Poor Salaries at Oppenheimer & Co. in NYC

Have a close friend who is a 1st year analyst at Oppenheimer working in coverage and after hearing out their struggles I had to share the conditions. We're in a tough market, but .....

- 1st yr analysts at $90k base (+$10 every yr thereafter - a 3rd year would be at $110???)

- 1st yr associates $150k base (+$10 every yr thereafter - other banks $175, $200, $225 - $50k or 30%+ differential for 3rd yr asso. compared to competitors???)

- The firm does not 401K match (???)

At that point, unless the firm is paying 30-40% higher bonuses every year (they're not) someone who joined the firm for three years (for example) would exit significantly financially worse off than their peers at competitors - not to mention the difficulty affording NYC at $90/100k (good luck finding an apartment under $2,600/mo. which is already half of your paycheck). If not the money, why would someone work even 60 hours a week let alone 70-80+ (sure, the experience but...)?
 

Not worth it IMO - firm is going to struggle with those economics and God only knows what it looks like at the VP level.... Hope this might help some in college deciding where to focus their efforts to not end up like my friend....

Also please refrain from "yOu DoN't hAvE to LiVe iN tHe wEsT viLlaGe" - if you're working in a "leading industry" you shouldn't have to worry so much about where you live.