Once you begin a career in the private equity industry, you can expect your life to go way faster and interesting than you ever imagined. Being a part of a top private equity firm means getting involved with rapidly paced jobs on a regular basis. As a private equity professional you can expect to receive a high pay, however, the pressures related to the job are even higher. As private equity investments risky ventures and assuming that you are managing a million-dollar stake in a top private equity firms, you will be in charge of bringing out the best result possible.
The lifestyle of an entry-level employee
When you are just starting with your career in private equity as an analyst or associate or probably in a support role, you can be expected to work for long hours. You can have the weekends off and take leaves for vacations if something huge is not pending. But you can be called to work on weekends if you are providing assistance to some deal makers and they are in the process of negotiating with a huge publicly traded company.
Lifestyle of executives
When you reach a senior position, the work hours in the office do decline however you experience the line between work life and private life going blur. As the time you spend having your meals, you might have to give that to your work. Having evening conference calls and receiving late-night emails of panic is also common in the lives of executive’s in a private equity firm.
Work-related traveling increases tremendously and it becomes essential to plan your vacations very carefully as you are still responsible for the results even when you are not present at work. You need to remember to keep your personal life on hold for some time till you present your portfolio company’s annual report in front of the fund’s board of directors. So if you are planning to have a career in private equity then don’t be surprised if in future your career begins to become its own lifestyle.
Pay and benefits
Private equity firms tend to have lots and lots of money at stake in every transaction, so they are ready to pay big bucks for people who have the talent to bring business. If you are an undergraduate degree holder, you can draw approximately $60,000 to $75,000 at an entry-level position. And if you have recently acquired an MBA, in that case, you can expect to earn somewhere around $125,000. On top of that, there are bonuses as well.
After you reach a higher level, salary increases exponentially and so do the bonuses. Those handling supervisory roles get a base salary that can range from $250,000 to $1 million and sometimes more. It is mostly based on how close they are in working with deal makers, investors or portfolio companies.
Furthermore, the benefits are generally up to the mark. All the medical, dental along with insurance plans are well structured and are really amazing. Some private equity firms also set aside almost twenty percent of the base salary for a retirement fund.
