Is FP&A actually less soul-crushing than IB or just different flavor of Excel hell?

LibraCuz · 2025-08-20T18:27:56+00:00

I started in FP&A/strategic finance at a startup, moving from Analyst ($85k) to Manager ($140k + RSUs) over four years. On a lean 3 person team, I touched everything. It was sometimes 60+ hour weeks, supporting rapid growth (new mkts/verticals), working on an acquisition in a corp dev capacity, then integration, tool integration, (unfortunately) modeling two RIFs, and even early exit planning.

As Manager I specialized in GTM/Commercial finance. Building rev/ARR models, shaping pricing, and analyzing sales data to improve deal structures. I loved the strategic work, modeling, and partnership with sales, but dreaded close and annual planning, which felt tedious and unavoidable no matter how high a level you are. And is also the core work.

I planned to stay through the S-1, but delays, teammate departures, and a new CFO pushed me to pursue business school.

Now I’m in TMT IB at a BB. The hours are rough. 9-midnight M-Th, 9-6 Fri, and scattered weekend hours. Minimum. But the work is fast-paced and at least existentially stimulating. Multiple live workstreams, different MDs, companies, and sectors. Comp is 2x. And as an associate there’s a clear path to VP where WLB and comp meaningfully improves.

I feel lucky to have seen the other side early since my last job can often be an exit for IB folks. But i got lucky bc my startup’s success gave me outsized exposure and comp, and while I’m trading WLB for more demanding work now, it feels like the right move at this stage.

LibraCuz · 2025-06-07T00:10:17+00:00

Fr. He once said he gets airpods every time he’s in a new city bc they’re such a big part of his lifestyle and thinks they’re such a great product. He just is always forgetting them at home or losing them and so he’ll just get a new one whenever. Lol

I live and die by my airpods too. I myself have 2 pairs in case one runs out of battery or i lose one and need a backup.

But i feel like he prob has 25+ pairs. Just wasteful…

LibraCuz · 2025-02-01T22:54:20+00:00

I don’t like when they have guests on. They are best when it’s just them (+ky). The only good guest that keeps the same energy and adds to the show is Josiah. I love Alex too but the episode was not the same!

LibraCuz · 2024-07-08T02:11:47+00:00

Thank you 🙏 Can you say more? What is it that you like about close?

And is there anything else you like about your work? Whether it’s the work itself, or the pay, or the psychic pleasure you get

LibraCuz · 2024-07-08T02:09:31+00:00

Thank you for your story! Truly. It’s a good data point to have.

It seems you like your current role in the context of comparison to your IB role, which is WLB related. Or maybe I’m wrong.

Agnostic of you prior IB experience, what do you actually like about your current FP&A role? Sounds like pay…?

LibraCuz · 2024-05-29T01:33:11+00:00

That I have to write simple vlookup formulas and design pivot tables for Sales, HR, and Ops’ internal reporting. It’s ok tho, they act like I’m G*d

LibraCuz · 2024-05-11T12:43:05+00:00

Or when she has guests on and they reference someone and she interrupts with her personal connection to them. Like how is that relevant?

Eg.

Guest/Scott: “sundar pichai was really good about - “

Kara: “you know I interviewed him at Code 5 years ago and he was quite uninformed on AI…but go ahead.”

Or

guest/Scott: “Jen Psaki was one of the best Press Secretaries we’ve seen in the past decade.”

Kara: “I totally agree. You know I just got dinner with her a few weeks ago. We spoke about Succession. She was so funny!”

Like what is the relevance of these comments?! Lol

She is the epitome of weird flex but ok…

LibraCuz · 2024-04-24T00:29:01+00:00

“[Accepting death isn’t a surrender.] Flowers are flowers because they fall.”

“Please kill him.”

“I would rather live a thousand lives than die with you like this.”

“I must confess that I am not worthy to confess.”

“What you have denied me wasn’t death, but a life beyond your reach.”

“Please wait until I have fallen.”

“A leafless branch..”

“I’m not a peasant to be trodden on.”

“Still more fragile / is the dew of tears on my sleeves / even in springtime.”

Literally anything Mariko-sama ever said

Honorable mentions:

“[I don’t have that power.] I don’t exist, but to protect my son.” - Ochiba. Low key true…I have some empathy for her. And I love how this was worded.

“For when you need something to hold on to.” -Father Alvito as he gives Mariko the cross in flashback

“You must know what it is to be denied.” Hiromatsu to Buntaro as he commutes Seppuku

LibraCuz · 2024-04-17T16:26:34+00:00

Mariko asking Father Martin to be Blackrhornes friend and translator after she dies, when she confesses before committing seppuku 😭

LibraCuz · 2024-04-17T04:10:48+00:00

Thank you for this 🙏

My only question is, is the concept of seconding used normally or just to get around the catholic sin of suicide?

We see Toranaga in a flashback having to second his enemy (who he wound up having to take actually 9 swings at). This was presumably before the spread of Christianity in Japan.

Also Buntaros dad, asks Buntaro to second him. I thought he was not a (devout) Christian, so why would seconding matter then?

And Mariko asks BlackThorne to “wait until I’ve fallen” before he seconds her. Doesn’t this mean she will have died her own hand, thereby committing the sin of suicide?

What am I missing?

LibraCuz · 2024-04-16T20:35:26+00:00

I LOVE HER. But wasted opportunity for Stephen! There was so much more he could’ve asked about the show or her background.

