Does consulting afford a good quality of life at the senior levels?If i'm honest,i'm motivated by buying a porsche, living in a decent flat and enjoying nice holidays, pretty standard for a young guy.achievable in consulting or just banking?

I would say this highly depends on your lifestyle.If you need a new porsche every 2 years or have to live in the biggest, most expensive apartment you can find then thats not plausible, but otherwise these things should be achievable.

You wont be young by the time you get to the senior levels in consulting. TIt will take about 11 years. 2- 3 at analysyt, 3 - 4 at consultant/senior consultant. 3 - 5 at manager and then your are at the Senior levels.So even if you were speedy you would get there in 8 years and that is not gonna happen. The average is about 10 years, so aim for that.In ten years you won't want a porsche, your wife will be nagging you for a seven seater.Bottom line? Consulting aint lucrative.

Its not as lucrative as investment banking, but I've got an offer with a strategy firm (often mentioned on here) that offers 40K base in the first year, 60 after 2 years and similar increases after that. You could buy a boxster on finance straight off if you really wanted. Have to question your motivation though - dont you have any more goals in your life than that?

Overall yes I do but in terms of material possessions I love fast cars and want to be able to afford them before I'm to old and fat for it. Investment banking just isn't an option because contrary to my post I do value my life for more than money.

If you download a copy of our salary benchmarking report (produced 9 months ago) then you&apos;ll have all the info you need to figure out your prospective earnings in the sector.PDF can be viewed (will take a few seconds as it&apos;s a big file) using this URL:<a href=http://www.top-consultant.com/2007_salary_report.pdf target=_blank>http://www.top-consultant.com/2007_salary_report.pdf</a>Hope this helpsTony RestellTop-Consultant.com

There&apos;s a huge range in what one can earn in consulting - because the range of work described as "consulting" is so vast. I know of people who&apos;ve made it to Partner with top strategy firms by their early thirties - and are then seriously sorted for the rest of their lives (financially at least - they&apos;d be on £300k+); but by the same age in a mediocre consultancy without having secured fast-track promotions you could feasibly still be on <£60k.So consulting can be lucrative if you work at it - but it ain&apos;t just going to happen to you by you routinely doing the day job...

you say you value life more than &apos;money&apos; - not valuing money makes you a shoe-in for the banking option you&apos;re considering, surely?this thread reminds me of career-conversations I&apos;d have with friends when we were about 13 years old and had car posters on our bedroom walls.

He Tony this is very interesting benchmark study you put together. Do you have simular benchmark numbers for consultancy in Western Europe.ThanksJ

Consulting is not as amazingly lucrative as finance has been in the past few years, but it is not bad compared to the alternatives.Based on a straw poll of people that I studied with, I&apos;m two standard deviations above the norm. So far it has beaten pretty much everything except banking front office and one accountant-turned-consultant. This is not truly statistically significant, but it does give pause for thought. (In the long run I&apos;m betting one of the two entrepreneurs in my class ending up being the wealthiest. Watch that space.)You could quite happily have all of the things that you want within seven years of starting a career in consulting if you&apos;re astute, work hard and are lucky. Just don&apos;t get married or have kids, otherwise you&apos;ll find your priorities being readjusted!EC

Yes, amazingly lucrative - I&apos;m a consultant and I earned a 6 figure amount this weekend - I won on the lottery - marvellous!!