<p>What are the best paying jobs in the finance field? I know i-banking is #1, but I am not looking to work that hard and I believe it would be too difficult for me to get a job as an i-banker anyway. But what other jobs are there next to ibanking that have a decent pay and are easier to obtain?</p>
<p>Sales/trading is often times lumped under the IB rubric, but it isn't strictly IB. Sales/trading tends to involve fewer hours and may be slightly easier to get (depending on the bank). Sales/trading people can also make huge amounts of money - often times more than the investment bankers do. For example, the most richly compensated employees at Goldman Sachs these days are not the investment bankers, it's the successful traders. </p>
<p>However, sales/trading experience is less portable than IB experience. Good IB experience lets you pursue a plethora of other jobs - private equity, venture capital, corporate finance, consulting, etc. But with a sales/trading job, all you know how to do is sales/trading. (Granted, that's a bit of an exaggeration, because traders can move around too, but just not as much as the IB's can).</p>
<p>There are two major classes of trading: </p>
<p>A) Flow trading: This is essentially executing client orders and market making. Many of the products in this field (for example: equities) are essentially commodity businesses and the profits are low. However, there are areas which are very profitable these days. The lines between flow and prop trading are blurred in some areas as well.</p>
<p>B) Prop trading: This is where all the cash is being made at the moment at the big banks. Think of this as in-house trading firms which bet using the firm's capital. A whole lot of desks exist each specializing in certain trading styles and products. You have everything from global macro to correlation trading desks each requiring different skill sets. There has been an explosion in quantitative trading so you will see quite a lot of PhDs from sciences/engineering on those desks. </p>
<p>Getting into the training class of various banks is as hard to get into as IBD. To get into prop trading desks, however, is significantly more difficult and depends on your background. While a philosophy major may be able to function in IBD, you can't expect that person to function in highly quantitative desks (which are populated with PhDs in sciences/engineering). </p>
<p>As for exit opportunities, there are plenty of options. What you need to keep in mind is that the majority (a number quoted from 90%-95%) of market participants fail. So you might not be cut out for this job. This applied to prop trading. Thus, the bigger problem isn't thinking about exit opportunities but to figure out whether you are cut out for this sort of a career. Naturally the rewards for the profitable traders are immense. (Trivia: The best paid folks at your banks are not your CEOs but the head of the best traidng desks). </p>
<p>Profitable traders are courted and are a prized commodity (you can't just simply replace a profitable trader). Exit opportunities don't bother them. Profitable traders may move into investment management, trading firms, hedge funds etc. Keep in mind that the lines between PE and HFs are blurring so they may be active in that area as well.</p>
<p>my answer lies somewhere in between sakky's and mahras' answers:</p>
<p>1) Pound for pound? I agree that the top prop traders make the most coin on Wall St. - hands down.</p>
<p>2) But remember, we are talking about prop trading (vs. say a garden variety equity cash sales / sales trader - in which case i'd say that a successful M&A banker makes more coin)</p>
<p>3) But - and this is an important caveat - what are the percentage of successful traders vs. the percentage of investment bankers - working at any given IB? More importantly, what is the matriculation rate of undergrads seeking to land a spot in any given IB dept. vs. a spot on a trading desk (much less a prop trading desk)?</p>
<p>4) If you multiply the $$$ amount you would make as a successful trader times the probability of actually making it on the desk (remember, even at a large global IB, there are only going to be a small handful of prop traders) vs. the relatively smaller $$$ amount you would make as a successful IB times the probability of landing an IB spot (which is certainly still extremely competitive - but no where as competitive as landing a spot on a trading desk). </p>
<p>So how does the math play out in the above equation? I haven't run the numbers personally, but I think you get the picture - the key point here is to at least bear in mind the probability / likelihood of landing a lucrative trading position.</p>
<p>Remember, the OP asked about lucrative jobs in finance - but didn't feel like he had the stats / opportunity / desire to land an IB job - so what are the odds that this individual is going to end up as a prop trader?</p>
<p>If you don't work hard nothing pays well. Hands down the most money comes from being a successful entrepreneur, but that's 24/7.</p>
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Hands down the most money comes from being a successful entrepreneur, but that's 24/7.
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<p>again, we are not taking probability into account here. do you know how difficult it is to create a successful start-up? do you know how many failed entrepreneurs there are?</p>
<p>if we are going to throw probability out the window, then my vote for best paying job is:</p>
<p>winner of the megamillions lottery.</p>
<p>My post was just to clear up the differences that exist between various areas of trading. I haven't suggested that the OP apply to trading (as getting a good position is even more difficult than a position in the IBD dept).</p>
<p>The probability of you suceeding as an entrepreneur making huge cash is probably on par with being a highly profitable trader. ~90% of all small business startups fail. I would say if you are near the top 5% you will be able to rake in solid cash.</p>
<p>my post wasn't in any way bashing your excellent post mahras...</p>
<p>just a simple clarification about how difficult it actually is to get into any aspect of the business...</p>