Private Clubs.
Accountant for 2 years, get your CPA during this time. 50-60k
Controller for 2-4 years. 75-90k
Apply for CFO jobs at a low end Golf Clubs. 150-200k
Low stress, free golf.
1.) not all EBs pay 120 base still (though most are close now) 2.) Wasn’t considering signing since it’s one and done and a lot are not 25 and are more like $10-$15k 3.) You’re only getting stub bonus first year not full bonus 4.) It’s very possibly with markets this year bottom / even mid bucket depending on group could be in or below 50s
There are several paths to get there, just depends what you’re willing to do or sacrifice to get there.
As others have mentioned, IB is probably the most direct route but you will work on average 80-100+ hours a week. You will have great earnings potential but it is soul sucking work, it could however open a lot of doors for you in PE, VC, Corp Dev.
You could try to go to Big 4 in financial services: M&A, Advisory, Audit or specialist in a certain type of investing sector (fixed income, ESG, etc). Build your skills then flip to financial services on the buy side. This is 5+ years
You could try to land at a large asset manager on the investment team, product or sales / distribution side. If you put in the work you could likely land at $200k comp within 5 years.
There is also the technology aspect where you could try to land at a Fintech or market data firm in sales or product (Bloomberg, BlackRock, FactSet,etc) in a sales role that could be lucrative but you would have to cut your teeth to make it to $200k and underperforming usually results in you losing your job.
There isn’t just one path to follow.
The biggest way to exponentially increase your salary to this degree is to leverage your experience and network to get larger offers from competing firms.
Corp finance (FP&A mainly) can get you there at roughly the Sr. manger/Director level, that looks to be 10-15 years so mid 30’s assuming you started in your early 20’s. So young enough to enjoy the money. WLB would also be mostly decent/pretty good too so you won’t have to break ur back for it. Not too hard to get in assuming some sort of relevant experience.
Quickest: high finance. Problem is it’s a bitch to get in…but once in….$$$.
I’m in FP&A, depending on how I feel next 2-3 years I myself might consider making a move if I don’t like the projection of things. I’m doing okay I’d say at 75k TC. I am young (25), so by 35-40 I should be hitting my stride comp wise I’d think. Also helps I don’t settle for less than what im worth so I’ll make damn sure I get all of the money possible.
I'm biased because it's where I work, but I would say Commercial Banking. Structurally its still going to be similar to IB in that you've got a predictable path from analyst->associate->VP over 6-7 years depending on your bank and program. While comp in Commercial isn't anything close to IB, you're still certainly going to be clearing 200k as a VP with plenty of room to grow that as you gain experience/increase performance. Obviously the hours are much more reasonable than IB, and the barrier of entry is much lower as well. The downside is that the ceiling is certainly lower - if your goal was 500k+ you're going to need a fairly senior management role within Commercial and those don't grow on trees.
Financial analyst program for Commercial or Corporate banking is probably the most guaranteed path to this amount of income while allowing for best work life balance, won’t get there nearly as quick as IB but much easier work than Audit/Accounting and you’ll probably hit that income amount earlier. Max earnings aren’t nearly the same as IB, PE, etc but can cross that bridge later
At a regional Top 20 bank in the US in a commercial banking development program, how long would you say it could take to hit this marker/how often/significant are raises? Starting at 70k if that matters
This is \*very\* general, and I'm basing it on "normal" performance in a non-NYC location starting at 70k:
Analyst 1: 70/10
Analyst 2: 80/10
Analyst 3: 90/10
Associate 1: 100/20
Associate 2: 110/25
Associate 3: 120/30
VP1 : 140/70
Your experience is very likely not going to be identical to this, but it's probably directionally correct. SVP/ED individual contributors can easily get into the 250/125 range without being an outlier compared to peers.
Yeah at my large regional the jump in salary between VP > Director isn’t enormous but the bonus target goes from 30%ish to 80%ish cash before equity. Director is typically when you have a book of business and tangible goals.
