Strategic Finance/FP&A vs HF Analyst
Current buysider here wondering if anyone has thought about the corporate move from a HF. I think IR is a bit too boring, more just a talking head, but more and more considering if a move to FP&A/Strategic Finance makes sense. Seems like you can make decent money (no 7 figures I get that) in that type of role, seems like actually building something and helping set corporate strategy, all while doing the modeling & planning that is similar to what I try to do in my current role with much less info. Curious if anyone has ever made a move, any idea of base + bonus (guessing just equity)? Worst case you can always move back to a buyside role (probably with desirable corporate experience)?
you top out at 200k/yr or so unless you can get to EVP/SVP type levels and youre a glorified accountant
fp&a ppl always try to pretend theyre more important than they are, its a bitch role
even at fast growing startups? hard to imagine ppl doing strategic finance for $200k all-in, which is lower than your average software engineer or data scientis, after 2 years BB + 2 yrs PE. and i see this profile on linkedin quite often.
Why do you think a finance role should get paid more than an engineering/product role for a non finance company? Finance is the back office
This is factually incorrect. Good FP&A is the growth engine of any company: https://www.cfosecrets.io/p/fpa-cycle
Operating roles require a vastly dissimilar skillset than what is honed in high finance. If you're looking for a new challenge with less of the wlb sacrifices that come with buyside - I highly recommend operational finance roles
Please tell me what you think this vastly dissimilar skillset is. I have sat in both seats and my opinion is that virtually all "high finance" (assume you mean IBD/HF) folks can do "operating finance" if they wanted to, but definitely not vice versa.
>tag: Corporate Development
lol
Is that true in all industries? Have to think in more tech sector companies that are in earlier stages, would think there’s a fair amount of strategy/competition/investment LT roadmap stuff that might be more interesting that working for FP&A at Amazon?
I did this for a bit, AMA
Depends on what level you come in at. Analyst ~100k base, Snr Analyst ~125k base, Manager ~150k base, Snr Manager ~175k base, Director ~200k base, VP 225k base and up. These tend to be pretty consistent across large corporates and tech startups from job postings I see, although large corporates sometimes skew lower.
The following is startup-specific:
Annual cash bonus typically 10-20% of base. Not much opportunity for variation here, this is not how you get paid.
Sign on equity was 100% of starting base, vesting over 4 years. You get annual stock grants as well but I stopped paying attention to how much because equity was so far underwater it was practically worthless.
Haha. It's a hard trek, but doable. Would not recommend. It's a more stable life but soul crushing. Recommend only if you're at a stage of life where you are raising a family and need stability (but in that case highly recommend you go LO instead).
They're super different jobs so hard to compare
You're trading comp for lifestyle
It's very hard to go back to from corporate
Totally different roles and career paths. I know people who do this and are near “director level” some notches below the CFO. TC wise is $200-250k and perks/stock/bonus $300k or so. Some have spouses doing like cpg marketing (assume $150k for a brand role), so that is $400-$500 all in for a couple who probably just started a family mid 30s.
Now funny thing, yes its a bitch role and engineers run the firm but historically these teams run very lean be it at the CPG firms, GE back in the day and now some of the top tech firms. Cause the people they hire at the top are former banker types who know one person can do much more than 9-5 so they run efficient and lean. For this reason last year the bulk of layoffs was in “product management” and other mid-level tech roles and finance teams were safe.
So decent comp, way better lifestyle and probably safe careerwise longterm. That all said you are given “bitchwork” and a lot of it is utterly boring vs working at a HF in a super fast paced environment.
I made the move so I can answer this question. Was laid off after 6-8 years on the buyside (my first job after college), and joined the FP&A team at a tech company. I make $150K + bonus/equity (but this part is small). Overall, I work ~40 hours a week Monday through Friday, some times more or less depending on special projects and other deadlines. To be honest, it was hard to make this transition since stock picking isn’t exactly very transferable. However, I was lucky because this role required heavy modeling in a specific sector, and I was quite experienced in that, so I was able to tell a compelling story here. It was also quite challenging to tell my interviewers why I was leaving the buyside. I was trying to show them that this job wasn’t just a resume filler after being laid off. I guess they bought in.
What was your biggest year on buyside?
Made ~$300k total comp in the best couple years of the fund.
I have a Net worth of close to ~$700k (I’m in my late 20s now).
Hey pizz, glad to see you've made the transition. What are the other common exits for those who are leaving public equities and want to work 50hrs a week or less?
FP&A at a tech firm sounds pretty nice, how happy are you with the role? What does the day to day look like? Are you remote or hybrid?
Also what kind of city are you in? I guess ~180k or so all in doesn't go very far in NYC / SF, but if you're in a place like Chicago or Tampa that will go a much longer way
Congrats again man, I know you were pretty sick of the buy-side life. You're in your late 20s, plenty of time left to have fun / find a nice girl / etc. Best of luck
Check out ID.me, they have a few exHF ppl running finance. I’d look for companies with a lot of PE/HF ppl in their finance roles and or measure your ability to build a connection with execs that are well respected within the industry.
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