I dunno guys...

I’m slowly coming to this realization that I may be better off with a job outside of finance. I mean, my job / coworkers are great, I really just don’t know if I want to spend the rest of my life sitting in a cubicle staring at a computer screen. I grew up on a farm and used to run a landscaping operation and loved it. Maybe I just need to vent or need a vacation, could be the onset of winter, but I am hating my daily life right now.

HOw long have you been doing what you’re doing?

+1. Tired of this rat race already but not sure what else I can do beside this. No other skills which can earn me decent life style.

What specifically do you dislike about it besides the cube?

Move to Vermont, grow organic food and sell it.

I think this feeling is seasonal for finance people. That’s why banks pay a high % of compensation in the form of bonuses. By the end of the year, everyone is tired and disillusioned. Then they give you a wad of cash and you’re like “Yeah money! This is f*cking awesome!”. But anyway, as a cynical and generally disillusioned person, I’ve come to accept the reality of monotonous work, provided that life has some meaning outside of the office. Time off definitely helps. Though if you’re really unhappy, I guess it can’t hurt to think about backup plans.

bromion Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > What specifically do you dislike about it besides > the cube? Cube really takes the #1 slot as most despised, staring at a monitor all day is a pretty close 2nd. I get tired of all the bull sh*t, that’s another big one. If I have to listen to one more 28 year old corporate tool say, “Thanks, that really adds some great color” or similar corporate speak on a conference call I may burn this place down. The egos make me want to vomit. I grew up out doors on a farm, love to kayak whitewater, run trail ultras, get dirty, breathe fresh air, play music, that sort of thing. Instead, I get out of work every day and the sun’s already been down for about an hour. And I’m increasingly seeing that people are all chasing this non-existent finish line and a carrot and that I should really examine where I am and where I want to be very closely at this age (turning 27) before I waste any more of my life. I loved learning about finance and I love the intellectual atmosphere where it exists. I think the book monkey business made me really step back and look around and a lot of things I’d been purposely turning a blind eye to started to come into focus. Like how stress changes people and how everyone will inevitably become their job, that sort of thing. Anyhow, I’ll tough it out at least till next summer and see where I am.

ohai Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I think this feeling is seasonal for finance > people. That’s why banks pay a high % of > compensation in the form of bonuses. By the end of > the year, everyone is tired and disillusioned. > Then they give you a wad of cash and you’re like > “Yeah money! This is f*cking awesome!”. When I went to laugh at this, I accidentally swallowed my gum. You almost killed me you son of a b*tch!

Quit, sell everything you own, and move to Thailand, where you can reportedly live quite comfortably for $500 per month.

The obvious question then is, what else would you rather be doing? I asked myself that question and could not come up with a realistic answer (I couldn’t figure out how to turn “being the owner and operator of a personal harem” into a realistic and sustainable business model). I have some complaints about finance as well, but ultimately, it’s better than anything else, at least personally. If you think you would be more happy being a park ranger or camp counselor (or whatever) and spending time out doors, then go do that. Alternatively, you could move to Cali and find a job a non-cube finance job (I can’t do the cube anymore either). Life is short, you might as well enjoy yourself before its too late.

BS - Keep your head up bro. There is life outside of spreadsheets and earnings calls. I feel the same way. I just turned 27 and I’m wondering if this is really what I’ll be doing forever. I have some time to tread water as I’m finishing up an MBA. I have an interview for a large commodity type of business located on a coast in 1.5 weeks. It will be a rotational program in their finance department which is right up my alley. I’ve already been asked the, “Why investment management to corporate finance?” Here was my honest reply (which progressed me forward). “I lost my job in 08 through no fault of my own. Capital markets went crazy and the firm I was at almost went bankrupt. I caught my manager updated his resume more often than once. While I enjoy being knowledgeable of capital markets, I’m not so sure I will enjoy making a career in a position within. Therefore, I feel that I would be much happier within a corporation that produces a product I can stand proudly behind. Instead of shuffling paper all day and somehow getting paid, I’ll actually be able to point to a tangible end item that I helped create. Also, the USA needs to build more things as it is, we’re far too reliant on services within GDP.” I truly meant what I said and I really think if an offer came from this large global corporation I’d take it. That same week where I’ll be out on a coast (from the Midwest), I have an interview at a boutique investment bank in my hometown. While IB used to be my dream, I’m not so sure I’m as passionate as I was with valuation, capital allocation, and corporate finance strategy. But a job is still a job, and I’m grateful interviews are popping up as much as they are. Sorry for the long winded reply, but given how long I’ve seen you on this forum (KHJ->DD2CFA->QJ_MBA), I really think you can do whatever you wish. Be yourself and be passionate about your next step and you can do anything.

You probably need a vacation. Whenever I start feeling like this, I take a day off and recharge the batteries. The grass is not always greener. What you think sounds REALLY COOL with respect to a job outside of finance, usually results in earning crappy money and people in these jobs sometimes hate their life just as much as you do. To put things in perspective, I used to have a job where I was outside all day (teaching tennis), meeting fun people, running around the tennis court like a maniac. You probably think this sounds like a great life, well it wasn’t so great. The money was nowhere near what I could earn in finance, I worked when everybody else was on vacation and all weekend (because that’s when everybody plays tennis) and I have years of sun damage, plus a thousand other things (babysitting bratty little kids). Put me in a nice quiet cubicle anyday, learning about finance, interacting with smart motivated people. Sure some (maybe a lot) of people in finance are jerks, but every job has their share of jerks.

