What salary should I expect?

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KarateBoy

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I’m interviewing with a long-only fund with about $10 billion in AUM. I think I got a really good shot of getting an offer in the next week or two. Just curious about compensation.
3rd year research associate
Moving from SS ER to BS ER
CFA level III candidate
Pre-MBA
Major city, but not NY
Wonder what to expect for salary + bonus. My guess would be $80-$100K salary with bonus 25%-50% of base based on performance? Is there any reason to expect my salary to go down?
 
I would guess $200k all in for 3rd year, plus minus a bit.
What do you mean by any reason for your “salary to go down”? You mean compared to your current salary at the sell side job? That would depend on how much you are currently paid..
 
Yea, that’s what I meant - would my salary to go down my current base (~$80K) because the buyside divides their total comp between base/bonus differently than on the sell-side.
$200K would be a really nice raise for me- especially since I’m still pre-MBA. My current employer has been seriously screwing so many people on their bonses for the past 5+ years.
How would you expect $200K to be divided? $100K base/$100K bonus?
 
My guess: $90K base + $40-60K bonus = $130-150K all-in
I’m thinking that my number may be low even as I’m saying it now, but this is 2012 and not 2005-2007.
Basically, I’m in-line with what you’re expecting. How does that compare to what you’re currently getting, and why do you think you’ve been getting screwed on compensation for so long? I have 50+ data points on sell-side research employee compensation over the last couple of years, and at firms where people felt like they were getting screwed big-time, they were at least happy to still have had a job there or to have even gotten any bonus at all. I’m wondering if you’re at one of these firms.
 
Thanks for the data point.
One of the reason I’m starting to feel jipped on comp is because $200K as a 3rd year research associate on the BS vs. SS at my firm is about $100K difference in comp. Big difference imo.
I’m fairly confident it’s not me that they’re targeting. From the first week I’ve started at the firm, people told me this not the place you go to get paid. But as a kid straight out of undergrad, $80K was a lot of money and I was learning a ton. It just feels like the firm is choosing to take advantage of the tough environment to pay themselves, and not anyone else.
Last year a colleague with 4-years exp got $110K all in. Another colleague with 5-years exp got $125K all in. These are legit #s - I’ve seen their official bonus slips and they’re seen mine.
I’ve heard that first year senior analyst only getting paid all-in $225K.
 
All sounds reasonable to me. What type and size of bank are you at now?
Also you can’t automatically presume that you’ll get a pay raise moving to buy side. Many sell sidereal struggle with that transition because it often involves looking at investments pretty differently.
 
I’m starting to think that I’m looking at the world from different eyes than most people. I read some of the numbers people post as reasonable salaries, and I think that they are waaaay bullish. But maybe it’s because of my background/experiences, and geographic location.
  • I didn’t go to NYU or Wharton or Chicago. I went to Local State.
  • I don’t live in New York or San Francisco or Chicago. I live in West Texas. (I moved here a couple of years ago, but lived in San Antonio for ten years before that.)
  • I have little experience due to five years in the military, and what I do have has been in accounting/tax, not sell-side equity analysis.
  • I am in my early 30’s, and I make mid-50’s.
I would be interested in hearing some of your stories. I don’t want personal details, just what your educational background and experience is, and where you live. Where I come from, you don’t start out at six figures, no matter what your background is. If you’re making six figures, you better have at the very least, five years of really good experience (e.g. auditing at a Big Four firm).
 
On a similar vein, it’s interesting sometimes to peruse Wallstreetoasis.com, and hear what some of the people say about jobs with a CFA charter. I think they think that getting a degree automatically leads to a Charter, and a Charter automatically leads to being a Gordon Gekko. Some of their gems:
“finance pays the most, so you should become a CFA, not a CPA”
“CFA’s make 25x what CPA’s make”
“being a CPA for 9 years and making 150k per year is pretty pathetic”
“CPA’s don’t mean shit. Everyone’s a CPA these days”
In my experience, unless you have a top-of-the-top MBA, live in New York or San Francisco, and are in the top 5% of all salary ranges, accounting is generally a more lucrative career than finance. (Although that this is not true at the highest levels. I’m sure a top-level hedge fund manager makes more than a top-level controller, but 95% of all finance graduates won’t ever reach that level.)
So I guess my question is–is my view of the industry warped somehow? Or is a 100k+ salary normal, even starting off? I’m interested in hearing from older, experienced people–not 21 year-old wannabes.
 
