Is It Too Late For Me To Be Successful?

Water Cooler Careers
#1

Hey guys,

I would appreciate your brutally honest opinions on a topic. I graduated with a BA in Finance from a well known but not top school. I graduated with a 3.5 GPA in 2009. Unfortunately, I had no one to guide me in the right direction and I had to learn many things the hard way. Some of these things have just come to my attention recently. I am 26 years old right now. You could say that although my grades were pretty good I did not position myself to land one of the more desirable finance jobs. When I graduated there was not much available and it was about 9 months until I landed my first job as a mortgage banker. This was a good paying job and would have provided good experience. I have also been a retail credit analyst and a financial analyst. However, do not let the final two job titles throw you off as I was basically sold and the positions were basically glorified sales representative positions with a little analytical work mixed in. They did not pay the greatest at least taking into account my situation. They paid roughly $40,000 a year which would have been fine with me had I not been loaded with debt. The experience I would have recieved at these companies would still have been pretty good overall to pad my resume. Still, let me tell you that these positions were not the type of analytical work you and I are thinking of. You could say that I had high expectations coming out of college and that I basically came out and ran into a brick wall as I faced reality. In the 3.5-4 years since I have graduated I have about 22-24 months of experience at three different jobs that I left by choice all in less than a year. I had student loans approaching $100,000 as I first saved up my money to buy a very economical new car cash as my credit was trashed and my mom was getting sick of me driving her car. The student loans caused so much stress as with the money I was making I just did not see a way of ever getting out. In addition, my positions at the company were always in jeopardy due to my credit and I believe if I stayed at any of these position I would have lost my job soon after I left. I basically lost all confidence and motivation and even began to have physical pains you would not understand unless you experienced them yourself. I was then worried for my health. I kept thinking of other ideas that would allow me to escape my situation and lost my focus on the positions I had and started to no longer care about the consequences on my career although I knew what they were. Do you feel that at 26 years old it is too late given my situation to turn my life around and become successful in the field of finance? I plan to immediately seek employment and get whatever experience I am able regardless of the sacrifices I have to make. Even if I have to intern or work for free I will do it. Also, I plan to begin studying for the CFA and/or an MS in accounting along with the CPA to strenghten my analytical abilities and to open up more doors than are currently available to me. I know that I will probably never become an investment banking analyst on Wall Street. (Are these opportunities closed to me?) However, I would like to one day make $100000+ a year later on in life although I know it will not happen immediately. I would be fine with many of the better positions in corporate finance, a CPA at an accounting firm, and other positions in finance that are not currently available to me. Would it ever be possible given my situation and age to work my way into prive equity, investment management, or trading? I greatly appreciate any advice you will offer me. Be brutally honest with me. Am I wasting my time and should I just start focusing on computer science or some other field?

#2

Never too late. Your best days are ahead of you.

#3

You are young man, Keep your head up and keep working hard toward your goals. you have a plan and that is half the battle.

#4

Thank you both for your words of encouragement.

#5

Normally I don’t like to use plattitudes except as punchlines, but here it can make sense to remember that “Success is getting up just one more time than you’ve been knocked down.”

Twenty-six is way to young to lose hope. You’ve got lots of time and opportunities to do things.

#6

In any other era, 26 would be too young. We are in the lost generation era though, the first one where kids will have a lower standard of living than their parents.

#7

30’s the new 20 bro

#8

Agreed. All the people starting out with poor jobs/experience and overloaded on higher education will have capped living standards. Gone are the days where working on a simple manufacturing line could support a full family and a house.

#9

^ Bravo for not suggesting the hacksaw.

#10

Not necessarily true. If you’re willing to accept the same standard of living your parents had, you can have your parent’s income. (No A/C, one beater car for whole family, no VCR, four channels on TV, only a landline phone, no internet, etc.)

#11

They still have landline phones?

#12

What’s landline phones?

#13

OP: not sure what your student loan situation is like, but if you truly have the drive to succeed, you sound like a good candidate for a Masters of Science in Finance program. Unfortunately, getting an MSF for you would sort of sound stupid because if your BA was in finance and your MSF is also in finance, people might think WTF is he doing, but you can explain it away especially if you get into a “branded” MSF program, maybe one that is focused on quant-areas of finance or portfolio management or something. Try to get into a program close to a city like San Francisco, NYC, Chicago, etc, so you have the opportunity to get a few internships under your belt. Maybe one before the program begins, one during the first semester, and then you’re set for a true front-office type position.

To me though, it sounds like you don’t know what you want to do, only that you want to make money (over $100,000). That doesnt sound to me like you’re setting yourself up to be desired by an employer. It eventually comes through in the full-time job when an employer sees your work ethic. You need to get educated about different areas of finance/accounting and see what interests you.

