Salary Comps

It's getting close to that time of year where we get our annual raises/bonus and decide to stay, or ship out.

I'm well aware that when you discuss roles with prospective employers they want to hone in to determine if "you're in their range". Problem is, your sticker price varies considerably, depending on which firm you're looking at. I.E. BlackRock will pay you more than a start up fund, but each comes with advantages.

How do you guys go about determining a fair number that it would take for you to move? I have some arbitrary numbers in my mind but am not certain if they're "the right numbers". Also, does a CFA charter increase this number, or it just helps your candidacy?

 
Best Response

I think the CFA can increase both, number and consideration for a position, but it really depends on what it is that you're doing. This has been discussed elsewhere on WSO but in general it doesn't mean anything for careers like IB, PE or VC. Where it could potentially help you is in AM, ER (buy-side and sell-side but really depends on the firm) and maybe HF.

Some places don't care at all if you have the CFA. Others prefer it. Still others recommend it or "strongly recommend" it, and a few even require it. So in those situations it could certainly help open doors, or at least get you through the resume screening stage.

My local CFA Society recently completed a compensation survey of its members with a fair number replying. Granted, it is only one society out of many as most major cities have a local society; but, I think the results are telling. They compared the results, slicing up the data by any metric you can think of, to data from a consulting firm for similar positions held by individuals in the general region that did not have a CFA charter. At a high level, both individuals with an undergrad degree, and any number of years of experience, and individuals with a masters or higher, and any number of years of experience, earned meaningfully more with a CFA charter than their equivalent peers without the charter. That being said, that was on average. Doesn't mean that will be the case for everyone.

"Successful investing is anticipating the anticipation of others". - John Maynard Keynes
 

Thanks for your note. This makes perfectly good sense.

I'm in ER and a newly minted charter holder, so I wasn't sure if this carried any weight. At this point I guess you just have to embrace it and hopefully they throw you some extra coin for it.

I'm on the pursuit of happiness and I know everything that shine ain't always gonna be gold. I'll be fine once I get it
 

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"Successful investing is anticipating the anticipation of others". - John Maynard Keynes

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