I’ve now been writing about finance careers for almost 20 years, and the topic of the CFA for investment banking never seems to die. I first criticized the CFA in a 2009 article, which generated a lot of angry comments. Not much has changed since then. People online still argue about the merits of the […]

There are few topics as heated as age and investment banking. But unlike other controversial topics – crypto, the CFA, or social media censorship – this one rarely generates long-running online arguments. Instead, it mostly produces comments such as: “Am I too old? Do I have any chance if I’m above the age of X? […]

If you’re wondering about the “law school to investment banking” transition, you’re probably in one of the following categories: You got into a top law school but realized you hated it when classes began. You got into law school, did well, graduated, but then realized you hated your legal job. You’re about to graduate from […]

When you hear the term “lateral hiring,” your first thought might be: “Aha! A way to break into investment banking from another career – without an expensive MBA program – or a way to trade up to a larger bank and get better exit opportunities.” While those are both possibilities, they are not sure things. […]

Tired of audits? Want to earn more and get more exciting work? Looking forward to spending your time on changing font colors in Excel? Congratulations! You’re well on your way to transitioning from accounting to investment banking. Moving into banking from an accounting background is easier than moving in from engineering, but it’s about the […]

I thought that engineers would stop wanting to move into finance. After all, companies like Google and Facebook now offer higher pay, better hours, and more interesting work than banks. And students at top universities and business schools are increasingly interested in technology rather than finance. But despite all that, some engineers still want to get […]

Wait, WHAT?!!! Yes, I know what you’re thinking: you could see how liberal arts majors, accountants, consultants, engineers, and male escorts might want to get into finance… …but why would you ever want to go from running your own company to creating pitch books in a dungeon for 80 hours per week? At first glance, […]

“Help! I hate my accounting job and want to move into banking, what do I do?” “What group should I transfer to if I want to get into finance?” “My Big 4 salary doesn’t give me enough cash for bottles!” If you’re at a Big 4 firm right now, you’ve had one of the thoughts […]

I’m not gonna lie: I haven’t treated consultants very well before – and even though that infamous Leveraged Sellout video is ancient history by now, it still pops into my head whenever I get questions from consultants. But despite that, I still do get lots of questions about how to make a career move from […]