Working for the SEC?
Hey Everyone,
After watching the coverage of the Goldman Sachs fiasco, it got me thinking... Senior SEC officials make 200K/yr, with awesome benefits, rock solid job security, and top notch networking... and they watch cool movies all day.
Sounds like a good gig to me...Anyone know what the exit ops are?
Snookie,
I'd sooner jerk off buffalo for a nickel a herd than work for the SEC.
The pay is actually much more when you consider how much the Senior guys get to cover their eyes/ears: cars, vacations, kids' tuition, etc
I wonder how much insider trading goes on at the SEC...just sayin.
Definitely. What, are they less corrupt than everyone else? please
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
you mean pornos??
Never plan on working for the SEC, but just out of curiosity I spent 3 minutes on the SEC website. A Trading Abuse Specialist requires "Minimum 7 years securities industry background and knowledge" and makes $124,183 - $192,291. Ouch.
Nowhere near competitive enough to pull talent to outsmart banks.
Sellout
Going over to the dark side.
I get the chills thinking about how much I would hate my life.
after almost 10 replies, still no one could answer straight to the question?
Please, I want to hear the true answer too
I've worked for the government. Trust me, you don't want to go down that rabbit hole. Private sector is 100x better.
Could you elaborate?
Well, as a federal employee (like everyone from the military to the post office) you'd be eligible to retire after 20 years. Your pension would pay you the same rate as your final year's salary for life. However, for an exit strategy, I'd imagine that you go work as a securities consultant somewhere. Probably in an emerging market.
I'm pretty sure that it is way, way less than final year pay...for the military it is 40% basic pay+medical. So if you earn 200K, that would be 80K+medical. That's still worth approximately 3 million...pretty good deal for the lifestyle imo.
I mean, assume 150K av salary over the 20 years, then the 3 million retirement package, and you are getting paid 300K per year average. Is something wrong here? I doubt they actually get that retirement package. That's waaaaaaay too good. That's more than most MDs make, without any of the schooling. Plus the lifestyle seems awesome and you get to dick around a ton.
I mean hell where else can a JD get 300K/yr working 9-5??? Sure as hell beats the BigLaw roulette wheel unless you are at Wachtell or something.
How would an internship at the SEC look on your resume?
So from all these posts, going to the dark side sounds pretty good...?
Still no body answered my original question (except for being a securities consultant). Maybe you could start off at the SEC for a few years, get your MBA and then what?
I was offered a position SEC, years ago, I was also offered the same position as an analyst in Market Reg at NASD. I turned down SEC bec no training, lower pay, and a small dirty office. It looked gloomy and lonely. It's alot of Red Tape and Politics to even to consider an investigation. It's an act of congress to get anything done. On the other hand, NASDR was very proactive in training and very aggressive on investigations, Great exposure working with attorneys, taking testimony, technical, legal, equity research, and big on teamwork. (extensive training, and hi-tech) You can easily get recruited to Lower Manhattan. Most employees get MBA's and JD's, and then get recruited. Forget SEC, unless you're only goal is a middle class lifestyle with good health benefits. You can't even live on entry level pay at SEC, GS9 or GS11 or whatever it is. Go with FINRA, Market Reg, good Divisions are Insider Trading, Short Sales, etc, they will hire you with little or no experience, train you, and you can shoot anywhere from there. Those guys at SEC making 200k have been there for decades, step increases take forever.
Fuck. And here I was thinking I finally found someone to pay my ass to sit in a chair and do whatever I want from 9-to-5.
There are many problems with working for the government. The pay sucks. Everything moves at a snail's pace. Most of the people around you are lazy and waiting for their pensions. Government only gets interesting at the senior levels, but it is rare for a staffer to make it all the way up. TIm Geithner is pretty exceptional in this regard.
For many people this could be a positive. If you are only working, say, 3 hours out of an 8 hour day due to inefficiency/bureaucracy, that gives you 5 hours per day to do what you want. The senior officials chose to use that time to download porn, but you could do many things - read, watch (non-pornographic) movies, buy/sell stocks, work on an outside business venture (web startup, ect).
Basically, you are getting paid 100-200K for doing 15 hours of work and then doing whatever you want for the other 25 hrs per day. And you get a 3 million pension after twenty years (worth 150k per year).
All in all, not a bad deal if you can be productive with your downtime.
You make some good points, but my view is that being surrounded by that kind of environment for too long will dull your competitive drive and make you complacent. Also remember that those 100K+ jobs are typically after 10+ years of service.
Damn, over 25 hours A DAY! So the SEC is just populated by wizards? or Doc Brown used to work there?
The ideal model would be that of Singapore: higher pay for bureaucrats reduces corruption, prestige attracts the top graduates. No wonder it is one of the most well-managed places in the world (not to say that it doesn't have its own unique problems).
Shit...you could pay me 60K/yr to sit around and watch porn all day. I've heard that the porn folder on the network I:\ drive is pushing 90 TB...that's enough to easily keep a man busy for an entire career
amatuer
ROFL
Laborum sit veniam vitae dignissimos voluptate. Quia et ut facere. Quos inventore nemo sit placeat aut animi. Facere omnis rerum illo repellendus aut asperiores sequi. Rerum sit velit laudantium. Quod aut non neque dignissimos.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Velit rem voluptas tempore ut odio molestiae. Repellat reprehenderit molestiae sit omnis.
Ut et dolorem harum corrupti. Iure rerum rerum quibusdam facere suscipit qui rerum. Veniam quos repudiandae voluptatibus architecto animi qui eius. Repellat et et quod dolores.