Why so many Brits are throwing away their IB careers
Genuinely cannot understand why brits would stay in London for IB instead of move to the United States.
Not only do you get killed on the taxes, but the base salary is also pathetic, as nothing matches the economic engine that is America.
These are high achieving people who could easily get a position at a bulge bracket in NYC, and instead they go for a country that taxed peoples windows for 200 years. Its baffling. Would love to hear the logic about what could possibly be better
TC 265k
(A2 at WF, 125 base, 140 bonus)
One of my European friends said it’s culturally looked down upon to make lots of money/be successful/do cool deals that actually impact the world.
Also isn’t it illegal to work more than 48 hours/week in UK? There’s a reason NYC is financial capital of the world.
Also if any Brits are in this thread, I’m planning my next vacation. Which open air theme park (European city) should I check out next?
Almost forgot
BB (GS/MS/BofA)
A2
Base 110, Bonus 60
Tax rate: high but less than a Brit
Congrats on Bofa!
You typically sign away your 48h right
Did you really make these up?
That max-hour cap does not apply in banking; we sign that right away when signing our contract. Literally.
Idk man to each their own. As some people have mentioned the culture is just different over there and people have different mindsets around careers and life overall.
As an American, I've recently been contemplating the opposite, maybe taking a pay cut for a few years to work in London & live in Europe.
Think about it, you could pay 75 euro's and fly to Mallorca or Sorrento for the weekend. Kind of beats watching a homeless person sh*t on the street while you walk to a bar where beers are $12 and cocktails are $25.... just sayin
The only reason its so cheap to live over there is because we basically built the place. 12 of the 17 largest airports in europe were built by the USA when we were bailing them out of losing world war 2.
hope this story makes you feel better while watching the homeless shit
Are you a moron?
why make claims that can be easily debunked with a quick chatgpt ask:
Short answer: no — that claim is misleading.
Longer, accurate version 👇
Where the claim comes from
After WWII and during the Cold War, the U.S. (often via NATO):
That’s the kernel of truth people stretch into the “12 of 17 largest airports” line.
What’s actually true
Examples often cited (with nuance)
Why the myth persists
Bottom line
Ever wondered why New York is named like that? So much to the "built by americans"
I moved to London for a couple of years and I love it. Yes, it’s a bit of a haircut on comp but the quality of life is incredible vs NY. My team takes 4+ weeks of vacation, no weekend work, and for once I don’t think about quitting everyday. Like you said, it’s so easy to go to Paris or Spain for the weekend for $100.
Yes, the UK has its own problems, but it’s a great place to live for a couple of years and I would trade $50-75k any day to be happy, not work weekends, work 10+ fewer hours / week, and be able to take all my allotted vacation days.
Facts man - thanks for sharing. Out of Curiosity, did you end up coming back to the states?
and most importantly, easyjet/ryanair/wizzair, though low cost, are 100x better than Spirit
The four seasons in Mallorca is still $2.5k a night so the need for money is still there…
I'd recommend not paying for an expensive hotel if you're going there. You're much better off getting something cheap and spending all day either on the beach or (better) renting a car and driving around the island through the hills and checking out all the little towns along the way.
yeah, but do you need 4 seasons if you only gonna sleep there? you can stay at an airbnb for like $50/day.
It's crazy someone still ranting on this platform about this. Using a little bit of critical thinking and doing just 1min of Google search, first off, they don't have the work permit to work in the US, as simple as that and most banks are not willing to sponsor h1b visa if they didn't attend a US school. They only allow internal transfer which they can only leverage after a few years working at the bank but most of them have already exited IB already at that time.
Secondly, cultural differences. Pretty simple lol and money is not everything if you'd end up being miserable. Career mindset is also different. London offices are a lot more international since everyone in the world outside of the US all tryna get into London (from Asian, European, Canadian, etc) so it's a lot more vibrant compared to the homogeneity of corporate America, with American being the dominant. In that sense it's much easier to empathise and, as an international myself, it's a lot more fun than in corporate America.