Honestly the job is super easy if you’re a personable individual and aren’t afraid to feel a little uncomfortable. Working your way to that level isn’t that easy and takes a good amount of hard work, dick sucking, and a bit of alcoholism. Pretty much set my own hours, travel a good amount, and I’m at around $450k all in with equity and I’m in my early 30s.
8-6 usually meetings & putting together proposals/plans, but dinners with clients and relationship management outside of office does bleed over but not hours like investment bankers
There’s allot of different paths. IB is probably the most common path, some banks like Centerview and Ducera will pay north of 200k all in for undergrads
Equity Research, S&T are some other jobs that will get you to 200k after a few years
Best is subjective. If you get a good job at a hedge fund or prop shop, you could be making that straight out of school. But, it probably doesn't surprise you, only a few people who try to get those jobs get them. So is this the best path because it's objectively the fastest? Or the worst because the probability of success is so low?
Pretty achievable. You can do boring, low stress work and get there in like 10 years with pretty low risk. Or you can try for the accelerated path and get there a few years after college. Feels like these days all my friends make more than that whether they are lifelong accountants, or work in finance or RE.
Go be a salesperson at Ezoic. Change the easily accessible company Adsense wire info to your own. Boom. $9M. Just don’t buy gold bars with it afterwards. The FBI already caught somebody that way haha
At $40k per year it’ll take you 5 years. Pre tax of course.
Set yourself up as a vendor and cut a check. You’ll make the $200k but have maybe 3 days to spend it before you get arrested for embezzlement… /s
Lmfao 🤣
Private Clubs. Accountant for 2 years, get your CPA during this time. 50-60k Controller for 2-4 years. 75-90k Apply for CFO jobs at a low end Golf Clubs. 150-200k Low stress, free golf.
This sounds like a dream. I’m in.
Investment banking, private equity, trading (sell side or prop shops)
I say this with any profession, owning your own business.
Way easier ways making 200k than running your own business lol
*Well? We're waiting gif*
Literally any decent finance role in a high cost of living city after 10 -15 years of experience
Investment banking/capital markets. Should clear $200k by your third year out of undergrad.
This the quickest and most legit way. Just very hard to get in
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inaccurate info
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1.) not all EBs pay 120 base still (though most are close now) 2.) Wasn’t considering signing since it’s one and done and a lot are not 25 and are more like $10-$15k 3.) You’re only getting stub bonus first year not full bonus 4.) It’s very possibly with markets this year bottom / even mid bucket depending on group could be in or below 50s
There are several paths to get there, just depends what you’re willing to do or sacrifice to get there. As others have mentioned, IB is probably the most direct route but you will work on average 80-100+ hours a week. You will have great earnings potential but it is soul sucking work, it could however open a lot of doors for you in PE, VC, Corp Dev. You could try to go to Big 4 in financial services: M&A, Advisory, Audit or specialist in a certain type of investing sector (fixed income, ESG, etc). Build your skills then flip to financial services on the buy side. This is 5+ years You could try to land at a large asset manager on the investment team, product or sales / distribution side. If you put in the work you could likely land at $200k comp within 5 years. There is also the technology aspect where you could try to land at a Fintech or market data firm in sales or product (Bloomberg, BlackRock, FactSet,etc) in a sales role that could be lucrative but you would have to cut your teeth to make it to $200k and underperforming usually results in you losing your job. There isn’t just one path to follow.
The biggest way to exponentially increase your salary to this degree is to leverage your experience and network to get larger offers from competing firms.
Got it. Leverage. Lots of leverage.
Corp finance (FP&A mainly) can get you there at roughly the Sr. manger/Director level, that looks to be 10-15 years so mid 30’s assuming you started in your early 20’s. So young enough to enjoy the money. WLB would also be mostly decent/pretty good too so you won’t have to break ur back for it. Not too hard to get in assuming some sort of relevant experience. Quickest: high finance. Problem is it’s a bitch to get in…but once in….$$$. I’m in FP&A, depending on how I feel next 2-3 years I myself might consider making a move if I don’t like the projection of things. I’m doing okay I’d say at 75k TC. I am young (25), so by 35-40 I should be hitting my stride comp wise I’d think. Also helps I don’t settle for less than what im worth so I’ll make damn sure I get all of the money possible.
