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xmas bonus, what to get?
DrBuster
Posts: 5,313 ✭✭✭✭✭
In lieu of getting any holidays or paid vaca for the past 3 years, I get a days' pay bonus. Nice gesture but whoopdy doo. My consulting firm really, really sucks.
Anyway, what to get? Pretax is 5 bills, so maybe what $300?
I was planning on watching the dips after xmas and grabbing a roll or hunk of something silver anyway. Throw it at that? Try for a couple of the 2010 ATB pucks? Gold indian? Do some work on the truck or jeep? Pistola/safe fund? Vaca fund? Nada?
What would you do with an extra 3-500?
Anyway, what to get? Pretax is 5 bills, so maybe what $300?
I was planning on watching the dips after xmas and grabbing a roll or hunk of something silver anyway. Throw it at that? Try for a couple of the 2010 ATB pucks? Gold indian? Do some work on the truck or jeep? Pistola/safe fund? Vaca fund? Nada?
What would you do with an extra 3-500?
0
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I would purchase some kind of precious metal in the form of either 1 oz. silver rounds, 1/10 or 1/4 oz. gold eagles, Ruger, or S&W.
Too many positive BST transactions with too many members to list.
silver
<< <i>All the 90% you can get at the cheapest price with the $ you have. .999 is overrated in my book. I turn more of a profit from 90% than .999 for the simple reason is that it's more negotiable. At least thats my take on it. Good luck >>
Let me add: I don't flip, the PM/coin plan is always stacking for much much later (or dire circs). I do have a soft spot for halves though...but with say $300 that's going to get me what, $15ish face, $16? Maybe that in WLH or barber culls? That would be a possibility.
I added to my Aussie silver stack last week that I'm liking even more, premiums be damned (although ATB pucks just blew by the Aussie prems). A 10oz hunk of koala or kook or rabbit would be a possibility, or a JM or Englehard 10oz (don't have one of those).
MANY positive BST Transactions
<< <i>so how long have you been working for Mr. Scrooge ? and I agree on investing in 90% for liquidity >>
3 years, got a contract extension supposedly through 2011 but we'll see about that. The only reason they get away with the crap benefits is due to the client I'm at - folks think it's a priviledge to work there for some reason, which is crap.
<< <i>Mr. Scrooge? That $300-$500 xmas bonus sure beats my $30 ham!!!!
That's w/o any paid vacation, holidays, sick days, or any benefits. They could keep that money if I could take some time off and not lose money. It's a token gesture, seriously.
I won't mention the bush league 'gift' that I got..well yes I will. Wind up flashlight, one of the $3 ones you can get at walmart/target/etc. They gave one to my boss here too...quite pathetic, and that was mentioned to me. I mean somebody is paying you over $100/hr for years and you show gratitude with something you get next to the candy at the register at walmart. I dunno, I'm used to working for folks with better business behavior than that.
I knew it would happen.
Groucho Marx
<< <i>this would be nice, only a 1000 were made ...you would still have anough money left for a gram of gold and a couple of barber halfs
2010?
I gots one
Box of 20
<< <i>All the 90% you can get at the cheapest price with the $ you have. .999 is overrated in my book. I turn more of a profit from 90% than .999 for the simple reason is that it's more negotiable. At least thats my take on it. Good luck >>
(must be the over head!) LOL
(x2,Meltdown),cajun,Swampboy,SeaEagleCoins,InYHWHWeTrust, bstat1020,Spooly,timrutnat,oilstates200, vpr, guitarwes,
mariner67, and Mikes coins
ShareretweetEmailPrintCompanies:Bank of America Corporation ComCitigroup, Inc. Common StockGoldman Sachs Group, Inc. (The) Related Quotes
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BAC 12.64 +0.07
C 4.6950 -0.0050
GS 166.68 +2.64
JPM 40.08 +0.41
MS 26.27 +0.03
{"s" : "bac,c,gs,jpm,ms","k" : "a00,a50,b00,b60,c10,g00,h00,l10,p20,t10,v00","o" : "","j" : ""} NELSON D. SCHWARTZ and SUSANNE CRAIG, On Sunday December 19, 2010, 9:52 pm EST
Bonus season is fast approaching on Wall Street, but this year the talk does not center just on multimillion-dollar paydays. It’s about a new club that no one wants to join: the Zeros.
Drawn from a broad swath of back-office employees and middle-level traders, bankers and brokers, the Zeros, as they have come to be called, are facing a once-unthinkable prospect: an annual bonus of ... nothing.
“It’s going to a cause a lot of panic on Wall Street,” said Richard Stein of Global Sage, an executive search firm. “Everybody is talking about it, but they’re actually concerned about it becoming public. I would not want to be head of compensation at a Wall Street firm right now.”
In some ways, a zero bonus should not come as a surprise to many bankers. As a result of the 2008 financial crisis, Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs and banks like Citigroup raised base pay substantially in 2009 and 2010. They were seeking to placate regulators who had argued that bonuses based on performance encouraged excessive risk.
At Goldman, for instance, the base salary for managing directors rose to $500,000 from $300,000, while at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse it jumped to $400,000 from $200,000.
Even though employees will receive roughly the same amount of money, the psychological blow of not getting a bonus is substantial, especially in a Wall Street culture that has long equated success and prestige with bonus size. So there are sure to be plenty of long faces on employees across the financial sector who have come to expect a bonus on top of their base pay. Wall Streeters typically find out what their bonuses will be in January, with the payout coming in February.
