2025 IB Year-End Bonus Megathread

It's that time of year again! Curious to see how year-end bonuses compare across firms from ASO to MD. Assuming will be slightly better than 2024 but want to see if anyone can confirm.

Suggested format: 
- Title (e.g. Associate 1/2/3) 
- Firm type (BB / EB / MM / Boutique) 
- Group type (Coverage / Product) 
- Base salary 
- Bonus 
- Bonus Bucket 
- How did your group perform this year? (Good / Average / Bad)

675 Comments
 

I am starting at Menlo in July, so digest this with the usual caveats around office-level differences. That said, what I’ve consistently heard is roughly mid-50s for first year analysts, 110 to 150 for second years, and modestly higher for third year.

On the associate side, my understanding is that compensation has been fine, but generally has not kept pace with PJT unless you are on the “company track”. I’m fairly familiar with Qatalyst and Tidal comp (rejected at both), and based on a combination of anecdotal data points, the PJT and CVP bonus threads from the past few years, and a conversation with a very intoxicated CVP associate, the associate numbers at Qatalyst appear meaningfully higher than both PJT and CVP.

I suspect some of this is driven by office economics. Menlo is not exactly a major driver, and it is unclear to me how accretive the expansion in Paris and London really is. SF runs a fully siloed P&L, which likely means New York is subsidizing the rest of the platform. Either way, it’s a bit underwhelming given CVP’s reputation as a top paying firm, especially when PJT, despite being public, seems to outperform it as well

 

All the headline are saying bonuses will be up but that’s just large cap. I think at MM it’s still tough out there. Expecting flat to down

 

Laughing at ppl like you who are getting fed like roaches but are so unaware of "market" that you celebrate along with your fellow roaches blissfully unaware. 

Even for post covid numbers $500K for a VP1 is not good little guy. I mean there is a VP below you in this thread at another Canadian bank that just made over $100K more than you. 

If you like getting screwed than you do you. But don't spread misinformation for others in this thread that what you got is anywhere close to a good number.

 

pavementroad:

Laughing at ppl like you who are getting fed like roaches but are so unaware of "market" that you celebrate along with your fellow roaches blissfully unaware. 



Even for post covid numbers $500K for a VP1 is not good little guy. I mean there is a VP below you in this thread at another Canadian bank that just made over $100K more than you. 



If you like getting screwed than you do you. But don't spread misinformation for others in this thread that what you got is anywhere close to a good number.

I get your sentiment but pointing to 1 anecdote further down in the comments isn’t exactly validating your point. IB Compensation is no secret and has been well surveyed and documented year after year. $500k for a VP1 post-2021 is objectively not bad. It’s no secret either that M&A has been soft for several years now. So I agree with the other guy, not sure what you’re even upset about.

 
Most Helpful

Im the VP who posted.

1) Never commented on whether the number is good or bad, just posted the number, other people opined. So you're talking out of your fucking ass.

2) I work like 50-55 hours a week and have a great boss and coworkers. I enjoy my work and the culture is awesome. So if I'm missing out on an additional 15% I couldn't give less of a fuck.

3) You're an unhinged lunatic to post this on a message board where people are sharing their comp. I was trying to share a data point with this community and now other people may choose to not do so if they have to deal with your small dick bullshit.

4) I was laughing out loud as I read your posts. I can't imagine what kind of a loser you are to write these comments. You chose, unprovoked, to start insulting people on a message board and call them roaches? Why are you so angry?

5) Did you ever find anyone to practice your MBA case studies with 11 years ago? Didn't have any friends so you had to ask strangers on a message board?

 

Yeah dude every industry’s comp growth has been garbage since covid. We know. Not much we can do about it, but complaining that this comp is nothing is just stupid. 500k puts you pretty close to the top 1% of incomes in the US.

Everyone on this forum knows that it’s not the 70s or the mid 2000s anymore. If you can build us a Time Machine or start a bank that magically isn’t subject to Basel or any other financial regulation of the last 50 years and can start paying us a couple million, be my guest.

 

VP 1 Top 3 Canadian banks NYC
Coverage

$275 base + $345 bonus

Good group performance, top bucket

 

Always fun to see the year-end numbers pop up! Curious to compare across firms too — seems like 2025 might be a slight bump from 2024. Personally, it’s interesting to see how performance and group type really shift the bonus range, even for the same title. Looking forward to seeing everyone’s posts so we can get a real sense of the market this year.

 

ASO2
Canadian Bank (NYC)
Product Group
Top Bucket
Base: $200
Bonus: $150
All-In: $350
ASO3 Base goes to $225

 

MidMarketMenace

Stub associate

MMoverag

Base: $175k

Stub Bonus: $35k

Performance: “top” but it’s stub so almost everyone is “top”

Do you know if it’s market to give such low stub bonuses? Like that’s ~70k annualized

My thought was we’d get just half of normal associate bonus (or near there) but guess didn’t research enough

 

this looks p bad if you're top bucket and considering the year jeff had

 

Anonymous Monkey:

ASO2



WF (mid-bucket)



$200K Base + $225K Bonus



TC: $425K 



Promoted to ASO3 w/ new base of $225K.



Pretty satisfied considering hours worked.

Shocking. This is $50k over my ASO2 bonus at a EB last year, which I thought was closer to top of the street

 

I thought so too but some of my associates were given a tight range by the people who will be delivering the actual number 

 

Anonymous Monkey:

AS3>VP1. $650k TC, EB. Upper-mid but not top bucket


400k bonus? If that’s not top, what was? This and the 525k VP2 bonus seem a little too good to be true…

 

Not sure, was pretty surprised at bonus considering HC was kinda chopped this year and we’ve been fighting tooth and nail for anything and everything. Last year’s As1 was much lower from what I’ve heard. Hopefully 150-200 would be fantastic 

 

Believe it’s CVP – this guy is prob one of the go-to’s for a particular Partner within X group who takes care of their people come bonus time. Anecdotally heard from an older buddy that the firm takes care of its ppl with accordance to who their Partner sponsor is, so naturally the folks in Healthcare / Biotech who are go-to’s for the fee generating Partners will be top and receive a higher bonus. Just a hunch tho.

 

How many non-public strong boutiques pay all-cash, no deferred and have no clawbacks on bonuses? It seems like you get one or the other. The Jefferies clawback is outrageous if you leave.

 

Burner account but…

-VP4
-EB
-Both coverage and M&A group
-Base: $275k
-Bonus: $700k
-All-in: $975k
-Rating: unsure
-Bank crushed it, group was only fine

Not promoted despite being up for it. Likely due to a crowded group at top and not because of performance.

 

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