IB MM or Consulting Big 4 ?
Talking about pay, life expectancy and exit opportunities (PE, AM, HF)…
I don’t even know where it is easier to break in, but IB MM seems to have such a bad image (sweatshop, etc).
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Plenty of great MM shops out there with good culture and comp. There are so many shops across the MM that painting them all as having a "bad image" really isn't accurate.
Is this a shitpost?
1. Big 4 consulting will be paid about 50-60% of bankers (as a first year graduate, with the difference widening even further thereafter).
2. Big 4 exit opps will not be great. You're not going to any reputable PE fund (let alone HF lmao....) without moving to banking, a better consulting firm or an MBA.
3. The WLB of B4 will still be pretty shit (like not good enough to warrant getting paid half as much). 'Consulting' can mean fucking anything at these places (tho I assume you are referring to mgmt consulting or something). You will also be part of the insufferable B4 ecosystem.
For life expectancy, MM IB is the same as smoking cigs and Big 4 Consulting is like drinking Red Bull. You choose
Is the red bull supposed to be better or worse than the cigs? Lol
Go MM IB for sure. I started in B4 Strategy and jumped to MM IB after my first year. The hours are essentially the same (especially if you include flying).
For reference my B4 S&O base was 85k +12.5k bonus and my MM base is 110k + 60-80% (best guess on the bonus)
Do you know what AM would be compared to IB?
No idea
Just curious, did you have to take a year back when you moved to MM IB? Like did you come in as an AN2 or AN1?
Came in as an AN2. I had less than 1yr of experience @ the B4 ..... and I will be up for promotion in a few months, so I guess my timeline has been a bit different
Summary of above: plenty of Big 4 workers try to switch to IB; some succeed. Nobody in IB tries to switch into Big 4. I trust you’ll make the right call.
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