I was fortunate enough to receive a FT offer as a real estate Analyst with a major LifeCo (Pru, AIG) based in the Southeast. It seems too good to be true so I was curious if there were some downsides/negatives that I have overlooked. This is my first FT job. Graduated from uni back in May.
Base Salary: 75K
Year End Bonus: 18.75 - 22.5K
Signing Bonus: 8.5K
Relocation Bonus: 18K+
All-In First Year (w/o YE or Relo): 93.5K - 97.25
Hours/Week: 40-50
22 days of PTO
At first glance all-in compensation may not be that great, but given the hours and the lifestyle (reflected by PTO) I am pleasantly surprised. Furthermore, cost of living is much lower than any other major city in America.
What do my Exit Opps look like? And how does salary progress as I move forward? What am I missing here? Or is this really the upside of being willing to work in finance outside of NYC?
Thank you monkeys.
Congrats on the amazing gig man. Honestly, I think LifeCo jobs are the most underrated in the real estate game due to "not being as interesting". The pay and lifestyle are awesome and there are plenty who go from LifeCo to REPE.
Accepted a full-time out of undergrad for a top REPE MF in a major market. My package was no where near yours. That's a damn good offer.
Agree with the above, this is a great offer for someone out of UG.
If you don't mind me asking, is this for AIG in Atlanta? I interviewed for that position as well, but didn't feel like moving to the dirty south.
Thank you. And no this is not with AIG.
Don't sleep on Atlanta. Traffic blows, but it's not the stereotype of the south.
-Northerner
That's a great first job. Good work.
I tear up seeing this and thinking back to making $50k base with a 10% bonus for my first two years while being treated like shit and working 60+ hour weeks.
Huge congrats to you. Awesome opportunity and I think LifeCo/banking is so underrated for lifestyle/comp on this forum.
Waiting an 18K relocation bonus? That's ridiculous if it's seperate from your signing too.
Yeah that 18 is separate from the 8.5 signing so the total all-in with those bonuses is 120 to 123.75K. Obviously a large chunk of that is non-recurring though.
Really awesome offer, congrats. A lot of people knock LifeCos but the criticism is mostly unwarranted imo. I know several smart individuals who have went through investment analyst programs at PGIM (Pru), AIG, NYL, etc. and are all well positioned in the industry.
Not that this should change your mind but those quoted hours per week seem light. My info is specifically for the West coast but can't imagine hours vary that much. People I know are at least 50 hrs/week.
I guess in short, you're not missing anything. That's a solid package.
Thank you for the insight. It seems as if the response from this forum is overwhelmingly positive and I haven't overlooked anything. And to your point re: hours it is possible I was misled/given an optimistic number during the recruitment process. Guess there's no way of knowing until I get there.
It’s probably just the difference between official “office hours” and the hours it actually takes to get your work finished.
You're either bullshitting or the jobs market is hotter than I thought.
Must be a function of location... would be curious as to where exactly it is.
I will say that I think a reason the offer is so appealing is because the program pays analysts the same regardless of location. Hence an analyst in NYC will earn as much as I will, but I get to take advantage of the much lower cost of living in the Southeast.
what do the exit opps look like for these LifeCos? Could you easily make the move to repe coming from a place like PGIM?
This sounds like PGIM in Atlanta. I believe the pay is the same even if you work in the NJ office, so being in Atlanta is huge.
I also don’t think you can consider the equity side of PGIM “LifeCo” investing. They’re not investing for their own account - they raise funds the same way a regular PE fund would. This is just a PERE fund housed under Pru.
I don’t know what it’s like working there. I do know that a lot of people leave after 1-2 years for other reputable REPE firms
If it is PGIM (not Pru anymore as they will remind you!) their NYC people (really more like NJ with a NYC satellite) are good people. I've bought from and sold to PGIM. I don't know much about their SE office but the couple analyst/associates I know in NY/NJ you often hear about moving to different sides of the business once you're in. What I'm told its rather easy which if true is a nice perk for a young person.
Do you mind elaborating on what you mean by moving to different sides of the business? Do you mean transferring from debt to equity and the like?
I currently work on the equity side of LifeCo. Culture is amazing. Hours depend entirely on workload but for the most part in by 830 out by 530-6.
Can see myself being here for the long term.
What size equity checks does your group typically write?
I'm not sure what LifeCo means (would like an explanation) but purely from a job offer stand point this is nothing to be upset about. For the Southeast this is incredible, especially for someone coming from undergrad.
Aside from the non-recurring payments, the base salary plus expectations of a decent bonus is far better than what I and many of my peers have gotten (granted its in a different industry and time).
EDIT: I guess LifeCo is life insurance company? Not sure what real estate has to do with that.
Congrats and unless you have other offers, if you like this role take it!
LifeCos make direct loans and equity investments in real estate.
maineiac42 thanks. Google was just showing me stuff for a wellness center and life insurance but this makes sense.
Man, come on.
There's nothing wrong with not knowing something, but you should be using it as an opportunity to educate yourself.
not much that rustles my jimmies more than someone asking an easily google-able question
Insurance companies need to make investments in order to pay out claims + profit. Depending on the company they can invest in everything from stocks/bonds to real estate and other private equity.
10/10 bait
Damn RE analyst get paid that well? Is this because of the bull market or has it always been this strong?
Nice work getting that offer straight out of undergrad. For comparison I moved to a life company after a few years experience and started at $87k base with ~$25K target bonus with great benefits. Exit Ops should be great, especially if you're at a LifeCo that has a debt fund platform which means you'll work on larger more complex floating rate deals. It will also mean you get some solid exposure to Argus.
Can I PM you and ask a bit more about what working for a LifeCo entails?
Yeah sure thing
Wow, How strong was your background? were you able to negotiate this by having similar offers in the IB world in NYC? is this a clear outlier? @op
Target school and a previous acquisition internship with a Top 5 PERE firm. Did not help me negotiate - in fact there was no negotiating.
Sounds like PGIM for sure. That kinda money early on in the Southeast is an absolute game changer. PGIM's REF & RE programs are definitely outliers in terms of RE Analyst comp, and their figures don't change between job markets(NJ, Arlington, Chicago, LA, Atlanta).
I've seen from recruiters that the typical RE analyst in the Southeast is typically 55-65k with 10-15% bonus so you're definitely in a solid boat.
What does the typical PGIM REF offer look like?
LifeCo's are a phenomenal place to land. Great work life balance, interesting work, exposure to varying markets/asset classes...
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