Are their any finance jobs that have a good work/life balance? Im interested in investment management, but don't want to work 80 hours a week. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks.

Is their a big difference between IM/IB/PE/VC in terms of hours??

The lack of responses is telling! Haha. Actually I'm looking to switch into finance and have kind of accepted that I'm gonna be in for some long days - if that's what I have to do to get the job I want then that's what I'll do. But most of the finance folks I know manage to get the best of both worlds and although 60 hours a week is common, 80 is the exception not the rule. It happens though and maybe career changers like us will have to put up with it for a couple of years, since we didn't put the hours in as junior analysts after college.

My advice is to choose a role because it is what you want to do, not because it has the shortest hours (or the best paycheck:hours ratio!), because you will struggle to justify it to adcom, recruiters etc. And you'll probably hate it...

If you're looking for finance and work/life, you might want to check out a job in corporate finance. It might not be as sexy as PE/IB/etc but it's still finance, brother... oh, and you're home by dinnertime.

First, VC isn't a "finance" job even though it may look like it.

If you don't want to work crazy hours, then you're best looking at finance jobs outside of NYC or the top tier funds/firms in SF or LA. For the most part, count on working long hours for most finance-oriented jobs that are based out of New York, SF or LA -- it's not that you're doomed to always work 80+ hours a week, but regardless of whether you're working long hours or traveling a lot or entertaining clients/investors/LPs outside of the office when you'd rather be at home with your family/friends, there is an implicit expectation that your work almost always takes priority over everything else in your personal life.  Instead, in cities like Durham, Miami, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Dallas, etc. where regional or mid-market firms may be based, you may have a better chance of working in company cultures that are a bit more relaxed.

It's less about "finance" and more about which part of the country you work. A similar dynamic exists with consulting or any other industries for that matter.

Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com
http://mbaapply.blogspot.com

I agree with MBAApply. I worked in a hybrid type IB/VC firm in both Durham and Colorado and can attest that the work/life balance is pretty nice. Not saying that you'll never work late or on weekends, but I guess it becomes the exception, not the rule.

Thanks for the input. I have no problem working for a so called "less prestigious" firm in another location if I can get some more reasonable hours (with the occasional long week). Working longer hours at a job I like is better than putting fewer hours in a job I hate.