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Based on the most helpful WSO content, compensation at LifeCo-type shops (like PGIM, Principal, or Nuveen) tends to be consistent year to year. For associates and senior associates, bonuses can indeed reach up to 40%, but the typical range for bonuses is generally lower.
For associates, total compensation (including bonus) starts around $90,000 and progresses to $110,000–$120,000 during the analyst years. Senior associates can expect total compensation in the range of $160,000–$215,000, with starting senior associates around $160,000–$170,000. The bonus component is included in these figures and aligns with the consistent pay structure LifeCo shops are known for.
Sources: LifeCo Positions on the Equity Side, Life in Acquisitions (Analyst/Associate), Life in Acquisitions (Analyst/Associate), LifeCo Associate Pay
No one at lifecos on here?
Don't think you'll get any comp numbers from the guys at Principal since no one ever leaves. I do know they comp similarly to Met / PGIM at the analyst and Sr. Analyst level.
Why don’t people ever leave there?
Combo of Principal stemming from a Life Company, and the fact that most, if not all the talent is local. It's very hard to entice people to come to their HQ, and essentially all their talent stems from their 8 month internship program.
Basically, you grow up in Iowa, work your first job at Principal, get comped similarly to Met/PGIM, and your cost of living is rock bottom. The other question is, why would you leave if you got that setup?
people definitely leave lifecos. top/strong producers, especially the younger ones will leave for other shops if they are looking to make more money.
people who are more comfortable and not looking to do too much and happy to just clip along and maybe move into management at some point (or not), will tend to stay and just do their few deals a year, take their vacations, and chug along.
Know some guys/girls at Principal… comp isn’t bad for being in the middle of nowhere. Below are generally what I hear:
Analyst: ~85-90k 15-20% bonus
Sr Analyst/Associate: 95-110k 20-30% bonus
MDs are somewhere in the range of high 100’s to mid 250s with close around 100% bonus.
And yes you guys are right…. Nobody leaves
It’s more important to look at total comp imo. It can vary depending on how base + bonus is structured. There are some where base for a 1st year associate could be $130-140k (pretty sure Metlife falls in here). In that case, I’d probably expect 25-35%. There are others where base is like $115-125k and bonus will be higher at 40-50%. I’m at a Lifeco and will say our comp is very similar to your typical investment manager (Lasalle, Invesco, etc) based on talking to friends who work there.
Super helpful. I am seeing the $140k upper end of the range for associate roles and then for PGIM specifically, I saw a sr associate range go up to $170k.
However, there is a manager role at Principal and the top end of the range is only $170k.
Safe to say PGIM just pays more? Are they known for longer hours?
Last question for you specific to lifecos, are promotions typical up to manager? What happens after that? There can’t be that many originators
The manager role is for capital markets to support their ODCE funds iirc (could be wrong, only glanced at the role), so the roles at Principal vs PGIM may not be apples to apples, hence the comp difference.
Also, if the role is in des moines, cost of living also plays a factor too. 170k in Des Moines goes a hell of a lot farther than 170k in San francisco
Hey Badger - any info on PPM America? They seem much smaller in terms of AUM but wondering if pay is similar to the big firms
bump
I’d say 40-60% depending on where the base salary is
Anyone know if pacific life pays market?
Market for what? It's a lifeco job. You'll be well-compensated, but you won't be making REPE money. At the same time, you'll work half as many hours.
That's the lifeco trade-off.
Are you defining REPE as Ares, Carlyle, Blackstone, etc? Because that’s a pretty small list. Maybe 25-50 firms if I’m being generous. I’m at a Lifeco now, and most firms out there either pay the same (or worse) with more hours. Just based on the job postings I’ve seen.
Question for people who work at a Lifeco. What are your hours? I’m probably in the ~50-60 hours bucket, which is a bit more than expected. Also is it just me, or is Lifeco debt comp basically the same as acquisitions?
At the beginning of my tenure at life companies, I was in the 50 hour range, but by the time I left and I was more senior (about 10 years total), I was down to about 30 hours.
I know two MDs at life cos right now that only work ~30 hours a week and mostly remote which is why they won’t leave. They make half what I do, but that is their choice which has been confirmed several times as they have looked but didn’t like the trade offs.
Since a lot of the life companies started their own AM firms that charge the GA a market AM fee, the pay for debt and equity has closed. The debt portfolios are almost always larger which means even if you only get 35bps fee, it is way more dollars than equity at 75bps.
Interesting. Were you at a smaller Lifeco? Thinking ones like OneAmerica or maybe even Geico or State Farm. My sense is that our MDs easily work over 50-60 hours a week based on getting emails from them at 10 pm and on weekends. MDs for us are regional heads (not originators). But they are probably comped in the $600k+ range if I had to guess.
Nope, I worked at two of the largest five in the country. Technically I worked at a 3rd, but it was in a high yield subsidiary, not the main GA portfolio.
Just because you send an email on the weekend does not mean that you worked a ton of hours during the week.
the MDs I know are all in 500-600k. My base is 500k.
Absolutely crushing it. Thanks for the color. Even as someone more junior, it’s hard for me to understand why anyone would leave if you could be an MD making that with those hours (and probably a lot more if you’re in executive leadership). But getting there is slow and challenging from what I’ve seen. Not many seats.
There is a guy that I started with at my first life company 15 years ago, both in debt. I switched over to high yield/opportunistic debt about 7 years ago (my entire career has been debt) and he switched to equity about 12 years ago, but stayed at the same life company. We both made MD at the end of last year. He is the head of office/retail for the NE, I’m the head of asset management at a high yield debt fund
His base is 300 with a bonus of 60-100% and then he gets LTIP type awards on top that are about 25%. Mine is 500k base with a 100% bonus target + another 100% vested carry.
Was I at the office last night until 11pm, yes. Was he probably home by 6, eating dinner with his kids and tucking them in bed, most definitely. Just a question of trade offs.
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