Need help thinking about a job I’ve been offered internally, from a move from Risk Management into the FO.
In RM - pay is c£100k inc bonus, long term gig, slow progression up the ranks, well respected globally and within the institution. Hrs are OK, 8-6pm, no stress, no need to worry about pay day-day. I really like this job, and I like the people.
In FO - pay is £120k + bonus (50-100%), possibly short term gig 2-5yrs…could be more, possible promo within 2yrs, not well respected internally, niche business and one the Bank could get rid of fairly quickly if they didn’t like it. It’ll just be me and the MD doing the job, drumming up business around Europe. MD said i’m the best analyst in RM and he wants me to work for him. Hrs will be OK as MD is chill, lots of stress and having to deal with people around the Bank…always worried about getting canned. 2 buddies of mine got canned in the last 12 months in the wider team…
80% you should go with the new job. I don’t know what you mean by Risk Management is “well respected” in your institution, but that’s probably only in the head of Risk Managers. Every trader smiles to those guys but knows the risk manager would be in the FO if they could.
Also, how the F are you spending money that you do with only 100 GBP a year? You need to try to make more than that. Front Office jobs should pay like 300 GBP after a few years.
Anyway, assuming you are the best person on the Risk Management team, which I don’t have any reason to doubt, you should easily be able to move back if the new job doesn’t work out.
Reasons to not take the job:
More work/worse life style - but you are living on the poverty line now. It’s pretty shocking and you should try to make more money.
Career risk of new job - you will be able to move back to Risk Management, trust me.
Less Asian chick poon - can’t help you with this one.
It doesn’t go far after 150k kitchen renovations, multiple vacations, driving Land Rover (even the hacksaw Evoque), Rolex, clubbing with 21-yo chicks, and so on.
I think there is a good chance you’ll take job 2 and be less happy. But I suspect you can go back to Job 1 (as long as you don’t get used to the money). However, you probably won’t get a chance at Job 2 often. At least, that is the framework I’d use to evaluate this
My pay at the moment funds my lifestyle… i’m not desperate to get paid more. I know that each year i’ll get an OK bonus and that i wont have to worry about getting paid. it’s stable - cushty
FO will be more stress - I don’t think i’m the type of guy to go out small talk with clients, unstructured work day-day, dealing with all parts of the bank that put up barriers to closing deals. It’ll be annoying!
Moving back into an RM role after working in FO will not be an option. I’ve never seen it done before. I would be gutted to leave this Bank, as i see myself here for a v.long time. If I move to FO, I might have another 2-5ys of legs before the business gets shut - I guess the exit would be to move elsewhere within the Bank - but i have seen a few ppl leave because they weren’t able to source another job internally.
I’m speaking with my mentor and a buddy over the next couple of days. I would also like to know what my pay will be… as that will def help make a decision. If he said i would get paid £130k + 60% bonus… then i would have to srs think about it.
Just spoke to one of the directors in RM… he reckons i should roll the dice. He thinks i’m destined for FO role and will emd up there at some point anyway. I could be onto a winner for a few years if it all works out.
I’m gonna speak to my mentor tomorrow to see what he thinks and then my boss again and the MD to find out pay expectations.
What exactly is this “front office” job? Because that can mean a lot of things. The fact that you are considering this vs a MO job with half the pay is interesting to me. 200k GBP is below average for most “front office” jobs (whatever that means). Assuming it’s not a totally dressed up hacksaw job, your value will be more than that after a couple of years.
I’m with Ohai, I initially assumed maybe GBP100k was some sort of benchmark ratio placeholder number normalized against the other pay. I mean, I’m by no means rich but I honestly can’t fathom living on $130k in a major city with any sort of savings in my 30’s. I doubly can’t imagine doing that and then spending money the way this guy does. I’m routinely amazed when I get insight into how irresponsibly people manage their personal savings.
Just to be clear - this isnt pure IB - MA on the buy. I’ll sit on the trading floor. And NY salaries are better than London btw… much better.
But srs… it ain’t that hard
My expenses are like £1k pm… that includes mortgage, bills, travel. The rest is play money. My wife earns similar to me which helps. If we club our net salaries together it’s the equivalent of 1 person on £250k pa. Most people who earn that kinda money have 2x kids in private school… I dont have kids. And i have another house on rent.
FO job - lending, pretty simple stuff actually… prob easier than what i’m doing now. Lending to niche sector (i dont want to say which as i wanna remain annon). Travel europe, deal with legals, tax, clients, generates around £5-6m p/l pa - of which me and MD will get a 5-10% slice.
I don’t know. Maybe it is better if pokhim just makes 100k. Because, if he makes 200k, then he will just instantly spend more money. Then if he gets fired, he won’t be able to go back to living on 100k. It’s kind of like gaping. There is a watermark.