Wondering what I may be worth in Boston or other cities next September if I pass my level 3. Here are my stats: I will be 26, undergrad from george washington u in economics. 1 year experience as a mutual fund accountant. 1.5 years experience as a “portfolio analyst”, (more or less a performance analyst). So I would only have 1.5 years towards my 4 year requirement. Advanced excel skills. Any ideas?
Boston has a surprisingly low cost of living for a big city. My guess is 65-85k.
agreed with kkent. in NY, prob 90K+ all in.
Even with only 1.5 years as a performance analyst to count towards the experience requirement?
You got back office written all over you…
“1.5 years towards my 4 year requirement” You have 0.0 years towards your 4 year requirement (if you’re referring to the CFA)
I’d go with 50 - 70, depending on the size of the shop and how “advanced” your “excel skills” are. That said, I think once you got your foot in the door you would be in good shape.
Onegin’s in the right range. I’m in Boston. There’s no way you’d get upwards of $85K with only 1.5 years of any substantive work experience. No offense, but the fund accounting will not count as any experience at all with respect to how you’re viewed for salary purposes. All employers will likely appreciate the level 3 passage, but whether it results in a higher salary is debatable. At my employer, you’d probably only get $55 - 65K per year with up to a 20% bonus, depending on the position. Passing level 3 would only help you to get the job and wouldn’t result in any higher of a salary. Boston’s cost of living is not particularly low, and it’s definitely a second tier city (compared to NYC, London, even Chicago). It closes early. The cost of living is probably on par with Chicago - less than New York or SF. 1BR apartments in good city locations in the city are $1600 - 2200 per month. If you go out further or have roommates, you’d be in the $1000 - 1500 range.
Actually, cost of living in Boston is pretty low for a large, well known city: http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/popups/costofliving/popup05.html It’s even slightly cheaper than Washington, DC. Also, outside of the city it’s dirt cheap. My friend lives about 20 minutes outside of the city and is paying $300/month all-in for a bedroom in a 4 BR unit.
It’s simply not that large. Much smaller than Miami, DC, LA, Chicago, NYC, Dallas, etc. Also, with all the financial service consolidations, Boston is not the major employment center it once was with respect to finance jobs. It’s still a decent place to work, though, and the quality of life is better than, say, NYC if you don’t have gobs of money. $300 per month? Even in a 4BR setup, I’ve never heard of a rent that low near Boston. Is it a total crapshack? I moved into a crapshack with 2 other roommates in a remote neighborhood of Boston (45 min T ride) in 2003 and still paid $550 per month. Then I moved to a downright disgusting neighborhood to get my own place and the rent was $1100 per month. I was quoting rents for people who are more than 1 year out of college and not wanting to live with 342705289035 roommates anymore.
I recently almost took a job in Boston. The job market for finance is quite strong. Much stronger than where I currently work and live in Washington, DC. Rent is way way way way cheaper the Boston suburbs than the DC 'burbs and salaries are on par. The point is, the original poster shouldn’t fret over getting a lower salary expectation than he had hoped–he’d get the same thing in DC, only he’d be paying 1000 to 1700 per month for a 400 sqft studio no matter how far from the city he lived–and that’s if he could find a finance job in some of these other cities. Boston suburbs are so much cheaper than similar cities. Lots of youth. Drivers are nicer. It’s not a bad set-up compared to other alternatives. Yeah, my friend’s place is pretty crappy–especially the architecture. Looks like it was designed by a drunk.
Thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate it. Are there any cities where the job market is particularly strong and the local talent relatively scarce?
Try Singapore.
kkent Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- Boston > suburbs are so much cheaper than similar cities. > Lots of youth. Drivers are nicer. It’s not a bad > set-up compared to other alternatives. > dont forget the celtics
why singapore?
Sickel, how did you like performance analytics vs fund accounting? Is it just as boring?
I’m in boston as well, and agree 100% with grunt. Id definitely put the top close to 65k plus bonus. There are a few shops that pay notably better than others, but for front office skills. With the custody banks (IBT/State Street, Mellon, BBH) in town, folks doing back office work are a relative commodity. Also, a lot of these jobs are not in the city themselves - Mellon is in everett and State Street is in quincy, I think. Some are in town, but some are a commute from the city to get to. That said, there are a bunch of buyside shops who are looking for portfolio analysts. Do a search and you will find them. My only disagreement on this thread are the drivers. They are a total nightmare.
I must confess that I’ve never liked Boston as much as everyone else does. Cold people, cold weather. If not for the job (with a reasonable, but not amazing, depth of employers) and nearby family, I’d be out of here so fast. Also, if you don’t know people here (and didn’t go to college in Boston), it’s a horrific place to be single. I’ve had several single co-workers who’ve decided to leave the area because it’s such a terrible place to meet people. They’ve found Atlanta, Minneapolis, DC, Chicago and several other places to be much friendlier and fun places to be. One even found her now-husband just a few months after moving to Atlanta after dating minimally in Boston for 3-4 years.
i love beantown. one of my favorite cities in the US. i agree that salaries are surprisingly low for the cost of living, but there are ways to make it more affordable. i havent ever had a problem meeting people, but i went to college relatively close and i’ve always worked with sociable people. there is always something going on too and i love to just walk around the city aimlessly in the summer. the sports teams are on a roll and theres nothing like a fenway frank. its not too big and its not too small. i run into people that i know walking around downtown a lot which is cool (mostly from college and ex-colleagues) the locals give directions to the tourists all the time. my family isnt from around here and told me they were surprised how helpful the locals seemed to be when they came to visit. different people have different experiences though. the weather does suck. i dont mind the snow… but the freezing rain and sleet drive me crazy… the wind can be a bit much. and being from CO, i’m still not used to the humid summers. the job market can be tough if you don’t have experience… most people start out in the BO due to how many custodians there are like grover mentioned… but there are jobs to be had with some pretty good names.
Ha ha… I used to cite all the same things, Nolabird. All the things going on, good sports teams, attractive sites. I used to stay in hotels in the city while traveling here for work. Went bar- and restaurant-hopping and enjoyed the scene. When I moved here 4+ years ago, I found I couldn’t afford to live in the nice, scenic areas of the city (Back Bay, Beacon Hill) and ended up in terrible apartments in crap locations. Suddenly, frequenting Prudential Center and Newbury Street was not an everyday kind of experience, as it had been when in town for business. It’s not easy to get Red Sox or Pats tickets, at least not for a decent price anywhere near face value. But I guess I was jaded because I came from San Francisco which was soooo much friendlier, where it was easy and relatively affordable to get SF Giants or Oakland A’s tickets. And there seemed to be lots of places to rent in SF that weren’t downtown, but were still in really nice neighborhoods with short-ish commutes. Now, I can afford to live in a 1200 SF apt/condo in the Back Bay, but I have a family. So I commute into the city by train, work my 10-12 hours and commute home. I could be in any city in the U.S. for how much I get to take advantage of the city amenities.