Have an associate offer from a fund with latest fund of $500mm in NYC. I am offered $110K Base & 50% bonus so total comp of $~175K. How much could I realistically ask for more?
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Way too low. Should be at least $250k. Show them data for market comp for associates across funds
You do realize that a comp report is 1) self reported and 2) supposed to be a bell curve. I am not hating on OP but maybe the offer is commensurate with their experience and credentials.
A first year grad at facebook, morgan stanley, centerview makes more than that
It's too low dude, way too low. Just google comps for PE associates, there's plenty of respected resources that'll have articles on where you should be. M&I has a good one and they've paved the way for other blogs who had individuals/references in PE to write them as well. Both the bonus and the base are not on par with the market. "Realistically" it depends on what they're willing to offer and how educated in the markets they are, which sounds like they're not. The best way rather than showing them market reports is rather telling them what you believe, what you're being offered elsewhere (not sure if you have other offers with higher comp elsewhere but something to consider on the phone - nudge nudge) and then this will show them how off they are.
Something to be mindful of, is if this is some wishy washy growth equity fund? Is it more VC and it's some type of LMM started by some guy with no high finance background 5 years ago? Does all the other associates have 2 years IB at decent banks? Because if not than this may not be conventional 80 hr weeks banking 2.0 and may not heed the 350k a year comp that everyone on this forum is thinking you should get.
Maybe for a Tier 3 city, maaayyyyybe, but NYC? They need to bump that up to at least, minimum, $250k.
If they have you 100% bonus target I’d say that would be market, maybe slightly low for that fund size. I know some 2B+ AUM lmm pe firms that pay 230 all in.
If this is PE you’re talking about yes that is quite low - there’s a reason it’s so low and you need to figure out why (sometimes the bosses are just assholes, or justify it by saying it’s a low cost of living city, or more importantly, the fund isn’t doing well)
What fund number is this for them? Also what is your experience? This is low for someone out of BB IB, but if you have less quality experience and they're a small fund giving you a chance, that could explain the comp. It's hard to compare MF comp for someone coming from GS IB to LMM comp for someone potentially not from a top bank.
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