Having chance upon this thread, I find its quite interesting but nonetheless thought I would post to just join in the fun.

Compliance space is a very interesting area, neither front (though we meet prospects/clients as part of the DD process), middle (since we are between the sales and ops) nor back office since we do not just plainly process sheets of papers.

Yet, amongst the none front office persons, we are easily one of the highest paid.

When I turn 30 (seemingly an age a lot of you reference here), I was drawing around $10k fixed with variable depending on company and individual performance and by mid 30s, I was banking around $15k as a head of company for a mid size outfit with my own team. Life was different in each part of my career, from flying 50% of my time, not seeing gf enough till partying on weekends so much to make up for the loss of time on weekdays.

All in all, it depends on what you want to achieve, career vs family or if you seek balance in both.

Good luck to all intending to join, remember, it job pays well but be expected to be driven. I have my fair share of asking those who do not make the cut to change career but have also given reference to others who are good and are now themselves Heads/Chief Compliance Officers.