If you’re a working professional in your late thirties, the median gross salary in your age group is $5,048/mth.
Managers in the same age group make a median pay of $6,500.
This is according to the Ministry of Manpower’s Report on Wages 2008 (released middle of this year).
Here are the stats for the various age groups:
- 25-29 age group: Managers $3,860, Professionals $3,416
- 30-34 age group: Managers $5,225, Professionals $4,269
- 35-39 age group: Managers $6,500, Professionals $5,048
- 40-44 age group: Managers $7,150, Professionals $5,536
- 45-49 age group: Managers $7,480, Professionals $5,800
Is your pay above the median?
And here are the top 22 managerial and professional jobs ranked by their median gross wages in the late-thirties age group:
- Specialised surgeon – $26,250
- Advocate and solicitor – $12,243
- Managing director – $12,000
- Fund manager – $11,854
- General manager – $11,459
- Company director – $10,515
- Business management consultant – $9,619
- Legal officer – $8,725
- Treasury manager – $8,500
- Risk management manager – $8,209
- General physician – $8,176
- Legal service manager – $8,015
- Chemical engineer (Petroleum) – $7,854
- Operations manager (Finance) – $7,800
- Computer operations and network manager – $7,107
- Budgeting and financial accounting manager – $7,021
- Research and development manager – $7,000
- Computer and information systems manager – $6,779
- Creative director (Advertising) – $6,625
- Business development manager – $6,500
- Information technology security specialist – $6,498
- Marketing manager – $6,495
Also deserving of mention are: Corporate Planning Manager and Training Manager (each >$8,500 in the early-forties age group), and University Lecturer (>$7,500 in the late-forties age group).
See also my list of the 100 best-paying jobs.
223 Comments
surprised: I knew your bro’s pay is above his peers. that amt should be higher than most ppl in the same age/profession. That said, one has to proof himself worthy to command what your bro has .
I read through the tips and advice given by some experienced posters above and noticed that there’s quite an emphasis on having a partner with the same earning power. Is this very important? What if you are in love with someone who doesn’t have very good earning power/potential?
Also, if this is so important, then how come there are so many golddiggers we see online and in real life, hoping to marry a high earning rich guy and not have to work?
puzzled: i know what you are saying. hopefully all of us come out of this recession ok. hang in there. btw, i’m late thirties and in IT management and guess i’m happy with my work/life balance. but it probably could be that i’m not very ambitious…lol
displeased: adiemuso and puzzled gave very good advices. you might want to reconsider before throwing everything you have for a chance to go into a risky situation. seems like you have a lot to put up to risk.
surprised: speaking for myself it’s just an advice. money should never trump love. my wife earn significantly less than me but i don’t care at all. however it does add a lot of pressure being the supporting bread earner. as we discussed before job security will be an ever growing concern for everyone.
but for displeased having an equally or better earning partner would help him to achieve his goals much faster?
displeased,
try trading your own money. start with 5k in a margin account. if u can do well consistently for 3mths, u can consider being a trader otherwise forget it.
like the others have mentioned, there are tons of experienced traders looking for jobs. its really tough for new hires. even if u are willing to work for free or miserable pay.
well i think it is a bonus if your partner is earning a high income as yourself but it is not a must have. i agree that love is more impt than $. why do we need to have so much $ if we dont have a partner whom we love right?
adiemuso: understand what you mean and i totally agree with you. that is why i am currently in the midst of something to achieve this goal of mine. hopefully it will come true in 1-2 yrs time.
life is short….and it sucks (think i sound like a typical singaporean – always complaining)
i’m not emphasizing that one should look for potential spouses with good income, but I’m talking abt household income (for family) in our case. be it sole or dual income, we’re more interested in the household income.
displease: Greed is good (according to Gordon Gekko). and I agree with adiemuso’s idea, if you can trade w/o fear you might make a good trader….3 months could be too short though. but remember a trader’s life is all abt risk-taking and risk mgt.
