High Finance Thread

Originally Posted by Unregistered

If you want to find salary ranges for global banks in Singapore, the information is freely available if you do a proper search for them. The popular website efinancialcareers also regularly publishes its own finance salary surveys of various global cities, including Singapore. Two examples are the following:
w.efinancialcareers.hk/news/2019/08/how-to-earn-125k-in-singapore-banking-three-years-after-you-graduate

w.efinancialcareers.hk/news/finance/this-is-what-your-investment-banking-salary-should-be-in-singapore

There are also various job postings by international banks on the Singapore government website - mycareersfuture - where they are required to list the salary on offer. A few FO postings are the following:
Analyst (min 1y experience) for $7.5-$10k/month - Goldman:
w.mycareersfuture.gov.sg/job/banking-finance/global-markets-ficc-asian-em-macro-trader-analyst-goldman-sachs-d57a9f86761594f1daa5a6ed9cc30d0d?source=MCF&event= SuggestedJob

Associate-VP (min 5y experience) for $15-$24.6k/month - SocGen:
w.mycareersfuture.gov.sg/job/banking-finance/fx-sales-regional-banks-societe-generale-dfc1c846a5eb4f8a6ae544ab4ce61751

VP-Director (min 8y experience) for $17-$26.7k/month - Nomura:
w.mycareersfuture.gov.sg/job/banking-finance/vice-president-%E2%80%93-fx-options-quant-global-markets-nomura-singapore-898371c1c39fab7b32a99a3a8f96a262

VP-ED (min 7y experience) for $15-$30k/month - JPM:
w.mycareersfuture.gov.sg/job/banking-finance/cib-credit-portfolio-trading-vice-president-jpmorgan-chase-bank-na-69132ef780eda32f9444f32e51848163

VP-ED (min 8y experience) for $17.5-$35k/month - Goldman
w.mycareersfuture.gov.sg/job/banking-finance/global-markets-ficc-sea-solution-sales-executive-director-goldman-sachs-035dfa48140bdcbd50b24337a5e8b880?source=MCF&event= RecommendedJobJD

Based on these various surveys & job postings, I would characterise the FRONT OFFICE base salary ranges at global banks as follows:
Analyst: $7-$12k/month
Associate: $12-$20k/month
VP: $15-$30k/month
ED/Director: $25-$40k/month

The ranges can be wide with overlaps across ranks even within the same bank. I have been in the industry for over a decade, and I know that the salary ranges depend on your years of experience (many people are stuck at the VP level, sometimes for their entire career but they might still get salary raises), how much the bank wants/needs you (i.e. your skills and/or contacts), how well you negotiate (and you need to do this every year with your boss), and if you change jobs every several years (in the end, you can probably get a better increment if you find a job with a competitor).

The key to a rewarding banking career is longevity. Get to a Director level (say in around 9-12 years), or even better MD level, and stay there for 10+ years making over $500k in total comp per year over that time (perhaps even well over).

Assuming you already bought a house/condo (with mortgage) while a VP, and being able to make a good income as Director/MD for more than a decade, you can then retire comfortably in your mid-late 50s if you wish. If you are posted to an overseas posting during that time, say London or NY or HK, you may even have a second home in one of these places by then.

Who asked for your opinion...?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Who asked for your opinion...?

nobody, its voluntary

Originally Posted by Unregistered

For Funds it is not as structured as a banking program, so it could be highly dependent on your team's as well as fund's overall performance. At a junior level, anywhere between 30 - 80% would be a reasonable expectation.

Assuming you are at an Equities fund, since PE/VC/Macro don't have research associates.

Actually recently more and more PE funds have been building integrated support functions into their overall business so some PE funds do have a research team.

Originally Posted by MonkeyWannaBe

Hi guys, any insight on pay for entry level mid-sized PE firms in Singapore?
I am your typical finance student in local uni aspiring to go for IB, but I just can't make the cut (FCH GPA, Relevant internships, etc.). I guess ppl are just much much better. So right now really considering other more possible career. Insights and advices are much appreciated.

So much self pity but feeling bad about myself since many of my peers actually made it.

Pay for entry level PE firms in Singapore really depends. Without going into too much specifics, I know that the bulge PE funds like KKR/Blackstone pay around ~$8k for an entry analyst whilst the mid-market funds like Ardian pay around ~$6k. There are also smaller boutique PE funds that will pay around ~$4k for entry level.

This is for a direct investment PE fund and not a fund of funds which pays differently.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

6 years working experience, first as a Sec sch math teacher and then in various policy roles in in civil service. Math degrees and Masters and was a govt scholar but I know all this don’t really count for much. Have some tech skills like coding and data visualisation. Looking to switch to banking/finance industry as a mid career. Decided to take CFA and now studying level 2. Quite like what I’m learning as well as do my own investing on the side.

