Although the stock market remains highly prone to fluctuations and the United States barely escaped falling off a fiscal cliff in the new year, high-paying finance jobs have held steady. And the number of people looking for such jobs, if anything, has been increasing, even as the number of available places moves in the other direction on the number line.
“I’m looking to go into finance” is a common phrase among soon-to-be graduating college students and recent graduates. But what exactly is it like to “get into finance”? Finance is an industry, and the term covers many different positions. Finance jobs include everything from being an analyst to being a trader, from being a researcher to being a consultant. When most people think of “finance,” the first thing that comes to mind is investment banking, also called iBanking. Specifically, bulging support banks like Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley come to mind. But these companies only comprise a small (albeit highly profitable and respectable) slice of the financial pie. Job seekers can also enter the finance career bubble through sales and business divisions, corporate finance, hedge funds (a more difficult entry point for new BAs), consulting firms (McKinsey & Co. ., Boston Consulting Group’s HOLT Associates division), private wealth management firms (Charles Schwab, PNC Wealth Management), and even rating agencies (Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s). And just within iBanking, there is a further breakdown of jobs into three types of groups: capital markets, product, and industry groups. Basically, “finance” is deceptively simple: there are dozens of ways to sneak around in the financial sector.
The pay, of course, differs from position to position and company to company. At a large investment bank, first-year analysts typically earn around $70,000 base salary plus a $10,000 signing bonus and a $50,000 to $60,000 year-end bonus. At a hedge fund, the hiring salary can run as high as $90-$100k base plus an even more significant year-end bonus, but generally only analysts with an MBA or prior iBanking experience will earn this kind of money right away. Entry level private wealth management salaries can also exceed $80,000. First-year traders earn similar base salaries as analysts, but typically expect a smaller bonus, around $20K to $30K. Ratings or credit analysts tend to earn a little less than these other positions, around $55,000 base salary, but compared to the broader scope of US and international country grades, that’s still a level salary. input more than respectable. And once someone is in the world of finance, their chances of mobility in different sectors and positions increase considerably.
Of course, no money comes for free, and no one entering the world of finance can expect to earn their salary without working hard, sometimes 100 hours a week. Analysts joke that analysts have no life, and sometimes that joke rings all too true. But the applications for finance jobs keep coming and will keep coming. Bonuses may not be as extravagant as they used to be, nor may the path to climb the ranks of a company be as easy and safe. Yet no other industry can promise virtually $50,000 plus entry-level salaries, especially after the recession. High salaries remain a stable given to those who can say they are “in finances,” and in unsettled times, that kind of stability is something many are willing to fight for.