IT professionals make a lot of money. Sales, consulting services, sales engineers, engineering services make in excess of 100k a year, depending on your position and years of experience. All good respectable IT companies will pay their staff around that range.
I am making 150K a year and I am 31. I retired my wife so that she can take care of my kid and myself =) That’s my work life balance.
Yep, it appears that many people tend to bunch all IT people together without even any real understanding of what IT is all about. I am 31 years old, and I am earning 200K plus. I am also not a manager or VP or MD level.
I believe both 1 & 2 are the outliers.
Congratulations on being high income earners, but I don’t think the median (or even average) IT Professional is anywhere close to what you guys are making. I would say 80k is about right for a median salary for IT Professionals.
May I hazard a guess that both of you are working in big MNC firms or foreign boutique consultancies, possibly targeting high revenue industries like government, finance and telecommunications. Am I correct?
Where you work certainly makes a difference but up until a certain point. I’ve also worked across several industries now and the pay differences have been minimal. Many of my current colleagues are paid significantly less (around half or less), although there are some who gets paid more. I think what’s really important though is what you really do day to day. Taking an example: not every trader does the same thing and in fact I know for a fact that a lot of traders get paid less than myself. Remember that trading is a mostly a zero sum game and those who think otherwise are just fooling themselves, in other words for every winner there are tons of losers and that includes the professionals.
1 month $20K is good for me
Yea I’m not VP or director level, can imagine how much those folks make. My lifestyle is pretty stress-less too and I enjoy what I do, and there’s high value. Well IT3, I confirm my company does not operate in the sunset industries. And verticals, my friend, are already passé. 😉
I am skeptical because my ex colleague, who was doing IT in that company I was in, was paid $2.6k after 10 years with the company.
Most IT professionals don’t make alot of money, comparatively.
I work as a recruiter for an international recruitment agency and specialize in the information technology division.
From my 8 years of experience in talent management I have to say that I have rarely come across cases like IT P and IT P2.
At S$150-200k we are talking about senior managers and directors level compensation.
Your average support, administration, application, programming staffs etc normally earn between S$30-100k regardless of years of experience.
That is because companies have fixed compensation levels that they will pegged to the market.
Maybe IT P and IT P2 can help everyone understand what industries your companies are in and what special skills and certifications to command such a high compensation?
Does your technical work contribute directly to the companies’ revenue numbers?
That would help us understand IT jobs better so that we don’t group you into the IT masses.
pleased- when you say “traders getting fired all the time is an urban legend”, you sure about what you’re saying? if you had ever worked in front office, you would know traders turnover is always high, all the time, crisis or no crisis. can’t make money for the firm, you’re fired. can’t get along with someone important, you’re fired.
IT recruiter gets it right. The key is “contributing directly to the company’s revenue”, this is why I mentioned about what a person specifically does day to day. I think most IT professionals here are overpaid even at 2.6K or 5K or what have you. What most IT professionals do here is low value added work. On my last gig, I worked for a finance house and during that time I undertook and passed all 3 levels of CFA, not only I understood the business quite thorougly, but I managed to recommend business process improvements, etc that managed to cut costs, etc, etc, while remaining just a “programmer”.
to the IT guys: I’m not doubting you here but why would any sensible company pay you good money so that you can enjoy your work, have very good working hours so that you can have a good work/life balance?
I was in a global top IT company before changing career, and the people earning your kind of compensation are the executives level, those that are at least in their forties/fifties.
sure, I believe there’re niche areas (specialist) in IT which pays well but I don’t think it’s anywhere near the labeling of ‘stressless’, and it takes a LONG time to become specialist or senior IT consultants.
IT recruiter is right, but I think it’s possible for IT sales to command a high pay due to the direct contribution to the topline?
Well I know someone around younger than 30 raking more than 200k last year in IT sales alone. No big deal for those figures quoted above.
Aiya I think stress is everywhere lar, it’s whether you can manage it or not. As long as you belong to a profit center you have stress, but will be better paid.
