86 Comments
 
big unitWhats with the variance?

big c has an internal ranking system, from 1 to 5, 1 is the top analysts, 4 and 5 will get the same bonus, 5 guys may get fired...

 
Marcus_HalberstramI'm very skeptical of the 50K(possibly even the 38) number coming from a BB, and Citi no less.

I think the reason that you are skeptical is because people (with absolutely no knowledge) on this board keep throwing out numbers like "20K will be top bucket" or "you are lucky just to have a job."

The reality is that these bonuses are still 50% less than last year which is shitty enough. People on WSO set the expectations so low and therefore no one wants to believe these numbers, even though they are bad numbers albeit not as bad as the concensus on WSO.

Just shows that there is way too much speculation on this board.

 
Best Response

I have no reason to believe that two people in this thread are lying, so maybe you can share what your buddies got as bonuses, and if they were a lot lower than maybe it was because they weren't top bucket.

...and I don't know what the IBD numbers were for 2008 because I don't work in IBD but here is the dealbreaker spreadsheet from last year that was floating around before/during bonus season:

http://dealbreaker.com/2008/05/2008_bonus_payouts.php

Looks like at least some were earning 100K, but even if not then I don't understand why you have to single out top bucket to try to dispute and argue that bonuses aren't 50% lower. Let's take middle bucket (from the OP) of 25K, I am pretty sure that middle bucket was at least 50K last year for most BB's. Therefore I stand by what I said that these bonuses would still be no more than 50% of least year's which are shitty numbers for the amount of work you put in no matter the economy.

 

Were these just for IBD or S&T too? If Citi is paying out this much to first years, only seems reasonable to think the profitable TARP repaying banks would have to be in-line with this.

 

I am not surprised by decent bonuses this year, analysts work so hard and are such a small part of the overall costs of the firm - and numerically fewer than higher up employees. Got to make sure they have enough money for food and an occasional bottle somewhere. Otherwise spreadsheet errors and broken pitches will infect the pipeline.

 

How do most of your bases go up? Mine has been going up in 5K increments every year, with a larger bump when I changed banks. But... here's my question....

Base was previously about 60... so lets take a GOldman analyst: Analyst1- 60 Analyst2- 65 Analyst3- 70

Now they decide to raise the base for Analyst1, so essentially the Analyst3 is making the same base as a first year? Doesn't make sense... I'm assuming the Analyst3 will get a larger bump... so will be at 80K? is that an accurate assessment?

Can we please refrain from prospective monkeys commenting on how they think it works or what their friends have experienced... I'd like to hear from people who actually experienced this.

 

"Today in Monday Morning Hilarity: we're to believe that second tier, first year analysts at Citi are getting $42k. Could this possibly be true? Is Vikram just saying "fuck it, I dare them to fire me?" (in which case we feel an deep kinship with Pandito at this time). Are they banking Geithner not having the pair to actually do something about it, or the fact that they'll be out of business in less than a year anyway (I kid but seriously: anything could happen)? Or is this less likely than Prince Alwaleed sending everyone a pony and button down to match?"

---DealBreaker

...So 50k Tier 1, 42K Tier 2 so far for Citi.

 
Chim Chim"Today in Monday Morning Hilarity: we're to believe that second tier, first year analysts at Citi are getting $42k. Could this possibly be true? Is Vikram just saying "fuck it, I dare them to fire me?" (in which case we feel an deep kinship with Pandito at this time). Are they banking Geithner not having the pair to actually do something about it, or the fact that they'll be out of business in less than a year anyway (I kid but seriously: anything could happen)? Or is this less likely than Prince Alwaleed sending everyone a pony and button down to match?"

---DealBreaker

...So 50k Tier 1, 42K Tier 2 so far for Citi.

Sorry but second tier is actually really good, because most will end up in the third tier. Second and first tier is for the best and not that many will end up in those tiers.

Everyone keeps looking at the 50K 1st tier bonus numbers, while they should instead focus on the 25K (from OP) for third tier which is where most analysts end up.

...and 25K is a shitty bonus, so people need to stop getting overly excited about the 50K first tier number

 
stk123
Chim Chim"Today in Monday Morning Hilarity: we're to believe that second tier, first year analysts at Citi are getting $42k. Could this possibly be true? Is Vikram just saying "fuck it, I dare them to fire me?" (in which case we feel an deep kinship with Pandito at this time). Are they banking Geithner not having the pair to actually do something about it, or the fact that they'll be out of business in less than a year anyway (I kid but seriously: anything could happen)? Or is this less likely than Prince Alwaleed sending everyone a pony and button down to match?"

