IB compensation Pulse check
Hi, I’m at a very small boutique structuring niche transactions that pretty much no other bank does (being intentionally vague here).
I am technically an associate in my second year, but titles really don’t mean much here (I’m the bottom of the totem pole). i came from an equity research background (1 year of experience) with no prior experience in banking.
My first year I made 225k total, and by end of my second year I expect to hit around 300k total comp.
How does this compare to the street? It’s kinda hard to do an apples to apples comparison given titles don’t mean much here, so the question is two years in how do these numbers compare to the street?
Thanks,
Based on the most helpful WSO content, here's a detailed comparison of your compensation with typical figures in the investment banking industry:
Compensation Comparison:
First Year Compensation:
Second Year Compensation:
Key Points:
Conclusion:
If you have any more specific questions or need further details, feel free to ask!
Sources: 2018 Investment Banking Report: 8 Trends in the Industry, Reflecting on my Investment Banking Experience: Lessons Learned, What has been your total compensation progression in your career?, What is your long term career plan? / What do you do after the 2-2-2?, Canadian Boutiques: Compensation
There’s about 345 threads on here about that, try to research lmao
let's be honest: WSO search is horrible.
I just searched "IB compensation" and the results are completely unrelated.
In the future search on Google followed by “WSO” in your query. Much better
Sounds pretty shit, I would quit if I were you, and maybe send me the name of the company
Not great to be honest, I’m an An2 and expect to make 1.3m this year :/
Seems underwhelming? Are you in LCOL?
How the fuck is every random person a """banker"""" in America earning absurd amounts of money? How do they even afford to pay you?
In Europe if you're not at one of the big banks you don't get paid a lot. In fact there are not any opportunities in general outside the big banks???
Rip Euro 😕
Super lean shop so it’s highly lucrative l. No excess staff or infrastructure. Partners make millions, not hard to pay the small junior team well. Small setting also promotes taking care of people.
Furthermore, I think I do well, but life is crazy expensive, these numbers are not that absurd. I lived in Europe for 4+ years, yet I still don’t understand how people live on the salaries there. Costs of living in cities like Paris are cheaper than nyc but not enough to take the meager salaries on offer there.
To directly answer your question: street pay with respect to base salary for associates is 175k/200k/225k for first through third years associates. Your first year associate bonus would have been about 30% of base and your second year associate bonus is coming out to be 50% of base. I could say this may be in line with a lower / middle BB in a decent coverage group throughout 2023/2024.
Are your hours ok? No one is in IB for the analyst / associate pay, so is your workload manageable and is there clear progression to VP in the next year and a half are things I’d be considering. Can always lateral upstream as a VP when the market clears over and you clinch the VP promote. I don’t think you’re particularly too far off street in this environment and if you’re say lower than the 70-75 hour mark at this point, I’d definitely stick around since it seems like you’re in a niche with good deal flow.
Thanks this was helpful. My hours are very relaxed, ranging anywhere from 40-80, but it is heavily skewed towards the lower end of that range (I would say 85% of time it is 40 hours or even a little less). Vacation time is essentially non existant, technically we have unlimited but it’s heavily discouraged, but I still think I have some of the best hours on the street.
It seems like I am either at market or above for my experience. I also work remote now which is a huge perk, so given the comments here seems worth it to stick around.
Thanks again.
Yes, if you’re averaging basically 45 hours a week as an associate, then it’s an excellent deal. I feel like the remote angle is great since it’s seems like you’re fully ramped up too.
The unlimited PTO but can’t use it culture definitely happens from time to time and seems to be the only downside that you can try and mitigate - maybe start off with trying to take off a Friday here and there. For example, Thursday is a national holiday and if you had asked earlier to take Friday off then you’d get a solid chunk of time off.
Another alternative is you can always ask to work from somewhere else in the US and maybe even in certain places internationally and rent out an AirBnB. IB Is definitely not considered “digital nomad” friendly but may actually work out in your case and you won’t even feel like you need PTO to break free from the monotony when you essentially have evenings and weekends off in a desirable location.
I understand you may not be able to share much, but this has definitely piqued my interest. Did you spend a year in ER and lateral into an LMM IB firm in your coverage group then complete your analyst stint there and just get really lucky with Comp to WLB ratio or was this a calculated / heavily diligence type move to break into IB without getting burned out long-term?
You’re an associate-equivalent, working 40 or less hours a week fully remote and making 300k? And you felt like you had to ask whether that was good or not??
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