Compensation for Equity Sales

Hi all,

First time poster.

I have a series of quick questions on how equity sales are comped , as I'm looking into this space. Any help is much appreciated!

I do know answers/markets etc. can vary, just was hoping for best guesses, or real-life realities....

1) Avg BASE salary for a 1st year salesperson.

2) Does the base salary change much over time?

3) What is a REASONABLE number of accounts to have after 6, 12, 24 months?

4) How much trading would an "average-sized" account give your firm on a annual or monthly basis?

5) What is a REASONABLE amount of commission/bonus to be received (if any) if you were an "OK" salesperson after 6,12,24 months?

6) What sort of ranges of % commission does one receive from your clients trading with your firm?

7) How often do sales receive commission/bonus?

8) How much total comp would a salesperson earn in a year if (a) he isnt going to cut it (b) an OK salesperson, or (c) an All-star salesperson?

9) Has Base salaries and or commission comps changed much in the past 5 years, and what is their outlook?

10) All things being equal, does selling domestic vs. global vs. Emerging market equities have an advantage in commissions? (higher/lower)

11) Is entertaining client usually covered by the firm, or the salesperson?

12 Is there a HUGE difference in potential of comp between BB vs. Boutique?

13) Anything else I missed and should consider?

Many thanks all!

6 Comments
 
Best Response

1) Avg BASE salary for a 1st year salesperson.

This all depends where you are at. I would say avg base at first is $55k-$65k

2) Does the base salary change much over time? The salary is heavily bonus laden, so you will never make a $500k/yr base

3) What is a REASONABLE number of accounts to have after 6, 12, 24 months? 6 months, own accounts? You're delusional... May start taking accounts, which will be total shit after a year....

4) How much trading would an "average-sized" account give your firm on a annual or monthly basis? Can't answer this one

5) What is a REASONABLE amount of commission/bonus to be received (if any) if you were an "OK" salesperson after 6,12,24 months? No clue

6) What sort of ranges of % commission does one receive from your clients trading with your firm?

7) How often do sales receive commission/bonus?

8) How much total comp would a salesperson earn in a year if (a) he isnt going to cut it (b) an OK salesperson, or (c) an All-star salesperson?

9) Has Base salaries and or commission comps changed much in the past 5 years, and what is their outlook?

10) All things being equal, does selling domestic vs. global vs. Emerging market equities have an advantage in commissions? (higher/lower)

11) Is entertaining client usually covered by the firm, or the salesperson?

12 Is there a HUGE difference in potential of comp between BB vs. Boutique?

13) Anything else I missed and should consider?

Do you have a job offer here? If not I wouldn't worry about how much the pay is yet. Worry more about securing an interview and a position then worry about pay.... You don't make shit at first, don't get fooled by any idiot on here telling you he is making rain in his first 2 or 3 years... That is complete and utter shit in today's world. Worry more about what you should know for the interview, the fact that you worry more about comp than the actual position and it't functions does not bode well for you, in my opinion.

Good luck.

 

Thanks Ray,

I have have been going through an interview process, and am told I will have one more before the decision.

I do have a very good grasp on the functions of the role, I was however interested in examples of the above questions because we do work for comp after all.

Comp questions come up a lot on this board and others, but the questions are spotty- I thought I'd try to put a lot of questions together that could help myself and others who are looking into getting into this field.

Any help on this matter is much appreciated..

Regards.

 

if you search and look at similar forums to yours, people do not like answering questionnaires just a word for the wise.

The answer to your question is 1) network 2) get involved 3) beef up your resume 4) repeat -happypantsmcgee WSO is not your personal search function.
 

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