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Average salaries for quants

Joined
5/3/08
Messages
26
Points
13
Hi all,

I'm curious to know what are the average salaries for quants ?

- entry level

- 2/5 years experience

- 5/10

- 10 +

Thanks
 
Salary

That thread says 200k to 500k in a 3-5 yr time frame. Do salaries really hit 500 k in a 3 yr time frame. 3 yrs is nothing, even in this market ?
 
That thread says 200k to 500k in a 3-5 yr time frame. Do salaries really hit 500 k in a 3 yr time frame. 3 yrs is nothing, even in this market ?
No. Where it said that?
It said " After 5 years, you can make VP and anywhere from 200K to 500K or more." How you can interpret it to be "500 k in a 3 yr time frame" is beyond me.
 
The actual message had a range but anyway 5 yrs of experience and becoming a VP. 500k still seems to be a lot of money. Some ppl dont make that much with 20 yrs of experience as an Engineering major,accounting or simply even in the medical field. I know several lawyers who went to ivy league schools and have jobs at some of the biggest law firms in the nation with 3-4 yrs in their firm they draw close to 200k which i always thought was a lot of money
Unless your entrepreunial and start out something on your own which is completely different. A paycheck slave making 500k is hard to believe it just makes me wonder what do they actually even do that gets them to that pay. You got my eyes wide open.

S**t when i grew up back in my home country that only think i heard that would make me rich was being a doctor or Engineer. It was so retarded now that i look back :)
 
Keep in mind that the number quoted is base salary + bonus. Most people will have a base salary of 100-200K regardless of title, experience. It's the bonus that makes the difference. If you are in mid/back office or belong to some small bonus pool, then you will be making more or less the same salary for the next 20 years and it may max out at 100K ish.
what I posted is for front office, best case scenario. In good time, you can make boatload of money. In bad time, you may get a pink slip. It's what it is.
I still think medical career makes more money. I have known people who have their own dental practice and they make consistently millions yearly. So don't think FE will make you rich. You probably live in NYC or London and after the cost of living at these expensive cities, you will barely save any money.
 
I do understand the good & bad times stuff. There is no recession proof profession i think in todays world other than medical field. Everyone should try to make the money while they can. i also very well understand that those numbers are during good times, hey but you can always work in Manhattan and live in a lower cost area and commute from a place thats not as expensive (New Jersey maybe? )
Its easy to talk about medical field, but medical field is quite long , you shud target it when you are very young. Its not practical for some one making close to 100K to quit their job and go full time to medical school for 4-6 yrs with residency. Try calculating the ROI on that :)
 
could anybody elaborate on how much you can expect to save a year living in newyork, say for a 100k starting salary+bonus? 40k?

assume renting a mid-priced apartment for oneself in or close to midtown manhattan.
 
I think the answer will be very subjective.
Here is an attempt at a rough estimate...
Excluding bonus for a few reasons: only declared/paid after 12-15 months; no guaranteed amount (for that matter, even salary is at risk on wall st!);

gross salary: 100,000
taxes and payroll deductions for health care etc: 35,000
401k/retirement plan savings: 10,000 - tax-deferred
rent and non-food expenses: 30,000-40,000 (rents range from $2000-3500 for 1 bedroom)
[sample link: http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/nfb/686011593.html]
food/entertainment expenses: 10,000
travel/durables/education/misc: 5000

if you need a bigger space to live in midtown, be prepared to cut down on other things, else you may need to borrow from your friends till you get your bonus! -just kidding.

your actually expenses may be about 75-110 % of what is shown above.
if you live very tight, you could save over 20k per year in addition to 401k savings.
If you are an international student, feel free to send me an email/PM for more info.
 
The actual message had a range but anyway 5 yrs of experience and becoming a VP. 500k still seems to be a lot of money.

Don't just look at the raw numbers. As Andy has pointed out more than once, the cost of living in NYC (or London) is stratospheric. The only way to circumvent that is to add another three hours to one's commute time -- on top of a ten-hour workday. As for the title, it's meaningless: the finance world is bursting to the seams with VPs and directors. Job stress is very high. The hours are inhumanly long. The Damocles' sword of an uncertain future is ever over one's head. I'm convinced many quants would exchange their jobs for something else paying a fraction of their former salaries for a mix of fewer hours, less stress, and less uncertainty. Part of the problem is that new entrants are transfixed by the sight of the relative handful who are making several million a year -- not realising what an anomaly they really are.

Going into the medical profession makes more sense. Or becoming an actuary.
 
Don't just look at the raw numbers. As Andy has pointed out more than once, the cost of living in NYC (or London) is stratospheric........Going into the medical profession makes more sense. Or becoming an actuary.

