34 year old earns 771k a year
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THERE'S never been a better time to be a banker, or so Mr Yeo Soen Ming will tell you.
The 34-year-old MBA holder from London Business School expects to earn more than US$500,000 (S$771,025) this year, including bonuses.
As a banker working in institutional equity sales, Mr Yeo helps clients make money through buying and selling stocks.
'The thrill at the end of the day is knowing that you made the right calls and made money for the client,' said the father of one.
The handsome reward he is expecting is the result of a banner year for bankers and traders across the globe, spurred on by a booming stocks and commodities market and a high number of company sales and takeovers.
The US$3.46 trillion in acquisition deals this year broke the record set in 2000. The global nature of the job means that even those in Singapore handle clients around the world, and reap the rewards.
Just last week, Goldman Sachs Group announced earnings of US$9.54 billion - the highest in Wall Street history.
It will set aside US$16.5 billion for salaries, bonuses and benefits - translating to an average of US$622,000 for each employee.
Other top investment banks such as Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch have also benefited this year from the robust world economy.
The cash that they are handing out to employees is turning the traditional idea of a lucrative career on its head.
Yes, doctors and lawyers make a lot of money, but they have to wait for years until they reach a senior enough level.
Investment bankers and traders are raking in the really big bucks this year - even when they are relatively young.
Checks by The Sunday Times showed that the remuneration in investment banking and trading exceeds that in law and medicine.
In their first year on the job, investment bankers and those in sales and trading can earn a basic annual pay of $100,000.
By the time they are 35, this can go up to $500,000 including bonuses - $40,000 a month.
Lawyers, on the other hand, are paid a starting salary of about $50,000 at big firms such as Drew and Napier and Rajah and Tan.
Doctors start off with about $60,000 after housemanship.
But while a lawyer may make $400,000 a year by 35 if he is made a partner, a doctor would earn that kind of money only when he becomes a specialist in private practice - which usually does not happen till about 45.
So it is just as well that Ms Janice Foo, 28, did not become a doctor.
Working in foreign exchange sales - buying and selling currency for institutional investors - in an American investment house, she is another of Singapore's young high-fliers.
Although she declined to disclose her pay, she told The Sunday Times that she could well afford the downpayment and instalments for a BMW and a swanky apartment in town.
Her businessman father had always wanted a doctor in the family, but she decided to do a bachelor's degree in accounting and finance, and a master's in finance from the University of New South Wales in Sydney.
The decision has paid off.
Headhunter Declan O'Sullivan, from Kerry Consulting, explained that bankers like Ms Foo are highly paid because there are only a handful who can do the job well.
'Each of them is like a fighter pilot, you only need one really good guy flying the plane,' he said, adding that each of them is often responsible for millions of dollars.
The unforgiving nature of the job also accounts for the high pay.
Trader Joao Lay, 32, who did his masters in finance at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and now earns more than $200,000 a year, said: 'When things go your way, you're rewarded handsomely, but if you don't live up to expectations, you're out.'
Mr O'Sullivan agreed: 'It's high risk, high return.'
Then there are the long days and punishing schedules.
Ms Foo, who just got engaged, works 12-hour days which begin at 7am, stares at six computer screens throughout the day, and only allows herself a five-minute break. Getting calls from clients in the US at 3am is par for the course.
Investment bankers have it worse. They work 16-hour days, seven days a week and hardly ever get the chance to take annual leave.
Mr Yeo cited the case of a former colleague who called in sick one day, thinking he could have the day off. But his boss couriered all the documents to him so that he could work from home.
Investment banker G. Lim, 26, said that the long hours and ad hoc business trips truly take a toll.
'We make intra-day trips at really short notice, we get up at 4am, fly at 7am, attend a two-hour meeting, fly back and are expected to finish up all the day's usual work,' he said.
All the people interviewed declined to name their employers.
National University of Singapore graduate X.W. Lee, who is in her mid-20s and works in institutional sales, enjoys what she does, but says that the stress level is high.
She works from 5.30am to 6pm and spends her weekends doing research and planning proposals.
'Those who say they envy us because of our pay must understand that, in reality, the job is not as glamorous as it appears,' she said.
(Straits Times, Dec 17) -
How to get that job in investment banking?
Degree from an Ivy League University: Since many of the investment banks are US-based, there is a preference for students from top US tertiary institutions.
Good academic results
Confidence, interpersonal skills.
Ability to handle pressure - from bosses, clients and the market.
Ability to survive in work environments which can be political and competitive.
(Advice given by headhunter Declan O'Sullivan, director of Kerry Consulting and headhunter Florence Ng, managing director of the Singapore office of global executive recruitment company Michael Page International.)
