AM 1st Year Analyst Salaries
Graduating this May and curious to see how my pay matches up:
Base: 75k
Sign on: 10k
Bonus: 35% target
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Ignore my tag, too lazy to change it.
Base: 85K
Relocation: 10K
Bonus: ?? Not sure - no target listed in offer letter
what is typical bb bonus?
AM pay is that low? Doing research in AM at a BB or well known firm doesn’t pay more?
Just curious
You also have a much better WLB and do more interesting work than IB
BB AM will pay similar to IB (same base but lower bonus)
makes sense. ty
what about like a blockrock or something. Higher / lower than a bb ?
Do you know what the bonus usually is percentage wise?
It’s only low at the out of undergrad level. Post-MBA is similar to banking ASO pay. And senior folks can hit 7 figs (more if you’re a PM at a big AM house with a ton of active AUM to your name)
(Midwest)
Starting
Base: 65k
Relocation: 2k
Bonus: 25%
Post 12mo
Base: 75k
Bonus: not sure yet
I'll bite.
First year
Base: $85k
Relocation: $10k
Bonus: $35k (stub)
Second year:
Base: $90k
Bonus: $70k
Third year:
Base: $100k
Bonus: $90k
HCOL city?
Yeah, west coast
BB AM
Base: 85k
Relocation: 10k
Expected Bonus: 60-80% of base
Is this typical for a BB AM bonus? Did it state this in the offer letter or was this from convos with other analysts?
Curious on bonus as well. Is your team lean?
which bb/role? is this typical?
Tier 2 City
Base: 70k
Relocation: 5k
Target Bonus: 25%
From what I have heard, pay in AM starts slow but scales significantly as you grow in seniority
Do you mind elaborating on how much the pay can increase over time? How much can you expect to make after 2-3 years once you become an associate and 4-6 years as a VP in equities as well as fixed income?
I’m guessing you don’t know much about AM as you won’t become an Associate. 4-6years in you’ll likely be an Analyst or a lead Research Analyst at best. Depending on the dynamics of your team and the AUM of the fund(s) your covering, you could be clearing 200+
Midwest, joined post-grad.
Year 1:
Base: $125K
Relocation: $2K
Bonus: $40K
Year 2:
Base: $127K
Bonus: $100K
What shop??
Is this Baird?
lol
Bro you're making as much as first year IB analysts lol
Where within asset management is this??
yeah sounds like some bullshit unless hes in HF
FO AM in high COL city
Bump
I see there is a lot of variety in these numbers, so I will try to narrow it down. Base salaries are pretty standard across all the large companies hiring straight from undergrad (BBs not included, yet to be seen how total comp is affected by the raises). If you are a great candidate, you will probably just get a higher signing bonus.
Most asset managers have big offices in cities like Boston, Baltimore, Newport Beach, Princeton, etc. Most likely outcome is:
75k base, 10k signing (IB raises have pressured this up to 85k at many companies)
If you are at an asset manager in NYC or similar, then the most likely outcome is:
85k base, 10k signing (bumped up to 95k at a few companies, but generally there is no pressure to raise comp so I don't think there will be sweeping changes. Obviously at BB AM divisions the base is in line with IB)
In terms of bonuses, I'll let you in on a secret: nobody is paying a 100% bonus to their new hires unless they are working 80+ hours a week. Most likely outcome is:
40-60 hour weeks
20-60k bonus
It can also take a while for pay to ramp up. It might take you ~6 years before you finally get a really meaningful promotion (covering your own big names, having a junior to manage, etc.), and until then you will probably be stuck making under 200k. Worse, that promotion generally depends on someone leaving (in research at least; portfolio management is not as bad). Asset management is a REALLY back loaded career where tenure and experience is valued. It generally will take a while before your earnings match those in banking. I have heard plenty of rumors of post-MBA analyst comp being in the 300k range, but honestly I'd have to see it to believe it. My network is pretty big and nobody had thrown out a number even close to that. Usually 120-150k base for someone with 3-6 years exp.
This information comes from my own job offers, and conversations with older employees and some alumni. I think most of this can be verified on glassdoor or the WSO database, especially for entry level roles. Of course, there are some small differences between companies. For instance, I think capital group tends to pay a higher base and lower bonus, with total comp being similar. Also, promotions and titles vary significantly, so it can be difficult to compare between organizations. Most common entry level titles are "investment analyst" or "research associate."
No idea what kind of crazy salaries and bonuses are getting posted above, but it sure isn't for fundamental research at Wellington, Blackrock, PGIM, etc. And particularly to the guy making 220K as an AN2... buddy tell us what company because I want to submit my resume. Those are hedge fund numbers
hahaa this made me laugh a lot. I agree with everything you’ve said here, although i’m from London so the comp is obviously lower but still, love what I do so honestly comp isn’t that big of a deal. Just out of curiosity do you think guys on Sales Teams or Specialist teams which are like a hybrid of sales and Investments earn more or less?