One executive, whose firm prohibited discussing the topic with the news media, said the bump in base salaries had confused people, even though their overall compensation was the same. “People expect a big bonus,” this person said. “It is as if they don’t even see their base doubled last year.”
Dealing with the Zeros can be complicated. “It’s a real headache,” said another senior banker, who asked not to be identified because the topic is so volatile at his company. There has been so much grousing that in some cases, he said, “we’ll throw $20,000 or $25,000 at each of the Zeros so they’re not discouraged.”
“No matter what we pay people, it is never enough and they always find something to complain about,” this banker said.
While Zeros are turning up in the ranks of back-office employees and midtier bankers and traders who typically earn $250,000 to $500,000, their bosses way up the compensation ladder are still expected to notch handsome paydays in the millions.
In terms of overall profit, Wall Street is on track for one of its best years ever, although it will trail 2009, which was pumped up by federal bailout money and the rebound from the financial crisis.
In the first three quarters of the year, Wall Street earned $21.4 billion, putting it on track to easily outpace 2006, when the economy was booming, and well ahead of the New York City government’s initial estimate of $20.6 billion for profit in all of 2010.
This year, Wall Street’s five biggest firms have put aside nearly $90 billion for bonuses.
But bankers and compensation experts say that bonus payouts will vary widely this year, much more than in the past when a rising tide lifted all boats. And just as junior and senior bankers face varying fates, so some departments are expected to fare better than others.
At JPMorgan and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, for example, the leveraged finance group could receive a 10 to 20 percent bump from last year, because of record issuance of junk bonds. Equity traders, on the other hand, are looking at a 10 to 20 percent drop because stock trading tailed off during the second half of the year.
At Morgan Stanley, equity trading was stronger, but bond traders are most likely looking at smaller pay packages.
To be sure, the best performers on the most profitable desks will still receive substantial bonuses. At Bank of America, top directors might earn a $1 million bonus while top vice presidents could net $600,000, according to one banker there.
What’s more, echoing trends in the broader economy, Wall Street chief executives are almost certain to escape the fate of the Zeros, with bonuses climbing into the stratosphere as the shock of the financial crisis fades and pay for the top tier climbs back toward historical averages.
Morgan Stanley is perhaps feeling the most pressure. In 2009, it paid out a record 62 percent of its net revenue in compensation and benefits; its chief executive, James P. Gorman, vowed to bring that down to bolster profits. But early this year, the firm’s board decided to start hiring in an effort to rebuild businesses in the wake of the financial crisis.
Now, having added 2,000 people in 2010 yet lacking any growth in revenue, the firm has little choice but to scale back on bonuses. Compensation will be lowered across the board, but there will still be plenty of Zeros, said one person familiar with Morgan Stanley’s compensation process.
Recently, Mr. Gorman has been telling employees that the selective, short-term pain on compensation will give the firm credibility with shareholders and help Morgan Stanley over the long haul, calling 2010 “the year of differentiation,” several employees said.
Even if overall salaries for Wall Streeters remain generous, the new zero-bonus culture is likely to change spending habits, said Robert J. Gordon, a professor of economics at Northwestern. Bonuses are spent differently than more predictable income, he said, citing “impulsive purchases, like jewelry from Tiffany’s for a girlfriend.”
Zero bonuses are likely to have a bigger impact on New York’s economy, which has grown dependent on the largess of Wall Street firms. Whether it’s for jewelry, high-end clothing or apartments, bonus spending has long fed a postholiday boom in January and February, especially in Manhattan and expensive suburbs like Greenwich.
“I suspect there will be some pain in the short-term,” said Robert D. Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association, an independent research group in Manhattan.
“We’ve all heard the stories of someone showing up in Greenwich to buy a $10 million house and paying cash on the spot,” he added. “But in the long term, this is probably healthier for Wall Street and the regional economy. Wall Street shouldn’t be a casino.”
facing a once-unthinkable prospect: an annual bonus of ... nothing
(x2,Meltdown),cajun,Swampboy,SeaEagleCoins,InYHWHWeTrust, bstat1020,Spooly,timrutnat,oilstates200, vpr, guitarwes,
mariner67, and Mikes coins
<< <i>In lieu of getting any holidays or paid vaca for the past 3 years, I get a days' pay bonus. Nice gesture but whoopdy doo. My consulting firm really, really sucks.
Anyway, what to get? Pretax is 5 bills, so maybe what $300?
I was planning on watching the dips after xmas and grabbing a roll or hunk of something silver anyway. Throw it at that? Try for a couple of the 2010 ATB pucks? Gold indian? Do some work on the truck or jeep? Pistola/safe fund? Vaca fund? Nada?
What would you do with an extra 3-500? >>
Wow. I'd tell them you want to reinvest the money in the company and for them to use it towards advertising. At least that way uncle sam wouldn't get a chunk and maybe some added business would allow the company to reinstate some vacation days.
ASE 20th anniversary set
or the best deal vs spot in silver/gold... AND... a coin comparitor (for copper)
(x2,Meltdown),cajun,Swampboy,SeaEagleCoins,InYHWHWeTrust, bstat1020,Spooly,timrutnat,oilstates200, vpr, guitarwes,
mariner67, and Mikes coins
MY GOLD TYPE SET https://pcgs.com/setregistry/type-sets/complete-type-sets/gold-type-set-12-piece-circulation-strikes-1839-1933/publishedset/321940
<< <i>this would be nice, only a 1000 were made ...you would still have anough money left for a gram of gold and a couple of barber halfs
I just looked over my order for this on 8/5/2010. This set was $119!
Says expected delivery was the 7th. Sigh