#14

going to agree with waterbucket on this one…

i often wonder the same thing about myself…did i make too many poor choices or did i get off to the wrong start to where it is irreversible? theres days where im really inspired and have mapped out my steps…then there are days where i say even if i do this will it even be enough? it can be tough

theres only one thing we know for sure though…if you dont do anything you definitely wont be successful…thats a fact…unless of course you win the lottery…but again, define successful

i think the difference is figuring out what you want to do…exactly what you want to do…this part of your write-up is troubling:

“I know that I will probably never become an investment banking analyst on Wall Street. (Are these opportunities closed to me?) However, I would like to one day make $100000+ a year later on in life although I know it will not happen immediately. I would be fine with many of the better positions in corporate finance, a CPA at an accounting firm, and other positions in finance that are not currently available to me.”

i would be fine with “insert generic titles and departments within a company” doesn’t show that you have a specific goal or set of goals. you will never get to where you want, especially in this industry, if you don’t have specific goals.

people don’t just go into IB interviews saying i’ll take whatever i can get…they usually have a passion for something…whether its closing deals, stock research, fixed income valuation, trading…something…or maybe even a couple…sounds like you’re stuck in the fantasy-world part of it… “i want to get to that really cool place in finance that seems exciting and theres lots of money and big buildings everywhere”…i used to be stuck there too

i’d feel more comfortable and have more confidence in your ability to overcome this if you were saying something like “i realize i may never get to Wall Street, so my targets are regional boutiques in X departments/divisions…what is the best way to network…etc”

its time to stop dreaming and put together a real action plan…find your passion…once you have done that maybe seek career advisory services for strategy on how to make progress…numi does this and has an impressive track record, and i am considering pursuing this myself

don’t mean to be harsh…ive been in your shoes and im trying to break in too…it will be a tough road

#15

OP, I graduated from college when I was older than you are now. If 26 is too old to start over, I should have called it quits and applied to be a Wal Mart greeter.

My first job out of college was on the retail side of a large US bank. I made $30k/year and basically started at the bottom – one step above a teller. 7.5 years later, I’m a buy side FI analyst. I guess I’m successful according to your monetary benchmark. Am I lucky to be where I am now? Most definitely, considering I came from a no-name school with unimpressive grades. However, the one thing that has differentiated me is my work ethic. I’ve treated every single job I’ve had over the past ten years as the most important in the world. People notice hard work.

#16

That is a mountain of student loan debt! No wonder you are stressed. 26 is a young age to shoulder that kind of financial responsibility. It may seem like to heavy a burden, but many others before you have worked their way through similar situations and have gone on to find personally and financially rewarding careers.

If finance is where you truly want to be, then don’t be worried. Many folks move into financial careers after doing other things. There are so many areas you have not yet explored. Be aware, however, that the majority of careers in finance have a direct or indirect “sales” component (including investment banking).

“Making $100,000 or more,” however, is not a career goal. It would help you pay off your debt sooner but you are not going to do well in a job that you do not like. You can’t find your ideal work if you are only focused on how much it pays you. You have to focus on the contribution you want to make to the world and how you want to use your talents and gifts.

Spend some time thinking and writing about your goals and interests. The process of getting ideas down on paper will help you figure things out. Some questions to ask yourself: If I had ample financial resources and no debt, what would I do with my time? Who do I admire? Why? What am I good at? What am I not so good at? Try a book called, Now Discover Your Strengths (Buckingham/Clifton) for a good overview of careers that maximize your specific strengths.

I’d also suggest you make a list of the experiences you want to have in your long life. Put that list away after you make it and bring it out once a year to review. Be open to how life will bring you those experiences, and don’t get attached to them happening through a specific means.

When you are clear about what YOU want, things will start to to move in the right direction.

#17

You’ll be fine.

#18

Word.

#19

Hey Markski,

Just going through posts in AF and thought maybe I can add my 1cent here! Unlike most other posters here, I am in the same boat as you are - 26, just graduated out of nyu undergrad with a student loan of 125K. I could not bear living in NY / NJ / CT so I moved to Erie, PA to work for a nice company where the cost of living is one of the lowest. So with my salary and the cost of living I am able to pay my student loans as well, but still situation is so dire that paying just the CFA exam fee broke me this month!!! Still there is hope. I understand the frustration of having a huge arse debt load on your shoulders. Its a dead weight that keeps you down. I have done two things that helped me:

  1. I begged and threatened my family to convince my dad in helping me with my loans :D. This might not mean that he would pay off my loans, but at least the monthly payments that I gotta do were halved. Maybe that would help. My monthly payments were $1431.79 and now they have reduced to 600 which is less than half. My dad is paying the other half… People might look at it unfairly, but think of it like taking debt from your parents and pay them back when you are otherwise debt free.

  2. Loan consolidation - this is the msot obvious way of reducing your interest rates and hence your monthly payments provided you have a good cosigner. It was actually beneficial to me that a friend helped me out here.

Maybe that would help to mend the current situation. Although the long run solution is to get a good job. As far as the job scenario is concerned, I do not know what your major is, but I have a technology focussed major (nothing hardcore like coding and other stuff) so I took a small and easy technical certification course in order to help me get contracting positions. They really helped me. Although I am not making anything close to 100K today, I am making more than the shitty 30K job that I got 4months after getting out of college and after 1948 job applications out of which 1231 turned into first round interviews out of which 1 turned into my first job which was paying 30K before tax and that too in NYC. It was pathetic to say the least, but at least now with this certification I have the space to breathe. Take a look at that route… Maybe that would help.

I totally understand how difficult it must be, but still there are doors that would open provided you literally bang on them!!! Take care and do let me know if I can help.

#20

Hi i am new to this forum.I am 30 years and want to changie my proffesion from a home tutor to a equity analyst.Enrolled for CFA level 1 .i dont have any masters comleted my graduation wayback in 2006 and since then joined my father in farming and giving home tutions also.My bachelor grades are pathetic.

How to get into equity research without ivy mba and as i dont have work experience in finance .

Jobs demand ivy college or 2-3 years of experience.

Iam unable to find how to get into.

Any help please.,!!!