Agree, comp seems low for that level of responsibilty. At my firm, those numbers are similar to what our junior analysts get paid. The more senior analysts who would be reporting to you here are making mid-6 figures.
But are you in a tier 2 city also? And would any of your senior analysts have only 5 years industry experience and still be studying for the CFA?
I don’t mean any disrepesect to Southpaw in saying that. But the reality is if he was working for a major firm in NYC or equivalent tier 1 city, he would not have the same level of responsibility at this stage of his career. In fact, I would guess his profile in terms of experience would be closer to a junior analyst to senior at your firm iheart.
Working in a small team like that is great experience by the way. You already have much more direct investing and decision making experience than you would have at a large institution and you get to look across multi asset classes. It’s a very nice position to be in. When you add in all the extras and where you’re living, it is a fair comp imo. Just keep pushing to get the base up at each annual review.
I think your base for your experience and responsibilities is reasonable. I think however that your bonus is quite low. I would say ask for the increase in base to ~140-150k or if they offer a smaller increase ask for the bonus to be 30-40%.
What’s interesting is almost everyone feels like you get paid based on your previous work experience. That’s how you get a job. You get paid what you’re worth. There’s no reason someone with five years experience can’t make bank if he/she is really good at what they do.
Don’t find excuses to justify your salary to yourself. You should get paid what you’re worth.
^We don’t know if he’s really good at what he does…so we can only comment on facts like work experience.
Thanks agin everyone for your input. All of the feedback thus far has been very helpful!
Ramos, you bring up a good point. And while I’d like to think that I’m very good at what I do, I tend to rely on the feedback I receive from my boss/peers, along with my annual review, to determine where I fall. Both of which have been quite positive.
You should be killing it there. Agreed that if you have real portfolio management responsibilities and by that I mean you have full discretion and direct the trades in the portfolio (aka do not report to anyone on individual trades done) then you could probably be making more. If not then it seems pretty fair.
Thanks for your input. Yes, I do have full discretion on all IG fixed income portfoflios. The only reporting I do is to our Board of Directors on a quarterly basis. I basically put together a fairly detailed report showing our aggregated positions, weighted average portfolio statistics (duration, credit, maturity, etc.), and where I see our largest risks in the overall portfolios. I also throw in some stress tests, primarily interest rate shocks, but that’s a small portion of the report.
+3
Just for the NYC people who tend to forget how expensive and tax heavy their city is, 120 in ATL comes out to roughly the lifestyle of 270 in NYC according to a calculator I’ve found to be reasonable. Even employers in my experience focus too much on the top line numbers and not the cost of living impacts.
True, though I live in a lower cost of living city than Atlanta and that still seems low. A very good friend of mine is in a very similar position and makes considerably more.
Sweep, would you mind sharing your friend’s comp figure? I’m trying to get a grasp of where a position like mine might fall, comp wise. I know it’s tough to pin-point comp figures since so many factors (experience, qualifications, location, etc., etc.) play a role, but it will help to hear where your friend is on the comp scale since it sounds like his position is similar to mine.
Thanks again for everyones replies!
He’s at a pure RIA with over $2B in AUM but he directly manages $500mm of it. Since they don’t offer the concierge services your office (probably) does, their overhead is probably lower. Then again, I assume you charge your families an annual fee (couple hundred grand?) as well as bps on their investable assets?
So, it’s not apples to apples but fairly close. At any rate, $220k is his floor. Chance to make more depending on all the usual stuff.
It seems fair, assuming the phantom stock is worth something more than a poke in the eye. Here is my wisdom of salaries in the financial world summed up in a math formula:
Amount of assets x amount of investment decisions made x client contact = salary
You help manage 200M of the 5 billion and presumably have an impact on the other investments through your reports to the investment committee. However, your investment decsisions are still somewhat limited as you did not state you were on the investment committee. Lastly, you have no direct client contact, and only put together some flient facing materials.
You either need to be makeing more of the investment decisions or be leading client presentations to get up to 200K. This might sound odd, but going to toastmasters or a similar public speaking course will probably add more to your salary then working 10 hour days after you get your CFA.
Plus your not in a high cost of living area, where the salaries would be 30% higher, just 'cause.
Thanks Sweep, this is very helpful info!
Thanks for your input. You’re right, I didn’t mention that I am a voting member of my firm’s investment committee (which I am). In a prior post (not OP), I mentioned that I have fairly limited (~20%) direct client facing responsibilities. My meetings with clients are generally during investment reviews or as needed on an ad hoc basis.