Interesting post. I think we’ve all felt this way at one time or another. I suggest you go check out “Shop Class as soulcraft”. Really interesting read about how [almost] no one in America makes anything with their hands anymore, and what we’re losing as people/culture because of it. It’s one of the reasons that almost all of my hobbies now involve making something tangible. After sitting down and producing 16 pages of single spaced research on a dying industry this week (even though it was good work), I cannot wait to spend my weekend making something tangible (homebrewing beer, most likely) as a respite from think-work.

I remember about 10 years ago I was commenting to a colleague who headed up the agricultural projects arm of a technical assistance organization. He was about 20 years older than me and talking about when he was growing up fixing John Deere tractors and combines. I remarked how it was interesting how times had changed. Only about 5 before I was a teenager, the real macho thing to do would be to be able to take apart and mod one’s car. But only 10 years ago, teenagers and young men demonstrated their prowess by how well they could write new lines of code and build nifty web pages.

Black Swan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I’m slowly coming to this realization that I may > be better off with a job outside of finance. I > mean, my job / coworkers are great, I really just > don’t know if I want to spend the rest of my life > sitting in a cubicle staring at a computer screen. > I grew up on a farm and used to run a landscaping > operation and loved it. Maybe I just need to vent > or need a vacation, could be the onset of winter, > but I am hating my daily life right now. What do you do exactly?

Black Swan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I’m slowly coming to this realization that I may > be better off with a job outside of finance. I > mean, my job / coworkers are great, I really just > don’t know if I want to spend the rest of my life > sitting in a cubicle staring at a computer screen. > I grew up on a farm and used to run a landscaping > operation and loved it. its one of the most depressing and dreaded times of year right now: constant darkness, cold weather, impending family holidays and travel…so that probably adds to it. i’m in the same boat in that i h8 getting to work before the sun rises and leaving when its already been down for hours, sitting at my desk 10+ hours a day staring at screens, and dealing with fake professional types. my favorite part of the day is hitting the gym to unleash; just plug in my tunes and pound out some miles on the track or bike without having to talk to sally from accounting or joey from trading. if you really want to get out, start planning and saving to change careers. i’m seriously debating on going to law school so i can make about the same pay coming out dealing with related stuff and have the freedom to trade my pa how i’d like to. being able to come in around 9 would be a nice benefit, too.

bchadwick Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I remember about 10 years ago I was commenting to > a colleague who headed up the agricultural > projects arm of a technical assistance > organization. He was about 20 years older than me > and talking about when he was growing up fixing > John Deere tractors and combines. > > I remarked how it was interesting how times had > changed. Only about 5 before I was a teenager, > the real macho thing to do would be to be able to > take apart and mod one’s car. > > But only 10 years ago, teenagers and young men > demonstrated their prowess by how well they could > write new lines of code and build nifty web pages. Maybe I’m being idealistic, but those definitely seemed like better times in hindsight.

CFABLACKBELT Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > What do you do exactly? It’s a weird position. I work for an asset manager that operates a large number of short duration and money market funds, roughly $400-600B AUM. Following the crisis and several broken funds, the board formed a roughly 10-15 person market risk group with final veto authority to oversee the fund universe. We have economists and several broad sector analysts (ABS, Financial Institutions, etc) so we basically just respond to situations. Since January it’s been sovereign and banking system analysis mostly, now I just got shipped to a municipal conference and I’m on a team for that. I like it because there’s no deliverables, some days I just get paid to read and when I put together reports and presentations, they’re typically for use with the board. It’s basically a buy side general analyst that focuses on the risk portion of the risk / return trade off and is constantly looking for sells as opposed to buys, operating under a 1.5 year time line.

BS, you’re on the east coast, Philly right? Weather was extremely crappy yesterday, so that may have had something to do with it. I was in NYC and it was miserable.

brain_wash_your_face Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > BS, you’re on the east coast, Philly right? > Weather was extremely crappy yesterday, so that > may have had something to do with it. I was in > NYC and it was miserable. Used to be Philly, I’m in Pittsburgh these days. I think you’re right though, it’s probably a confluence of things…poor weather, short daylight, I have this manic depressive thing that’s been a major @ss pain and I’m definitely in a down swing right now, plus I wasn’t running much these last two weeks while I sorted out some knee issues so I think that had a lot to do with it. I ran last night and the night before and it seems that’s making a big difference, some endorphins to balance things out a bit. Living in a city where I don’t know people outside of work might also be a factor. That being said, my boss has been really cool these last couple days, realizing I’m in the dumps and keeping people off my back, so that was a great mood booster. I’m going to work on these things, as I said, I won’t do anything hasty with the job, probably wait until summer to re-analyze. Opening a boutique hotel in Costa Rica with an attached outdoor / wilderness shop is still the dream though.