What do you consider a good bonus?

Simple enough question.


what do you consider a good bonus as a % of base salary at analyst, associate and VP levels. I guess beyond that becomes very specific to deals being brought in by the directors and MD.

Also whatever is considered good now; how did it compare to the 2000s as well as the 2010s in your opinion. 

 
Most Helpful

Zero is the wrong answer. The bonus is part of your compensation, not some “extra” pat on the back. It is meant as an incentive, a way to differentiate those who had outsized impact, and a way to manage cash flows (from the firm’s perspective). 

While you should not count on a bonus for something very important in your life, a no bonus is a sign that something is very wrong (with you or the firm), this isn’t a standard corporate job where most of your pay is in your salary. 

As for the question above I would say “good/solid” is about 60-70% of your salary at the analyst level (so about $50-60k)

For associate I would go with 80-100%

At VP at many firms there starts to be differentiation (group dependent and cash/equity split). So you can end up with similar to associate or go significantly higher (I’ve seen people at VP get stuck at $330-350 all in due to group performance).

Keep in mind that the % can change as banks figure out how much they want to guarantee vs put in bonus. So mostly anchor to the total comp numbers (edit: I’m holding total comp ~150 for 1st yr analyst and ~300 for 1st yr associate as “good/fine”). 

 

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