Hey all, does anyone have concrete examples of what Goldman's end of year bonuses (paid out in August) look like for analysts? I know there is a "Goldman discount" and they get paid on the lower end, but any numbers you know of in the past would be helpful - for both first and second year.
Do some groups pay higher than others? For example, I believe TMT makes up like 40% of IBD's revenues, so do their analysts get paid slightly more in bonuses?
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I think bonus buckets are firmwide, but buckets may be allocated differently among groups (e.g. TMT might have more top bucket spots than, say, natural resources). Don't have concrete numbers re: GS but I was an analyst at MS and we were typically 20-30% below street. I would imagine Goldman is similar.
Thank you, that’s helpful. Surprised to see it being that much lower... that means bonuses were like 35-45k? I’m in for a shock this summer then hahaha
Have heard that bonuses at the junior levels were not good this year in spite of record profits in their IBD.
Do you have any concrete numbers? Hopefully I can land a well-paying buyside gig because I think I might be pretty pissed if it’s as low as 30-40k ugh
It won't be that low. They pay street.
The discount is just if they're doing super well the pay will be street or slightly below.
Goldman bonuses are crap. Expect like 60k as a top-bucket first-year. If you’re a departing second-year, expect 5k.
Holy shit, do they really do that to second years leaving for the buyside? Jesus, there's a new company policy that we need to tell them ASAP if we get a buy-side gig to be "mutually beneficial" (before we technically could get fired and everyone kept quiet), but maybe I need to keep my mouth shut until after second year bonus
Probably group-dependent. But yeah they’ve screwed some kids, and recently.
That's pretty messed up... I know Goldman can get you opportunities at well-paid buyside jobs but must be a bummer seeing kids from like Evercore make ~80k+ more and end up in the same place
Yeah. Hindsight 20/20, grass always greener, etc., but frankly there is little-to-no justification for taking GS/MS/JPM over EVR/CV/PJT, at the analyst level, these days.
Pay is miles better. Hours are better. Better experience (or at least more responsibility). As-good-or-better exits — due to the experience and a bit more free time to prep.
GS might be a (marginally) better platform for career bankers, but guess where you’d have no problem lateraling after a half-decade at any EB? The contention that ‘industry doesn’t know who XYZ EB is’ is laughable as well — Google has heard of Moelis. Sure, some industrial services client in Des Moines might not be familiar, but if that’s where you’re lateraling as a third-year VP that’s being pushed out, you’re way better off at that point with an extra $1mm in the bank than you are with “Goldman Sachs” on your resume.
Yes. The Goldman discount grows at the mid-level banker level. It’s a general point of repeated complaint from my friends and colleagues there
They’re literally so low that all of the exiting second year analysts generally swear they won’t bring business to GS when they’re on the buyside. At least in my team that was true.
35 or lower bottom bucket, 45-55 mid bucket and 60ish top bucket
Yeah it’s a scam. Meanwhile kids at Centerview hit that in their first stub.
Wow, are these numbers for 1st years or 2nd years? If for 2nd years, that is absolutely atrocious.
Yes
.
Any numbers / estimates for Associates? VPs?
Does the GS discount only apply to juniors, or does it translate to mid-level bankers?
Curious as well
I’ve got to know quite a few ex-GS folks across all levels (analysts to MD) and what I’ve been hearing for the past year is that people are moving towards the door. I guess Solomon doesn’t want to commit the same resources to IB and the comp wasn’t improving. You’ve already seen some high profile exits
Ya - it's really bad and the gap gets worse as you progress. To level set, from speaking with MBA classmates, the Associate stub bonuses are half of what Evercore or Moelis pays (~30 vs 60-70). Once you hit Aso1 and are getting 100k flat while your MBA classmates at independents are getting 150-200 is when most people get annoyed.
I would say that the GS IBD brand - from a client perspective - is so strong at this point that they don't really need to compete for talent the way EBs or even Morgan Stanley does. They ALWAYS get a meeting, and they ALWAYS get fed. It doesn't matter if Evercore or PJT or Centerview is now on every deal at a particular client, GS, by virtue of being GS, will always be able to get a piece of the action. That, combined with the trading desk making bananas amounts of revenue for the firm over the past decade means that they just don't pay out the same way others do. They need to feed the beast, and it's just not worth paying an MD the millions that Moelis would pay them when they really don't get much marginal benefit out of it.
Pretty much. Still the best bank in the world from a client or shareholder perspective. Just no longer worth it from an analyst’s POV.
Surprised to see the overwhelming amount of ppl on here being completely against working for Goldman at the junior level vs the independent boutiques.
Does anyone have any counterarguments in support of joining Goldman instead of boutiques, especially as an analyst? Interesting to see everyone’s thoughts... why do kids at top targets still go to Goldman?
Prefffftige. Tell a girl at the bar that you work at Goldman. Insta panty dropper. Tell same girl that you work at PJT and she will look at you like the autist that you are.
I’ve been bashing them in the comments above, but to be fair to GS, you do get to work on the best deals with the best people (skill-wise) in the industry. It’s a positive feedback loop that keeps their pipeline and teams strong despite the subpar pay.
nice
The analyst bonus ranges I know of for the last two years at GS are $40k-$65k for first years (summer 2019 payout) and $50k-$90k for second years (summer 2020 payout).
That’s for a good (non-TMT) industry group in NYC. Can’t speak to the how much it varies across groups.
This is very different than what the posts above say, so that's interesting - do you know if second year analysts who are leaving for the buyside got screwed over with super low bonuses as another member mentioned above?
I'm sure it happens, but certainly not the default outcome. In fact, one of the second years that got the highest bonus in our group last year is one that left for PE. He was very very good though and worked his ass off on a few super busy teams all the way until his last day. There are definitely analysts that start phoning it in as soon as they've secured a buyside gig, so can imagine they'd be the ones getting shit bonuses.
FWIW I was in classic IBD at GS within the last 2 years and had 90K as my bonus 2nd year, 95k base as usual. It was top bucket and I didnt say I was leaving till they told me it. Discount is real though esp at senior levels
Thank you for the info. Do you recommend not telling anyone in the group that you are leaving until the day you resign (after bonus)? Heard you can get in trouble with the new policy if you do that
You should pretty much never tell others that you're leaving until after receiving your bonus, regardless of working at Goldman or not
Base is 95 for 2nd years or 90?
What's so sad is that despite all the complaints and criticism related to GS, 99% of UG's reading this would take GS in a heartbeat.
Which is how they justify their discount. What do you think needs to happen in order for things to actually change?
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