FAQ: How much will I make if I pursue a career in finance?
Money is, without a doubt, one of the biggest motivators for having a career on Wall Street. Every year thousands of college graduates are lured to the industry by promises of hefty paychecks and the possibility of becoming the next Gordon Gekko. This begs the question, “How much do you really make on the Street?”
There is no easy answer to this question as the pay scale varies greatly between industries, career levels, the state of the economy, and the employer. Despite this, there is still some solid, general information available to give you a good idea of how much you can make in each industry. WSO has put together a rough outline of the compensation one can expect across a number of different careers in finance. Please keep in mind that these are by no means on-the-dot accurate numbers, but rather to give you a general overview of what you may expect.
It is also important to keep in mind that as you move up in your career, the numbers become far more unpredictable. An MD working for Goldman Sachs’ Technology, Media, & Telecom division might be pulling in a $500,000 salary with a year-end performance bonus of $10,000,000, whereas an MD at a smaller, regional investment bank may have a salary of $500,000 with a year-end performance bonus of $500,000. What makes the disparity in these numbers even more interesting is that they could be switched around, with a regional MD pulling in seven-figure bonuses and a bulge bracket MD pulling in a more modest six-figure bonus. For more information, please check out our Compensation Database or do a search for compensation using WSO's Search function.
Investment Banking Compensation
This page illustrates the wide range investment bankers can make across different seniority levels including analyst, associate, vice president and managing director compensation. Given the fact that such a large percentage of their compensation is tied to the investment banking bonus, the pay investment bankers receieve each year is highly volatile and depends on a variety of factors including the economy, the overall performance of the firm, the performance of their group and last but not least their individual performance.
Private Equity Compensation
This page illustrates the wide range private equity professionals can make across different seniority levels including pre-mba associates, vice presidents, managing director and partner compensation. Given the fact that such a large percentage of their compensation is tied to a firm's carried interest, the pay PE professionals receive each year is highly volatile and depends on a variety of factors including the economy and the overall performance of the fund.
Venture Capital Compensation
This page illustrates the wide range VC professionals earn across different seniority levels including analysts, associates, vice presidents, junior managing directors and partners. Given the fact that such a large percentage of their compensation is tied to a firm's carried interest, the pay VC professionals earn each year is highly volatile and depends on a variety of factors including the economy and the overall performance of the fund.
Sales & Trading Compensation
This page illustrates the wide range S&T professionals earn across different seniority levels including analysts, associates, vice presidents, managing directors and partners. Given the fact that such a large percentage of their compensation is tied to their bonus, the pay S&T professionals earn each year is highly volatile and depends on a variety of factors including the economy, their individual performance (as measured by their P&L) and the overall performance of their division and company.
Management Consulting Compensation
This page illustrates the wide range consulting professionals earn across different seniority levels including analysts, associates, vice presidents, managing directors and partners. At the junior levels, most of the pay is in the form of salary and a relatively small bonus. At the more senior levels, a larger percentage of the compensation is tied to billable hours and clients engaged.
Relevant Discussions on Wall Street Oasis:
Additional Resources:
