This is how much you should earn as an investment banker in your 30s

Banks are paying junior staff more. Just three years out of university, and our research suggests that young front office banking professionals in sales, trading, research, M&A, or capital markets, can make up to £120k ($195k).

But what happens after that? If you work in investment banking, will you be earning £300k+ ($500k+) by the time you reach your 30s?

Actually, yes. Between the ages of 25 and 30, new data suggests that junior bankers’ pay increases exponentially.

Figures from Emolument.Com, the real time pay data company, suggest that pay for young people in front office investment banking jobs increases rapidly between the ages of 25 and 30. When the investment banker salary and bonus are combined, Emolument puts average total pay for 25 year-old bankers at ‘just’ £67k ($109k). Five years later, it puts average pay for 30 year-old bankers at £196k ($320k) – an increase of 193%, or an average of £25.8k a year.

If you’re a 25-year-old who works in investment banking, it clearly makes sense to hang around for another five years – at least.

After 30, Emolument says average compensation in investment banking continues to increase, but at a slower rate. Between the ages of 30 and 35, the average banker experiences another 80% increase in total compensation, to £354k ($578k). Between the ages of 35 and 40, total pay increases by another 48%, to £430k ($702k). As we noted earlier, it’s hard to find that sort of pay in any other sector, making it unsurprising that 30-something bankers are increasingly unwilling to change careers.