AuthorTopic: U.S. vs Cnd salaries
cfacfa
@2004-09-22 13:28:44
Just curious if there is a difference between u.s. and cnd salaries for entery level analyst positions.

Currently I am a loans officers, University (Commerce) Grad and CFA level II candidate. After I complete the level II, I plan to look for new employment in the securities industry. Just wondering what salary range I should be looking for and if I should look for work in the U.S. instead of Toronto, CAN. I have heard that in the U.S. an entry level analyst wll make 10k more (willing to go to europe also).

Any advice out there???

snider
@2004-09-25 09:12:49
You'd be looking around $35-$40 Gs Cdn. Even then, I'd be damned if you could land an entry-level analyst job in the Cdn. market. What's more, most of the cos. prefer IB analysts with tons of energy so that they can get them to crunch numbers with Excel macros and photocopy reports 50 hrs. a week.
badguy
@2004-09-27 22:14:31
I think snider is a little low. To get a good entry level analyst job you will need to gain your CFA charter or have an MBA from one of the good schools i.e. Rotman. If you complete that you could look for around 60K at one of the Big Banks in Toronto. I've worked in London before and the salaries are great (so is the cost of living) mostly due to the competition amongst the companies for good talent. Should you head over you'd probably earn 30 - 35 thousand pounds (more if you speak any other Eurpoean Languages). The friends I have in New York get the same numbers as the Canadians just in US Dollars.
snider
@2004-09-28 11:31:02
I apologize if I was a little on the low side. For the amount of education that's nominally desired for an entry-level analyst position, you'll probably feel overqualified.

A few years ago, my former finance instructor worked as an IB analyst for a year or so after her undergrad. However, I got the impression that she had to help the actual IBs put together reports, crunch numbers on Excel and do other menial tasks. She completed her PhD and CFA exams while she was my instructor, and she's now an university prof - so little worries about job security. The pay figure I gave is on the low side, but I sincerely doubt an entry-level IB analyst applicant would ask for more than $45 Gs Cdn in this market (especially if you're fresh out of school with little work experience and/or no professional accreditations). There was a message posted recently by someone who mentioned that he saw an entry-level clerical position at his company deluged with resumes of overqualified applicants. Clearly, a CFA candidate with little work experience would be foolish to insist on top dollar when so many "old hands" are unemployed and desperate for work.

When you've got a MBA, you can go for these entry-level 2-year Associate positions that have you rotated throughout the various business divisions of a financial institution - less emphasis on detailed micro-analysis, but more on getting a feel for the big picture. MBA & CFA charter seem like overkill for entry-level IB analyst positions.

CanCFA
@2010-07-13 14:48:30
In the IB I work for in Toronto the entry level position with a CFA is around $60,000. BTW, the exchange rate is about 1:1 now.

CFA Discussion Topic: U.S. vs Cnd salaries

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