tomcole is 100% correct. A large part of their money now comes from principal investing and trading (check their financial statements). Other sources of money are their asset management (commissions in the form of management fees), M&A and advising (commissions in the form of deal fees) and market making (commissions in the form of the spread). But read any number of articles on how GS has been getting more and more involved in principal investing and how profitable (as well as more more variable). Also to the idiot who thought the title is true, your a moron. Sorry to state the obvious for everyone else thats average compensation expense which includes all benefits (including healthcare and retirement). And once again average. And for an earlier post several threads ago, Partners no longer exist at GS. Thats what happens when you take a private partnership public.