Lara Prendergast has narrated this article for you to listen to.
‘I’m looking for a man in finance/ Trust fund/ 6’5”/ Blue eyes.’ When Megan Boni posted this ditty on her TikTok account a few months ago, it was meant as a joke. She wanted to poke fun at the wish-list mentality of single women, herself included.
She couldn’t have predicted that her 19-second video would be viewed 26 million times and remixed into one of the summer’s viral hits. Women are now whispering to each other that maybe they really are looking for a man in finance, rather than an impoverished creative type still living with his parents at the age of 30.
‘Millennials felt ashamed about making money their focus. For Gen Z there’s no shame in flaunting wealth’
Boni has since reiterated that she’s ‘not actually looking for a man in finance’, and perhaps she needn’t bother given that she’s landed herself a record deal. But the damage is done. ‘Men in finance are hot again,’ says Vogue.
We all deserve a second chance, even bankers in their branded gilets. It will pain earnest millennials to hear this. Many of us came of age in the wake of the 2008 crash, when it was drummed into us that feckless City boys were to blame for the financial instability. We would hold ourselves to a higher standard, naively ‘following our dreams’ and prioritising a career that would add meaning, if not necessarily riches, to our lives.
The kids now think that’s daft. They may well have a point. It probably is a lot easier to chase your dreams when you’re not worried about rent. Who hasn’t read a millennial think-piece about how hard life is and thought: well, you made your bed.
For an accurate portrait of the modern finance bro, look to Industry, the hit HBO show.
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