i agree with your logic, if it’s a fun place to work and you’re getting good experience with that potential upside in comp…stick around.
FIAnalyst Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Wouldn’t you need a super-duper monster year in 08 > to really get paid, or are there no high water > marks? yes, there’s a high water mark, so i’m kinda setting my sights on 2009 rather than 2008. we’re long-term value investors…i keep telling myself that i should look at my comp here the same way.
Good luck, and I agree that if you enjoy working there and you see upside, keep at it.
wegowayback Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > total 
> > it’s a small firm. i have a relatively small base > but a generous participation in the incentive > fees. this year certainly not much fun. i > guarantee there are ops people making more than me > in 2007. but if we were to have a year just what > our historical average (about 19% net) is, the > numbers get abnormally large for someone in my > position. here’s hoping for a monster 2008. That seems like a lot of volatility. I don’t claim to know much about hedge fund compensation, but how does this compare to most other funds? What can be said about a firm’s watermark and how that relates to bonuses? I’m really curious to understand some of the general compensation trends better, so any insights would be helpful
numi Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- numi Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > That seems like a lot of volatility. I don’t claim > to know much about hedge fund compensation, but > how does this compare to most other funds? What > can be said about a firm’s watermark and how that > relates to bonuses? I’m really curious to > understand some of the general compensation trends > better, so any insights would be helpful i have an unusual comp structure. i get paid virtually the same as if i was a general partner, but i dont have equity in the firm. i think on average, other funds have higher base salaries but lower bonus potential. maybe 100-150k base plus .5-1x that for bonus. of course it all depends. there are no real trends that i am aware of. one thing that sucks about many firms is that bonus payout policy is vague. i know i’ll simply make X% of all profits. to be honest, i’d be interested to hear anyone else’s thoughts on this. i’ve only worked at one other fund and i dont really get that deep about comp structure/amount with friends at other firms. any other hedge fund people out there care to share? thanks
Interesting. I would have thought that potential upside at a hedge fund would be higher, though I’m sure that’s pretty variable. The reason for my opinion is because sell-side research analysts and bankers pull in total comp in a fairly tight range, that’s not too far below the figures you mentioned…with slightly less volatility. But with what seems to be a borderline obsession among some sell-siders to move to the buy-side, I would have thought pre-MBA opportunities on the buy-side would have offered more upside in terms of bonus. I’d also be curious to see what others have heard re: potential hedge fund comp this year.
What about you, numi? Strong bonus talk so far this year? As an associate, are you looking at the possibility of not taking as huge a hit as, say, your boss might in a down year?
it seems like the sentiment here is basically flat. i wouldn’t say we’re as exposed because there’s no common stock component to our compensation, and our division as a whole has done well. we just have to eat a lot of the losses from the fixed income/credit side of the bank. at the same time, in order to retain talent, the bank has to pay people or otherwise the top talent will leave, and research divisions at most of the bulge bracket banks are run as a pretty tight ship anyway so there’s not a lot of room to cut…i guess we’ll find out within the next couple months how things shake out, but seems like overall sentiment for our department is pretty neutral from what i can tell
In other words, numi’s not gonna be telling you. numi Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > it seems like the sentiment here is basically > flat. i wouldn’t say we’re as exposed because > there’s no common stock component to our > compensation, and our division as a whole has done > well. we just have to eat a lot of the losses from > the fixed income/credit side of the bank. at the > same time, in order to retain talent, the bank has > to pay people or otherwise the top talent will > leave, and research divisions at most of the bulge > bracket banks are run as a pretty tight ship > anyway so there’s not a lot of room to cut…i > guess we’ll find out within the next couple months > how things shake out, but seems like overall > sentiment for our department is pretty neutral > from what i can tell
haha…i didn’t mean to be too cryptic or apolitical – but in actuality, i really have had no indications as to what comp is going to be like anyway so i can only speculate. i guess what i was getting at is, it seems like people around here would be somewhat understandable if bonuses were flat given our overall exposure to the credit markets
upside isn’t just more money… it’s more money for less hours and more interesting work (less administrative stuff & responding to client requests). also, the real upside is when you get to run a book/capital… that’s when the big bucks come in… if you can perform. numi Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > with what seems to be a borderline obsession among > some sell-siders to move to the buy-side, I would > have thought pre-MBA opportunities on the buy-side > would have offered more upside in terms of bonus. > > I’d also be curious to see what others have heard > re: potential hedge fund comp this year.
“upside isn’t just more money… it’s more money for less hours and more interesting work (less administrative stuff & responding to client requests). also, the real upside is when you get to run a book/capital… that’s when the big bucks come in… if you can perform.” interesting, i thought upside was when a NBA draftee was a bit rough around the edges but has tremendous length and wore a great suit.
Either some of the figures thrown around on this forum are in internet dollars or I’m at the wrong shop.
XSellSide Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Either some of the figures thrown around on this > forum are in internet dollars or I’m at the wrong > shop. Nothing has sounded out of whack to me, at least on this thread. Wego notes that his comp structure is different than most.
So, the latter.
So, I find out today that year end talks (for everyone) might not even happen until after the 1st of the year. What kind of crap is that?! After being pushed on it, they said they will try to squeeze it in before year end. I think this can only mean that raises / bonuses are going to suck. Why else would they try to delay? Time to polish up the resume…
CFA_Halifax Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I’m in a BO. expecting 2K or so. Did a bit better than thought…
I am in BO. Looking between 5-7.5K for a bonus come this March.
will be between 8-12 K…I am a Business Analyst
Are you talking about buyside or sellside?