To puzzled: Because we offer business value (and not just a cost center as many IT organization tends to be) or for some other people, they kiss people’s behind very well, I do both just to remain on the safe side :). Again, it goes back to what do you do day to day? If all you do everyday is come in, do your regular work and constantly wait for your manager to dole out your next work, then what can I say, you are no different from a lot of regular joes and you’ll get paid like them as well. I am not even the brightest guy, during my ‘O’ level, I only got 12 points, so although not everyone can do my job, there are plenty that should be able to.
I am writing all these because people here seems to look down on IT profs. Let’s take Google as an example. Many of their engineers (IT guys, who else) are paid millions (including stock options off course), because creating something like Google actually requires real skill and what they do contributes to the top/middle/bottom line, otherwise any auntie and uncle from hawker centers can do it too right?
Wow IT Professional 2, I am impressed! You cleared all 3 levels of CFA? Are you still in IT or banking now? Really clever man =) How did you do it?
finally i see some IT pros speaking. Everywhere i hear are all the stereotype ppl that makes me worry did i study the wrong course of study.
displease, IT pro 1 and 2, u mind advising me which area are niche in the market now? any advice in pursuing IT path will be appreciated.
Thanks!
all i can say is that you can earn great money in IT but the chances of earning great money in banking/finance is much higher. If you compare the average joe in both industry, the average joe in banking/finance should be earning a higher salary than the one in IT.
what displeased said is very true. i’ve worked in both industries so i know. but there are higher risks of retrenchment in banking. the average IT worker there may also have to work longer hours and suffer more stress. it’s only fair.
That is why alot of IT professionals that i know, including myself, are looking for a way out of IT when we know that we are nearing the 150k limit (in 2-5 yrs time) and anything beyond that limit is very difficult to achieve. I think the sky is the limit in banking/finance since there are alot more sales-related front office roles there. But if we are talking about the middle/back office roles then i dont think it will make that much of a difference if compared to IT.
puzzled: you brought up an interesting subject about stress which i would like to talk about. i think everybody handles stress differently and stress means different things to everyone.
as a regional manager everyone i know expects my job to be very stressful. however i enjoy my job tremendously and looks forward to coming to work every morning. i’m always on my BB but my time is as flexible as i want it to be. as a result i don’t find my job stressful at all. i’m sure someone else could do my job as well but i’ll also think that most people would find managing a region, sparring with regional VPs, directors, managers, managing resources and budget, justifying value etc very stressful. sort of like asking a marathon runner if running 12km is tough.
of course my stress comes from worrying about how IT jobs will face low costs challenges from places like India and Philippines.
therefore i’ll never encourage my son to go into IT.
not to discourage anyone but i’ve been in IT and management and been to a few MNCs to know that most IT guys are not paid very well and it’s unlikely to get any better. i mean you should see the numbers of good qualified resumes i get from India, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia etc.
as i said before there will always be exceptions like IT Professional 1 and 2. however exceptions are rare just because they are usually very good at what they do. for someone at 31 from IT background to pass 3 levels of CFA at 31 is exceptional no matter how you look at it. i think he’s probably very modest to say plenty of people can do it. it’s probably also stressless for him to do his job but i doubt there’s many people who can do it as easily. there’s also not alot of places that will pay that kind of money for such jobs. MOM statistics support the fact.
my point would be by all times be the best that you can be but be also realistic about the odds.
it should be a marathon and not a sprint.
personally i would be contented to be earning more than $100k/per annum throughout my whole career.
middleclass: i agree with you. i will never encourage my son/daughter to go into IT in future. Even if IT Pro 1 and 2’s claims are true, i believe that they are just the very lucky minorities who can earn such $ by doing IT.
I will make my kids study banking/finance/accountancy whether they like it or not :). By the way, you mentioned that you have been in IT and management as well but what about now? Dont recall you sharing with us what you are currently doing. Sorry if i have missed that out.
