Luckily, a former classmate from grad school (and one of my three regular readers) just sent me this quick look (from DealBreaker.com) at the bonus side of the Wall Street Cheddar for Investment Banking analysts. These are median figures, by the way:
And this piece on WallStreetPrep.com gives the typical first year salary for analysts as being in the $55-70K range, with a signing bonus of about $10k. So, adding it all up. total first year compensation (not counting signing bonus) ends up around $145-$180K.
These are for analyst positions, which are the likely spot that an undergrad would start (the associates are usually MBAs).
This seems like a lot of money for a first job (and it is). But when you consider that the typical analyst regularly puts in 80-100 hours (or more) a week, it's like having two full time jobs (in fact, based on the emails I've gotten, 100+ hours isn't uncommon, and an 80 hour week would be considered a vacation by most bankers). That's too much like work for my tastes (which is why I'm an academic). But not surprisingly, thes jobs are highly sought after. If I was 22 again and wired that way, I'd' probably try to go that way too. But I'd end up burning out after a couple of years, even if I made it that far.
If anyone has similar figures for Venture Capital and Private Equity, let me know.
update: Here's another link to salaries and bonuses for traders (compliments of Jim Mahar at Financeprofessor.com)