Saw this thread on the PE forum and thought I’d create here, I’ll start
Years since college: 7 Years on buyside: 5 Net Worth: $1.3m Highest comp year: $950k Fund type: L/S pod
Had significant student loans/parents to take care of otherwise would’ve been higher NW by now
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but but.....average analyst makes 8 figures at a pod!!!!!
Definitely not the case! But think it has happened
I’ll go ahead and finish this thread before anyone else posts in this pointless dick measuring contest
years of exp: 5
buyside exp: 5
nw: $1.3 billion
highest bonus: 1.3b inheritance check
fund type: family office
Well that’s chump change compared to the $2B that Mike Prince paid me to go fuck off to Switzerland.
Years since college: 9
Years on buyside: 7
Net Worth: $2M
Highest comp year: $1.1M
Fund type: L/S SM
11yrs total
5yrs buyside
$1.5mm NW (not incl tax on retirement accts)
>$1mm highest
Guessing right in the middle/below avg of buyside peers
>
Bro this was the best, why'd you edit it out?
what did he say?
Welp... restoring my post since some people liked it (thought I was gonna get shit honestly)
Years since college: 8ish
Years on buyside: 6ish
Net worth: $30k
Highest comp year: $75k
Fund type: Research at RIA
HA - can always be worse!
(completely serious btw)
What’s RIA
Hey man everyone starts somewhere. I know a lot of folks I graduated with who would kill to be in your position lol
Worked at top SM: think TGM, Pershing, Lone pine, etc
net worth: 110m
yrs on buy side: 12
You know it’s a joke because he said TGM was a top SM
Tell that to all the billionaires that place created over the years
11yrs total (2 IB)
9yrs pods
$7m NW (incl everything)
$4m highest
My NW has significantly inflected in the last 4-5 years (from 1ish to just about 7), so please take into account 1. I've been doing this for 9 years, 2. I worked for great PM early in my career and then took a chance working for a newer PM, who has crushed it. Onviously very fortunate and I've worked for great people. Didn't make the smartest PA decisions. IB comp was 150-175k, first 4yrs HF comp $300k - $1m, next 5 yrs $1.25m - $4m (but one of those yrs was $300k). YTD performance has been best yet, so expecting new peak (absent abysmal 2H). I know some of you will do the math and ask why I'm still an analyst if I can make $XX of PnL, happy to answer if interested (I will spin eventually).
How has wlb been across the 9 years at pods?
Pretty reasonable. Maybe 60 hours a week / higher during EPS. Stressful during drawdowns (recent $300k year was not fun), but good WLB. I'm married and we have a newborn, so I try to do ~6/7am - 6pm, read in bed, work half of sunday. Gym 4x a week. Travel somewhere 1x a month. Try to get decent amount of sleep. Wife doesn't work and we live in midtown so sometimes I'll go on walks with her during day. My WLB is good - not complaining.
What sector do you cover and was that your original coverage sector or did you switch? If so, why?
If you are making $2mm+ as an analyst with a carve, that must mean you are making $50mm+ of P&L on GMV. Why haven't you accepted a PM offer yet?
My take rate is higher than 4% (which would be implied by 2m bonus on 50 pnl) -- I get HSD. Started msd and have accrued more since then.
On the PM point, I will eventually spinout. The reasons I haven't: I have a pretty good deal in current seat, and would like to stay at current platform, so will have that conversation soon. I will say: if I want the gross, I can get it. My take rate is already pretty high, and if I spunout, I'd have to pay people under me, and I think my net take rate would only be incrementally higher (maybe 10-12% after everything), though yes it would be on a bigger capital base. I like my current seat a lot, have a good deal with PM, and want to spin when time is right. Also only have 1 junior at the moment, and would like to train maybe 1 more junior person.
What I've also thought of is switching platforms so I can have long non-compete - think this would be ideal when my kid is a little older in a 2-3 years. Think if I were to switch platforms in 2-3 years and be a PM there, could probably fetch a greater guarantee package by then
Well done sir, hoping to achieve this. In a year that you make $4m, how much does the PM make?
Congrats man!
What were PA mistakes you made?
Years since college: 9
Years on buyside: 8
Net Worth: $15m
Highest comp year: $9m
Fund type: L/S SM
Non-nyc so money goes a lot further. No house, no wife, no kids, no college debt. Most of my money is in the fund which has compounded very well.
