Am I too old/poor to get into investment banking?
I am currently 24. Following highschool, where I was an A/B student, there was a family incident. I had to start life on my own and I did not go to college. After a few years of working in retail as a manager, and deciding what to do with my life, I found out about investment banking. Despite all the downsides I hear about, I feel passionate about getting into it, but I am scared it may be too late.
I have a little saved up, and I make slightly over minimum wage with my job. I'm not near any ivy league schools, but I'd be willing to go to college when I'm confident I wouldn't be putting a lot of money/time/hope into something that I wouldn't see any return on. I understand that not coming from a lot of money, family prestige, and being older than most people when graduating with a bachelors degree puts me behind.
However, I am driven, ambitious, and would do whatever needs to be done to achieve this. I am a quick learner, and have expierence in a leadership role and office setting. Do you have any helpful advice on what I should do?
Interested in the responses. I don’t believe, there is any “cap”, on age breaking into IB. It’s the rigor of the work that is ideal for younger people with the long work weeks and such. People that change careers and get an MBA are in their mid 30’s, sometimes.
Is graduating at 24 too old for IB ?
Lets say 2 years for a degree. And then 26 going in as an analyst. Not impossible , but it is probably not happening at a bulge bracket
There are many different kinds of jobs in finance, but they require a degree. Could you start at a local community college part time and see how you do?
I dont want to be the first person to post this but you have alot going against you. If you are drive and as ambitious as you say you are you need to get into a community college or full time program as fast as possible and graduate in in a shortened timeline. Along the way I would try and find boutique shops and intern for them. If you want to do IB there's going to be a lot you need to get done and quick.
You could always spend some time in the corporate fin world and try and jump in at a smaller shop later on in the process.
Honestly you're pretty much screwed for investment banking. The most clear path is obviously straight out of UG, and aside from that you're mainly talking post MBA hires. You don't even have any degree, and as you said, certainly will not be going to an elite school, so I would say your chances are extremely slim to none. There are plenty of younger and equally ambitious people out there who are actually on top of things.
Highly recommend taking about a quarter to a half year studying for the SAT / ACT. This could be your first step into getting into a accredited university that has an alumni network + tuition money. If you’re as ambitious as you say you are, you’ll be willing to start from the bottom to work your ass off. SAT -> 4 year Uni -> regional boutique internships -> your desired job. I think you have an interesting story that could catch a lot of eyes if you know how to leverage it in the interview properly! God speed
SAT is a really really small part of college admissions in the current landscape(a few top schools are switching to test optional). 1500+ SAT is just a check-the-box in 2019, not a spot in. Plus, studying for it should take only 20-40 hours(can easily be done in 2 weeks).
OP - in short, it can be done. It won't be easy and it may not happen but it can be done. It won't be straightforward but it can be done. One thing though... You need to find a champion. Someone above you or senior to really push for you.
Question (to ask yourself): Where do you live and what's the angle? You want to increase the number of possibilities as much as possible.
Idea 1 (networking): If you are in a more tier 2/3 city (can be done in tier 1 as well but tougher since its so much bigger), an idea may be to see what foundations, rich families, charities there are... For instance, who are the prominent donors to the local museum or symphony or university? Get those names. Look them up. Ok, who are those people? What do/did they do? Where else are they involved? How did they get there? You may find some of them came from nothing or scrapped it out as well. An idea could be approaching a mutual contact (if you can find one) to try to get some of their time. But let's say you don't have a mutual contact... And if you don't, maybe you volunteer/join those organizations and meet those people or those who know them. If you do well and are liked, you will be surprised how quickly people can try to connect you, or that you will run across said people. Those people will ask you about yourself. And you can tell them the story you have told here and the path you are taking... Some or many will say "wow" good luck. Others will say "wow, that's awesome, I love this, you need to meet my spouse/cousin/neighbor/friend etc, let me connect you"... All you need is one.
Idea 2 (education): You probably need to get an education. A poster above said community college. Why not? If you can juggle that with your work schedule, community college can get you credits, an AA, maybe even the potential to temp/work as an exec assistant/temp etc somewhere in financial services, while you work towards that BA. You will probably make more money than in retail and a number of these organizations will be small. And as you get to know people there and tell them your story, you may find sympathetic ears... As you are known as a nice person, hard worker and grinding it out, you may be seen as lower risk and thus get internships and after graduating, a job...
Now you are in the space. You have a job. Work, grind , network, to try to make it into the big leagues. It may never happen and frankly, as an older guy, I often feel that the big leagues are overrated and the life span for many is short. But I understand the desire, so go for it!
Plenty of people will say you can't do it. They may be right. But if this is what you truly want and are willing to work for it, do your best to ignore them. You may not even end up in banking. You may find an industry/company/profession that you love and excel at and amazing colleagues that you want to work with for a long time. And that's what we call winning. Oh and you may get lucky and make a ton of money if you catch a wave or trend or fall in with the right people. Bonus and AWESOME.
Of course I could be way off my rocker but these are just some ideas and hopefully they will encourage you. It will be uphill and take time and energy. But it can be done. And you will learn a ton about yourself, the world and a number of industries in the process.
Good Luck
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