15 Comments
 

That's not that big of a hurdle. I won't be a writing analyst so it's a bit different. Hrm -

 

I believe the pay tops out around ~220k until you are the lead analyst in that sector. Note that this means you could have coverage of a few companies but are still not lead in your sector. I think this is a lifestyle decision as being VP in research could be very cushy depending on your sector and what your senior analyst expects. You could potentially be 8-6/7 with almost no weekend work, have some interesting interaction with clients, and potential upside of being a senior someday down the road. With that said, at my BB, we see a lot of VPs leave because they feel underpaid for their abilities/work.

 
Best Response
Happybear

I believe the pay tops out around ~220k until you are the lead analyst in that sector. Note that this means you could have coverage of a few companies but are still not lead in your sector. I think this is a lifestyle decision as being VP in research could be very cushy depending on your sector and what your senior analyst expects. You could potentially be 8-6/7 with almost no weekend work, have some interesting interaction with clients, and potential upside of being a senior someday down the road. With that said, at my BB, we see a lot of VPs leave because they feel underpaid for their abilities/work.

This comp info is wrong. Good friend is a first year VP at Wells Fargo. Not top rated by any means, and does not work with a top rated analyst... hot sector though. Base is $150k, year end bonus $250k, plus "monthly incentives" of an occasional, unpredictable and non-performance related $5-10k.

The rest of your post is spot-on.

 

I just switched from IB to ER recently, both at BBs, and in IB I saw $350-500k as a normal range for VPs (new Assoc->VP promotes got ~$300-350k as a newly promoted VP for their LTM comp). After moving to ER, I've been probing around, but am hearing total comp in the range of what Associates got in IB (e.g. in the ~$225-$300k range). So the $400k does sound high to me... Does that WF VP cover some names him/herself? I'll find out next Feb but bonuses definitely sound worse in ER - the VP bonuses I'm hearing are on par with Analyst/Jr. Associate bonuses in IB. Someone please prove me wrong!

 

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