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Starting salaries in investment banking positions with a bachelors degree after bonus (assistant or junior analyst position) range from $25,000 to $50,000. Starting salaries with an MBA degree range after bonus (associate position) range from $60,000 to $135,000. These salaries vary with firms and with the region of the country you are in. Bonuses typically would be 10 to 50% of salary to start and can move to one to three times salary later. Lately, salaries have increasingly included an equity component which may not be liquid for up to three years, although as an analyst you would typically be sheltered from this. This is good for the banks because it makes it much harder for people to move around.

Some Interesting Documents (from an undercover agent)

• DLJ Comp improves after mass defections and Monkey Business
• A recent compensation study
• 1999 Comp survey of analyst and associate pay at top i-banks

Generic salary advice: Some firms tend to pay less than others because they can get away with it. You might actually be better off taking less. Obviously don't give yourself away but at the entry level, the quality of experience you get and the strength of the people you will work with are far more important than how much you get paid. You are trying to maximize the present value of your future earnings and enjoyment. This may involve taking lower pay now. Or, if you're lucky, it might not.

Forecast salary ranges in the 1999 to 2001 period are as follows:

Note: This table is based upon conversations with banking insiders in mid-1999. MM denotes millions. K denotes thousands of US dollars.

• Investment Banking Salaries