Straits Times Dec 17 -
We have arrived differently
This blog is rated PG. the views can be twisted, provocative, defiance, unorthodox, caustic, cheeky and may be irritating. I do not belong to any political party. Oh, I am also a columnist with The New Paper. - Red Bean
We are not that much different from Malaysia.
We have taken different route to economic development and organising our societies. Both countries have done quite well economically. Wealth were created and distributed but in different ways. Malaysia distributes wealth using the policy of bumiputra first. Singapore distributes wealth using meritocracy as the guiding principle.
In a way, wealth is distributed in a fairly similar pattern. Within the last 3 decades, both countries have a cohort of elite, according to their own definition and interpretations, that are benefitting immensely in this wealth distribution game. Wealth goes to a group of elite while many at the lower end are still living a hand to mouth existence.
The apologists of the Singapore system will argue that more wealth have been spread across the board and downwards. That is true. And the bottom line of our bell curve starts at a much higher level. That is also true. But poverty is not simply measured by the physical dollar value. A $500 income may still be bearable in Malaysia but abject poverty in Singapore. For those who would want to argue about poverty in countries where income can be down to a few dollars, that is stretching the argument tangentially off.
The latest victim who jumped at the MRT speaks volume of the plight of the bottom feeders in our society. And mind you, this is not going to be an isolated case. Despite the wealth of our nation, if the bottom feeders are left to fight for every piece of crumbs that fell off the table, then we cannot claim to have succeeded in giving the people a better life.
There must be empathy for the hardlanders and conscious policies to uplift their meagre existence. The more funds are allocated to provide handouts to these hardup cases, the more serious is the problem. And such funds will never solve their problems. It is like passing $1000 to the widow of the MRT jumper. How good is that and how long is it going to last.
We have failed many of these hardlanders. We have left them behind while feeding ourselves crazy with abalone and sharksfin.
It is difficult to find empathy in our post 65ers when they were brought up in a life of luxury. Yes some may have gone through a bit of hardship. But they have short memories, after having arrived. They are likely to belong to the peanut generations.
Please don't make people beg for help
The man who jumped the MRT track was jobless for a few months. His wife was earning about $500. He left behind two sons age 13 and 15. Before he left, he probably had only $9 left and he gave it to his younger son to top up his EZ link card. That was the last gesture of a father to his son. And he told them to take care of their mother.
'last night, west coast GRC (boon lay) MP and grassroot leaders went to mr tan's funeral wake, and pass $1000 cheque to his family. MP said if the tan family had look for help from the grassroot organisations, the tradegy would have been avoided. she said actually govt provide a lot of assistance schemes for the people, but people are unwilling or don't know how to get help.'
I hope all MPs and the govt understand these words. Many people are unwilling to come forward to beg for help. Also many people may not know where to go for help. It is not an easy thing even for a desperate man to go knocking doors looking for help. It is thus better to reduce the cost of living instead than to keep raising the cost of essential goods services and expect people to come begging. -
... I am still wondering what is the agenda of the paper to splash the erotic incomes of children and what will likely to happen to them later? It was only a few days ago when we read about the pathetic existence of 'has been' high flyers and the top 20% of our population only having a per capita household income of $3000 a month. If we have a young couple earning three quarter of a million each, it will mean that their per capita household income will be $60,000 a month or $30,000 if they have 2 children.
This is really obscene. I am still seething with green rage. I am going to do something about this. I am going back to sleep and forget about this brutal reality.
Plight of the unwanted talents
The unwanted talents
I was talking to a cab driver last week. He was only 46, a NUS business graduate. Lost his job and could not find any and was resigned to driving a cab for $3k a month. He knew that no one will want to employ him anymore as he had tried and tried to be reemployed.
In the Straits Times today, several pages were devoted to the issues of the unwanted talents. These are highly qualified, highly experienced and matured professionals, all ended unemployed or underemployed, disenchanted, disgrunted, ego deflated and life shattered.
And yes, our country is crying for more foreign talents to replace them, that we have no talents and no experienced professionals and managers. And yes, our qualified people are leaving our shores and we need to replace them with foreigners. What is the problem? No problem at all. Can't see any problem. It is all globalisation's fault and nothing can be done about it.
It is so pathetic and depressing to see these once high flyers who are now willing to earn half or one third of their income, maybe less, begging to be employed.
We don't have jobs for them? Bullshit! There are many jobs waiting to be filled or filled by people who don't need them or did not have the time for them. We have a few super talents hogging on many jobs and pretending to be working and effective, but in reality, going through the motion as the multiple jobs they are handling are beyond them. That's why shits are piling up everywhere.