IT engineers/professionals are very impt people, without them we will not have our internet and tech of today.
post#119 brought up the success of it engineers from google who got rich fr stocks. but these are the very minorities among the world of engineers. only the very lucky who positioned themselves in the right company in the 90s eg in dell/microsoft/ some dot.coms which survived the bubble, became millionaires.
Taiwan also made many engineers millionaire ‘cos of the company stocks/options, but we don’t see it happening in SG
just like what true said–High risk, high reward,there’re instability in finance since most frt office bankers’ success take place by riding the rising tides of global markets.
so no need to envy them, the good money they earn during good times are for them to use wisely during down time. many more stable jobs, with lesser risk of being fired/retrenched during economic cycles/or not should be paid normal rate.
puzzled: but the obscene amount of money that these front office people are making can probably allow them to go jobless for the entire recession and maybe even beyond~ If they spend wisely, it is even possible to last them a life time. In our entire career, most of us might not even earn what these people earn in just a couple of years.
displeased: actually i have mentioned in this
thread – i’m a region IT manager.
unfortunately Singapore benefits from global trade and we must also accept the costs.
i’m afraid our open policy means even doctors and lawyers will face competitive sooner or later.
as for finance and accountancy you should know also like all others only the exceptional people are ok.
i guess as in all cases the advice is to be the best that you can be and keep the fingers crossed.
another point i think is interesting is that we usually like to equate good jobs, high pay with stress?
personally i think life is not supposed to be fair.
there will always be people who are either very good, very lucky or both.
i don’t think it should bother anyone whichever way.
middleclass: I guess your comments interest me because I am a regional IT manager too. Generally, your outlook towards job and pay is very similar to mine but I am not sure if that is due to holding the same type of position.
One point of major difference though is on going into IT. I think we should not be clouded with corporate IT which is nothing but public administration of technology services. It tries to force IT thinking into a legal, manufacturing and financial-crunching mindsets. E.g., two resources for a year buys you 3 new features kind-of thinking as stated in a contract. As all of us techie knows, most of the time, things that corporate wants to do are a few years behind in technology and by the time, open-source systems have already come up with comparable fairly robust solutions.
If you take away that chunk of IT business (significant chunk no doubt), the remaining IT is definitely worth considering as a career possibility for people who wants to earn a good pay.
To reiterate the point on luck, my case is that the difference in luck can make one intelligent person earning 100k and another equivalent earning 200k. We all like to think we are really capable but frankly if you ask me, I think I am luckier than some of my peers who could have been equally effective as me in this role if they went through the same experience. And I am certainly not lacking in overall capability than someone who is earning higher than me all things being equal. To prove this point on luck, I have more than a fair share of my peers who are doing a lesser job, including myself, and earning a higher pay at some points in our lives. Being capable gets you to a baseline, the rest is quite up to luck.
kevin: hello my fellow brother-in-trade. yes i think our outlook and probably experience have been very similar.
as for the difference in going into IT i guess it could be due to my age. my experience is that in Singapore ageism is a big problem. with our liberal labor policy, abundant IT talents and companies always looking at costs it makes no difference whether you are in management or technical fields. we face intense competition not just in Singapore with everyone else but also in the region when IT can be outsourced or moved to a lower cost center. those are things that are out of our circle of influence or control.
i think my only stress nowadays are worrying about going from late thirties into forties.
if you don’t mind sharing – how old are you and what do you stress about usually?
thanks middleclass. good to know that there are actually so many well-to-do IT professionals out there. i feel so small in comparison to middleclass, kevin, IT pro 1 and IT pro 2.
middleclass: I don’t think I am that much younger than you. I am in my mid-thirties. I guess there’s really nothing that I am significantly stressed about and you have mentioned the other usual job-related stress, e.g., securing buy-in from business management, engaging regional virtual teams in project, etc.