Third, London is still the second best place to do Finance, with first being NYC. We don't have to argue about this cuz this is well-known fact. The IB base salary in London is set based on the old FX rate of 1.7 that is years ago. However, opportunities are still extremely abundant, and only worse than NYC. Most importantly, buyside salaries in the most cases are on par with NYC (a lot of MF/UMM PE even pay in USD for eg). So with lower cost of living, tell me who's really underpaid here. Taxes in NYC are way worse for high earners. Also, don't get me started at property taxes if you wanna buy a house.
Last but not least, not everyone wanna leave their home country, obviously. People also have their families too and it's not easy to move abroad to a different country that is at least 7hrs flight away from them.
Yet another "I'm 15 and this is deep"-tier post from someone who just simply doesn't get it
no wonder why the "Ameritard" stereotype exists
Oi careful bloke, you'll be arrested for hate speech
You should have felt grateful that without this current visa policy, those 26-year-old European Master students with 2-year of internship experiences from MFPE, BB, EB in their countries under their belt would be flocking in to steal all your SA spots
Well let's just say it's lucky your TC doesn't correlate with your critical thinking abilities
I am a VP in IB in NY and was offered a position in London for around 400k pounds all in. That’s $540k and then London is about 15-20% cheaper so it’s largely in line or above NY when you factor that in depending on the bank.
Yes after cost of living and taxes adjusted it's certainly indeed above NYC. And you can save even more money since lifestyle in London is wayyyy different from NYC too - people are a lot more frugal and don't overconsume stuff like in America
don't consume as much = they are europoors and can't afford anything other than beans and cottage cheese
Also (speaking from friends and where I'm due to intern this summer) the hours are a little less than in the US so it is possible to enjoy life a little outside of a live deal.
Let’s just call it culture. Also, if I take a week off and come to New York, I’ll probably experience more of the city than you do all year.
they might be watching industry and don't realize it's a cautionary tale
why do you think they could move easily? if you're not a US citizen or permanent resident, you don't have an authorization to work, regardless of how smart you are or what school you went to. it was always challenging to convince companies to sponsor your work visa, but in current climate it's close to impossible.
there are lots of very smart and hardworking people all over the world. the only reason why we all have these cushy $200k+ jobs is because of labor laws. otherwise we would all be replaced by Indians/Chinese in a heartbeat.
I am an American in MM PE in London, so think I can contribute here. Yes, there is an undeniable pay discount but London is also a LOT cheaper compared to NYC (have been saving more than my NYC buddies) and I get to take 25 hol days + Christmas off seperately + weekends not bothered + 9-9 hours.
Could I be making more in the US and have access to a broader market, of course! But I am in 20s saving six figures p.a., solid group of friends, taking great trips every two months across the world, and getting solid deal reps.
Trading that for better comp and potentially worse WLB / CoL makes no sense when I come back later in life when the delta in pay becomes more substantial (and arguably if you make it to partner, its about the quality of deals you are sourcing + carry economics). Also know plenty of buddies as US MFs, IB boutiques (PJT/Moelis/etc), or Big Law who are basically pegged to the NYC salary ladder anyway.
Yes this. I am also in PE and my pay is exactly the same as NYC, FX adjusted. My QoL in London is sooooo much better, ended up saving more and cannot beat casual weekend trips in Europe or ski trips in the Alps whenever I want
I would leave London for the US in a heartbeat, but at my bank you have to be top bucket for duration of analyst program to go to NYC. Hard enough in itself, but that’s also assuming you want to stay in banking and be tied down to one firm on a transfer visa; if not, you’re kinda out of luck. Correct me if I’m wrong, but from my understanding PE/HF/others internal mobility is a lot more difficult. MBA option is not straightforward anymore, it’s tough to get sponsorship (though maybe this will change with the next administration). So what does that really leave? Green card lottery (doesn’t look like that’s going to be a thing for the next 3 years) or marry an American (I’m a bit young for that, but still an arduous immigration process). Or take a big risk through doing an MBA, but I have heard stories of plenty of talented British HSW grads who had to slum it back in London because they couldn’t get sponsored no matter how hard they tried.
Bump
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