Same education, same starting point, different economies, different results!
✏ Sharing my personal story today
In 2013, I went to Cambridge University for summer exchange.
🎒 The students there were way smarter than me.
I became good friends with a Singapore classmate there because we shared a common goal of applying to banking and becoming successful someday.
📆 When I got my Deutsche Bank summer offer in Hong Kong, my salary was 30% higher than his similar offer in Singapore.
📆 When I got my Citibank graduate offer, my salary was still 20% higher than his graduate job offer in Singapore.
Am I smarter than him? Not really.
But why did I get a higher salary than him?
I would say it’s the economic environment.
📈 Hong Kong has been experiencing an economic upward trend since 1990.
💰 Everyone in the banking industry in HK made money until COVID hit.
From time to time, we would keep in touch with each other and joke about our salary and future projects.
⏳ Fast forward 7 years in 2024, I had a quick catch up with him in Singapore recently.
He switched to buy side while I switched to recruitment.
⚖ This time, he has a better economic advantage over me.
His salary in Singapore now is 4 times my salary in Hong Kong.
(Bear in mind we are in the same year)
🏦 Even if I stayed in banking, his total compensation would be at least 3 times mine because of his generous bonus payout in Singapore.
His base salary is similar to his peers in Hong Kong.
We laughed at each other about how tables had turned in the past 4 years.
🧤 I told him maybe I will catch up with him again 5 years later!
Hopefully tables will turn again 5 years later, if not earlier!
🔔 The fun part about our career is when you are experiencing a downward trend, your job is to find a way that can bring you forward.
💡 As Warren Buffett said
Only when the tide goes out do you discover who has been swimming naked
🔔 Everyone makes good money when the market is good.
🔔 It’s when you can find ways to overcome the economic challenge and make money, you are the true winner.
May you all be true winners!
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