this is where I could use the advice. I'm basically where most of the people on this forum eventually want to be, but feel relatively dissatisfied with my life so far from a social / personal perspective. The way I view it, you only go through life once and I don't want to be caught with regrets later in life (especially since you can't really do a lot of the above once you're over 30), but on the other hand I don't want to fuck up the rest of my life in the process. Thoughts?

 
Best Response

Thanks for the post; the perspectives you outlined are ones I've been spending a lot of time thinking about as well. It sounds like we had a pretty similar experience in terms of our mindsets during school and some of the associated second-guessing/regrets now looking back.

Since you mentioned that PE and Corp Dev don't sound terribly appealing, perhaps looking at roles with startups (of varying stages) could offer some interesting opportunities. Working for a company/industry/team you're excited about can make a world of difference and leaving banking definitely makes it easier to have "real" holidays and spend more time on social/personal interests.

If you're thinking about going back to school with the social/networking/fun side as a larger priority, it might make more sense to do an MBA instead of a law degree like you mentioned (unless you think you'll find law genuinely interesting - not to mention that law school is generally much more rigorous).

When it comes down to it, you have a great resume and you're only in your early twenties. It sounds like a great chance to explore other career paths that are rewarding but also give you more latitude for the personal stuff. If you end up deciding in a couple years, or during an MBA that you want to go back to banking, I'm sure that'd be more than doable anyways.

 

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