Unless hes some badass trader..which actually could be possible. I just spoke to a VP at Bear in the Fixed Income trading desk and he was telling me about a 27 yr old kid making 9 figures (he turned down trader magazine's request to be in the top 30 under 30). Anything is possible on Wall Street...

 

Impossible to extremely unlikely. The truth is people in finance love inflating their pay because that is how they measure success and they have the extreme need to flaunt it in front of people. I wouldn't believe a word about any of this nonsense.

CompBanker’s Career Guidance Services: https://www.rossettiadvisors.com/
 

except we're not talking 27. I'm talking fresh out of college, first job (w/possible internship experience) kind of experience. I'm willing to overlook the difference in pay. and I'm only asking because if the pay is that much for 1 year, I might just go for it for 1 year so I can pay for my own place and do what I really love to do afterwards (which is not spend 85+ hours a week working).

 

except we're not talking 27. I'm talking fresh out of college, first job (w/possible internship experience) kind of experience. I'm willing to overlook the difference in pay. and I'm only asking because if the pay is that much for 1 year, I might just go for it for 1 year so I can pay for my own place and do what I really love to do afterwards (which is not spend 85+ hours a week working).

 

The reality is you already have some of the brightest students from the best schools in the world taking these positions and working their brains out. I don't care how spectacular someone is, right out of college you're still going to make the same amount as everyone else at big banks. Besides, I was under the impression traders' bonuses were capped for the first couple of years.

CompBanker’s Career Guidance Services: https://www.rossettiadvisors.com/
 

Your friend is full of shit. Those numbers (100 base, 270 bonus) are totally legit for a 1st year out of an MBA program, but not out of ugrad at a bank like UBS.

And even if he were a "badass trader", as someone put it, there is no way someone directly out of ugrad will get there own book quickly enough to generate the $2.5-5MM P&L needed for that bonus.

 

badass traders I know in Chicago made zero in the first few years while being backed by someone senior. Going back in time I would say first year would be mid 100s maybe total at an IB/HF (and you would spend all that in NYC anyways), but going into 2008 not so sure....

 

If that 27 yr trader is raking in 9 figure, assuming for whatever reason he takes a 5% commission on his trade, then he would have to generate double 10 figure profit for his company. IMPOSSIBLE!!!!

 

Even at banks you can pull in closer to 10% of your P&L (trading, sales, and structuring can all pull in that high of a percent of whatever profit they bring in).

And even the wild estimates on the street only had maybe 2 or 3 guys at banks getting 9 figure bonuses--and they were all commodities at J. Aron (i.e. Goldman). 
 
Best Response

there were 4 people on the street (BB's) who made 9 figures (100mm+) last year, and 2 of them are from GS. I would be willing to bet no one at Bear made more than 50mm in bonus comp last year, and doubt it was a 27 year old VP (who ever heads his desk and the larger group would still take a lions share of the bonus allocated the desk/group). Banks compensate you on what they believe will keep you around (the 8-13% of your P&L is not usually set in stone in a contract and will come down if you make huge profits at a young age--occassionally the P&L figure is set in contract). More likely, this guy (if even true that he was a hitter) would be promoted to head the group and then he would be in a position to take the lions share of the bonus pool

 

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