The Motley Fool Weighs In On 2005 Bonus Season

And we quote...As flush as [this year’s] payouts sound, they still aren’t on par with bonus day in 2000. Or even 1999 or 2003, the second- and third-most-profitable years for the Street, according to the Securities Industry Association. Wall Street’s 2005 bonus pool is expected to be in the $16 to $19 billion range.

Cue wavy computer screen and travel-back-in-time music: We’re in the year 2000, when big banks’ spirits were as high as the peaking stock market—and payouts reflected the boss’s gratitude. This year, a top director at an investment bank receives an average award of $1.5 million.

The music goes into a minor key and we’re whisked into the year 2004: The same top boss—a little grayer and following the South Beach Diet regimen—rips open his bonus envelope and finds a check for—dum dum duuuuumm—just $1.05 million. Hey, at least it’s not 2001, when Wall Street workers tightened their alligator belts and took a 30% hit in bonuses. That year, the average paycheck was padded by $60,000, according to the Securities Industry Association. Is that a tear in your eye? Or did you dislodge a contact lens while rolling your eyes?

Here’s a tissue. This year’s average bonus for a managing director at an investment bank will be $1.2 million, according to Johnson Associates. Ladies and gentlemen, it looks like Wall Street’s back in business. Bonus business, that is.

Wall Street’s Bonus Biz [Motley Fool]

Comments:

<< Back to main