Updated 2022 S&T Compensation

After conferring with a few associates and directors, have put this updated comp table together. I am sure it varies year to year (excluding goose-eggs here) and bank to bank, but broadly should be accurate. Feel free to add comments. Analyst ​​​​​

  • Base: $110k
  • Bonus: $20-30k
  • All-in: $130-140k

Analyst ​​​​​1

  • Base: $115k
  • Bonus: $40-70k
  • All-in: $145-185k

Analyst ​​​​​2

  • Base: $125k
  • Bonus: $50-90k
  • All-in: $175-215k

Associate 1

  • Base: $150k
  • Bonus: $75-150k
  • All-in: $225-300k

Associate ​2

  • Base: $175k
  • Bonus: $100-200k
  • All-in: $275-375k

Associate 3

  • Base: $200k
  • Bonus: $100-250k
  • All-in: $300-450k

VP 1

  • Base: $225k
  • Bonus: $125-375k
  • All-in: $350-600k

VP 2

  • Base: $250k
  • Bonus: $150-550k
  • All-in: $400-800k

Director 1

  • Base: $300k
  • Bonus: $200-700k
  • All-in: $500-1000k

Director 2

  • Base: $350k
  • Bonus: $250-900k
  • All-in: $600-1250k

MD

  • Base: $400k
  • Bonus: $400-3000k
  • All-in: $800-3400k

Group Head / Partner

  • Base: $400k
  • Bonus: $1000-8000k
  • All-in: $1400-8400k
 

Are the numbers roughly the same for salespeople as well, and if not, to what extent does it differ?

 

This is across both trading and sales. I'd imagine that traders could break out to the upside in an extraordinary year (With the exception of the Partner - I know the division head is paid $8mm) or be fired if their book is down tremendously. I have heard of associate traders clearing $1mm. However, these are rough guides that incorporate the 5th to 95th percentiles. For example, my MD in sales has been an MD for only 3 years and clears $2mm, roughly in the middle of that MD pay band. 

 

I can see this being true for average salespeople vs average traders. The latter contributes more to firm revenues than the former. I did not have enough information to talk about averages at every level so I simply put the ranges. And yes I agree on the latter point. Salespeople with key relationships drive business and get compensated commensurately. 

 
Most Helpful

There is lots of factors at play here, there is not a single product or group that consistently hits the upper band.  

1. What is you bank good at- Some banks have great macro businesses (rates, FX, etc.) and will pay those guys at the wider end of the band but have a weaker credit business and will pay those guys at the lower end of the band and others its the opposite. 
2. Market conditions- If a product gets hot, everybody in that group will get paid regardless of good the bank is at it as the entire street is printing money
3. Expectation management- If your budget is 5MM (random number) and you do 6MM you should get paid up.  If the budget is 10MM and you do 7MM you get paid down or lose your job 
4. Who runs signs the checks-  People take care of their own.  If the guy running the floor started in credit sales then he is going to pay those people but if the guy in charge did rates trading those guys will get paid.  Generally speaking the people running things came from a background of whatever the bank is historically good at.

Generally speaking the goal is to pay you just enough to keep you in the seat, so you are really only as good as what someone else will pay you.     

EDIT: Another thing I would add here, trying to optimize for all of this when picking a desk as an analyst or intern is impossible.  I would focus on picking the desk where you like the people and find the product interesting.  You will perform the best in this situation and for the most part that is all you can control.   

 

Hi. Thanks for sharing those good points! I’m a incoming summer intern at FICC at DB, and I was wondering that what are they good at? (FX, credit, rates, Emerging Market)

 

As someone who is incoming at Goldman this year for S&T I cannot thank you enough!

 

These are fantastic numbers for S&T which seemingly has a solid work life balance. But a word of caution and take it from someone that is a VP level in asset management who has never worked in S&T, but strangely enough I see very little S&T continuity from peers and those from my target school network. I went to one of the largest target schools for 2 S&T BB's, and I too looked at these numbers relative to IB back in the day and was a dream of mine to break into S&T and never did. Almost everyone I know that was an S&T analyst was gone after 3 years or so, and I suspect burn out wasn't a factor, but lack of spots up the totem pole. 

