PWM makes more money than people think at the junior level
I am currently working in PWM full time as a first year associate and I am bringing in $100k all in salary plus bonus. When I browsed this forum before many people said PWM pays $50k for first years, but I can attest this is not true at my firm. Our associates are pulling anywhere from 75-100k all in first year. I know other smaller wirehouse firms pay less than what I make, but if you're working at a BB/EB in WM, you will be paid very nicely as a first year. Not to take away from IB as I would love to work in IB and make $130k+, but for an easier entry and better work hours with the chance to become an advisor, PWM is a great field and I hope more people realize this going forward.
Yes PWM is quite lucrative, or can be. So is AM on the distribution side (of course the investor roles are great too). Without having to build a book you can make serious $ and still be part of the corporate machine, culture, etc. LO fund families, ALTs, Insurance companies all have large wholesaler distribution groups that do very well and focus on relationship building. Still requires tons of market based knowledge. New reps start as internals and make 75k-150k and look to move to external where comp is big with many wholesalers making 1M+ once they develop their territory. Very common for an average wholesaler to make 300-500k. Channels vary from wire, independent FA, Private Client Group, National Accounts, etc. Some are vertical market driven and distribute a specific product across all channels. Others are channel based and distribute all the firms products to a specific market.
Been doing a form of this for 30 yrs. It's a great career.