Company Benefits

Anyone ready for an adult conversation?

Do most Banks offer similar benefit compensation--such as health care, 401-k matching,life insurance, paid unused vacation time, etc.? How much, if at all, did this factor into your choosing your place of employment?

I am in London now, potential offer in NYC ( IBD Ass. lateral) and the benefits certainly vary from where I am. Is there a large difference in US Banks?

Cheers for your input.

 
Sean Click:
al123:
Anyone ready for an adult conversation?

oh come off it

Meant as sarcasm....who the hell wants to think about this rubbish--but it sure makes a differnce in total package compensation.

Thanks Mis Ind. Sounds like your bennies are not that great--meds sent by post--never heard of such a thing.

Will have to do research and take a closer look at what is offered.

 

I loathe my bank's benefits, and it might have made a difference in my choice had I known beforehand. No 401(k) matching at my level, measly life insurance, and a prescription medication plan that involves mostly mail order and STILL costs $30 a pop.

My advice is to do your research.

 
Mis Ind:
I loathe my bank's benefits, and it might have made a difference in my choice had I known beforehand. No 401(k) matching at my level, measly life insurance, and a prescription medication plan that involves mostly mail order and STILL costs $30 a pop.

My advice is to do your research.

That's ridiculous. Some pharma manufacturers offer $4-$10 prescriptions via their website if you're willing to wait for shipping. I'd look into it if you're taking something on a regular basis.
 

After you get an offer, ask to see their benefits package. Most places will show their cards as they are trying to sell you on their bank, so if you see certain key points are missing, ask about them and go from there.

 

most of the banks' 401k matching is pretty similar. usually in the 5% range is matched. there may also be a pension of some sort. be advised if you move the US you're going to lose vacation days...you may lose 10+ days a year in fact.

 

My firm is at the top of every ranking and provides excellent benefits: 5% of salary contributed to retirement account, defined benefit pension plan, and everything else you would expect in terms of various types of insurances. I'm not so convinced that benefits are negatively correlated to prestige.

 
Maiden:
My firm is at the top of every ranking and provides excellent benefits: 5% of salary contributed to retirement account, defined benefit pension plan, and everything else you would expect in terms of various types of insurances. I'm not so convinced that benefits are negatively correlated to prestige.

When you say 5% of "salary" contributed to a retirement account, does that include bonus or no?

 
Maiden:
My firm is at the top of every ranking and provides excellent benefits: 5% of salary contributed to retirement account, defined benefit pension plan, and everything else you would expect in terms of various types of insurances. I'm not so convinced that benefits are negatively correlated to prestige.

Base, or Base+Bonus?

Is the DB plan closed to new entrants (most are)? If not, Cash Balance, Career Average, or High-5?

 

Benefits in finance have very little to do with Prestige.

I work at a tiny (read: unknown) REIT and my benefits are preposterous. All meals paid for, 100% free health insurance for myself and all dependents, non-covered items like co-pays can be expensed, free parking, 20 days of vacation for entry-level, trips to Vail and other places, 401k contributions, 100% tuition reimbursement, blah blah blah.

Cash comp sucks though, so I guess everything is a trade-off.

 

Top notch medical, dental, 401k, etc.

Meal allowances are usually $20-25 for dinner and more for weekends (doesn't keep pace with inflation, unfortunately).

Car service home is not a "perk"...it's recompense for keeping you there until midnight or worse. You also typically get reimbursed for cabs to/from the office, etc.

If you travel, you stay in nice hotels and get a pretty generous travel meal allowance (maybe $75 a day or so...or basically limitless if you're eating with the client).

Some banks have gyms in the building; otherwise you can usually get a corporate discount at the local gyms (I go to NY Sports Club and get like 10% off the usual rate).

I think most banks are pretty consistent across the board with this stuff...Goldman may give a slightly higher meal allowance from what I've heard, but in fact, most guys have been really aiming at cutting costs in the past couple of years. Big article in WSJ a while back about Jamie Dimon's efforts to that effect when he took over JPMorgan.

 

Your 401k is a defined contribution plan (by definition)...defined benefit schemes have ruined many an-otherwise-solvent retirement system (e.g. social security, airlines, auto manufacturers, etc.).

My company started matching 100% after the first year, and then the matched portion vests 25/25/25/25 over 4 years thereafter. So essentially you have to be at the company for a minimum of 5 years to benefit fully from the match.

I also got some company stock after last bonus season (not much--maybe $500 worth). The stock portion becomes a much greater piece of your comp package as you become more senior. For junior people, it's almost entirely cash.

 

You can absolutely ask them for the info though my experience with HR folks was always underwhelming. If you know an Analyst at the bank in question, then my guess would be that they will be able to give you a more realistic perspective.

My guess is that 401k options are fairly standard. Some sort of match up to 5%+ of you pre-tax contributions. Depending on the bank, your match will either be allocated based on your investment choices, or in company stock. Word of advice - diversify away from your employee stock. I still remember seeing people lose 60% of their 401k on week and their job the next.

I'd be surprised to see any other retirement plans. When I started as an Analyst a few years ago, I managed to sneak into the pension program, but that was frozen to new entrants right after I joined.

 

Details on my earlier post:

1) This is for an Associate job in London 2) Retirement package is composed of 2 parts: i) a defined benefit plan (ie a pension) and ii) what is called a personal pension plan, basically like a 401k. The firm contributes 5% of your comp up to around 100k pounds ($200k) regardless of whether or not you contribute anything to it. You can choose to make additional contributions to the plan as well, in which case these are tax deductible (like 401k contributions in the US). The big difference is that in the UK you can contribute up to 215k pounds per year pre tax to this type of plan.

 

Gotcha - Does your bank have an NYC office? I failed to attach the proper scope to my earlier statement (that I had looked at US based plans only).

5% gimme is damn nice, and practically unheard of these days. That it's on top of a DB plan makes me start to drool (is it Cash Balance, Career Average, or Final Average Pay, if you don't mind?

 

Details on my earlier post:

1) This is for an Associate job in London 2) Retirement package is composed of 2 parts: i) a defined benefit plan (ie a pension) and ii) what is called a personal pension plan, basically like a 401k. The firm contributes 5% of your comp up to around 100k pounds ($200k) regardless of whether or not you contribute anything to it. You can choose to make additional contributions to the plan as well, in which case these are tax deductible (like 401k contributions in the US). The big difference is that in the UK you can contribute up to 215k pounds per year pre tax to this type of plan.

 

Package is at a US BB in London. The US retirement package is generous as well, though structured differently and I don't have the details. I can't remember what the DB is based on, I think the highest few years or last few year of your time with the firm. The salary which is taken into consideration for the DB calculation is capped around GBP 100k pa.

 

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