Why Quitting My Job on Wall Street to Start an NGO Was a Financially Horrendous Decision

With co-founder Isabel Dávila at the entrance to our rainforest preserve, 2008. Photo by Bryan Criswell

I’m probably the only person you’ve heard of who made more money his first year out of college than in any of the twenty years since. And yet, by some measurements, my life has generally improved over that span of time.

Fresh after graduation from college, I went to work for an investment bank called Salomon Smith…