Just take the occupation of company independent directors will do. There are something like 700 companies listed in the Stock Exchange and each requires the services of at least 2 independent directors. But many of these positions are filled by duplicates or people who either cannot do the job or do not have the time to do it. Indepedent directors can be a profession by itself for the lost talents who have acquired a wealth of experience through their working life.
Then the multi tasking that have gone crazy and people ended up with 10 or 20 hats. This is another bullshit in our system. 2 or 3 hats may be just the maximum that an able person can handle, and still stressing him out. More than that, I can only think of one person being capable of doing it. He must be omnipresence, omni conscience and untiring and undying.
If there is conscious effort to create more decent and highly qualified jobs for the experienced professionals, there are many ways. Manage the appointments of independent directorship and cut down on multi tasking, and we will have created some extra jobs to go around. Provided those with a big fat pension are not allowed to say I want also.
I almost forgot that this multi tasking thing went down to the middle or lower professional level too, making people doing several jobs at the same time without understanding that at the lower level they are definitely not super talents and would not have the talent to do them.
One man or woman only has 8 or 10 hours a day to work. Beyond that he/she is working to his own death unless he/she is cheating all the way, without doing his/her fair share of the load. - Red Bean -
And when recession comes- they are the first ones without their jobs.
I think I rather be happy doing my job and having a life. So what if I don't live in the high flyer's world . -
So, is OM admitting that he's chosen the wrong profession?
Or is this just another typical cut-and-paste job with no point? -
it just shows that the singapore education system is obselete, ineffective and unproductive and should be replaced with a more practical system instead of following government dictated profession trends blindly.Originally posted by eyebuzz:
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Not everyone is cut out to be a banker with an MBA.
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If you can handle it, then you also can make 771k per year.
Not everyone is so capable of making 771k a year. They can take 1million and make another 2million out of it. Not everyone is able to do that so they sort of deserve it. -
So what the TS's point in bringing up this article? To show that there are Singaporeans who are enjoying the life up there?
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hmmm.. i think if people read "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" they'd think different..
what was the price of that money?
but then, i think the TS doesn't know what's going on
p.s. i'm thinking... 771k for their life and their conscience.. they sold themselve cheaply
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Over $750K a year income - that's reward for a true elite, not a student elite. Yeo's the man. Singaporeans should seek to emulate his achievement instead of looking to the government to narrow the gap between the elite and the non-elites.
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So why the hell does the Straits times want to publish this article for?To tell Singaporeans that our ministers,especially those PAP leaders,are actually not earning much?Hey,the London young lad got true talent ok,what do our PAP leaders got?The ability to tax their own countrymen?FUK THEM!!!!!
They thought what,make Singaporeans low pay n work more hours so that we dont have the time to criticise them.Hohoho,when a person dislike u,no matter how busy u make that person work,he will also squeeze out the time to FUK YOU!!!!So basically,our PAP leaders are too naive.......They can hide,but they cannot run!!!!! -
ermmm... okay..Originally posted by drawer:So why the hell does the Straits times want to publish this article for?To tell Singaporeans that our ministers,especially those PAP leaders,are actually not earning much?Hey,the London young lad got true talent ok,what do our PAP leaders got?The ability to tax their own countrymen?FUK THEM!!!!!
They thought what,make Singaporeans low pay n work more hours so that we dont have the time to criticise them.Hohoho,when a person dislike u,no matter how busy u make that person work,he will also squeeze out the time to FUCK YOU!!!!So basically,our PAP leaders are too naive.......They can hide,but they cannot run!!!!!
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Another pointless thread. Save your time guys.
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marnie marnie marnie... $$$$$ always about marnie. got lotsa of money, tiam tiam. no money, complain.
+1
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money is the root of all evil
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They may earn alot and all. But their jobs are highly demanding and stressful. Definitely not good for the health. and as u read on in the article they have little or no social life, and no time to spend their money. All their personal time is used for slp or research. So the qn now is, is it worth it? I daresay no.
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The life of an investment banker is never certain. Working in American IBs are extremely cutt-throat, and you might find yourself out of a job suddenly, especially when you don't move up the ranks quickly.
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I'm quite certain they are not doing their patriotic duty of contributing to Singapore's falling birthrates ... -
what is the point of this thread? just another PAP example of how some people can be successful in singapore?
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they earn so much and u all complain, they earn less u all also complain...
i don even find anything of interest in discussing this topic over here, that's their job, they have the ability, they are paid to do it, why care so much. -
You finish your o levels first then come back here to comment.Originally posted by Hocklez:they earn so much and u all complain, they earn less u all also complain...
i don even find anything of interest in discussing this topic over here, that's their job, they have the ability, they are paid to do it, why care so much. -
Firstly, I already did.Originally posted by ditzy:You finish your o levels first then come back here to comment.