1. What are the prospects for a mid career like me who has no prior relevant experience? Will it be as if I’m a fresh grad?
2. What other skills do I need to beef up in my CV?
3. My current salary is about 100k. Will I expect to take a cut when I make the jump?

Thanks!

Bump please

Originally Posted by Unregistered

6 years working experience, first as a Sec sch math teacher and then in various policy roles in in civil service. Math degrees and Masters and was a govt scholar but I know all this don’t really count for much. Have some tech skills like coding and data visualisation. Looking to switch to banking/finance industry as a mid career. Decided to take CFA and now studying level 2. Quite like what I’m learning as well as do my own investing on the side.

1. What are the prospects for a mid career like me who has no prior relevant experience? Will it be as if I’m a fresh grad?
2. What other skills do I need to beef up in my CV?
3. My current salary is about 100k. Will I expect to take a cut when I make the jump?

Thanks!

Some fresh grads in banking make 6 to 8k per month just for their graduate associate programs. 100K total comp, assuming you have a CFA and can sweeze through the HR bars, i'd say 8k a month with 2 to 4 months bonus is definitely likely / possible.

CFA sounds good, and honestly i'd just start applying and see what bites.

Lay person here. Just curious, why are bankers and finance workers paid so much? Do they contribute in multiples of the scientists and doctors to society who make a positive difference in this world? Think Lehman mini bonds anyone?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Lay person here. Just curious, why are bankers and finance workers paid so much? Do they contribute in multiples of the scientists and doctors to society who make a positive difference in this world? Think Lehman mini bonds anyone?

Here's what I think. Doctors, scientists, tech people need to get paid, their company needs to obtain funding for them to grow. Bankers and finance professionals provide the funding through investments/loans for these companies to grow and make a positive difference in this world. In exchange, the bankers and finance professionals take a cut from these companies that boom.

[Barthola]

Well, hi guys! What do you actually think about financial advisors?! I haven't yet used the services of a financial advisor, and I do not really know what consists this job of, however my parents keep on saying that it is a really well payed job, and I could become a great specialist in this field. My parents have been using the services of a certain financial advisor for their entire lives, and they consider that it is exactly what I have to do. Actually, my parents' money, have been managed by Rise Private for their entire lives!

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Lay person here. Just curious, why are bankers and finance workers paid so much? Do they contribute in multiples of the scientists and doctors to society who make a positive difference in this world? Think Lehman mini bonds anyone?

There is no link between private sector pay and making "positive difference in this world" as you put it. How much do maids taking care of infants or old people make? How much would you be prepared to pay such a maid? So don't think too hard about this. The world is what it is. And it's not just finance people. Programmers in Google or Facebook get paid similar packages (probably even more when you account for how well the stocks have done), and really how much of a "positive difference" do they make?

I don't know about scientists, but I reckon doctors particularly specialists get a good deal in Singapore and many parts of the world. It is relatively well-paying, though perhaps not among the highest, with excellent job security. When you have job security you can lever up significantly with less worry than if you were in a job with less job security. Borrow to the hilt to buy a property in your early 30s, and by the time you pay off the loan in your 50s, you will have a very nice nest egg. Or even move up the property ladder over time, with job security on your back.

In finance, there is much less job security. I don't know about Singapore, but in NY or London, historically only about 0.20-0.25% of entry-level FO analysts make it to VP. Then maybe about 1/3 of VPs make it to Director and (even rarer) MD level. Nowadays there are more opportunities in the so-called "buy-side", but I would think that the ex-bankers who go on to become buy-side "partners" are not much more common. These are probably the same people who would have become Directors or MDs if they stayed in banking.

To tell you of a personal experience, I started a new role at a bank several years back, and the person whose cubicle was on my left was fired on my 3rd day on this new job. Another person whose cubicle was across from mind was asked to leave about 6 months later. The person on my left ultimately found a role on the buy-side after maybe a year, but I don't know about the one across from me. This bank eventually (years later) made me redundant too, and they paid me off with a year's salary. I did manage to find a higher-paying job at another bank after about 8 months (they really wanted a person with my experience and skills), but not everyone may be so lucky.

Many people who leave finance do so for good reasons. Many of them do move to other well-paid roles outside of financial services, with corporates for example, though the pay will be less than in "high finance". But there is probably better job security in the likes of Nestle than Goldman. Hours and stress are probably much lower too. That's worth money too, though the value will differ from individual to individual.