Regarding job security, I tend to think middle-level regional IT managers like us are relatively secure. While China and India management talents are upcoming, they are still fairly limited in their regional outlook and given the growth in these countries, demand is going to outstrip supply and a likely problem (or benefit to some) is that we may end up working in China, because more companies will set up major operations (e.g., HQ) in China rather than in Singapore.
It is true though that if you compare based on CVs alone, a lot of people from China and India will out-qualify the Singapore applicants. There are degree holders doing admin assistant work and MBAs doing analyst-level work.
One significant job inconvenience (which can be considered as stress to some people) is the irregular working hours. The HQ of my company is in the US, and as such, I need to be up on most evenings to talk to my US counterparts.
kevin: all very good points on job security. i guess when we have a good thing going we would love for it to continue forever but at the same time understand that change is the only constant in life.
displeased: don’t see why you would feel small since i think you are doing very well for someone at 30. in fact you are already ahead of me when i was at your age and no reason why you cannot surpass me easily given a few years.
but same advice as before to take time to enjoy your hard work and success.
money and career should not define who you are to your family and friends.
#129, displeased: care to define a bit more of your definition of obscene amt? do not think that most finance ppl earn amt like what we read/hear fr media.
yes, I think many people in frt office finance earn upwards of 300k or even 500k/yr, (which is many times that of a normal person). but I don’t think that amt can last a lifetime for most high earners ‘cos the more you earn the more you want to spend, and it’s hard to change one’s lifestyle
puzzled: what i mean obscene is not 300-500k but more like 1 mil and above. Of course not all front office guys earn 1 mil and above but at least the possibility of them earning 1 mil and above is there wherelse it is almost impossible for any other roles in other industries unless you are the CFO, CEO, COO, CIO, directors etc.
ok, you’re right here. I come across more ppl who earn more than us1m/yr, or in fact all from finance. none for the other inductries, except for the ‘towkays’
however, these people who earn >$1m are definitely elites
Yes I think middleclass really is wise and I enjoy reading all the posts and comments. I am glad I am having a great job and enjoying it thoroughly without compromising my family and friends. I agree that the job makes up a huge part of our lives and we should not neglect other important things. It’s easier to rationalize that at my age, I can focus on making more money, or climbing higher by stabbing on others etc.. Yet, when is enough enough? One life, live it! Don’t be lopsided =) You never know when it’s over.
In terms of the CFA, I mostly did a self directed study by studying either the Stalla or Schweser guides. But one thing that helped was the occasional study groups. That way if you get stuck, you’ll get help almost immediately or the group can think of a solution together.
In terms of being a banker, I am really not sure and at 31 the door is probably already closed for me to switch to that field. I am no saint and I have no children yet, but it’s my strong impression that finance people are overpaid for doing things that add close to zero or negative value to society. I don’t have any children yet, so I am sure once I have more mouths to feed, I’ll be “whatever can earn me the most amount of money in short terms”. As I said, I am no saint.
And yes, luck definitely plays a big part in life. Just think of all the wannabe traders graduating from college at this time and all wannabe programmers graduating at the height of the dot com boom. It can be very humbling to think that in fact everything may just be exactly that, just luck, but at the same time, we need to do our best and that means finding niches and skills that are highly valued, which I think is the key to success in any profession. And not to forget hard work!!!
honestly, i cannot understand why so many people on this forum are fixated on salary and nothing else. seriously, everything comes at a price.
there are very, very few cases where one can have a high paying job but yet remain happy and maintain work-life balance at the same time.
i made the switch to the financial industry 3 years ago. I was getting around $80k SGD then but am now at $200-300K (depending on the bonus). I am in my early 30s.
Now, before you think this is another ‘Ronaldo’ post, I must tell you that there’s really no reason to envy that. Even though I make 3x what I used to make, I think I am >3x unhappier as I work >3x harder and have >3x the amount of job insecurity. And it can only get worse.
Doesn’t seem like a good trade, if you ask me. And guess what? I can’t quit now as my family has gotten too used to our current lifestyle. So if you ask me, I strongly REGRET making the switch in the first place, because now I can never leave this god-forsaken industry.
