Dmitry Balyasny said chasing a big paycheck is the wrong reason to get into finance, because people who love the game can ride out the ups and downs.
In an episode of Bloomberg’s “Master of Business” podcast released on Saturday, the managing partner of $28 billion Balyasny Asset Management said recent college graduates must be passionate about finance, pick growing firms, and ask for feedback.
“Don’t go into finance, hedge funds, whatever it is, because your friend is making a lot of money,” Balyasny said. “You’ve got to be interested in the work.”
“Just because LeBron makes a lot of money doesn’t mean you’re going to go make a lot of money playing basketball,” he added. “One, he’s 6’11, but besides that, like, he’s put in a lot of work over the years. And it’s because he loves the game of basketball.”
Balyasny, who cofounded the multi-strategy firm in 2001, said his second piece of advice was to join a growing firm. He said that company culture is more than just being a place where people are nice to their colleagues.
“Where there is a culture where you can learn from others, where you can get good mentorship, there’s top people you can learn from,” he said.
He added: “The particular thing that they’re trading or investing or how they’re doing it, that’s a lot less important because you might change, the company might change.”
In an interview with Business Insider late last year, Balyasny said that his firm knows that to keep up with competition, “you have to grow over time,” he said. “But it doesn’t have to be a straight line.”
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He added that the company is always looking for people “to deepen the bench” in investing and business. The firm has more than 2,000 employees, per its website.
On Saturday’s podcast, Balyasny’s last suggestion to recent grads was to proactively ask for feedback once they find themselves in a “decent” role.
He recommended they say: “‘Here’s what I did, here’s what I think I could have done. What do you think?'” he said. “Don’t ask for feedback when the market opens or the person’s like in the middle of a disastrous day.”
“But when things are quiet early, late, lunch hour, get feedback proactively. Don’t sit around waiting for your year-round review to see how things are going,” he said.
Earlier this month, Business Insider reported that the Chicago-based firm was up 0.7% in August. In its flagship fund, the firm has returned 8.6% for 2025.
The firm did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
