Average Wall St paycheck $300k?

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REUTERS Average Wall Street paycheck nears $300,000 [GLRJTFQ]

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Wall Street workers took home
nearly $300,000 on average last year as profits from trading
and merger advising fueled record earnings, New York State
Comptroller Alan Hevesi said.

Wall Street compensation averaged $289,664 per person, 5.1
times the average $56,634 for workers citywide, the comptroller
said in a study released Tuesday. The highest-paid bankers and
traders can command eight-figure pay packages.

Bonuses totaled a record $21.5 billion, or $125,500 per
person. The securities industry paid out $48.8 billion, while
generating $2.1 billion of taxes for the city, Hevesi said.

Wall Street compensation increased 21.9 percent in 2004 and
another 11.8 percent in 2005, Hevesi said. The securities
industry accounts for 4.7 percent of citywide employment, but
20.6 percent of its wages.

Industry employment is also on the rise, up to 170,800 last
year from 161,300 in 2003.

The new jobs restore one-third of those lost during the
three-year bear market that began in 2000 as the technology and
telecommunications bubble burst. Another 6,300 jobs have been
added this year, Hevesi said.

"Wall Street is recovering," Hevesi said in a statement.
"And, as we have seen in the past, when Wall Street does well,
the city does well."

Pretax profit at seven major New York City-based securities
firms -- Bear Stearns Cos. <BSC.N>, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
<GS.N>, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. <LEH.N>, Merrill Lynch &
Co. <MER.N>, Morgan Stanley <MS.N> and investment bank units of
Citigroup Inc. <C.N> and JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s <JPM.N> -- rose
42.5 percent last year to $45 billion, Hevesi said.

On Tuesday, Merrill said third-quarter operating profit
rose 41 percent to $1.94 billion, or $2 per share, topping
analysts' average forecast for $1.47 per share.

Quarterly results at Bear, Goldman, Lehman and Morgan
Stanley also topped forecasts. JPMorgan reports results on
Wednesday, and Citigroup on Thursday.

Securities industry employment nationwide totaled 801,300
at the end of August, up 2.3 percent from a year earlier and
the most since April 2002, Bureau of Labor Statistics show.

The median annual full-time salary for all American workers
16 and older was $34,268 in the second quarter, BLS data show.
 
It would be interesting to see what the median income is. The average is a good stat for a headline, but the median will tell the real story.
 
The real number is more like 80k. Thats back office, ops, trading support, low level salesmen..etc

Then you have "management". Head of operations, ROP..etc that number is 90-200k.


Then you have the players...those bonuses screw up those averages.
 
im sure kids out of college are starting at 60-80k, and im sure their bonuses start in the 5 digit range. If this year continues to see record highs bonuses will surge even higher. Rich get richer.
 
Really...who really cares what the average Wall Street worker makes... or what a CEO makes in comparison to the worker on the floor... They are not going to share it with you if you pass them on the street. I work approx 50 feet for my companies CEO's office (reported 5.6 million in salary last year), but he is just another guy that worked his way up. This is just "Us vs. Them" giberish that is used to inflame the Unions, and the lower to middle income population. (You can tell it almost election time again)
All we need to be concerned about is How much we can put in the "Hip National Bank" (our own wallet if you did not get it).
Thats why I trade. I did not go to Harvard or Yale, or have the right friends to pull some strings for me.
If you want to be sucessfull you have to do it for yourself
Life is not a FREE RIDE....
 
You guys are looking at paychecks. If you want to see the life of the average Wall Street worker then go to one of those websites like Bear Stearns and look under "a day in the life".

12-14 hour stressful days are virtually guaranteed every work day. When you first start out its a humiliating experience, until you have either worked a good 5 years or get fired.

Now lets take into account that the area you will live in is NYC. Apartment rents are the highest in the country and the only other alternative is a very long commute in crowded buses/trains.
That 60-80k doesnt go as far in NYC as it would in a place like Texas or Florida.

So your making 60-80k to start in a very expensive city working an arduous, long houred, stressful job. There is always a good chance that you will be fired. The reward is that you might make the big cash one day. However, if you dont, then you could have been spending your younger years touring Europe and getting laid.

Its only glamorous from the outside looking in.

There are better ways to make money. Go to a tech firm in San Francisco, start your own business, get a regular job and invest in dividend producing stocks.
 
Quote from jllm03:

Really...who really cares what the average Wall Street worker makes... or what a CEO makes in comparison to the worker on the floor... They are not going to share it with you if you pass them on the street. I work approx 50 feet for my companies CEO's office (reported 5.6 million in salary last year), but he is just another guy that worked his way up. This is just "Us vs. Them" giberish that is used to inflame the Unions, and the lower to middle income population. (You can tell it almost election time again)
All we need to be concerned about is How much we can put in the "Hip National Bank" (our own wallet if you did not get it).
Thats why I trade. I did not go to Harvard or Yale, or have the right friends to pull some strings for me.
If you want to be sucessfull you have to do it for yourself
Life is not a FREE RIDE....
More...

To suggest everyone on Wall Street is rich because of a "free ride" is ridiculous. I dont't know of anyone who got through college on a free ride, nor do I think these companies would pay 6 figures to people who weren't profitable in their field. I care what the average Wall Street worker makes because it gives me a reason to get out of bed and go sit in class all day when I'd rather be drinking and chasing ass. Working 14 hour days is miserable but I'd rather be exhausted and rich than have a comfy 9-5, driving a hyundai and flying coach.
 
Plus, 300k and living on Manhattan Island, you're "poor". Like previous posters mentioned, 300k is nice...but where do you find the time to spend it..especialy if you're working 14 hours daily....
 
Quote from lolo24ca:

Plus, 300k and living on Manhattan Island, you're "poor". Like previous posters mentioned, 300k is nice...but where do you find the time to spend it..especialy if you're working 14 hours daily....
More...

Put it away so you can retire early...then have plenty of time to spend it.
 
Quote from Drew07:

To suggest everyone on Wall Street is rich because of a "free ride" is ridiculous. I dont't know of anyone who got through college on a free ride, nor do I think these companies would pay 6 figures to people who weren't profitable in their field. I care what the average Wall Street worker makes because it gives me a reason to get out of bed and go sit in class all day when I'd rather be drinking and chasing ass. Working 14 hour days is miserable but I'd rather be exhausted and rich than have a comfy 9-5, driving a hyundai and flying coach.
More...

LOL. where's the gordon gekko "greed is good" speech quotes?

hope that works out, but you may find your assertions aren't entirely accurate. and there will be a time when you'll look back and realize that you'd pay any amount to go back and do more drinking and ass-chasing, if you only could, and whatever you're listening to in class will seem like a pretty shitty trade.....
 
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