If you're looking for a financial services job that both pays well and permits you to have some kind of life outside work, then sales and trading is theoretically it. Our most recent salary and bonus survey suggested that salespeople and traders command average total compensation of $407k and only work 55 hours a week. This looks pretty appealing compared to the investment banking division where people are working 73 hours a week for an average of $273k.
This does not mean, though, that traders at major investment banks are entirely happy. A new study* by Daphne Sobolev at UCL School of Management in London suggests traders have complaints just as much as junior bankers do. And many of their complaints are similar.