A reader asks: I'm in FP&A and want to pivot to IB — is it too late?

The question (paraphrased from r/FinancialCareers):

I’ve been in FP&A at a mid-sized tech company for almost two years. I like the work, but I’m realizing I want to get into investment banking — M&A specifically. I went to a decent state school (not a target), I don’t have a CFA, and I’m 24. Half the threads I read say “pivot now, analyst programs still recruit 22-year-olds” and the other half say “it’s too late unless you do an MBA.” Which is it, and if the answer isn’t “too late,” what do I actually do?

The honest answer sits between the two extremes. It’s not too late. It is harder than it was a year ago, and harder than it would have been if you’d gone direct out of undergrad. The right pivot at 24 with two years of FP&A is not “apply to analyst programs.” It’s “engineer yourself into an associate-adjacent track through a specific mechanism” — and there are three mechanisms that actually work.

Why the internet disagrees

The “it’s too late” crowd is pattern-matching to the traditional path: target school → analyst stint → associate promotion. Every year you’re away from that path, the door narrows.

The “pivot now” crowd is pattern-matching to the existence of a few specific off-cycle routes that do work for corporate finance people in their mid-twenties.

Both are right. The question is which mechanism to target, and the answer depends on how much time you’re willing to commit and what you’re optimizing for.

The three mechanisms that actually work

1) Off-cycle analyst at a boutique or middle-market firm

What it is: Lateral into a 2–3-year analyst track at a boutique M&A shop, a middle-market bank, or a regional firm. Not Goldman or Morgan Stanley — think Houlihan Lokey, Harris Williams, William Blair, Piper Sandler, or smaller regional players.

Why it works: These firms hire off-cycle more often than bulge brackets. They value finance experience over pedigree, especially if you can talk about deal-like work (corporate development, treasury modeling, M&A integration, pricing analysis).

What you need:

• A strong modeling story. Not “I built FP&A models.” Specific: “I built a three-statement model for a potential acquisition that informed the CFO’s go/no-go recommendation on a $X deal.”
• A clean technical prep (LBO, DCF, accretion/dilution). If you can’t build an LBO in 40 minutes under pressure, you’re not ready. This is 200–300 hours of prep for most people.
• Named targets. Research 15–20 firms. Know their recent deals. Pick three you’d seriously join.

What you don’t need: CFA. Top-tier MBA. A target school pedigree. These firms index on modeling ability and deal enthusiasm.

Timeline: 6–9 months from “start prep” to “sitting across from an MD.”

2) Corporate development → IB (less common, but real)

What it is: Move from FP&A to an internal corporate development team (in-house M&A) first. Work on real deals from the buy-side perspective for 12–24 months. Then lateral into an IB associate role on the back of deal experience.

Why it works: Banks hire corp dev people as associates because they show up with live deal reps. You’re no longer “FP&A with potential” — you’re “someone who’s run an LOI process from the buyer side.”

What you need:

• Your current company has a corp dev function (or you can lateral into one at a company that does).
• The ability to wait 2–3 years on this pivot. It’s slower than Mechanism 1, but the entry point is higher (associate, not analyst).
• Strong storytelling about why you want to sell your time to bankers after doing the work on the client side.

Timeline: 2–3 years.

3) Top MBA → associate program

What it is: The well-worn path. M7 or T15 MBA, summer at a bank, full-time associate offer.

Why it works: Banks reset their view of you through the MBA brand. You are no longer “non-target FP&A at 24.” You are “Booth ‘28.”

What it costs: Two years, $200K+ all-in, and the opportunity cost of not earning. Also non-trivial GMAT/GRE time and application effort.

When it’s right: If you decide IB is a long-term career and not a stint, or if you want the full associate-track trajectory with maximum optionality, this is the highest-probability path. At 24 with your profile, you’re actually well-timed for a 2-year MBA; most M7 classes have a meaningful cohort of people with your background.

What you should be doing in the next 90 days, regardless of path

Each of the three paths has some prep in common. Start here.

1. Learn the technicals cold. Rosenbaum & Pearl’s Investment Banking is the gold standard. Work through it over 60 days, with a spreadsheet open. Build an LBO from a blank sheet at least three times. Build a merger model. Build a DCF for a real company you care about.

2. Source deal reps at your current job. Go to your CFO or head of strategic finance. Say: “I’ve been thinking about moving into corporate finance longer-term. Is there a way I can get involved in the more strategic projects — M&A analyses, business case work, scenario modeling for big decisions?” Most FP&A managers will say yes. That work becomes your “deal-adjacent” story on a banking resume.

3. Start networking, in a specific way. One informational conversation per week with a banker. Target people 3–5 years ahead of you at firms you’d seriously want to join. Script:

“I’m in FP&A at [Company] and seriously considering a move into banking. I’d love 15 minutes to ask a few questions about your path and the associate vs. off-cycle analyst decision. Happy to work around your schedule.”

Those conversations do two things: calibrate your own thinking, and build the referral network you’ll need for real.

4. Decide which path, within 90 days. You don’t have to commit forever. But you have to commit enough to execute. Running all three in parallel is how people spend 18 months doing nothing.

The hard truth on state school + no CFA + 24

Neither item is disqualifying. Plenty of bankers came in from non-target backgrounds, especially at boutiques and middle-market firms. The age is fine at 24; you’d be older than the standard analyst class by a year, but not by three.

The CFA doesn’t matter for IB as much as people on Reddit say. Level 1 is a fine signal of effort. Nobody in banking cares whether you have Level 3. Spend your prep time on modeling instead.

What success looks like 12 months from now

• You’ve worked through a 300-page banking textbook and built 5+ models from scratch.
• You’ve had 30+ informational conversations with bankers.
• You’ve taken on one “deal-adjacent” project at your current job you can tell a five-minute story about.
• You’ve decided (and committed to) one of the three mechanisms.
• You have 10–15 named firms you’d work for and a path to speaking with someone at each.

That’s a real pivot track. It’s a lot of work. It’s also achievable.

If you don’t get there

A common thing that happens: people do 6 months of this prep, have the informational conversations, and realize they don’t actually want IB. They want the skills of IB — modeling, deal work, strategic thinking — which can be picked up in corp dev, PE-adjacent roles, strategic finance at a bigger company, or even advanced FP&A.

That’s not a failure. That’s the prep doing its job. Make the decision with real information, not with Reddit fumes.

Edge cases

• You’re at a PE-owned company: your CFO may have deep banking relationships. That’s an asset. Ask your CFO directly: “If I wanted to move into banking, would you be willing to make an intro?”
• You have a niche industry specialty (healthcare, semiconductors, energy): that’s actually a huge asset for sector-focused boutiques. Target them specifically; your FP&A experience becomes a feature, not a bug.
• You’re a woman, veteran, or underrepresented minority: every bulge bracket has diversity-focused lateral recruiting tracks. Use them. This is not a crutch — it’s an efficient market mechanism that exists specifically for non-traditional paths.

Do this today

Pick up Rosenbaum & Pearl. Block one hour tomorrow morning to read the intro chapter and make notes on the three questions it raises for you. Also: make a list of 10 firms you’d seriously want to work at. That list will tell you a lot about which of the three paths is actually yours.

For the weekly rhythm that makes “deal-adjacent” work visible on your FP&A resume, use the Status update template. For the manager conversation where you ask for strategic-finance scope, see How to ask for more work.

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