What are the Highest Paying Finance Companies for MBAs?
Let’s face it: even if money isn’t the number one reason you are looking into an MBA, it’s probably pretty high on the list. We know that earning an MBA can not only lead to a raise in salary, but can open the door to even more career opportunities that can further increase your earning potential. For those with money on the mind, there’s a lot to consider when pursuing your MBA, from which specialization will give you the most ‘bang for your buck’ to what kind of future employers most value their MBAs.
One of the top industries that consistently makes the list when looking for the most valuable MBA specializations is finance. With an average salary of $121,000 USD for jobs within the finance industry, having or working towards your MBA is a reality of the field. But for those who are willing to put in the work, finance companies are willing to pay.
The 5 Best Paying Finance Companies For MBAs
One of the places where MBAs are earning top dollars is Morgan Stanley, a financial services firm that provides a number of financial advising services, such as wealth management, investment banking, sales and trading, research, and more. Morgan Stanley is an active recruiter of diverse business school and MBA graduates, with their most recent cohort of recruits coming from 56 different countries. The company offers graduates a number of different ways to get their foot in the door, including a number of summer internships and fellowships designed specifically for MBAs.
It’s clear that Morgan Stanley believes in investing in the MBAs on its staff. While the average salary at the company is in the $75,866 range for those with just a bachelor’s degree, employees have reported average salaries around $100,477 after earning an MBA.
Depending on the job and department within the company, earning potential can be even higher. Within the firm’s investment banking department, salaries can reach over $200,000. One reason for Morgan Stanley’s high numbers come from their reputation to dole out tremendous bonuses, which—combined with the base salary—makes this company one of the highest paying firms for MBAs in finance.
Godman Sachs Group, Inc., a multinational finance company that focuses in global investment banking, investment management, securities, and a number of financial services. Founded in 1869, the company today has 34,000 employees throughout the world and revenue of more than $42 billion. Goldman Sachs makes a number of opportunities available to recent MBA graduates and current students, such as the Goldman Sachs MBA Fellowship which recognizes outstanding business students with a role as summer associate and $35,000 award in addition to the associate’s salary.
According to Payscale, MBA holders at Goldman Sachs earned a median salary of $96,844. With such a high number of diverse MBAs working for their organization, this average includes the salaries of finance managers, CFOs, financial analysts, financial controllers, and many other positions that MBAs might hold within the company.
Bank of America began more than a hundred years ago, undergoing a series of expansions and mergers that ultimately led the company to its role as one of the ‘Big Four’ banks of the United States. Today, Bank of America makes more than $87 billion in revenue and employees a whopping 208,000 employees throughout the world. Through campus recruiting, diversity fellowships, and summer internships, Bank of America actively seeks talented MBA students and recent graduates. Through the full time analyst and associate programs, graduates work full-time in a structured program that offers consistent training, development, and social opportunities.
Bank of America employees with MBA degrees report an average salary of $101,522. Programs dedicated to hiring and training MBAs, such as the Bank of America MBA Leadership Development Program, matches these exceptional salaries, offering recent graduates impressive professional development opportunities as well as salaries ranging from $94,918-$101,733.
Headquartered in Zürich, Credit Suisse Group is a multinational financial services holding company with a heavy presence in the United States. With more than 48,000 employees worldwide, Credit Suisse in 2014, was said to hold more than $888 billion of assets under management. Credit Suisse offers several pathways for MBA graduates to become involved at their company, offering positions as full-time analysts, associates, and career starters.
Depending on the role, there can be a wide range of salaries recent graduates might earn when they join Credit Suisse in an analyst positions. Positions like investment banking analyst or business analyst are likely to make upwards of $70,000-80,000, with the opportunity to turn your degree into much more as you move up through the ranks. The average salary for an MBA with a finance specialization, according to Payscale, is $120,414.
Barclays, a British multinational bank and financial services company, is well-known today for its global reach, employing more than 120,000 people and operating in more than 40 countries. Like the other high-paying financial firms on this list, Barclays offers a number of opportunities to draw talented MBA graduates to their company. Programs like Barclays MBA Ambition gives MBA candidates the chance to get a summer internship at the company even before beginning their program, allowing them to focus fully on school once it starts while feeling confident about the future. This fellowship, for example, offers $45,000 toward first-year tuition with the opportunity for an additional $45,000 in their second year if they choose to join Barclays full-time after graduating. On average, salaries for recent graduates can range from $69,588-$74,898.
