Do I turn this down based on salary?

Hi guys,

Long story short I managed to secure a graduate spot at a physical trading firm (not ABCD). The salary comes out to ~50k (25k ish pounds) after tax in an extremely high CoL area (New York, Sydney, London, Singapore, etc.). Frankly I have no idea how to make this work, or even if it will work.

I was really excited about the opportunity, it's a smaller shop in an interesting commodity so I feel the learning & progression will be great; and I think I'll have the opportunity to build my own portfolio earlier than if I went to one of the larger firms.

I understand that these firms pay low base and the trade off is a much higher bonus as you become a more seasoned trader and make more money, but 50 grand after tax is literal pittance in a city like this. From what I know the big 4 usually pay ~70-80k out of the gate (obv depending on audit vs advisory roles), I'm just unsure if I should take this or try and find a job elsewhere that would pay more.

5 Comments
 
Most Helpful

I wouldn't turn it down outright but it doesn't hurt to ask for a bit more money. More importantly you have free optionality if you take. You have plenty of time from now to graduation to find a role at a shop that at least pays it's juniors a reasonable amount of money. I would say generally that a shop that can only barely pay a livable wage like 50k in Singapore likely doesn't have the resources or interest in developing their juniors. 

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