Finding several high-paying job positions in the financial industry is not a difficult task. Fund managers, investment bank managers, actuaries, risk management managers, investment researchers, and so on—you can always name a few. In the eyes of the general public, these positions are indeed lucrative and attractive. Professionals in these roles are either well-dressed elite in the workplace or highly educated individuals dressed in linen and cotton.

The notion that financial professionals earning a monthly salary of 100,000 are either graduates from prestigious schools with years of experience or hold high-ranking positions, at least a Vice President (VP), is merely a wishful thinking of those outside the circle. An excellent financial professional can earn a monthly salary of 100,000 by simply doing their job well. Don't believe it? Take a look at the following five positions.

1. Fund Manager

A fund manager is a financial talent with professional knowledge, managing mutual funds, hedge funds, or private equity funds. They are responsible for finding investment channels for the fund's assets, formulating investment strategies, and sharing investment returns with shareholders or clients.

Thus, it is challenging to think about how much a fund manager can earn using the logic of a fixed salary. However, a friend of mine, a fund manager at UBS, told me: "Successful fund managers are often headhunted with offers exceeding a million dollars. Excellent fund managers prefer not to join institutions but to establish their own studios."

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A fund manager managing a fund with a scale of 100 million would allocate 3% for management fees, which amounts to 3 million. If the team consists of 10 people, that's 300,000 per person, which is somewhat like a fixed salary, received annually. Of course, some fund managers manage smaller funds, at the ten-million level, with relatively lower management fees, but they can make up for it with investment returns.

A fund manager's income consists of a base salary, bonuses, and commissions, which are tied to market valuation. If the market value of the assets managed by the fund manager declines, then bonuses, bonuses, and commissions will be affected, and their income will plummet accordingly. Many clients find it hard to tolerate low or declining fund returns, so underperforming fund managers are almost always eliminated, leaving only the outstanding ones. Interestingly, the average income data I obtained is just over a monthly salary of 100,000.

2. Investment Banking Business Manager

The profit margins of investment banking business are generally high. Taking the most common stock issuance business as an example, investment banks usually charge a commission of 2%-5%. This means that if a client issues stocks worth 10 billion dollars, the investment bank will charge a commission of 200 million to 500 million dollars. Therefore, when your friends hear that your blind date is an investment bank manager, their eyes will always light up.Investment banking encompasses a broad range of activities, including common practices such as Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), equity issuance, debt issuance, asset management, mergers and acquisitions, and various consulting services. These operations are primarily active in the capital markets, thus setting certain entry requirements for investment banking managers, making it not a field accessible to everyone.

The size of an investment bank does not necessarily correlate with its profitability. Many smaller investment banks focus on specific sectors and often achieve greater success. For instance, the Raine Group is not a large institution, but it has a significant reputation in the mergers and acquisitions field, with top-tier performance. Such investment banks are elegantly referred to as "boutique investment banks."

The compensation of an investment banking manager typically consists of a base salary plus bonuses, with various benefits such as vehicle allowances, travel subsidies, and holiday bonuses also adding up. However, obtaining these rewards is not easy, as investment banks generally prefer candidates from prestigious universities or those with extensive experience. Merely having an interest is not sufficient to become an investment banking manager, which is why many individuals use the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) qualification as a stepping stone to successfully transition into the role.

Actuaries are a commercially-oriented financial risk profession that deals with risks and uncertainties. To minimize the financial losses caused by unknown events, actuaries need to assess the probabilities of events occurring and the potential consequences, such as death or bankruptcy. The majority of actuaries work in property and casualty insurance companies or life insurance companies, where their tasks include designing new types of insurance products, calculating related premiums, determining reserve funds, and setting investment policies. A smaller number of actuaries work in consulting firms or health insurance companies.

At the beginning of their careers in the actuarial field, the monthly salary is around 10,000 yuan, which may not seem very attractive. However, as work experience accumulates and the years of service increase, the salary can grow exponentially.

Obtaining an actuarial qualification is considered a highly valuable certificate in the insurance industry. Unfortunately, there are not many people in the country with actuarial qualifications, and most chief actuaries in insurance companies are hired externally, with annual salaries ranging from several million to tens of millions of yuan. While the average practitioner may not earn as much, it is not uncommon to find actuaries with annual salaries of 1 million yuan.

Financial sales involve selling products, and this is no different in the financial industry. However, there are three types of sales in finance: sales to institutional investors, sales to retail investors, and sales to fund managers.

If a company has its own fund products or underwrites stocks and bonds, you would need to sell these financial products to banks or brokers, enlisting their help in the sales process. Stocks, bonds, and similar products can also be sold to various fund companies. This type of sales is directed at institutional investors and is considered a high-level, high-salary category.Some financial products can also be sold directly to customers, such as the wealth management products with a minimum investment of 50,000 yuan often seen in banks, which are part of the sales work targeting ordinary customers. Among ordinary customers, there are high-net-worth individuals as well as the general public. If one encounters a high-net-worth customer, it is not uncommon for them to purchase several million yuan worth of funds at once. Ordinary customers might also buy tens of thousands of yuan worth of products. This type of sales job is stable and the income is decent.

There is also a category of sales known as securities research institute sales, whose main product is research reports, sold to fund managers at fund companies. Fund managers rank the securities research institutes based on the quality of the reports and then provide brokerage services for buying and selling stocks as compensation, colloquially known as "allocation of warehouse." The higher the ranking of the research institute, the better its income.

Sales work itself is an industry with low barriers to entry and strong substitutability, but it is entirely based on ability to earn money. Even beginners can make money, and for good salespeople or senior sales, earning a million a year is not difficult. If one reaches the position of sales manager or director, earning several million a year is also common.

5. Financial Analysts

Financial analysts are further divided into categories such as equity analysts, stock analysts, foreign exchange analysts, etc. They mainly use methods such as profit margins, liquidity, stability, solvency, industry comparisons, etc., to analyze businesses, projects, and investments, and provide buy and sell recommendations.

Financial analysts are the "golden collars" of the investment world. Almost all financial investment institutions require a large number of financial analysts. The research institutes of securities firms are institutions centered around financial analysts. It is not uncommon for star analysts to earn tens of millions a year and make it onto the New Fortune Rich List.

There is a saying on Wall Street: the annual salary of a financial analyst is higher than that of the president, especially for financial analysts with CFA certification, who are highly regarded in terms of business capability and salary. Becoming a financial analyst is no longer a privilege of finance and economics students. Today's analysts place more emphasis on industry background. For example, a friend who studied chemistry has a better understanding of the chemical industry, and CFA is a good preparation for this.

In the United States, the average annual salary of a CFA charterholder is $178,000, equivalent to about 1.23 million RMB. In our country, candidates who have only passed the CFA Level I exam have already received an annual salary of 340,000 RMB, and many charterholders earn over a million a year.

Teachers from Gaodun Financial Research Institute have indicated that there are many jobs in the financial industry that can achieve a monthly salary of over 100,000 RMB, and it is not necessary to be a general manager. However, you must ensure that you are the kind of talent worth the company paying you a monthly salary of 100,000 RMB. Beginners, fresh graduates, and office workers who just go through the motions every day will find it difficult to receive such high compensation.

Internally, one needs to have sufficient ability, for example, in sales, it means selling more. Externally, one needs to keep learning, such as obtaining the CFA certification, and then one can strive for a monthly income of 100,000 RMB or even more in better jobs.Please provide the text you would like translated into English.