Secondly, I have the right to comment like you did from your sarcastic comment. -
No matter who wins, we scientists are the most f*cked.Originally posted by oxford mushroom:THERE'S never been a better time to be a banker, or so Mr Yeo Soen Ming will tell you.
The 34-year-old MBA holder from London Business School expects to earn more than US$500,000 (S$771,025) this year, including bonuses.
As a banker working in institutional equity sales, Mr Yeo helps clients make money through buying and selling stocks.
'The thrill at the end of the day is knowing that you made the right calls and made money for the client,' said the father of one.
The handsome reward he is expecting is the result of a banner year for bankers and traders across the globe, spurred on by a booming stocks and commodities market and a high number of company sales and takeovers.
The US$3.46 trillion in acquisition deals this year broke the record set in 2000. The global nature of the job means that even those in Singapore handle clients around the world, and reap the rewards.
Just last week, Goldman Sachs Group announced earnings of US$9.54 billion - the highest in Wall Street history.
It will set aside US$16.5 billion for salaries, bonuses and benefits - translating to an average of US$622,000 for each employee.
Other top investment banks such as Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch have also benefited this year from the robust world economy.
The cash that they are handing out to employees is turning the traditional idea of a lucrative career on its head.
Yes, doctors and lawyers make a lot of money, but they have to wait for years until they reach a senior enough level.
Investment bankers and traders are raking in the really big bucks this year - even when they are relatively young.
Checks by The Sunday Times showed that the remuneration in investment banking and trading exceeds that in law and medicine.
In their first year on the job, investment bankers and those in sales and trading can earn a basic annual pay of $100,000.
By the time they are 35, this can go up to $500,000 including bonuses - $40,000 a month.
Lawyers, on the other hand, are paid a starting salary of about $50,000 at big firms such as Drew and Napier and Rajah and Tan.
Doctors start off with about $60,000 after housemanship.
But while a lawyer may make $400,000 a year by 35 if he is made a partner, a doctor would earn that kind of money only when he becomes a specialist in private practice - which usually does not happen till about 45.
So it is just as well that Ms Janice Foo, 28, did not become a doctor.
Working in foreign exchange sales - buying and selling currency for institutional investors - in an American investment house, she is another of Singapore's young high-fliers.
Although she declined to disclose her pay, she told The Sunday Times that she could well afford the downpayment and instalments for a BMW and a swanky apartment in town.
Her businessman father had always wanted a doctor in the family, but she decided to do a bachelor's degree in accounting and finance, and a master's in finance from the University of New South Wales in Sydney.
The decision has paid off.
Headhunter Declan O'Sullivan, from Kerry Consulting, explained that bankers like Ms Foo are highly paid because there are only a handful who can do the job well.
'Each of them is like a fighter pilot, you only need one really good guy flying the plane,' he said, adding that each of them is often responsible for millions of dollars.
The unforgiving nature of the job also accounts for the high pay.
Trader Joao Lay, 32, who did his masters in finance at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and now earns more than $200,000 a year, said: 'When things go your way, you're rewarded handsomely, but if you don't live up to expectations, you're out.'
Mr O'Sullivan agreed: 'It's high risk, high return.'
Then there are the long days and punishing schedules.
Ms Foo, who just got engaged, works 12-hour days which begin at 7am, stares at six computer screens throughout the day, and only allows herself a five-minute break. Getting calls from clients in the US at 3am is par for the course.
Investment bankers have it worse. They work 16-hour days, seven days a week and hardly ever get the chance to take annual leave.
Mr Yeo cited the case of a former colleague who called in sick one day, thinking he could have the day off. But his boss couriered all the documents to him so that he could work from home.
Investment banker G. Lim, 26, said that the long hours and ad hoc business trips truly take a toll.
'We make intra-day trips at really short notice, we get up at 4am, fly at 7am, attend a two-hour meeting, fly back and are expected to finish up all the day's usual work,' he said.
All the people interviewed declined to name their employers.
National University of Singapore graduate X.W. Lee, who is in her mid-20s and works in institutional sales, enjoys what she does, but says that the stress level is high.
She works from 5.30am to 6pm and spends her weekends doing research and planning proposals.
'Those who say they envy us because of our pay must understand that, in reality, the job is not as glamorous as it appears,' she said.
(Straits Times, Dec 17)
Doctors start with 60K (after 6 years in U)
Lawyers start with 50K (after 5 years in U)
Scientists start with 40K (after 8 years in U)