What Would You Do With Your First Wall Street Bonus?
It’s the end of August and if you work at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch you know what that means,...year end bonuses! By now I’m sure you’ve got a list a mile long to spend it on, like high fashion in sporting new Hugo Boss suits or more practically as a hardcore analyst, to further pay down your student loans thereby releasing future cash-flows which you will use to build your financial empire! Or you could just say, “to hell with it all,” and blow it on a gambling habit in Vegas but before you make any plans you first better see how much you can expect to receive and some options…
Based on a Business Insider article on first year corporate and IB analyst bonuses from BAC-ML, I've added an economic twist in relation to my article, Want A Career On Wall Street, Plan On Moving From New York City by deflating their total NYC compensation to realize the differences in taxable income from second-tier WS venues. Here's a breakdown of the numbers...
1.) ML's base pay is $70K, which according to my source, is at the low end of the range for first year IB Analysts. Assuming this is in NYC dollars, here's its equivalent in the other cities:
• Durham, NC: $41,095.47
• Jacksonville, FL: $43,038.80
• Salt Lake City, UT: $43,010.74
2.) It was reported that this year's bonus range from $25K to $70K with the median being about $50K. Again, deflating this from NYC dollars you would have:
• Durham, NC: $29,353.90
• Jacksonville, FL: $30,072.00
• Salt Lake City, UT: $30,721.96
3.) Now, what matters to you monkeys is the latest total compensation figures as an analyst and here's how that $120K looks living outside of New York. Yes, living because these are only dollar amounts but if you adjust them against a cost of living index almost all major categorical expenses will be lower than living in NYC.
• Durham, NC: $70,449.37
• Jacksonville, FL: $73,110.80
• Salt Lake City, UT: $73,732.70
Well, that's my perspective on the matter but enough of the technical stuff. What we'd really like to know is if you are / want to be an IB Analyst...what are you expecting from your first bonus?
If you had a choice, which city would you spend it and what would you buy?






Comments
You do realize that analysts
You do realize that analysts in other cities (aka Charlotte, Houston, etc) get paid the same as analysts in NYC for the most part. Thus, you shouldn't be deflating numbers to figure out comparable pay in regional cities, but rather inflating numbers. Good try though.
I remember reading this on
I remember reading this on vault years and years ago: http://www.vault.com/wps/portal/usa/vcm/detail/Car...
You can tell how dated it is by their use of the phrase "e-money."
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eaglehead03: You do realize
You do realize that analysts in other cities (aka Charlotte, Houston, etc) get paid the same as analysts in NYC for the most part. Thus, you shouldn't be deflating numbers to figure out comparable pay in regional cities, but rather inflating numbers. Good try though.
He's seems to be trying to show how much New York sucks for non-ballers. He wasn't belittling people who work in other cities.
holla_back: eaglehead03: Yo
You do realize that analysts in other cities (aka Charlotte, Houston, etc) get paid the same as analysts in NYC for the most part. Thus, you shouldn't be deflating numbers to figure out comparable pay in regional cities, but rather inflating numbers. Good try though.
He's seems to be trying to show how much New York sucks for non-ballers. He wasn't belittling people who work in other cities.
Dually noted, I've just run into lots of people in my time that seem to think that working for a BB in a regional office while still in an IB role means that you get paid like 20% less than you do in NYC when it's just not true at all. I can remember back during training thinking "How the fuck are any of these NYC guys gonna save any money at all their first few years?"
Oh yeah - the guys in our NYC
Oh yeah - the guys in our NYC office all rent apartments with roommates, and the guys in Cleveland and Detroit (consulting) are buying places.
i would tithe, then i would
i would tithe, then i would allocate a small portion for fun purposes, then i would save the rest. i'd probably spend it in Texas, Houston metro area. or buy some hunting gear. of course, i still have one more year of undergrad. but it's good to dream! i'm really looking forward to graduating and getting out there.
"Everything comes to those who hustle while they wait."
-Thomas Edison
btw, Houston was rated the
btw, Houston was rated the best "city for your dollar" in a recent article, though I am not questioning GMngmt's methodology or anything. I believe it was in the Houston Business Journal if I am not mistaken. And with the Shale play/Fracking boom that's happening, there's plenty of opportunity to get in with some IB's or AM's or an energy analyst/ trading position. Houston is hot! and not just because it's August! of course I'm from there so I'm plenty biased in that regard...
"Everything comes to those who hustle while they wait."
-Thomas Edison
Buying Houston bal
Buying Houston bal life.....
Your 120 in NYC is 120 in Houston but goes even further
I see 78 cents of every dollar in Houston
WSO Conf - June 29, 2013
Jacksonville, Durham, and
Jacksonville, Durham, and Salt Lake City? Are we talking about bank tellers? Are you a real person or some sort of link generating bot?
Your source is quite possibly retarded because 70k is base for every BB 1st yr analyst.
No idea on BAML bonuses but I recall someone in that DB article about Wells commenting that there were 2 tiers below what was reported as "bottom"..but no one knows what they got. Thus 25k might be a standard double-secret bottom bucket across the board.
As an aside, I would rather eat my own dandruff than visit Business Insider.
So which is better Houston or
So which is better Houston or New York City?
Definitely equities in
Definitely equities in Dallas.
Having been born in Cleveland
Having been born in Cleveland - and still having friends there - I was envious of their grills, in-ground pools, and spacious two-bedrooms. But then again, they don't live a 5 minute walk from Broadway, or a 10 minute cab ride from the Doughnut Plant (great place...Grand and Essex), and they certainly don't live anywhere near a world capital of politics, finance, culture, cuisine, fashion, dating...etc.
Life is about trade-offs. You can't have it all. But you can have more if you live in New York.
P.S. Cali isn't bad either.
ScotchMonkey: Having been
Having been born in Cleveland - and still having friends there - I was envious of their grills, in-ground pools, and spacious two-bedrooms.
Leadership can be defined in two words: "Follow Me"
ah here it is...wasn't the
ah here it is...wasn't the houston business journal. even better- forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/joelkotkin/2012/07/09/...
"Everything comes to those who hustle while they wait."
-Thomas Edison
you rent a top notch
you rent a top notch apartment in the swankiest part of town with over 1000 square feet for less than $1500/month in Houston.
apparently Houston's pretty cool right now too. i can see why, being from there and all...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/morganbrennan/2012/07/...
"Everything comes to those who hustle while they wait."
-Thomas Edison
Schmoove28: Definitely
WreckEmFinance: you rent a
Cartwright: WreckEmFinance:
WSO Conf - June 29, 2013
Cartwright: WreckEmFinance:
"Everything comes to those who hustle while they wait."
-Thomas Edison
i would buy me something like
Looks cheap.
I would buy a new wife
eaglehead03: You do realize
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GMngmt: Cartwright: Jackson
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