A word of advice: salary should be the last thing considered when switching jobs. first ask yourself whether you like the job for whatever it is paying. then divide the salary offered by 2 and ask yourself if you still like it. if the answer is yes, then take the job. otherwise, be extremely wary.
(if switching from non-financial to financial industry, divide by 3 at least, or even 5, as that’s exactly the sacrifice you will be making in terms of time, work-life balance and general happiness)
financial slave: thx for your advice. would you mind revealing your current occuptation?
financial slave: I agree with you that one should not focus too much on the salary part. unlike you, I do not regret making the switch to finance….guess I’m a risk-taker deep inside.
and yes it’s hard to change one’s lifestyle. when you’re in finance and have a large disposable income, you tend to spend it (on luxury items)without thinking much (hence I do not envy my previous lifestyle b4 finance)
however, on the part that the family has gotten used to the current lifestyle, I think it’s you (or in my case, me) who wouldn’t want to give this all up….because I believe you’ve very worked hard (and made sacrifices) to get what you have today.
puzzled: would you mind sharing how u made the switch successfully? i understand that even with the right qualifications, switching is not easy if u do not have any relevant experiences.
making career switches is never easy, having addional qualifications/ papers definitely help but nothing is gauranteed. switching into finance in the current situation is 100x harder.
although what I say doesn’t really add value, but fr my experience, luck, being at the right place at the right time, tons of networking (i know it’s hard if you’re not fr the finance industry, how do you start?),being persistent will help.
getting an mba. fulltime is more suitable for career changer (but risk is higher since no gaurantee of a change and you’ll have to give up income and oppor cost), parttime no good for career changer. having cfa does help but is very time consuming, plus you need finance experience (do you know that there’re tons of indian IT professionals with cfa) to really add value
http://news.efinancialcareers.co.uk/newsandviews_item/newsItemId-20508
I think it’s best if you can get some finance experience, either from local finance houses/2nd-tier banks….and then stepup to the 1st tiers. but be warned that the pay they offer might not be attractive to you (compare to what you’re getting now). that’s why it’s rather hard for you to change career when you’re already commanding a good salary/position unless you can join the bulge brackets directly
displeased: i’m a quant analyst. but it doesn’t really matter, does it. the job sucks big time and the only reason why I’m still here is because the family cannot live without the $$$.
just to give you an idea, i’ve been working 15 hour days for the past 3 years, burnt almost every single weekend and public holiday, and on top of that, still get shouted at and abused by the directors and MDs on a daily basis.
honestly, if you’re making >$120K out there in IT, seriously, keep the job. At that income level you’re likely to be quite senior, at least a regional IT manager or IT director with people to do your crap for you. If you make the switch to banking, even though you may make more, trust me, you become the scum of the earth as a junior banker. trash. bottom feeder. You compete with 25 year old Ivy League or MBA fresh grads who have no problems working 23 hours a day (i am not joking).
why do you want to put yourself up to such abuse? Being a senior IT manager is definitely more satisfying and pays much more than a junior banker in terms of hourly pay. Not to mention better work environment and job security.
puzzled: personally i wouldn’t mind giving it all up. sell the stupid german car, sell the condo, go live in an HDB flat and drive a toyota. that’s how it used to be just 5 years ago anyway and i was much happier. it’s more of the people who depend on my present income that have issues. if only i could just hit ctrl-alt-del and go back to IT. unfortunately, expectations have changed and it’s no longer possible to reset that.
you can join one of the lower-tier banks where there’s more work life balance. none of the quants in my workplace ever work half as much as you. pay may be a little lower but i’m sure you’ll still get to keep your bmw and posh condo.
financial slave,
u sound horrible. time to save abit of money. tahan a bit more and consider switching to a lesser paced position. donot get burn out. its not worth the 200k p.a
puzzled: i thought of doing a mba as well but part-time. Why do u say that parttime is no good for career changer? U mean financial institutions do not accept part-time MBAs?