Asset management salary in NYC seems god awful
Thank god for NYC passing pay transparency... Fortress is looking for an asset management analyst with AT LEAST 2-3 years of experience in real estate finance; preferably REIB. They also require a Bachelor's degree from a top university with a GPA of at least 3.5.
Base salary range is $85k-$100k in New York City... for senior analyst or associate level experience... I'm sorry is it just me or is that absolutely insane? Is this really what asset management associates are being paid in NYC? Asking as someone in a different HCOL city but looking into NYC. Posted yesterday and has over 100 applicants so if this is the norm god help us all
UPDATE: I went back to look at the posting and they changed the range lmfao. It's now 100-110k base which is much more what I'd expect. Even though the range has changed you can still see Linkedin is pulling the comp from a previous version. https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/search/?currentJobId=3862116966&keywords=fortress%20investment%20group&origin=JOBS_HOME_SEARCH_BUTTON&refresh=true
Problem with NY RE is that too many candidates come from unconventional backgrounds or “less prestigious” backgrounds such as commercial banking, brokerage, appraisals, etc. Those candidates will take anything to break into a big name like Fortress because it’ll elevate their career. In corporate PE, this does not exist. Corporate PE only recruits from IB and they know ex-IBers won’t fall for low pay. Just for context, $250K for 1st-year associates in corporate PE is considered “mediocre”. Whereas in RE, I’ve seen acquisition associate roles at reputable shops not even pay $200K all-in. I think the only way RE pay gets better as an industry is if more prestigious backgrounds and IBers come into RE and elevate the pay standard.
In reality, there's not much necessity for shops to hire many IBers, as their pay come at a high cost while real estate deals are not so complicated as Corp PE. Certain shops may be willing to pay a premium for IB prestige. Other shops would be fine with people with less prestigious backgrounds and less cost.
Currently work in Debt AM for a large real estate private equity/debt firm in NYC (not a mega fund). 2 years of experience and base salary is 125k.
Fortress is definitely paying below market.
Fortress has a huge pay disparity between deal people and asset management people, I've heard. Not all big shops operate that way. Work in RE asset management in NYC (ignore title), and my base is 300+. I suspect Fortress is also doing that to take advantage of the market, i.e. they know they're one of the few shops hiring.
What level/YOE are you?
VP; 7-10
It’s a debt AM position, which I’m guessing sees an even bigger discount than equity AM.
good point. Debt AM can be broken down into PM roles, or situs like loan servicing roles. it might be the latter
inbefore people claim they make $500K-$1M in debt AM when in all cases, they confuse it with debt portfolio management.
3 years of experience on the equity side is also going to be the same base salary. Until the increase to associate, even then, base will probably be 110-130 at most firms. You’ll find the occasional role at 150-170 base. But those are firms you’re working 7 days per week 15 hours per day. You earn your pay there.
$85K is a lot of money. Is it enough to live in NYC in your own apartment - no. But thats not the firms problem. The pay increase you get for moving from a LCOL city to NYC is never going to be enough to make it worth it. NYC is expensive. People are here for access to jobs, family, etc. but NYC is a financial choice when it comes down to it. There are jobs here that pay multiples of what you would earn across the country, but there are few of them. This site has a tendency to complain about analysts and associates not making enough. But frankly it’s the market. You either deal with it or don’t take the job.
What's the bonus % that would typically match that $110-130k base salary?
Depends but 20-40%
That seems low for major markets. Been quoted 150 + 50% bonus recently for AM. Workload is cyclical where I am but probably averages to 40 hours a week
100% low, should be $100k base minimum but also the market with very few legit openings so they can advertise lower pay and still get many applicants. Saw a role at a major developer in NYC with sub $70k base on the low end looking for 2-4 years of experience. Such a joke.
Yeah a big part of the lower pay right now is simply the lack of job openings. Very few firms have any openings at all and most have hiring freezes or are actively laying off.
