Where is the money? Curious to the highest paying areas in Finance

I am just curious on what's out there to see what you guys think when it comes to salary and earnings in the finance field. I am not planning my career based on these responses, I have already picked a specilization I am interested in so FYI this has no bearings on my decisions.

So far here is what I think:

Point 1: Salary vs. Commisions, salary only goes up so much, but bonus and commision is where you make the real money.

Analysts of any kind working in PE,HF,IB or any other organization can make from 50k to 300k depending on certs, experience etc.

Portfolio Managers working at a fund can make 500k to 1.5 mill

What kind of positions can a person make 4-5 mill a year?

I was looking into brokerage houses that deal with commercial real-estate, and the deals are huge. If you're working at a PE shop and you start going with the MD's and start closing deals I can see you making a nice cut.

So my question is what kind of positions and area's of finance do people get into where making in the millions is a realistic possibility. Not saying that its easy to get to.

31 Comments
 

Say you work in IBD for a few years, what stops you from branching out and doing it yourself and starting your own little firm rather than working for somebody else, you work for yourself. If you can source funding from HF, or even raise capital in hard money markets. What will matter is your connections to buisness and being able to bring in deals. If you have the relationship aspect of it, I can see you competing for smaller deals, floating smaller IPO's and doing bond underwriting for smaller firms, stuff the big boys wont touch.

Better than working 100 hours for some MD.

 

i doubt whether it's a better lifestyle...be at your desk at 6-7am, under continuous stress, one small mistake and you're wiped out, can't get your eyes off the screen...

 
GreekGodi doubt whether it's a better lifestyle...be at your desk at 6-7am, under continuous stress, one small mistake and you're wiped out, can't get your eyes off the screen...

dude, that's fucking stupid.

 

Not at the entry level, but higher up, sure there are.

Little RE development firms often consist of only a handful of people, all of which often make outlandish amounts of money. There tends to be a fair amount of personal risk involved however, as your payout comes from personal investment in the projects rather than in a fat salary or bonus.

Hell, I know a guy who owns a used car dealership and he clears like $60k each month in profits, he's only like 27. Again though, this involves a great deal of personal risk, but that isn't necessarily a turn-off to everyone.

 

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