The business journalist who was once an investment banker

The resignation of Goldman Sachs & Co. employee Greg Smith last week via a New York Times column drew a lot of attention, but Toronto Globe & Mail business journalist Tim Kiladze‘s resignation three years ago from a similar investment banking job to become a journalist has not received as much press.

Kiladze writes, “When someone hears that I left banking behind, there is only one question that comes next: How big was the pay cut?

“Big, I say. So big that after being hired by The Globe and Mail, I no longer met the $60,000 minimum salary for the Infinite Visa I once used to pay my bar tabs at Bymark and Vertical.

“Almost three years later, I still miss the money. I probably always will. I miss not having to fret about my weekly budget. I miss not having to worry that someone at my dinner table will order an expensive bottle of wine, forcing me to opt out and drink by-the-glass alone. Sometimes I even have moments of rage when I hear rumours that someone I know has signed a new contract that guarantees a salary plus bonus of more than $300,000.

“Then I remember why I left.

“No longer do I arrive at my desk at the crack of dawn to mindlessly enter bond yields into a convoluted spreadsheet. No one tells me that my Banana Republic cardigan is too fashion-forward for the office. No longer does a superior tell me that I leave the desk to pee too many times during the day. “

Read more here.