What is the Most Valuable San Francisco MBA?
There’s no doubt: San Francisco is a great city to earn your MBA. Located near Silicon Valley, business schools throughout the area provide not only an excellent education but also opportunities to interact with many tech and industry leaders in the area. But which MBA programs in San Francisco are the best?
This is not an easy question to answer. You can check rankings, to see which MBA programs perform well based on surveys and statistics provide to The Financial Times, U.S. News and World Report, and The Economist. And that’s a great place to start, but probably the most essential value when determining the right MBA program for you is your return on investment (ROI).
The ROI of an MBA program is one of the best indicators of what your MBA is actually worth. It looks at statistics such as average salary increase, post-graduation employment, tuition cost, cost of living, and more. To help you out, we looked in-depth at the best business schools in San Francisco to see which offer the best ROI. Continue reading…
Looking At New York City’s Best MBA Return on Investment, Pt. II
New York City is an obvious choice for budding entrepreneurs, consultants, and financiers to find their footing.
Manhattan is regularly called a playground for the wealthy, with a 2016 Newsweek article playfully and indiscriminately dubbing rich people New York’s new urban blight. So, if you’re one of the millions of people hopping into New York to extract its cultural and financial resources for personal gain before migrating to some more humane province, why not do an MBA there while you’re at it?
The proximity of New York business schools to the city’s wealth of opportunities means that MBAs have a kind of access that make b-schoolers elsewhere in the country—and the world—salivate. New York’s matchless combination of industry, culture, and strategic location means that any one of the numerous business schools that populate the region will give MBAs a veritable nitrous boost when it comes to post-graduation job placement. In fact, earlier this month we covered five other NYC MBA programs that give graduates the best return-on-investment.
You’ve surveyed the best so let’s try the rest! While Part 1 was populated by the most elite and therefore more expensive MBA options in the region, Part 2 focuses on New York programs that are more practical choices if you’re doing business school on a budget. These programs tend to offer comparatively smaller returns-on-investment but the advantage is their affordability.
So, let’s take a deeper dive into four more New York-area MBA programs that offer the best returns-on-investment for graduates.
Lubin School of Business — Pace University
The Lubin School of Business counts Hearst Magazines president Michael Clinton ’83, HBO Chairman and CEO William C. Nelson ’75, and former Chairman and CEO Ivan G. Seidenberg ’81 among its notable alumni. With tuition for Lubin’s two-year full-time MBA priced at $71,340, the program qualifies one of the mid-range options on our list. MBAs graduate with an average salary-to-debt ratio of 68 percent culled from average debt of $44,076, according to U.S. News & World Report, and an average base salary of $64,425.
Gabelli School of Business — Fordham University
Notable Gabelli School of Business notable alumni include UnitedHealth Group CEO Stephen J. Hemsley, ’74; former JP Morgan CEO Maria Elena Lagomasino ’77; Countrywide Financial Corp Co-Funder, Chairman, and CEO Angelo R. Mozilo ’60; and Empresas Polar CEO Lorenzo Mendoza. At $87,807 for its two-year full-time MBA, Gabelli’s tuition is among the priciest on our list but the handsome 53 percent salary-to-debt ratio makes up for it. MBAs graduate with an average debt of $51,870 and go on to earn an average base salary of $97,404.
Tobin School of Business — St. John’s University
The Tobin School of Business at St. John’s University is one of the most affordable MBA programs on our list, with tuition priced at $43,740 for its two-year full-time MBA. Tobin MBAs graduate with an average debt of $28,291, which when set against their $59,276 average base salary, yielding a 48 percent salary-to-debt ratio.
Stevens Institute of Technology School of Business
Recent noteworthy employers of the Stevens Institute of Technology School of Business MBAs include ExxonMobil, Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, JPMorgan Chase, L’Oreal, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Tishman Realty & Construction Co., Turner Construction, UBS Financial, and Verizon. Although tuition is priced at a competitive $68,988 for its two-year full-time MBA, Stevens actually has the highest salary-to-debt ratio of any school on our list, at 72%. Stevens MBAs graduate with an average debt of $48,244, according to CNN Money, and go on to earn an average base salary of $67,100.
Looking At New York City’s Best MBA Return on Investment (Pt. I)
As real estate in all five boroughs continues to rise, and/or get snapped up by oh-so-wonderful oligarchs, New York City’s pressure cooker reputation has taken a turn for the … banal.
