Many of you living in NYC have probably heard about the bonuses coming out of Wall Street this year, particularly those at Goldman Sachs, who is rumored to be giving out over $16 billion in bonuses.
IF Goldman Sachs had 1 million employees, and it were divided equally, then everyone would get a $16,000 bonus (that's two-thirds of my stipend). I can promise you that Goldman Sachs does not have 1 million employees, and if they did, the janitors would not be getting a $16,000 bonus.
There is an article on ABC News that discusses, whimsically one might say, the Goldman Sachs' bonuses. It states that the average bonues will be over $600,000. The head honcho is supposedly getting a $100 million bonus. The article then goes on to say what one could do, in the holiday spirit, with $100 million. Sadly, I doubt said honcho will even partake in a fraction of that philanthropy. (You should read the article; it's crazy.)
Which brings me to the title of my post: Wall Street represents the Dark Side to me. I see no good coming out of such a place. OK, I bet someone there donates money to charity. But have you ever heard of anyone who said, "I want to work on Wall Street so that I can earn millions of dollars and use that money to fight polio." Of course not. Nobody goes to Wall Street to earn lots of money to give it away. They go because they are greedy. Plain and simple.
It doesn't have to be an all-consuming greed, though. With that qualifier, I am hereby formally announcing my plan to work on Wall Street for 1-2 years upon graduation. The way I figure it, I can easily save $100,000-200,000 in that time if I keep my lifestyle the same. Naturally, Yilin might try to throw a monkeywrench in things once we marry, with her expensive taste and all. However, I already told her that if we are going to live in NYC, it is only to save money so that we can put a down payment on a house far far away from citylife and have something saved for our retirement. Otherwise we might as well move out ASAP. (I really do not want to stay here longer than absolutely necessary.)
The second phase of my plan is to find a job that requires a maximum of 40 hours per week and gives weekends off. (That is the holy grail to grad students. Trust me.) I can already here someone saying, "But what about vacation time?" Well, at this point any vacation time is better than none, so I'll take it. Oh yeah, with weekends off I will have almost 100 days of vacation a year that I normally don't have: 52 weeks times 2 weekend days per week equals 104 days off, minus the occasional weekend day off that I take once in a while. (I bet you didn't realize that you have over 100 days off per year; what have you been doing with all that free time? I hope not wasting it...)
"But wait," you say. "That wasn't my first question. My first question was, 'You won't make as much money as you did on Wall Street.'" Well, that's not a question, but OK, I'll bite: you are correct. If I get a 40 hour per week job I will make less money (in all likelihood). That's fine by me. I value free time (to spend with Yilin, to spend with my family, to pursue my own interestes, etc) far more than I do money. Besides, after living for 7+ years in NYC on a grad student stipend, I can live anywhere off of any amount of money and not be uncomfortable.
The real question is whether or not the Dark Side will consume me...
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9 comments:
a max 40-hour week job with weekends off... do those even exisit?
I've got one (Archivist). No Wall Street salary though...
A friend of mine (non-Wall Street) is getting a bonus this year that is equal to my yearly salary. He picks up the check when we eat out, needless to say!
(and yes, he donates to good causes)
So Josh, just how do you plan to sell your soul? You didn't mention the actual job you'd aim for.
Josh...the news articles doesn't really highlight the downside of a wall street job like when wall street employees loose money. Plus, these careers are very high stress, working 7 days a week. I've flirted with the idea of working in a large bank. So I intervied with one, and asked friends working the street. The story is the same. I would limit myself to 10 yrs or so if I worked a job like that.
For PhD's grads the work won't stop 'cause they typically get the most responsibility in a company.
One thing to remember in your job hunt...If the salary is very high it is for a reason. Employers don't just give money away for nothing. Only when you are experienced in a company and become a valued commedity to your employer can you relax a little bit. But as a new hire, you are expected to perform.
It's all relative my friend.
yes ains, they do exist. i will show you in a few years.
laura, i won't aim for any particular job. i will just apply everywhere for every position and make sure my resume is available online. i will be focusing more on wall street than at law firms, for instance. and if it's wall street it will most likely be investment banking as they don't hire biology phds for much else.
phil, the stress doesn't concern me. i feel stress from different things than most people. my boss telling me that 'such and such has to get done now' won't stress me out. i can always get another job. besides, i honestly doubt i would be working more on wall street than i am now. those i know who do work there rarely work weekends, which means that mathematically they can't be working as much as me.
Josh, your position is admirable. Unrealistic, but admirable.
For the record, I work between 55 and 60 hours per week. Those 100 days off you refer to? I get about 50. Vacation? I think I took one--in 2004. Bonuses? I scoff at thee...
However, that being said, thats what I get for not graduating college. That, and a new car every 2 weeks. That I don't pay for. Or insure. Or pay taxes on.
I guess its not all bad...
FWIW, most of that $16,000,000,000 went to the executives and VPs of Goldman Sachs. The average employee saw bonuses of $5,000. The upper management/executives saw bonuses in the tens of millions (like $50M+).
Don't go to the Dark Side Josh! What about your plan (or maybe it was my plan) for us to run away to the woods, grow our own crops and hide from government taxation? I have a few friends that make ridiculous incomes and I have to say, they are very generous, both with their friends and to charities.
as a company, didn't goldman sachs buy like land the size of some small countries in some remote region of the world for the sole purpose of protecting it from development? i'm sure the people who work on the dark side like what they do, but indeed, they are in it for the $
My last yr there I got a bonus I was quite happy with, that was much more than 5k. But I was in technology, where pay was more, for low level folks, than in business (where pay is more for high level folks). It's a great company to work for, but you work a lot and in the investment banking side, the hours are stupid and really not worth it unless you very soberly decide to give up your twenties and some of your thirties for the chance -- just a chance -- to be a millionaire. But to be honest, I worked hard there, but no so hard as I've seen others work. I don't believe I worked harder than Vimal, nor would I work harder than Mike, if Mike hypothetically stays on at his firm and actually tries to become a partner or something. And I worked way, way, WAAAAAAAY less than you and Hyunmi and Katie. So.
As for the good side of banking--the folks who make the tens of millions spend a lot of it on themselves, but philanthropy is their sport, and they do give a lot (tho prob not enough and they ought to give more and probably would if the government made the tax code right). Vijay is referring to a huge plot of land (thousands of acres, or more) in Patagonia that Goldman more or less bought and donated to the Nature Conservancy. Of course, GS got a huge tax break I bet, and it only made the decision because it was, basically, economically sound (they acquired the land as a trade-off for debt that they could not recoup; they realized they could not develop the land or really do anything with it, and the CEO at the time is a big eco-nut and on the board of the Nature Conservancy, so the company just gave it to the charity). I don't remember the actual size but it is a huge, huuuuuuge tract of land. So.
Anyway, it's no better or worse than anything else, Wall Street. I think.
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