Record Paychecks for US Investment Banking Jobs

The average numbers mask where the real money is being made, though. Even midlevel investment bankers, hedge fund managers, and private equity investors are taking home huge pay checks. The average managing director, the investment banking industry term for partner, is earning an average of $1.8 million to $2 million, according to Gary Matus of executive search firm Egon Zehnder. Team leaders and other senior bankers are seeing average bonuses of $3.5 million to $4 million, and vice-chairmen and other superstar bankers are earning bonuses of $20 million or more, Matus said.

Those figures don't include the wealth created by the appreciation of stock that bankers hold in companies such as Goldman and Morgan Stanley, which have shifted from a true partnership structure to one of public ownership. Lazard announced last November that it would sell an additional 12 million shares, 6 million of which are owned by senior members of the firm. Individual bankers made millions from the sale.

CEOs and senior executives at private equity firms and hedge funds can earn even more than investment bankers. "Investment management is the most lucrative profession in the world. There's nothing like it. Investment banking is a poor cousin to hedge fund investing," said one senior executive at a financial-services firm, who declined to be identified. He said the founder and CEO of a large hedge fund, such as Steven Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors, can earn hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Senior leadership at a large private equity firm can earn a comparable amount, according to Brian Korb, a partner with Glocap Search.