Cool 5yr post MBA Avgs from CNN Money...

Yeah... if it is just base though it certainly isn't shappy

If I am not mistaken, this is just what they EXPECT to make 5 years down the road.

Does anyone know how big the bonuses are for people in Venture Capital or Investment Management? I've seen the Investment Banking bonuses listed in sveral places, but I am wondering how much total comp the VC and IM get by their 5th year.

Yeah its just what they expect to make..

The question for investment banking is whether you can stick with it for 5 years. Those that are able to survive 5 years are solidly into VP roles and looking to be promoted to director in a year or two. To make director, you must start developing your own book of business. If you're in IB for 5 years and have begun developing a book of business, your total compensation will be a whole bunch. Bonus should be 2-4 times base salary or more.

The difficulty for VC/HF/PE work is that it's extremely tough to break in and there are not many mid-level folks. There are many people at the lower levels (who make great money) and there are many people at the MD levels (including some that make more than small nations), but the career path is unsettled. There's no guarantee that even if you are great at what you do that there will be a position for you to be promoted to after 2, 3 or 5 years. For the small percentage that are able to make the leap (culled from the small percentage that can actually get into the field) compensation could be millions, tens of millions or hundreds of millions (even billions). Typically, you need elite name-brand work experience after college + an MBA from an ultra-elite (preferably Harvard or Stanford) to have a shot.

It's no secret that a lot of people want to get into Investment Management because pay and lifestyle tend to be better than IB. The positions tend to be highly competitive, with the bulk of the people coming from a small handful of schools (basically the ultra-elites). People from other schools that get into IM tend to have name brand investment banking and finance in their backgrounds. The typical points of entry are 1) MBA from an ultra-elite, 2) name brand IB after college then MBA from an elite or 3) elite MBA then a few years at a top IB. Compensation is as good or better than IB, and hours are less - especially as you get more senior. With IB, you need deal flow to make money, but with IM you need a stable set of client relationships that you build over time.

These are, of course, generalizations based on market leaders. There are loads of mid-market and small-market IBs that work (and pay) differently. There are many PE/VC/HF firms that are smaller and easier to break into, but don't offer the upside and have the potential for folding. At some level, HF & IM firms are hard to distinguish, especially as HFs continue to become larger and more commonplace. It gets harder to find ways to "hedge" when you need to invest a whole pile of cash and other funds are utilizing the same concepts.

Good point. A lot of the generalizations about what it takes to get into PE assume that you'd only be willing to work for KKR or Carlyle. There are other ways into PE if you're willing to work for a smaller player. I've been doing a lot of research on European PE and even the European offices of the major US players and the profile of the people they hire isn't necessarily the same as it is in the US. I see a lot more profiles with industry and top-tier consulting experience and less IB experience.

I wonder where Sales & Trading jobs fit on that list.