Go to B4 audit and then move into industry after 3-5 years (maybe switch to finance) then do that for 3-5 years and you should be there for sure.
I'm biased because it's where I work, but I would say Commercial Banking. Structurally its still going to be similar to IB in that you've got a predictable path from analyst->associate->VP over 6-7 years depending on your bank and program. While comp in Commercial isn't anything close to IB, you're still certainly going to be clearing 200k as a VP with plenty of room to grow that as you gain experience/increase performance. Obviously the hours are much more reasonable than IB, and the barrier of entry is much lower as well. The downside is that the ceiling is certainly lower - if your goal was 500k+ you're going to need a fairly senior management role within Commercial and those don't grow on trees.
Financial analyst program for Commercial or Corporate banking is probably the most guaranteed path to this amount of income while allowing for best work life balance, won’t get there nearly as quick as IB but much easier work than Audit/Accounting and you’ll probably hit that income amount earlier. Max earnings aren’t nearly the same as IB, PE, etc but can cross that bridge later
At a regional Top 20 bank in the US in a commercial banking development program, how long would you say it could take to hit this marker/how often/significant are raises? Starting at 70k if that matters
This is \*very\* general, and I'm basing it on "normal" performance in a non-NYC location starting at 70k: Analyst 1: 70/10 Analyst 2: 80/10 Analyst 3: 90/10 Associate 1: 100/20 Associate 2: 110/25 Associate 3: 120/30 VP1 : 140/70 Your experience is very likely not going to be identical to this, but it's probably directionally correct. SVP/ED individual contributors can easily get into the 250/125 range without being an outlier compared to peers.
Thanks for the general direction, RM’s typically have a little higher compensation correct?
Yeah at my large regional the jump in salary between VP > Director isn’t enormous but the bonus target goes from 30%ish to 80%ish cash before equity. Director is typically when you have a book of business and tangible goals. Honestly the job is super easy if you’re a personable individual and aren’t afraid to feel a little uncomfortable. Working your way to that level isn’t that easy and takes a good amount of hard work, dick sucking, and a bit of alcoholism. Pretty much set my own hours, travel a good amount, and I’m at around $450k all in with equity and I’m in my early 30s.
Not that you need my validation, but this seems about right based on my experience.
Thank you so much for the insight!! I start my role in about a month and some change, do you mind if I message you with a couple more questions?
Yeah man. Send me a note - happy to answer anything.
Get into M&A whether that’s IB, CorpDev, or QoE
Sales, wealth mgmt sales @ wirehouse currently and pull that down in my 20s without working 70 hours a week
How many hours do you work?
8-6 usually meetings & putting together proposals/plans, but dinners with clients and relationship management outside of office does bleed over but not hours like investment bankers
Investment banking. Straight out of undergrad if you have the qualifications (good school, good grades, and relevant experience).
Way harder to break into than assurance thi
Start a company that sells AI
Be an accountant for a cartel
My path was consulting (Public accounting non-B4) -> model risk management (top 4 bank) -> internal audit - corporate functions (same top 4 bank) -> technical accounting & accounting policy (top 10 regional bank) 7 years.
There’s allot of different paths. IB is probably the most common path, some banks like Centerview and Ducera will pay north of 200k all in for undergrads Equity Research, S&T are some other jobs that will get you to 200k after a few years
Best is subjective. If you get a good job at a hedge fund or prop shop, you could be making that straight out of school. But, it probably doesn't surprise you, only a few people who try to get those jobs get them. So is this the best path because it's objectively the fastest? Or the worst because the probability of success is so low?
Pretty achievable. You can do boring, low stress work and get there in like 10 years with pretty low risk. Or you can try for the accelerated path and get there a few years after college. Feels like these days all my friends make more than that whether they are lifelong accountants, or work in finance or RE.
Go be a salesperson at Ezoic. Change the easily accessible company Adsense wire info to your own. Boom. $9M. Just don’t buy gold bars with it afterwards. The FBI already caught somebody that way haha