We're not lawyers. We're investment bankers. We didn't go to Harvard. We Went to Wharton!
 

Seeing a lot of people who leave at the end of their analyst or associate years land at fintech firms in capital markets type roles.  A lot of these places have sprung up in the last 10 or so years and there are a lot of former S&T people in senior roles at these places so they value the experience.  They tend not to pay as much cash but I know a couple of people who have been in the right place at the right time and have made a good amount of money on the equity.    

You also see people move to roles at electronic trading providers, seems like a good gig as well.  Does not pay as much but from what I hear the day to day is a lot more enjoyable and less stressful.   

 

The 2 hardest moves are from analyst to associate and from director to MD and for completely different reasons.  In the other titles you will get promoted every couple of years as long as you perform to expectations and people like you.  

1. Analyst to Associate- You need a lot of things to break right here and outside of getting good reviews there are so many things that are out of your control.  For the most part as an analyst you have no real P&L or sales credits to lean on here.  You pretty much have to hope there is enough natural growth in the business for you to take on real responsibility of your own trading book or client coverage list or that somebody leaves and you take their spot.  In some cases the bank will promote you to associate if they like you but there is not a role for you open at the moment and you will still be doing the analyst level work (paying you more for the same gig).  In my experience its easier to get promoted/find a seat in trading as there seems to always be a piece of the market that a bank is not focused on that they will let a junior guy take a shot at with a small risk limit.  You do well with that limit and you will get larger book and will get promoted.  On the sales side its harder as there has been a lot of consolidation on the account side and there are just less accounts to go around.  Also with improved tech you can do more with less people, as those smaller accounts can be moved to electronic platforms and you don't need a body to really cover it.  There also seems to be more hesitancy for management to rock the boat on the sales side as the accounts like continuity. 

2. Director to MD:  Its all politics at this point, as a lot of people who have little understanding of what you do get involved in the process here.  So you have to hope that there is enough new MD spaces available for people who are like you.  As most places will only promote so many FI traders, EQ sales, cap markets bankers, etc. in a given year so what ends up happening is that people will get stuck at director getting paid a bit more each year to keep them happy but never promoted to MD.  This is always the toughest spot as these people are always the first to get laid off as you are not in the "MD club" but still making a lot of money.        

 

In fixed income regional/middle market banks tend to pay their traders/salespeople hard dollar and as such they tend to be places where more senior guys with BB experience and good relationships will go to try to monetize those relationships.  I have heard that some are developing training type programs to try to develop some junior talent internally but I'm not sure how much hiring they are doing that way.  The regional business model is a bit different than the BB model in terms of how the money is made and the type of clients they cover so its hard to compare in terms of comp.  I would say in general the distribution is wider in terms of how much people are making as title does not really mean anything and you are truly comped for production.  The right seat at the right place can be very lucrative but it can also go the other way on you.  I would be curious to hear from some traders and salespeople at regional dealers on this topic.     

 

What's the deal with s&t? Numbers really close to IB, a work that's lots of fun either trading or sales , decent hours. WEEKENDS

Why would anyone go to IB? Exit opp are that much better? Idk...I think that making 700k/year at VP level is good enough for me.

 

IB does have wider range of exit ops, and S&T involves an entirely different type of stress than IB. The stress in IB is more tied to the hours, but in S&T, it's more "eat what you kill." I think it can be a bit easier for someone deciding between the two to swallow more hours versus the stress of maintaining a strong book. Also, there's been a lot of talk about automatization which can scare prospects off.  

 

I've seen groups with 2 VP's, 4 Associates, 8 Analysts. One of the VP's the lucky one who climbed the totem pole while the other one is poached. For the associates half of them they get from MBAs as well. 

We're not lawyers. We're investment bankers. We didn't go to Harvard. We Went to Wharton!
 

Interesting. Out of curiosity, is there any scope to be making 8 figs in S&T at senior levels/breakout years? If so what sorta circumstances would this be now that prop trading is heavily reduced?

 

That guy is definitely definitely definitely not going to make 8 figures. I don't know about US banks, but EU banks publish compensation reports.

https://investor-relations.db.com/corporate-governance/reports/

Pull up the report for 2020 and look at the top of page 46, the table entitled "Remuneration of High Earners"

Another fact about EU banks is that CRD4 limits Bonus to 2x your base salary. In some EU banks it's even lower on account of national regulations (believe ING is capped at 25% of base). So unless you've managed to get a 3.3mm base salary, it is impossible as a matter of regulations for you to make 10 bucks.