The picture you guys are painting here definitely seems like an overpessimistic one. If, afterall, the pay is so unsatisfactory compared to these other career options you mentioned, then why would we come for a MFE in the first place, besides the attractiveness of the intellectual challenges and then again the not so well regarded perception of dorkiness for being a quant as viewed by the rest of the street?

I mean its just kinda discouraging to hear all this from you guys for a would-be quant like myselrf. Seriously you are the role models of a lot of the more junior quantneters. We definitely don't want to end up in misery after forking over the 30k tuition fee.

"convinced many quants would exchange their jobs for something else paying a fraction of their former salaries for a mix of fewer hours, less stress, and less uncertainty."

thats just way too gloomy.
 
MidasCFA--I think the point is that many people enter the FE programs thinking there is some sort of guarantee for $500k jobs, and that is obviously not the case. For many people, getting a $90k-$100k base salary is quite a step-up after completing the program, and it is probably the main attraction to these programs. You have a lot of engineers or comp-sci grads who were making $40k-$60k and see an opportunity in learning financial mathematics. Doing well, they can graduate from a masters program and earn twice that. After landing that first job, however, its up to each of them to prove themselves so they can command the $200k+ jobs.

And the hard reality is many of those graduates do not anticipate the reality of the Wall St jobs--long hours, stressful work environments, little job security. For some its worth it, for others its not. There are also less stressful jobs in quantitative finance, though they may not have as much upside earnings potential.
 
If, afterall, the pay is so unsatisfactory compared to these other career options you mentioned, then why would we come for a MFE in the first place, besides the attractiveness of the intellectual challenges and then again the not so well regarded perception of dorkiness for being a quant as viewed by the rest of the street?

I mean its just kinda discouraging to hear all this from you guys for a would-be quant like myselrf. Seriously you are the role models of a lot of the more junior quantneters. We definitely don't want to end up in misery after forking over the 30k tuition fee.

Would you rather hear a load of rosy-tinted exaggerations and misrepresentations? You've already got your MFE brochures and MFE professors feeding you overoptimistic nonsense (particularly at the second-tier schools). Quants would be doing you a disservice by parroting all that.

FE is a place where many are called but few are chosen. And from the ranks of the chosen, even fewer graduate to the ranks of the mega-earners. And those who don't become mega-earners have to ask themselves at some stage how long they can handle very long workdays, very high stress, and high job uncertainty. And look at the facts: 1) the financial industry is constantly in a state of flux and reorganisation, 2) at least some of the work will be outsourced to lower-cost destinations, and 3) MFEs are now being churned out faster than ever. The last two factors are going to exercise downward pressure on salaries and make the profession more competitive than ever before.

Yet having said this, I have to acknowledge there aren't that many other career opportunites out there. Engineers and physicists in the US and UK have been gravitating towards finance precisely because of the lack of viable career paths in their own specialities, or because the pay simply isn't enough to start a family or buy a house.
 
The picture you guys are painting here definitely seems like an overpessimistic one. If, afterall, the pay is so unsatisfactory compared to these other career options you mentioned, then why would we come for a MFE in the first place, besides the attractiveness of the intellectual challenges and then again the not so well regarded perception of dorkiness for being a quant as viewed by the rest of the street?

I mean its just kinda discouraging to hear all this from you guys for a would-be quant like myselrf. Seriously you are the role models of a lot of the more junior quantneters. We definitely don't want to end up in misery after forking over the 30k tuition fee.

thats just way too gloomy.

If you don't like it, don't jump into it. It is plain and simple.
 
alain,

For those of us who speak English.... :)
 
alain, i did get to read the part about NBA players before it was deleted. the analogy was good so why? lol.


just thought that was funny.
 
I was rambling (not enough sleep) but here is what I meant with the NBA analogy.

In US, a lot of kids are drawn to the NBA because of status and the money they can "potentially" earn. Hence a lot of kids play basketball but only very few of them make it into the NBA. However from the ones who make it into the NBA, only a handful make the big bucks.

You can say the same thing about Financial Engineering. People go into it in droves but only a few make it, and from those who are in the field, only a handful make the really big bucks.
 
And by the way, the picture is gloomy but real. There is absolutely zero job security in this field.

I've been working in finance for 10 years and I have been through 4 or 5 mergers and various crisis (Russian Default, Internet Bubble, 9/11 and now the Sub-prime meltdown). In good times, there is no problems. In bad times, you don't know if you are going to have a job tomorrow.

Also, everybody is "spendable" for one reason or another. The moment you realize you are not spendable anymore, you don't want to work for somebody but for yourself. That'll be the moment when you are in the upper echelon.
 
i really appreciate the invaluable lessons and experiences you guys so generously share.

two thumps up for the great work!
 
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