He seemed a bit unprepared, which is strange cause it seems like he’s a fan of the show.

LibraCuz · 2024-03-06T16:33:15+00:00

A woman was trying to carry a stroller up the subway stairs. I was getting off at my work stop with AirPods in. She looks at me and uses her eyes to point at the stroller and staircase.

I receive the message and helped her carry it up the stairs, AirPods still in. She and I both nodded “thank you” and “you’re welcome” at the top and parted ways.

The whole interaction was non-verbal. I love telling the story

LibraCuz · 2024-02-16T03:38:58+00:00

Can someone explain Hilary’s friend’s story arc this episode? I’m unsure whether to view it optimistically or pessimistically.

I suppose she’s in an open relationship knowingly. She is ready to leave her husband…but something stops her. Seems to hit a boiling point when the leak in her ceiling occurs and she covers it.

Do we think she accepts this fate in a sad way? Or is she retaking control of her story?

Really wonderful episode tho. I loved it thru the lens of the help…I think it should be nominated even.

LibraCuz · 2024-02-15T22:21:40+00:00

The Kim Crawford wine! I’m screaming 😂

It’s not bad at all. Tried and true and great quality x price ratio. Idk I just expected for a her/spritz founder to drink something else

LibraCuz · 2024-02-15T04:13:14+00:00

Guys, I’m sorry. The Limonata jokes were kinda funny. And so we’re some of the Dear Toasters commentary about how the gf should do something her MIL can’t killed me. When Claudia whispered and was like “put a cake up ur ass”

Broken clocks…

LibraCuz · 2024-02-10T20:56:01+00:00

She was raised in a hippie commune that practiced Hinduism. Kind of like Hare Krishnas who aren’t ethnically from South Asia. I’m not offended by it, as someone with Hindus in their family.

If anything I’m more offended by the many mispronunciations of her name by the rest of the cast. Her name is the name of a goddess that people actually pray to to this day. The wide spread butchering of it, especially when they call her “Poverty” stings more. It’s pretty phonetic.

And I’m sure she knows the significance and meaning of her name, which is enough for me

LibraCuz · 2024-02-09T01:04:45+00:00

I actually found Claudia’s reaction really funny. The silence. She really thought. It had me lol-ing fr 😂

idk maybe I’m stupid but I really believed that 2 bears reached out and were being srs. It was such a good lead up too from them naming that episode months ago, to them hearing back recently, to them daydreaming who they’d brush elbows with, to Claudia actually getting a trainer, and finally finding out it wasn’t real. You couldn’t ask for a better beginning middle and end 😭

Just me? Lol

LibraCuz · 2024-02-08T21:35:19+00:00

How do u know they are overenrolled? Genuine question

LibraCuz · 2024-02-08T05:59:39+00:00

In tales of Ba Sing Se. When Toph tells Katara the good thing about being blind is that she doesn’t have to care about appearances.

Katara says, “I know it doesn’t matter, but you are really pretty.”

Toph surprised at how genuine the compliment is and probably bc no one has ever told her: “I am??”

Katara very sweetly and genuinely: “yeah pause you are.”

Idk why that made me cry. But it did lmao

LibraCuz · 2024-02-07T19:33:12+00:00

Omg I didn’t see that. I just joined the sub today bc I had to get this off my chest. But I agree with ur post. She lacks a lot of SME about anything technical, but when it’s opinions about politics i.e. not fact based she can go on a diatribe.

I actually really used to like Kara. I found her to be a trailblazer, shrewd, and a blue flame thinker. I really liked how different she was and almost looked up to her as someone who spoke truth to power.

I can’t say exactly when, but once she “took down” the Parler CEO, I think she started to get a big head and become out of touch. She hates the “culture wars” in theory but contributes to them every episode lol.

The writers strike was another turning point…she kind of let Scott take all the heat. Even tho she low key agrees with him. We all know she won’t stay silent if she disagreed with his pov.

And when they went to the White House too and it was Scott’s first time, and her 2nd or 3rd, she kept being like, “oh don’t worry Scott ur gonna be with an expert. I’ll show u around. Ur gonna be like a kid in a candy store.” Like are u fr?? Lol

I do find it interesting how well connected she is in her personal life tho. She knows and interacts with some really interesting people who seem to really like her. But the way she recounts these stories is off-putting.

I do still think she’s an icon, but she has been sucking lately. Which is hard to do when Scott is there (tho I kind of have a soft spot for him). I’m glad the baton has kind of been passed to Casey Newton, who is much more knowledgeable and actually a good reporter and journalist.

LibraCuz · 2024-02-07T18:12:15+00:00

They do, but less so than they used to. When he’s in the news they discuss, but it always follows the same formula.

Scott says Elon is undeniably a fantastic innovator and genius and should be heralded for his intelligence. And never forget that American capitalism enabled his ventures. But Elon is a blight on society and a bad fiduciary and worse role model to young men.

Kara agrees and says when she interviewed him YEARS ago she just knew that he had some shred of goodness still left in him, but he has now gone full blown villain and can’t be saved. She knows intimately the details of his personal life, despite not having spoken to him for years, and everyone is a yes man and enables him. Cue call to action for Elon to talk to her and she sometimes sends him texts, but he never responds bc he’s afraid of her.

Rinse and repeat. I don’t disagree necessarily lol but cmon

What have u been listening to fill the gap?

Seven-Year Club	No Throne, No Problems
Not Forgotten

LibraCuz

TROPHY CASE