US banks are of course different.

 

Numbers check out, and yes S&T is much better than IB in terms of work/life balance if you are good.

I got paid around 850 as final year VP and just got an offer from elsewhere for 1.1m$ as 1st year director.
I work 8am to 6.30-7.30pm, and i now have a junior to take care of the grunt work.

It can be a grind though and become a bit repetitive to come everyday to trade the same products/stuff, and the "lack of purpose/meaning" of just playing a video game with graphs going up and down can weight on your sense of satisfaction depending on personality/aspirations but that's another topic.

 
Funniest

Ah yes, it doesn’t take very long at all for bankers dissatisfied with their quality of life and who can’t look themselves in the mirror to sniff out a happy S&T thread and shit on the profession to try to feel better about themselves. 
 

Give me S&T over banking 10 times out of 10. Life is too short, and IB is too boring. 

 

This really isn't true. I know a number of individuals who have gone from S&T to FI and a number who have gone from S&T to the buy side, including top hedge funds (Citadel, Bridgewater, Elliott, etc.). People from S&T aren't exiting to VC/PE, sure, but you're really not going to have a banker go to a vol desk or derivatives seat on the buy side.

 

Houston S&T 2023 SA… $53/ hr ($110k prorated). Seems like an absolute scheme, NYC pay for 50% COL. And Texas has no state income tax.

 

From my own experience+colleague in other cities, fairly confident to say it’s standardized across major cities (including Houston, Chicago, Atlanta etc) for S&T.

 
[Comment removed by mod team]
 

Adipisci est enim labore assumenda autem. Qui atque debitis error odio similique. Autem sunt ad quod culpa. Amet omnis consequuntur debitis aliquam sunt quod. Suscipit qui mollitia quod aut quaerat consequatur.

Doloremque eum quia aliquam ab. Iste maiores voluptatum impedit dolores repellat sint. Voluptate laboriosam rerum hic sed et autem et dicta. Doloremque perferendis accusamus atque molestias et et nemo quae. Id labore pariatur dignissimos. Itaque incidunt est quas quia velit doloribus. Dolor iure occaecati repudiandae veniam id occaecati.

In quas soluta et aspernatur et tempore. Voluptates quia ut eos excepturi quia autem consequuntur. Optio est et et suscipit. Nihil ad et reprehenderit quia. Asperiores sequi optio sunt ut laudantium ut nisi.

 

Qui consectetur molestiae voluptatem quisquam et. Voluptatem nulla assumenda deleniti dolorem. Iste illum qui placeat nihil. Modi ut nobis aliquam illum voluptas. Possimus atque in natus sint. Et impedit animi modi est dolorum recusandae nesciunt.

Sed perferendis voluptatem explicabo atque. Autem quo excepturi pariatur. Ut non illo rerum accusamus et et ut voluptatum. Veritatis accusantium nemo nesciunt incidunt quae. Aspernatur atque ullam eius ut.

Incidunt autem repudiandae iure unde error et numquam. Ducimus qui ratione nihil quisquam error. Nostrum non eius doloribus a. Nihil ut veniam tenetur reprehenderit ut doloremque ratione. Dignissimos libero fugit rerum fuga.

 

Sapiente omnis ratione animi labore eum ut. Iusto autem non necessitatibus odio corrupti. Unde autem magni consequatur qui iusto omnis et suscipit. Et id saepe natus. Ut consequatur excepturi quod ut. Rerum dicta est rem.

Quo libero similique voluptatem vero ab. Nulla exercitationem eius sapiente animi eum. Voluptatem sint aut suscipit ab officia. Fuga enim quia neque.

Totam voluptatem unde culpa rem voluptatem numquam. Amet necessitatibus impedit ea excepturi veritatis vero eius eos. Deleniti accusamus porro consequatur architecto eos quos. Cupiditate facere aliquam et officia molestiae. Libero eum deleniti culpa hic rerum.

Career Advancement Opportunities

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. New 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (86) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (14) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (205) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (145) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”