How much money would a 1st year analyst at an top 30 Investment bank make?

Question

If you could provide as much detail as possible that would be helpful. I'm trying to determine wheter going back to school for a year would be worth it. I'm under the assumption that after one year in school I would be able to get one of these jobs.

I have a B.S. in Finance. I have a 700+ GMAT but I don't have enough experience to get into a top notch MBA. I'm looking at getting a MS in Finance, working towards my CFA and then after working for a couple years going back and getting my MBA.

Answer 1

A heck of a lot less than the same analyst would get at a top brokerage.

Back to school "for a year"? Unless that is graduate school, it likely won't be enough. When I only had a BS in Economics and that merely priviledged me to ask customers important questions like, "would you like fries with that?" In my current field (not economics) I don't get real money or consideration until I get my PhD, so even my masters doesn't do me all that well. You need at least a bachelor's degree in an appropriate field for starting at any bank, much less a "top 30 investment bank" and a masters to get to these in order to get the big bucks. Commonly earned (although there are plenty of whizzes who do so quicker), BA/BS is 4 years, MA/MS is 2-3 years, and PhD another 2 or 3, so with 4-10 years of college, then you can expect good things from the "top" anything, "a year" won't usually do.

Added:
Check around on this site and you can get some good ideas, maybe make some contacts or ideas. The second link shows some salaries in England (note the currency difference) but with some limited experience. The idea to remember, you get in and build some experience with one for a couple of years and then shop for another with that experience.

Answer 2

25-50k is base with bonus....with a masters you can enter the firm as an associate and make average 60-130k including bonus