Investment Banking

Investment banks help companies issue securities, help investors purchase securities, manage financial assets, trade securities and provide finical advice. The leading investment banks including Merrill Lynch, Salomon Smith Barney, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Goldman Sachs are said to be in the bulge bracket.

Other investment banks are regionally oriented or situated in the middle market (e.g. Piper Jaffray). Others are small, specified firms called boutiques, which might be oriented toward bond trading, M&A advisory, technical analysis or program trading. Firms have lots of different areas and group within them. In most firms, there is sales and trading which works with owners of securities (firms and governments) and capital markets which goes in between the other two.

Starting salaries in investment banking positions with a bachelors degree after bonus (assistant or junior analyst position) range from $25,000 to $50,000. Starting salaries with an MBA degree range after bonus (associate position) range from $60,000 to $135,000. These salaries vary with firms and with the region of the country you are in. Bonuses typically would be 10 to 50% of salary to start and can