A question for those working in Finance?

We've been told by mgmt today that Wall St. bonuses are down 50-60% year over year. Supposedly we're the last ones to announce bonuses this year (next wed. for us).
So I guess I am trying to find out if this is true or not to the degree stated above. I expected bonuses to be down, but not this much down.

lets put it this way, my girlfriend works for a big investment company and her bonus was less than half of what she got last year. Also, earlier, they were told no raises and very LITTLE bonus if at all!! What ****s about it is that the market that she is in is making $$$ hand over fist...but they really have to spread the wealth around the whole company.

Its a hard time in the ecomony now.

I think it depends what area of finance you are in. My DH just got his bonus yesterday and we were very fortunate that the percentage wasn't that large. He is in a front office position in credit derivatives and I believe his area actually made money this year! (He works for major finance/bank in NYC)

He said other areas were hit very hard. He said average was anywhere from 20-35% down from last year. He said back and middle office staff was hit hard and people were crying and not even coming to work the next day! Even though people knew they were not going to get as much as last year (they announced no bonus this year), he thinks they weren't prepared for it. they just didn't believe it. It is a bad time right now and you have to be grateful for what you do get.

alina my old company that i was with for 5 years did that and i never knew it.

i found out just recently the way bonuses were distributed was based on your performance review, the curve of the group and the banks performance.

its hard to explain but one year the group could all get a huge bonus and the next year not as huge.

Bonus at my firms are determined by:

a) employees performance
b) department's performance
c) overall firm performance

ALL firms are doing pretty terrible now so everyone should expect their bonus' to be down from 2-3 years ago. Last year was also terrible so it should be 50% from that unless your company didnt discount bonus' last time around.

It also depends on your level. The higher you are, the more your total compensation is dependent on bonus. For example, some VPs have a salary of $125K (not that much more than your average AVP or below) but their bonus can range from $50K (bad year) to $200K (great year).

I know about many of the bonus $$ in my department. Some people are getting nothing, some people are getting $2500, some are getting $35K and some are getting a hell of a lot more than that -but everyone is down from the hay days of a few years ago.

The best way to to go about bonus time (IMO) is to expect NOTHING and be happy with whatever you get.

Article in the Financial Times today:
Wall Street bonuses down by 59%
Financial Times 01/24/03
author: Gary Silverman
Copyright (c) 2001 Dow Jones Reuters Business Interactive Ltd.,trading as Factiva.




Wall Street bonuses have plunged 59 per cent from their bull-market levels, cutting pay cheques by $11.5bn, New York state's chief fiscal officer estimated on Thursday.


Alan Hevesi, New York state comptroller, said research by his office suggested that bonuses last year at Wall Street securities companies had fallen 37 per cent to $7.9bn. That compares with $12.6bn in bonuses during 2001 and $19.4bn in bonuses during 2000, when US stocks peaked.


'This is the first time Wall Street bonuses have declined two years in a row since the stock market crash in the 1980s,' Mr Hevesi said.


Mr Hevesi's figures cover only the 164,000 securities industry employees who work in New York city. But they are probably a good guide to the situation around the world, given the global decline in securities industry revenues.


Earnings reports in recent days have suggested Wall Street investment banks remain gloomy about their prospects for 2003 and are cutting expenses and staff to remain in the black.


Merrill Lynch , the largest US brokerage, said on Wednesday that it cut 2,300 jobs during the fourth quarter of last year, bringing its total staff reductions to 21,700, or 30 per cent of the total, since the third quarter of 2000.


Mr Hevesi said the average bonus paid to workers in the New York city securities industry was $48,500 last year. In 2001, the average was $72,600. In 2000, it was $104,600.


By comparison, he said the average annual salary paid to New York city workers outside financial services was $46,700 in 2001, the last year for which figures were available.


Mr Hevesi's study also showed that employment in the securities industry had fallen. Last year's employment figure of 164,000 compares with 173,700 in 2001 and 185,800 in 2000.


Locals officials across the US have been warning in recent months that state and city governments could facing growing budget deficits because of declining tax receipts.


Mr Hevesi, a Democrat who has criticised the Bush administration's economic proposals, said he believed Wall Street's woes would exacerbate his state's budget problems.


'New York remains extraordinarily dependent on Wall Street for revenues, and the latest numbers provide just one more piece of evidence that the challenges facing New York state and city are daunting,' he said.

my old firm American Express is still laying people off.

It started April 2001 and hasnt stopped.

I was layed off in October 2001. I just heard that a girl i know was layed off right before christmas.

RJ Reynolds cut 3500 jobs late last year.

A lot of companies have been hit with financial hardships and just havent been able to recover.

I just wanted to thank everyone for the comments... I am trying my best not to expect too much on Wednesday