I applied for full-time roles after an IB internship, so I can certainly attest to the job being much more interesting. The slightly lower compensation should not dissuade anybody interested in investing.
Re your question: I'm not really sure what the sales side of things looks like. I am only a first year analyst and working remotely, so my network outside of investing roles is pretty limited.
However, I do know some people at my company in other client-facing roles like portfolio construction, and they have lower bonus potential than people in investing roles (20k was the number shared with me). They also work 40 hours a week, so it's sort of an average corporate lifestyle. No idea what the structure looks like as you progress.
Hopefully someone more experience can correct me.
What does comp look like for someone who switched to AM after 3/4 years of sell side research?
I think they might only come in with one promotion. In a company in a smaller city, that might mean 90k base, 30-60k bonus. In a bigger city, it probably will be around 100k base, 40-80k bonus. Generally, I think this is a slight pay cut from sell-side.
People who come in post MBA arrive with two promotions, and I think are around 110-150k base, 25-75k stub bonus. I have heard some people get massive signing bonuses ~75k, but I think smaller ones are more common. If you are at a top performing shop with long hours, this is when pay STARTS to catch up to IB.
Yeah, it’s super interesting how comp in both AM and SS R only really take off once you hit a substantive level. Usually it’s like 5-6 YOE to get there too. As opposed to other high finance roles where you get more money earlier.
This is accurate, I’m leaving SS after 2 years comp is directly in-line with this range
Second year PWM analyst here.
Starting salary: $85K
Bonus: $25K
2nd year salary: $105K
2nd year bonus: TBD
Hell of a raise. Congrats
Is this at a BB?
1st year Research Analyst here in fixed income, but I lateraled after spending almost 2 years in Commercial Banking covering the same sector.
Salary: $90k
No sign on bonus (kinda bs looking back at that tbh)
Bonus: expecting roughly $20k-$25k bonus after first year based on my understanding of incentive plan and talking to others at firm (+$500B AUM firm)
Seems to me like it depends on a number of factors like the funds you support and if you're an equity, fixed income, or multi asset analyst, if the firm is larger or leaner given AUM and your funds fee structures and whatnot. It seems like a long road to a PM slot, at least from my position, but plenty of upside still moving to a Senior Analyst role where base creeps up on $200k within 5-6 years and bonuses become north of 50% of base. Given the work-life-balance and how interesting the work is, I wouldn't give this up for anything.
I’ll add a datapoint here. Spent a few years on the sell-side and switched to buy side at a large AM at an ‘associate’ level role, so also relevant to the poster above who asked about sell-side experience.
Base was 110k + 40k bonus + 10k signing.
Awesome, thank you. It is tough to get an idea of pay in this industry past the first few years.
First year out of undergrad here.
Small asset manager on the Midwest
Base : 60k
No sign bonus
End year bonus: 25-30% I hope
Base: 85K
Bonus: 10K
Sign-On: 5K
Working in UHNW PWM based out of Cali
Curious, can you provide some insight to Cali’s COL? Im an incoming first year analyst and signed on for $70000 base and $7500 sign on, moving all the way across the country so just curious to hear your thoughts on rent, food, etc.
Just finished UG.
Base: $75k
Relocation: $5k, moving from tier 2 city to another tier 2
Bonus: "Discretionary"
Working on a lean team, but European bank so benefits + PTO look good on paper
Base: $70,000
Sign on: $7,500
No bonus, will be in California as a first year analyst.
1st year associate analyst
Base: 90k
Relocation: N/A
Bonus: 60-100%
For anyone reading this and getting jealous, you don't earn a bonus like this right out of college unless you are working in private debt or at a hedge fund-like place. Trust me when I say you are comped relative to your hours.
The all in comp doesn't seem that unreasonable for a big shop IMO. Especially given where pay has gone fore competing roles (IB, ER, MBB).
Define big shop? I’m at a AM/HF with a little over 2 YOE and fall within this range.
If you fall in that range, then you’re agreeing with what I am saying? Someone said that those numbers are unrealistically high, but I disagree. By big shop, I am thinking about the big LO AMs that hire people early in their career (Fidelity, CapGroup, Wellington, etc).
Small firm in Midwest
First Year: $65k Total Comp
Signing bonus: $10k
Base: $50k
Bonus: $5k
Year 4: $85-90k
Base: $80k
Bonus: Discretionary. Usually $5-10k
Feeling very underpaid...
$120K base with 35% expected bonus
Exited banking after 1yr for better WLB. Hours are not that much better and feeling significantly underpaid vs IB and HF peers given the type of work I'm doing.
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