The Day I Snapped...

Great article I came across about a young guy who quit the brutal regime of investment banking to chase his dream.

Confessions Of A Young Banker - The Day I Snapped

Although I didn't work in IB, it reminded me why I am so glad to have quit the corporate rat race.

"Like everyone there, I worked my ass to the bone, working mind numbingly boring work. My life was emails, excel, powerpoint, meetings, endless drafts and markups about **** I couldn't give less of a *duck about, edits, drafts, edits, drafts, edits, send to printers, pick up, courier, meetings, more work, multitasking, boredom, boredom, tired, boredom, avoiding the staffer on a friday, more work, depression, tired, tired, tired, *ducking miserable. 15 hour days were a minimum, 16-17 were normal, 20+ were frequent and once or twice a month there would be the dreaded all nighter."

*edited

 

Yuk.....pretty tough.

So how has your life changed??

MTR

 

That was a good article.

 

Hits home hard. When I worked in IT I had to do timesheets in 15 minute increments, had a billable hours target of 7hrs per day, was on call 24/7.

Taught me a lot about productivity. But such a relief to be freed from those chains to follow my property dreams.

 

Dudes cracked.

 

LOL @ the comment.

hahahahahaha

 

No more working til midnight or 100 hour weeks. No more travelling at a moment's notice and being away from family for up to a month at a time. No more dealing with hard a$$ed clients who wouldn't hesitate to chew you up and spit you out in a second.

Now I spend all my time with the kids. Have coffees at my leisure each day. Gym. Travel. Keep tabs on my developments. Plan to do more charity work, which will suck up a bit of my time.

 

Sounds like you have balance.... wonderful

 

Ha I cracked a lot quicker than this guy did doing same thing.

 

Do you play Justin Beiber covers too?

 

Heh. You study "Philosophy, Politics and Economics" you deserve a job like that. I wonder what his happy ending was in the next career.
But in amongst all the waffle I liked this little gem :
"Life is short - you're young, you're old, you're dead"
Words to live by.

 

Not into new age stuff.... but I think this is the one I like the most......

"Realise deeply that the present moment is all you ever have.” ~ Eckhart Tolle

 

Investment banking is brutal. A couple of ex-bankers mate got out for the same reasons. This guy is right - many people stay in jobs they hate, not just for the money but also because they've been told it's the "right" thing to do. I know money's important but there's a point where big bucks for a pressure cooker job isn't worth it.

@mrdobalina - did you change jobs or did you become self-employed? Either way, sounds like you've got balance there.

 

Yep - I stayed in the job for long enough to make my money, then got out. There's a tipping point where you keep working for the money, or you throw in the towel and say I don't care anymore.

I invested from the moment get go. Now retired and soaking up the sunshine.

 

No I was before Bieber's time.

 

PPE is a highly coveted degree in the UK. Or at least, it used to be when I was considering what to study. "Best and brightest" would go for stuff like that, especially the ambitious. Unsurprising he ended up in a "good job" once that degree was finished... (source: BTDT)

 

A great article to read and hope one day I can pack it in from my day job.

 

Good on you!

 

Great article. I've sent it to my girlfriend who's son has just graduated from Sydney uni with law/arts degree. Some of his fellow students have managed to get work with big law firms. They're expected to do ridiculous hours. They have no life other than work. I've seen it happen with young accountants too. She doesn't want that for her son, and I wouldn't want it for my child (except if they wanted it because it made them happy).

 

I can definitely relate. The hours of Big Law aren't quite the same as investment banking but they can be soul draining. My plan is for my lack of freedom now to set me up for financial freedom in the future.