quote:
I'll start by saying that my main goal right now is to work up to making true, F-you money in finance. However, I don't know how to get there, so I'm looking for advice on the experience I need to acquire and the hard skills I need to develop at work (or outside of it) in order to move my career toward that goal.

A bit on my background: My undergrad isn't in business or economics, so I don't have the traditional academic pedigree, but I nevertheless have a solid analytical and quantitative background. In college, I took calculus 1&2, statistics, and a half dozen programming classes. After undergrad, I got a JD, spent several years in law (not finance related), and then got an MBA (finance concentration). I earned both grad degrees from very good, but not elite, schools (both top 25). I've spent the last year since MBA graduation working full time as a financial analyst and doing some part time legal work as a side hustle.

So what do I do now? I don't mind working pathologically hard - I'm currently working a full time job and a part time job, do 45 minutes of programming self-study most mornings, and do 30-45 minutes of finance self-study most evenings. But finance is such a massive field that it's incredibly easy to flail about and waste hours learning things that won't actually generate a monetary return. Knowing this, I'm looking for advice to make sure that I have a plan to reach my goal and am not simply working hard but stupidly.

Any advice from finance professionals on the proper next steps to groom myself for success would be much appreciated!

In addition to what everyone else has said. A back door into finance could be using your law degree to work at a law firm that either does 1) Corporate M&A/Securities 2) Corporate Bankruptcy OR the legal side of a banks credit department.

At this point it will be a major process of moving every 2 or 3 from job A to job B etc. to finally getting the job you want in finance.

Good luck.

This post was edited on 5/24/19 at 12:42 pm