Why I abandoned a prestigious six-figure job at JP Morgan

Here’s a cautionary tale from my finance days, before I got into acquisitions...

Years ago, I was fresh out of the military and looking for a new career. I earned an MBA and quickly scored a cushy job with JP Morgan.

I thought I’d finally “made it.”

I was pulling six figures (plus fat bonuses), working with ultra-wealthy clients.

But two years in and several promotions later…

I was miserable.

Because besides making clients money on their investments and keeping them happy, there was no point to what I was doing.

Then one day my manager, Scott, walked into our director’s office asking for a few weeks off to spend with his family for the summer.

Keep in mind — Scott had given 15 years of faithful service to the company.

He was a model employee who did everything by the book.

But the director’s response?

Instant denial.

They had a big client event coming up, and Scott had to be there.

And all I could think was:

Is this what success looks like?

Working 50-60 hours a week for the next three decades, just so I can walk into an office and beg for permission to live my life?

This was not what I’d signed up for.

So I started looking for a way out.

That’s when I noticed something interesting about our wealthiest private banking clients.

(These people all had $10M+ liquid net worth, minimum.)

Most of them owned boring businesses.

And the ones who were really crushing it just kept acquiring more of them.

I watched client after client 2X or 3X their net worth in 12 months.

One guy in particular stood out.

He had no college degree, but had spent 20 years methodically acquiring car dealerships. He ended up selling his portfolio to Warren Buffett for $2.1 billion.

That’s when I realized:

This was the way to build not just life-changing money... but generational wealth.

So I decided that I was going to do exactly what they were doing.

I’ll dive more into the details of my first deals in future emails.

For now, here’s the long story short:

Four years after leaving banking, I now own seven businesses doing over $6 million in revenue, generating over $850,000 in cash flow.

But the best part?

I now spend more time with my family than ever.

I can take my kids to the park in the middle of the day just because I feel like it. I never have to miss a graduation or birthday party. And their college education is totally paid for.

To me, that’s real success.

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See you in the next issue of the Acquisition Ace newsletter!