I wonder who these people are that get 200k base. Do you know someone that does? What do they do? Age? I’m a ways off and I do alright, but it comes a long way short of that number.
I want to say about $250K, but to be honest, I’ve lost touch with her since we left school. She was always very school oriented (which worked out ok because I was always at school with her), but now she’s soley IB oriented.
yes, I know of some in Equity Research. 1 has CFA + MBA (~ 32 yrs old), my old boss graduated a no-name college with no designation (~ 45 yrs old, more than $200k base)…and this is, afterall, Equity Research.
Many of our analysts, especially the more senior ones, have a substantial base in that range. And, the portfolio managers of course. Even some of our senior external wholesalers have a base around $220k. But everyone, from wholesalers to PMs, make the fun money in their bonuses.
Geez most people I know have made it to 4th base, but there is this writer geek I know in Hollywood in his mid-thirties who is still trying to make it to second base.
Basically, everyone who is senior to me at work makes > $200K/year base (senior analysts, PMs, management). But as Sweep the Leg mentioned, the real money is in bonuses and other comp.
$150/ USD
Pretty much everyone I know is a lawyer, somehow I was drawn into finance. I’m 24 and have a buddy making 165K (Columbia Law helps). Are we talking investments only?
A friend works in ibanking in oz. Base is AUD 190k + 40-50% bonus (expected to fall dramatically this year though).
Chuckrox8 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Pretty much everyone I know is a lawyer, somehow I > was drawn into finance. I’m 24 and have a buddy > making 165K (Columbia Law helps). > > Are we talking investments only? 165K = Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz right? http://www.nalpdirectory.com/dledir_search_results.asp?fscid=F082901&yr=2009&orgtypeid=F most firms start their first years at 160K in NYC. would be sick to work for Wachtell Lipton (the firm that invented the poison pill)
Unless things have changed pretty drastically in the last few years, the difference between starting salaries at Wachtell and those at other corporate law firms (even the very most profitable and prestigious) is a lot more than $5k. Wachtell is in a class by itself as far as associate pay (and generally also partner pay) at Wall Street law firms goes.
My understanding has always been that folks at Wachtell work very hard though, even by Wall Street law firm standards (and any other standards anyone on here is familiar with).
I don’t think lawyers were among those the OP had in mind, though.
I’m not at all familiar with law firm comp. At the higher levels is it comparable to what people would make on the Street as a PM or ibanker/PE? What is your end game? Partner? Surely there can’t be that many people that leave and start their own firm. Just curious since I know nothing about the law track.
Captain Windjammer Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Unless things have changed pretty drastically in > the last few years, the difference between > starting salaries at Wachtell and those at other > corporate law firms (even the very most profitable > and prestigious) is a lot more than $5k. Wachtell > is in a class by itself as far as associate pay > (and generally also partner pay) at Wall Street > law firms goes. I think total comp is very different (ie Wachtell first years are around 165 base + 165 bonus or around there), but the bases are pretty close. But then again, you have experience in that field and not me :).
I’m not really up to date on this recently, but a couple of years ago a partner at Wachtell was making $3 million-$4 million a year and partners at other first-class Wall Street firms (Cravath, Sullivan & Cromwell, Davis Polk, etc.) weren’t that far behind. Those numbers drop off pretty quickly after you leave the top 15 or so firms in the country but as a partner at a large firm in many places you’re likely to make several hundred thousand dollars a year or more. It is pretty frickin’ hard to make partner at Wachtell or another of those first-class firms, but has been quite a bit less hard at many other big firms (the partners there are obviously competent, but in my experience in quite a few cases, not really very impressive). I always thought of the tradeoff between a career at, say, Cravath and one at an investment bank as quite a bit more job security in exchange for a limited upside (though I’m not sure what percentage of bankers do better over their careers than a partner at Cravath). Those lawyers work damn hard, though, and jump when their clients tell them to. Not to mention that legal work is not very interesting (at least in my view).
No, philip.platt, you’re right; the base at Wachtell is probably that close and the difference in total pay as compared to other firms is mostly made up by bonus. Generally speaking bonuses haven’t been that important a component of law firm associate pay but they’ve tended to be a lot bigger at Wachtell. My mistake.
any tech ppl striking it rich?
I’m in a pure finance role and I had to fight tooth and nail to get where I am - above 150 base. Even so, there are very few jobs advertised on efinancial that stack up to those numbers. Basically, the roles are senior management, lawyers and ER. Anyone on here pulling in 200+? Is that enough to be a baller?
Biglaw attorneys make pretty good money with more job security (historically, although a ton of lawyers have been laid-off in the last year) but the lifestyle is pretty brutal. Deal attorneys work a lot and a lot of the work is not too sexy (ie turnaround a new set of docs overnight, going through a 200 page SPA at 2am to make sure that all the changes are internally consistent). Some may argue that the same thing occurs for lower level IB employees- ie sitting around at 2am ensuring that the decimal points are lined up in powerpoint and that the columns are level to the same tenth of a pixel.