Elite Boutique Consensus Associate Compensation
There's a million compensation posts and bonus threads etc., but in order to better aggregate or understand at a high level, what would you say is elite boutique Associate 1, 2 and 3 compensation progression? I split the boutiques in terms of pay like the following, but am curious what you consider total comp for each tier at each associate level to be:
Tier 1 pay: Qatalyst, Centerview, Liontree, Dyal
Tier 2 pay: PWP, Evercore, PJT, Allen & Co, FTP, Ardea
Tier 3 pay: all others
Boutique ≠ Elite Boutique
Anything semi-related to the post you'd care to add or just this incredibly helpful comment?
There are not enough datapoints for some of these firms (Allen, LT etc) to form a view. Plus deals, thus revenue and comp vary significantly at these shops year to year.
For the rest, something like the below based on 2021 numbers. Could very well be 50-100k lower across all levels depending on environment
CVP: 500 / 600 / 700
EVR/ PJT: 475 / 550 / 625
MCO/ Gugg/ PWP: 425 / 500 / 575
Laz: 375 / 425 / 500
Had anecdotal evidence among myself and friends at other firms that the comp difference between EVR/PJT and MCO/Gugg/PWP were much more narrow
Im at one of these firms, and have enough first connections at all of these firms except for Gugg:
1. CVP numbers are inflated. They are generous and have great retention policies and benefits but not generous like this.
2. EVR and rest (except for LAZ): the gap is actually very close at mid-bucket: not the 50k gap that's stated here, and non-existent at top bucket. For reference, firms like PWP/GUGG/PJT are smaller than EVR and they almost always follow what EVR does in terms of total comp (EVR announces the bonus and these firms follow later in the next few days to match). Most of these firms will come within ~20k of each other. However, EVR's bottom bucket is a lot more generous than PJT/PWP/MCO. The firm chooses to let people go rather than fight them on bonus. Every year I've matched my comp with my peers, and the difference at top/mid bucket is really non-existent.
3. MCO is slightly lower than PJT/EVR/PWP/PJT at mid bucket level. MCO's top bucket (30% of their class) matches up with top bucket (and heard in some offices can even exceed that range) at these firms but their mid-bucket always comes 20k or so below what the general EBs pay.
4. LAZ has had an odd relationship with paying their associates well - they always come below the street consistently. If there is a bank that's accurately reflected here, I'd say its LAZ because they are consistently around ~50k less at all associate levels.
5. Big factor but stock/cash mix also matters. PWP was all cash for a while until last year; GUG i understand pays all-cash bonus, CVP is all cash. EVR's vesting policy leaves a lot to be desired.
Comp thread, 50 posts, 1 has numbers that probably aren’t right. Never change WSO.