Afterlife of finance bros: Why being a clown, YouTuber and rock musician beats being a man in finance
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SINGAPORE – The finance industry epitomises extreme work-life imbalance: 60-hour weeks, high-pressure environments and the pursuit of profit over personal well-being.
Overwork in the finance industry frequently makes global headlines – from 95-hour work weeks for junior analysts at investment banking company Goldman Sachs to three-quarters of UK finance professionals surveyed by payment software firm Medius in 2024 saying they would not recommend the job to younger generations.
For some, these demands led to life-altering realisations, so much so that burnout resignation posts and born-again video essays about leaving the field have become a permanent sub-category of content on LinkedIn and YouTube.
Four former workers in the sector tell The Straits Times why they left the field to find meaning in their new lives – from Mr Chen Shao Chun’s decision to resign the day after his mother’s funeral to Mr Eugene Chow’s decision to pack it up for the performing arts.
Chen Shao Chun: A mixed blessing to be pushed out of tech and finance industries
Mr Chen Shao Chun (left) decided to resign the day after his mother’s funeral.
Mr Chen Shao Chun, 38, once held jobs that many of Singapore’s ambitious professionals would envy – stints at financial giants Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan, as well as seven years at tech company Google.
It was the wake-up call when his mother died in 2014 that prompted him to resign from the former, and a round of layoffs in 2024 that pushed him out of the latter.
Far from harbouring regrets, he views these departures as harsh but necessary nudges towards living a more fulfilling life.
Joining the world of finance was a no-brainer for him because of his tumultuous childhood.
“I grew up in a household with an unstable financial situation,” recalls the second child of a secretary mother and a father who ran a small magazine distribution business.
“When I was seven, I came home to my mum crying because creditors had put stickers on our belongings due to our debts. Seeing my mum cry and the collections company appraise everything in our home left a big mark on me.”
Eugene Chow: Trading in Wall Street to be a clown
Mr Eugene Chow gave up a job that checked all the typical boxes of success for a more unconventional pathway in the performing arts.
For 35-year-old Singaporean Eugene Chow, disillusionment with the corporate world led to an unexpected career change: leaving Wall Street to become a professional clown and performing artist.
Landing a job at accounting firm Ernst & Young (EY) in New York straight out of school in 2015 felt like the culmination of all his ambitions.
“When I got the job there, it felt like I’d arrived,” he says. “There were all the tick marks of success – as we Singaporeans call it – money, prestige, a clear growth trajectory, being in the big city.”
Chasing conventional markers of success, the Temasek Junior College alumnus pursued his undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering at the University of Michigan, followed by a graduate programme in management at Columbia University in New York.
During his time in New York, he earned between US$72,000 and US$95,000 (S$94,000 to S$124,000) as a consultant annually. But his initial excitement soon gave way to disillusionment.
Jason Lee and Jonathan Kang: Leaving banking for their rock band
(From left) There Be Wolves’ lead singer and guitarist Jason Lee and bassist Jonathan Kang.
In April 2023, Mr Jason Lee, 49, left his high-flying job at DBS to focus on his rock band – a choice so momentous that it runs through his mind daily.
The father of three children aged 21, 18 and 16 says: “I still wake up every morning thinking, what the bleep have I done? It was either the wisest or the most foolhardy decision of my life. I’m still discerning which.”
He is the songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist of There Be Wolves, a band he co-founded in 2017. Their presence waned as his two co-founders left and the Covid-19 pandemic took its toll with Singapore’s nightlife shutdown.
But in March, There Be Wolves – which count Led Zeppelin, Soundgarden and The Beatles as influences – played five shows in Japan. They are working on an album after releasing an EP, Time Is A Thief, in 2023, and will be holding a concert on Nov 9 at music studio Nineteen Eighty Studios in Joo Chiat. Tickets are available at therebewolves.com.
