Former bankers, how much of a pay cut were you willing to take for "regular" corp finance job?

Currently in my 3rd year as a corp banking analyst and pretty much looking to get out ASAP. Mainly looking for a better work/life balance. Had an interview with an F500 for an FP&A role, but pay cut was too much from my current base (-$15k). For those of you who made the jump or are in the same boat, how much of a pay cut did you take or are willing to take? This is assuming staying within the NYC area.

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I switched jobs after 2 years as an IB analyst to a corp dev gig as a senior analyst. I did not take a decrease in base (they matched the new base salary I was in line for at my bank), but obviously bonus potential is much much lower.

MM IB -> Corporate Development -> Strategic Finance
 

Oh gotcha, well, I guess I was lucky, I am in the South, and after two yrs at a no name boutique, I moved into corporate at 85 base, keep in mind, low cost of living. I was very picky about the role I moved into, as I wanted to be on a fast track and good exposure. I have a director, but I also work with CFO directly quite a bit. The demand for finance talent is high down here, and corporations around here love seeing some banking experience. I think I could have waited longer and got a gig for around 100k base, but I figure, I could do this for 3-4 years, then if no promotion or not seeing a career path at the company, I could easily recruit into a sr manager role at 130+

 
Best Response

I spent 3 years in ECM, took a demotion and did N2 / N3 over in IBD, got promoted to associate, got Corp Dev sr. analyst job $120k base + ~20% bonus. They met me in the middle between my $100k N3 salary and my $150k associate salary. I'm at a mid cap firm where we play fast and loose with titles though - I report to the director of M&A and its just the two of us executing / sourcing M&A with two jr. analysts.

 

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