NewYorkBuck
Do not read this title
I guess this is good a time as any to post this, but I am in the midst of a major career change. As some of you already know, I have spent the better part of the last ten plus years on Wall Street, my last job being at a bulge bracket firm that has made some news as of late. At the peak of the MBS market (2005), I ran the structuring group there that numbered 15 analysts, associates, and VPs. That group now numbers two. Seeing the overall direction of the market and what my bonus was going to be this year (somewhere between zero and zero) in conjunction with the packages they were offering, I offered myself up for the April round of cuts.
During my Wall St career, whenever I told my mother how great it would be to be retired at 39, she always answered me with some retort of how I would be bouncing off the walls after a month. Well, as they say, mom knows best, and sure enough by mid May I was looking for the action again. Low and behold, I am now smack in the midst of opening my own business in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn. For obvious reasons I won't go into the actual nature of the business on a internet forum, but I will say that I am absolutely wild about the business model and the growth potential. As much as I do like money, for me its not entirely about that anymore. I so stoked about the idea of completely running my own business - answering to only myself instead of some MD or CFO. I also miss managing people, and this business will allow me to do that in spades.
In any event, the morals of this story are these -
1) If you are miserable, quitting your job is fine, just realize the grass isnt always greener. There are times when leaving makes sense for good reasons, and there are times when it doesn't. There were times that my old job drove me nuts, but I dont regret one minute I spent there. Nor do I regret leaving when I did. Make sure you think through what your next step is going to be and what is in your own best interests long term.
2) If you have enough money to retire early, realize that doing nothing sucks. If you are the type that had enough drive to amass a small fortune young, realize that you will not be happy doing squat after all experiencing the juice for so long.
I hope this was in some way helpful to someone in a similar situation.
During my Wall St career, whenever I told my mother how great it would be to be retired at 39, she always answered me with some retort of how I would be bouncing off the walls after a month. Well, as they say, mom knows best, and sure enough by mid May I was looking for the action again. Low and behold, I am now smack in the midst of opening my own business in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn. For obvious reasons I won't go into the actual nature of the business on a internet forum, but I will say that I am absolutely wild about the business model and the growth potential. As much as I do like money, for me its not entirely about that anymore. I so stoked about the idea of completely running my own business - answering to only myself instead of some MD or CFO. I also miss managing people, and this business will allow me to do that in spades.
In any event, the morals of this story are these -
1) If you are miserable, quitting your job is fine, just realize the grass isnt always greener. There are times when leaving makes sense for good reasons, and there are times when it doesn't. There were times that my old job drove me nuts, but I dont regret one minute I spent there. Nor do I regret leaving when I did. Make sure you think through what your next step is going to be and what is in your own best interests long term.
2) If you have enough money to retire early, realize that doing nothing sucks. If you are the type that had enough drive to amass a small fortune young, realize that you will not be happy doing squat after all experiencing the juice for so long.
I hope this was in some way helpful to someone in a similar situation.
I was thinking the same thing
