Seeking Advice on Hourly Rate

[Bill Smith]

I'm seeking the advice of this group as to the "suggested" hourly rate for an independent quant consultant located in the midwest. I know it's often hard to come up with a dollar amount without first knowing many of the details, so I'll try to provide some background info on the quant consultant:

Master of Science degree in Quantitative Financial Economics (MSQFE); Statistics Minor, GPA 3.95/4.0, with solid grounding in probability theory, statistics, linear algebra, and numerical analysis

Specialized in the analytics of structured credit instruments (i.e. modeling of the collateral portfolio, waterfall analysis, and synthetic CDO pricing)

Deep understanding of financial risk management (i.e. asset pricing, VaR, stress testing, and market data)

Unique skill set of quantitative finance development and corporate finance consulting

Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Charter holder

Four and half years experience in the financial services industry

Strong model build skills in Excel, strong numerical programming skills in Matlab, FORTRAN, C++, VBA, SAS

The type of project work will involve analysis and data modeling for complex securities valuation. Consultant has experience in valuation work.

Please let me know what other information would be helpful in determining a reasonable "hourly rate" to pay this consultant. Just looking for a general range.

Thanks!

 

[Andy Nguyen]

$50-$100+/hour
This is based on people I know working as contractors for IB in NYC in similar roles. Reference time was mid to end of '08. Price may have come down since then.
Midwest certainly is not NYC so I'll say 40-80/hour is a starting point.

 

[Bill Smith]

Thanks Andy... It provides a range to work within.

 

[Wallstyouth]

Not sure if you can get the same in the Midwest However, I was recently offered a position at a large European investment bank doing consulting work at a rate of 97/hr 780 daily cap.

I can vouch for the numbers Andy provided which we're dead on.