---DealBreaker

...So 50k Tier 1, 42K Tier 2 so far for Citi.

Sorry but second tier is actually really good, because most will end up in the third tier. Second and first tier is for the best and not that many will end up in those tiers.

Everyone keeps looking at the 50K 1st tier bonus numbers, while they should instead focus on the 25K (from OP) for third tier which is where most analysts end up.

...and 25K is a shitty bonus, so people need to stop getting overly excited about the 50K first tier number

Good point and I think it underlines how many prospective monkeys are on here. Before I started I'd always think/talk about top tier as the base when in reality it's only a couple of guys who get it, maybe even like 5-10%. I guess it depends on banks but I know at mine the majority of ppl are lumped in the middle for the simple reason that those reviews cannot be fully objective across the bank as a whole, you can only really identify very good and very bad analysts for certain on an intragroup level.

$25k is pretty crappy, I've heard of ppl in 06 getting equivalent amounts and being told they should probably think of shipping out in the next 3-6 months whereas now they'd have been fired way before bonuses. And before some loser comes on and tells me how you need to be top 10% or else you suck, please get a job at a bank first.

 
killscallionHere are the top tier first year analyst bonus numbers I've gathered so far. Feel free to dispute:

Barclays - $45K BMO Capital Markets - $60K Citi - $50K Cowen - $40K JPMorgan - $50K Lazard - $40K UBS - $45K

Here are the banks that have raised their base by 10K (i.e. 70K base for first year analysts, 80K base for second years, and so on):

GS MS UBS Citi (rumored)

I haven't heard of Barclays doing this. Can anyone confirm?

How are the base pay rates being raised by 10k, when all incoming 2009 first year analysts have already signed a contract saying base is 60k???

 

Don't some of those banks give out bonus's in Jan, not the summer, even for analysts? I seem to recall hearing about them a few months ago (and significantly lower).

 

Just Goldman Sachs, and yes, first-year analysts at GS received $7K stub bonus across the board. They probably feel screwed right now, but I'm sure their bonuses will be good this December given that GS IB is doing very well.

MilleniaDon't some of those banks give out bonus's in Jan, not the summer, even for analysts? I seem to recall hearing about them a few months ago (and significantly lower).
 

BMO has consistently paid above market, even during the boom times. I know someone who has received 110K as a first-year analyst bonus in 2006.

glowinthedarkWhat is the deal with BMO CM? Ambitious I would say.
 

What about BOA-ML? I'm guessing its in line with Citi considering its fairing much better but still under TARP and headquartered in North Carolina where rent of $600 for a nice place.

Also, IB bonuses for 1st years have been fairly consistent with S&T and ER in the past - guesses on the correlation these days?

And what about MBB - still in the tight 5-10K range? Maybe a few 15K top buckets out there?

 

question - im a first year analyst at a BB in S&T. completely lost when you guys indicate pay differences among tier 1 vs 2, etc. could someone get me up to speed on this?

another thing, what if i'm the only 1st year analyst in my group? am i tier 1 by proxy? :D

 
rightplacewrongtime
iambatemanfrom a friend, UBS 2nd yr top IBD 60
Any word on the other tiers at UBS IBD??

Usually you can guess the bonus number by tier within 5K if you only have one number for that class. This year the dollar difference between the top tier and the bottom tier is not that great anyway.

 

That pic reminds me of a picture of 2 chiseled guys lying naked on a couch sensually spooning.... very artistically photographed, in sepia perhaps. Anyway, I disabled the Norton security and set that picture as the background on the computers in the computer lab while I was still in college.

Whats really going to be funny is people's reactions who haven't seen this thread.

Who else wants to throw some money in the pot... we're upto 20 beans, Ill use an avatar of 2 dudes blowing each other for $50 a day. I'm sure MichaelHutchins will happily contribute so long as theres a facial.

 

First years got 10 signing bonus, 70 base, and 5 bonus, but no raise. Second years used to get a raise to 90 base after the first year, but not anymore.. Not sure what 2nd years' and 3rd years' bonuses were, but my guess is less than 10K since many associates got around 10K.

 

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