I Quit My $300,000 Banking Job 2 Months Before a Six Figure Bonus

For the past nine years, I'd climbed the corporate ladder in investment banking, securing promotions, taking on additional responsibilities, and negotiating for higher pay and bigger bonuses.

But earlier this year, I made the difficult decision to leave the industry for good—walking away from a $300,000 job.

I was just two months shy of receiving the largest six-figure bonus of my career, which might make me seem irrational to outsiders. Even I questioned whether I was making the right choice or if everything would ultimately work out. However, one thing was clear: if I didn't seize this opportunity, I would live with regret.

As a prominent figure eloquently put it, you don't have to be 100 percent certain to make a decision. Gather all the ideas, information, and perspectives to get you to 51 percent, and once you reach that point, make the decision and find peace in the fact that your choice was based on the best information you had at the time.

Throughout my nine-year tenure in banking, I was fortunate to work alongside a select few individuals who truly made the experience worthwhile. One of them was a woman on my team who had dedicated nearly two decades to the industry. She wasn't just a colleague—she became a mentor.

She educated me on the intricacies of our work, stayed back to answer my endless questions, and guided me through the maze of office politics.

However, about seven months after I started at the bank, a pivotal moment occurred that would forever change my perspective on my career path.

One evening, while we were both working late, her phone rang. After a brief conversation, she left her desk and never returned. Moments later, my manager summoned me and told me that I was promoted, explaining that my new role would closely mirror hers, covering the same clients.

The revelation that she had been let go by HR, at the very moment I was being promoted, was jarring and made my supposed moment of celebration feel low.

This experience, along with many others, ultimately pushed me toward the decision to leave the corporate world behind.

I realized that the corporate world, at its core, owes you nothing beyond a paycheck. Even though I found myself on the fortunate side of things at one point, the fear of the tables turning constantly played in the back of my mind.

The saying "You're only as good as the hours you can dedicate" became truer than ever. I had a lack of control over my own time, leading me to the conclusion that true financial independence was unattainable because my financial life was controlled by someone else.

The initial years in the corporate realm were fun—intellectually stimulating and packed with learning opportunities. But this sense of excitement gradually began to fade, replaced by a feeling of stagnation and misalignment, which began to take a heavy toll on my mental health.

I turned to therapy. It was during my second session that my therapist suggested I needed a life coach. Skeptical about how a life coach could assist me, I decided to self-reflect and understand my feelings of misalignment and what I truly wanted from life.

This reflection led me to realize that I was not passionate about assisting CEOs of large corporations or engaging in billion-dollar transactions. My motivations were only driven by a paycheck and societal status—a hard truth to admit.

Living according to societal expectations, and striving for a prestigious job and salary simply because it's what most people yearn for, was not fulfilling for me.

My true aspiration is to inspire and motivate others to take control of their finances and their own lives.

I began taking my YouTube channel seriously in 2022, posting content on personal finance, self-development and business—how to use money to live a life authentic to you.

It has been the best decision I've made to work on something that is yours.

The freedom, flexibility, ownership I get makes me feel excited in a way that I never felt when I was working my day job. Being able to help people get from where they are to where they want to be, while getting paid for it, is something I will never take for granted. Nothing tops it!

I decided to resign very early on into my content creating journey, when I only had 40,000 subscribers, and faced an 84 percent reduction in pay. But I was also in the privileged position of having a good amount of emergency funds and side hustles that not only covered my fixed expenses but provided an additional income buffer.

At 30, without the responsibility of children, the prospect of doing something I love, which also had a positive impact on others, was incredibly appealing. My income wasn't directly tied to the hours I worked but rather to the impact I made, which was liberating as I was working on something I love. What I make now has superseded my banking salary and so the risk has totally been worth it!

I embraced what I truly loved and came out of my comfort zone. My passion for a greater purpose became my sole focus, leaving no room for concern about others' opinions.

My path may not suit everyone, but I hope that by sharing my experience, I can inspire others and provide the courage needed to pursue dreams that they may have delayed or doubted.

Nischa Shah is a Chartered Accountant and former Investment Banker, renowned for simplifying money matters.

All views expressed are the author's own.

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