They don’t need to pay more because they have hundreds of applicants. Basic economics. Its like the opposite of what happened in the 2021 hiring environment. Everyone and anyone was getting looks at buyside seats, even leasing guys and appraisers at the junior level back then, which is crazy to think about now.
Until the market turns, which in my opinion we still got a ways to go, there is going to be shit comp, high competition for new roles, and less promotions. Just the way it is in cyclical businesses. Just unfortunate for guys who started working in past few years or are looking for their first job in the industry now, but people forget RE just had one hell of a bull run. Gonna take a few more years to reset and then hopefully the music starts playing again.
Why should a debt asset management analyst have a base salary above $100k?
$100k might be okay for an AM senior analyst in NYC as job market is competitive here, but it falls short of expectations given Fortress' brand. I heard that not all positions within Fortress pay so well.
$100k base? What's the TC?
Ive noticed RE pay in NYC to be a bit subpar. From what I have noticed, it seems CA seems to pay the most, followed by shops in the D.C area.
If they're getting applications then it sounds like it isn't insane at all! Obviously you have an inflated sense of your own worth (as you should!) but that doesn't mean that what you think you should be paid reflects the reality of what you should be paid. $100k with a 20% bonus target is a lot of money! Easy to lose sight of that on a site like this, where 23 year olds make that for doing nothing of any social utility, but most of the world doesn't pay as well as Wall Street for doing as little. Also, you'll probably work far fewer hours and have way better work life balance.
I was just surprised to see the range starting at 85k while also requiring 2+ years of experience, to me that's associate level and I'm benchmarking against my own acquisitions/AM analyst role (1.5 YOE) in a far less expensive city than NYC where I have 100k base, and am still paid less than comparable roles in my market. I'd expect that NYC would pay a premium to other cities, but I can see that the demand for these roles is so high that it's putting downward pressure on salaries.
I worked as an asset management analyst (2nd year out of college) at a multifamily owner operator in NYC and it was brutal. Pay was 85k with a flat 10% bonus no matter how well you performed. Didn't seem like there was much upside and I did not like the work I was doing so I left after a year.
Where did you move to afterwards? do you like what you do now
Throwing in a data point while hoping for some feedback:
2-3 YOE at a small (sub-$1B AUM), tier 2/3-city firm as an associate AM. Currently getting paid $105k base and flat 10% bonus regardless of performance. 40 hour work weeks with 401k and ability to co-invest, no carry yet.
I know it's on the low end. But given the market, am I justified in expecting a raise/new offer that meaningfully increases my total comp (15+%)?
Good QOL, not a high-rent city, co-invest opportunity, small shop, $115k all-in. That doesn't sound terrible to me, sure you could probably find more elsewhere in a better market. Given where we are today it's going to be a lot harder, imo. At 2-3 years in are you on the verge of moving up significantly, like Analyst to Associate, or Associate to VP/AVP/Director? Having that conversation with your boss could yield more than trying to hop when the hiring market is close to frozen.
My org is very flat, so there's only VP, MD, and Principal above me, in that order. There really isn't much room to move up since those positions are full until we grow enough to have a longer hierarchy. There's potentially room to increase my comp, but I had a raise rather recently so I can MAYBE see a 10% increase at the end of this year. If there's any consolation (to me), I've been fast tracked and given a proverbial spot at the table at my company and feel "valued" etc. But only to the extent that a small startup can do this, which has severe limits (see comp, mostly).
Curious to hear your thoughts given this.
As an employer recently in the market. I can confirm that the market shifted in favor of the employer. I also think big names dont mean anything, I had alot of people from big names not beeing able to complete our modeling test and we are hiring an untraditional candidate that I think was beter then everyone else and we dont have to pay up fot the name.
Same thing happened with us. Big name candidates consistently failed the modeling test and we ended up going with non traditional candidates that performed better and have been great.
what kind of modeling tests are expected in AM roles?
Are you hiring for analyst/associate roles? Because if so, it makes sense why modeling tests would carry so much weight for you guys.
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