Did you join at launch?
Something like that, can’t specify further.
don't believe this as you changed the numbers thinking no one would notice
Changed a single number by 1 to be more accurate but yes.
May I ask roughly what's the size of the SM HF? and do you get a point on alpha generated?
>
YOE: 4
Buyside: 1
NW: $500k
Best year: $300k
Fund must be on the lower paying end - unfortunately don't see a clear line of sight to the numbers posted above
Total career YOE: 5 years
Buyside experience: 2.5 years
Net worth: $525K
Highest comp year: $400K
Fund type: L/S single manager
Fund had more fixed, less variable comp when I joined leading to more consistent comp but less outlier upside years
How big is your SM? 5bn, 5-10, >10?
i
Years since college: 7
Years on buyside: 4
Net worth: $1.2m
Strategy: L/S equity SM
Highest comp year: $1.0mm (actually 1.002m). Having a good year as is the fund so expecting about $3m comp this year based on my payout with my PM/CIO.
Touching myself thinking about this ngl
3x from your highest comp ever is a huge jump. Were you the NVDA guy at your shop or what bro.
Actually yes, plus a couple random shorts that blew up and drove a lot of alpha.
Years since college: 16 (PhD post college)
Years on buyside: 10
Net Worth: $8-9m (household, would be close to 3m less without wife)
Highest comp year: $3m
Fund type: SM (quant-ish)
Damn what does wife do?
Tech corporate manager - comp topped out at 300-400k - plus some favorable equity returns in the 2010s.
Years since college: 13
Years since grad school: 7
Years on buy side: 4
Net worth: $2M (was around $100k pre-buy side)
Best year: $1.3M
Fund type: L/S SM
Damn, congrats. What did you do before joining the buyside?
Yrs since college: 20
Yrs since grad school: 14
NW: 7.5MM
Best year 2.3 pretax
3rd year analyst, also at SM. I know my bonus for this year. I am single and have no house, but I can’t imagine saving this little 14 years into SM. Can you talk a bit about lifestyle creep? I think i’m ignorant of that a bit as I didn’t grow up wealthy.
Years since college: 16
Years on buyside: 9 (ib / pe before)
Net Worth: $21m
Highest comp year: $4M
Fund type: L/S SM
This is likely going to be best year so far so should get to $25-$30m NW range by YE.
Congrats. Are you a PM at single manager? How did you get PNL linkage/discretion?
Yes PM at a SM. And yes my pay is formulaic.
How many years did you work in PE & IB each before moving to HF? Do SM HFs still recruit you if you stay in PE longer than 2-3 years?
Congrats. How did you convince the head PM to give you a sleeve? Or are there other non founder PMs like Viking?
Years since college: 9
Years since grad school: 2
Years on buy side: 5 (2 IB, 3 PE, MBA, 2 HF)
Net worth: $350k (slightly lower than one would think bc I paid for both UG and grad on my own (but with significant scholarships / fin aid))
Best year: $400k in my first year at my current fund but expect to make $750k+ this year as the fund had a killer year and I was the top performing analyst.
Fund type: Concentrated long only
After 17 years of grinding through being the scholarship kid at my private high school to bussing tables at night during undergrad to working for sociopaths for half a decade in IB & PE, I expect to finally get a bonus check this year that should solidify my economic position...
This is a much better representation for where the average is. A lot of the posters above are in the top % of outcomes and/or must have a lot of family help (college, rent, etc.) to get to some of their outcomes.
Years since college: 8
Years on buyside: 6
Net Worth: $2M
Highest comp year: $1M
Fund type: L/S pod
Exited industry a decade ago, at that time:
YOE: 12
NW: $35m
Peak comp: $15m
Crazy lucky one year and found it hard to stay motivated. Some people are God tier and can snowball that into Citadel or Tiger Global before age 30. I knew it was luck and peak comp wouldn’t repeat.
Since then, got lucky again. Put 15% of NW into a startup that became a real company. Just about added a zero to NW.
Lesson learned? Be lucky. Also accumulate some capital and if spin out isn’t an option, when the job doesn’t compound anymore, invest for yourself.
Real alpha has so little capacity, much easier to double $1m PA than spending every iota of time and energy to grind out $20m market neutral P&L for a 5% payout.
Wow. Congrats. How'd you get so rich excl the $15m peak year (how'd you get to 35 - 15 = 20m in the first 11 years?)
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