Wall Streeters used to the unfathomably generous bonuses of years past will likely be facing lighter stockings (OK, direct deposits) this year. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley employees are now employed by bank holding companies with payment structures closer to traditional commercial banks rather than investment banks, meaning Goldman's 2007 $12.1 billion bonus pool will be shallower in 2008.
The bonuses may be scaled down from past years, but employees will still receive bonuses bigger than what most of us outside the financial world will ever see. Goldman's bonus payouts last year averaged about $400,000 per person, while Citigroup paid its investment banking employees bonuses of about $100,000 per person. If Goldman employees are rewarded with a fraction of what they were accustomed to, it's not a bad chunk of change. Still, there's concern that New York's economy will suffer because of reduced spending on everything from housing to entertainment.
John Frieda
Madeleine Thompson
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The housing market in New York is ridiculous anyway, it could use a revamping.
1i would still love to get ANY bonus this year, but the industry that i work in, we don't get them unless you're a high up executive that was key in pulling in new business or something like that. i used to be completely wowed by the amount of money that people got at goldman, but i guess that those times are over now and we'll see how that changes this year and future years.
2Aww what a shame! My bank doesn't do bonuses at all, so Goldman can go p!$$ on themselves.
3I have not gotten a bonus in a few years and when my friends complain about the amount of their bonus I usually say at least you are getting one. I am amazed at the people that count on them as part of their income, to me you should never count on something like that because you never know when it will be taken away.
When I lived in NYC I always thought the end of those fat bonuses is coming and it is not going to pretty. Boy was I right. I guarantee that a lot of those people lived beyond their means and now are pretty screwed.
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