I don’t think $100K salary is ever “normal” for someone starting out.
First year bankers get $10K sign on + $70K base + $30K-$70K bonus. 3rd year IB analysts have base of $90K. Those guy are at the top of the earnings ladder for the first few years post undergrad. My first year comp was ~$70K.
I’m not some Gordon Gekko wannabe, but I am passionate about what I do and I’m just trying to learn what market rate is.
Comp was never my number one concern and still isn’t. I’m making the move because advancement opportunities are now limited at my current firm (hiring binge) and the learning curve is started to flatten. BS was ALWAYS the end-game for me.
 
It will vary widely, but I would guess 150k all in
If it were a hedge fund, yes it can go to 200k, but I doubt you’ll get that in a long only and in today’s market.
 
Hmm. Seems like most people low balled my number. Maybe I am out of touch with today’s youth…
 
iteracom wrote:
It will vary widely, but I would guess 150k all in
If it were a hedge fund, yes it can go to 200k, but I doubt you’ll get that in a long only and in today’s market.
Click to expand...
Surprised to hear that the pay is THAT different between HF and MF… I thought HF are pretty common these and both of these guys compete out of the same labor pool.
Do you guys think a sign-on bonus is common?
 
ddrobinett wrote:
I’m starting to think that I’m looking at the world from different eyes than most people. I read some of the numbers people post as reasonable salaries, and I think that they are waaaay bullish. But maybe it’s because of my background/experiences, and geographic location.
  • I didn’t go to NYU or Wharton or Chicago. I went to Local State.
  • I don’t live in New York or San Francisco or Chicago. I live in West Texas. (I moved here a couple of years ago, but lived in San Antonio for ten years before that.)
  • I have little experience due to five years in the military, and what I do have has been in accounting/tax, not sell-side equity analysis.
  • I am in my early 30’s, and I make mid-50’s.
I would be interested in hearing some of your stories. I don’t want personal details, just what your educational background and experience is, and where you live. Where I come from, you don’t start out at six figures, no matter what your background is. If you’re making six figures, you better have at the very least, five years of really good experience (e.g. auditing at a Big Four firm).
Click to expand...
I think part of it comes from the ivy types, part of it from people who work in certain areas of finance, and all too often people who have no idea what they are talking about! Although I probably fall into the latter ,it does seem to me like you are underpaid based on being a CPA and will at some point be a Charterholder. You could definitely get a higher paid job but it’s due to your location. You either have to be in Lubbock and Midland and there just are not a lot of high paying finance jobs there. Although you could be setting yourself up nicely for a c level position with an E&P longer term. Getting a 6 figure job (outside of sales) starting out is very very difficult though. Most of the people on WSO are hs and college kids who have no idea of what to expect.
 
One thing I can certainly attest to (and not too many people believe me when I tell them this)–it makes a HUGE difference where you live. 50k per year in San Antonio will go a whole lot further than 100k in New York City, once you factor in the city, county, and state income taxes, and the difference in rent/mortgage. That’s why I’m curious about where people live.
 
Why don’t you get the offer and tell us what that number is? You already have four opinions on this thread from pretty informed sources…not enough for you? Not sure why you’re so preoccupied with this before actually landing the offer.
 
numi wrote:
Why don’t you get the offer and tell us what that number is? You already have four opinions on this thread from pretty informed sources…not enough for you? Not sure why you’re so preoccupied with this before actually landing the offer.
Click to expand...
For what it’s worth, I ended up taking a 10% pay cut on my base salary. Really surprised about that. We’ll see how the bonus looks like in 2014….
 
Was the pay cut for you to stay on the sell side are you referring to the buy side opportunity? Thank you for the update.
 
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