Lateral analyst bonus expectation

Thanks. How do we define significant money behind? Hypothetically, if over last 2 calendar years I made $400 k in bonus on average each year, but there's no guarantee (nothing written nor oral) in to this year's bonus, do firms typically take the 400k as a reference for stub bonus this year (even though obv there are other factors like the fund's performance is a lot worse this year, the analyst's own PnL, seniority etc)? Also are you aware if MM pods handle this differently than single managers? I have heard from contacts that often for pods, PM will just give you 0 bonus at year end if an analyst joined say in September. Last and most important question is when do you think in the interview process should a lateral candidate discuss this with the PM?