Thoughts on consulting vs PE?
Related Posts
Rising Star
Happy New Year!
Come on SOS. Lets hit $10
Anyone heard of the Select Card?
Does EY let you keep Amex rewards points?
Rising Star
Best ways to sell used furniture?
Conversation Starter
Additional Posts in Consulting Exit Opportunities
Enthusiast
Subject Expert
Coach
Community Builder
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
Enthusiast
I think PE has much better compensation potential. Even at junior levels, with bonuses, someone can earn multiple six figures at a PE firm. Work life balance will be challenging for both. I think whether the work is interesting will depend on the individual and the type of PE/consulting firm they work for.
WLB is multitudes better in consulting
PE. Lifestyle is more or less the same I heard. It’s just you have it worse at PE when you are closing deal and better rest of time. PE is considered as a great exit opportunity from consulting so I would see it as the next level… unless you don’t hate PE work, culture and people which many people do. Personally I found many PE people to be robotic with limited empathy but if you optimise for pay, go to PE no doubt
People go to IB/consulting to exit to PE, not the other way around, so if you have the choice go PE directly
Coach
Thoughts on a Ferrari vs Honda? You can prob guess which is PE.
My Ferrari isn’t very practical and I wind up driving my Acura
You’ll make significantly more in PE. Maybe just a bit more at first (TC starts around $250k for MM for associates and scales relatively quickly) but then as you progress and become eligible for carry, that’s when the big bucks kick in
Went from consulting to UMM PE investing and spent 2 year at each (now at a Series C startup). I liked both and would go back to PE before I go back to consulting, but honestly, the real questions are (1) do you fundamentally like finance / the discipline of investing or would you rather work on a broad slate of issues, (2) can you put up with the variability in hours and a generally higher percentage of assholes, and (3) are you okay with being in a smaller, more self-driven environment?
One half dozen or the other, if you rise up the ranks in PE or consulting, you will make more than enough money and if you care about things like prestige, you'll have that too. But think about what makes you happy on a day-to-day basis when you make broad, sweeping comparisons like consulting vs. PE (or consulting vs. tech or what have you).
With respect to what? Though subjective, the work is probably more interesting in consulting unless finance really gets your rocks off. WLB is likely a toss-up depending on firm, group, and level. Comp / comp potential is superior in PE as is prestige.
I don't know and I don't want to BS you, but based on pure numbers alone, I would bet it is far more difficult to make partner at a decent PE shop than a consultancy. Think about how difficult it is to even become a PE associate vs. a junior-level consultant. Then you're competing for very few slots against the highest caliber competition. I did my stint in consulting at ZS; first year partners would net around $500k and get to a million around year 5. Pay is higher at MBB, but many non-partners break half a million at solid PE shops.
Enthusiast
PE is better
And what happens if the fund makes a couple bad investments and implodes? Gotta think about both sides
much harder to get promoted in PE than consulting due to fundamental differences in org design. Majority of PE associates have to downgrade in fund size to secure promotions, which then downgrades your comp potential,
whereas if you’re even just ok at your job at MBB (not trivial, but not hard either) you’ll get promoted like clockwork every 2-4 years until partner, at which point, if you’re mildly commercially successful you take in 1.5-3M a year.
Accounting for risk, I think the expected value of both paths are roughly the same
Hmm… I wouldn’t say it’s not hard to make a partner. After project manager position, promotion becomes not only performance based but also based on your luck, platform and ability to play politics
How much do you typically make as a VP or principal in cash and carry?