No more bailouts for pleading bankers

[financeguy]

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/columnists/article3381600.ece


I agree with Seltzer....let the market decide.

 

[Infinity]

I agree.

 

[Infinity]

Btw, financeguy, I just found out I got a summer internship at Merrill Lynch for Equity Research. I will be paid about $10,000 in the summer and will most likely get a full time offer when I graduate next May '09. My question is that do you know the figures for starting salaries + bonuses for investment bankers, traders and research analysts? I have surfed all over the web and can't get definite figures. I think for investment banking, starting salary + bonus is around $120,000. I really want to know for research though. Hope it is atleast 6 figures. So anyway, I thought you might know since you are, well, financeguy. Thanks.

 

[financeguy]

Well done.....an internship is often a great starting point to a career in financial services. I really wouldn't be au fait with starting salaries in a place like Merrill Lynch, $120k in a first job sounds good.

From what I've been told, research is two years of hell (i.e., very concentrated work, long hours, detailed analysis,etc) but always leads to greater things.

Incidentally, I earn slightly less than $120k p.a. so I'm not sure that I'm the best person to advise you. ...on the other hand, I work 30 hours a week, so I'm not complaining.

But basically, as they say in America, go for it.

 

[anitram]

The location of the office will make a huge difference in terms of pay.

 

[ntalwar]

Hopefully the equity research will involve the best stocks to short . Commodities on the other hand .

 

[ntalwar]

Hopefully this won't happen in the US, but there's a chance it will:

LONDON — Britain decided to nationalize Northern Rock on Sunday, abandoning a five-month attempt to snare a private sector buyer for the ailing bank and piling more pressure on Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Once Britain's fifth-largest mortgage lender, it has borrowed some 25-billion pounds from the Bank of England since its funding model collapsed in the global credit crisis last year – sparking the first run on deposits at a British bank for around 140 years.

 

[Infinity]

Well done.....an internship is often a great starting point to a career in financial services. I really wouldn't be au fait with starting salaries in a place like Merrill Lynch, $120k in a first job sounds good.

From what I've been told, research is two years of hell (i.e., very concentrated work, long hours, detailed analysis,etc) but always leads to greater things.

Incidentally, I earn slightly less than $120k p.a. so I'm not sure that I'm the best person to advise you. ...on the other hand, I work 30 hours a week, so I'm not complaining.

But basically, as they say in America, go for it.

Oh wow 30 hours? That is awesome, where do you work? What do you do?

Thanks for the tips.

 

[Infinity]

The location of the office will make a huge difference in terms of pay.

I will be working in the World Financial Center on Wall Street. Hopefully that means that I get paid a lot. But considering it is $10,000 for a 10 week internship, I hope that means at least 6 figures of salary + bonus when I get the full time.

 

[Infinity]

Hopefully the equity research will involve the best stocks to short . Commodities on the other hand .

Yea it is just terrible what is going on right now. It is a perfect time to build huge positions in certain stocks for the long term, but this Dow 12,000 is just annoying.

 

[ntalwar]

Yea it is just terrible what is going on right now. It is a perfect time to build huge positions in certain stocks for the long term, but this Dow 12,000 is just annoying.

High commodity prices and the real estate/credit crash will limit corporate profits and consumer spending, so I am staying away from stocks. I think most commodity prices will continue to rise, due to fundamental factors.

Also, some Wall Street firms cut staff and bonuses because of large, recent losses.

 

[Infinity]

High commodity prices and the real estate/credit crash will limit corporate profits and consumer spending, so I am staying away from stocks. I think most commodity prices will continue to rise, due to fundamental factors.

Also, some Wall Street firms cut staff and bonuses because of large, recent losses.

Yea we are definitely heading into a recession, however short it may be. I have a feeling oil prices won't go much higher and may go lower. A lot of speculation is causing these high oil prices.

 

[anitram]

I will be working in the World Financial Center on Wall Street. Hopefully that means that I get paid a lot. But considering it is $10,000 for a 10 week internship, I hope that means at least 6 figures of salary + bonus when I get the full time.

In that case, your ballpark sounds low.

They are getting you for VERY cheap this summer, so I think you are low-balling your potential after graduation. Law students on Wall St. are netting $3100/wk, by comparison.

Good luck and have a fabulous summer! I'm sure it'll be a great experience for you.

 

[Varitek]

In that case, your ballpark sounds low.

They are getting you for VERY cheap this summer, so I think you are low-balling your potential after graduation. Law students on Wall St. are netting $3100/wk, by comparison.

Good luck and have a fabulous summer! I'm sure it'll be a great experience for you.

Actually, as an undergrad internship, the 10k a summer IB thing is fairly standard and an extraordinarily high salary for an undergrad summer anything. Congrats on getting it, it's pretty much job insurance. I know somebody who did this and blew the whole thing on clubs and food in the city last summer knowing they had a job the next year anyway. My NGO internship in NY paid $2800, and I was lucky it paid anything.

 

[ntalwar]

I have a feeling oil prices won't go much higher and may go lower. A lot of speculation is causing these high oil prices.

Yeah, there are a few dollars of speculation built in.
Demand and supply are also factors, as production has been on a plateau for 2-3 years while demand has increased. The price will be volatile, but the trend is still up. I guess I'm with Boone Pickens and Jimmy Rogers on that one.

 

[financeguy]

They are getting you for VERY cheap this summer, so I think you are low-balling your potential after graduation. Law students on Wall St. are netting $3100/wk, by comparison.

I am not doubting your figures but the relevance of this comparison is doubtful. Different specialism.

 

[financeguy]

Oh wow 30 hours? That is awesome, where do you work? What do you do?

Thanks for the tips.

My current role involves management accounts, business planning, budgeting - that kind of thing.

 

[anitram]

I am not doubting your figures but the relevance of this comparison is doubtful. Different specialism.

I only brought it up because a couple of my friends who are doing joint degrees (JD/MBA) and working in PE are getting substantially more than that sort of sum over the summer (and much closer to what they'd get at the firm - like I said, the standard is $3100/wk and this is public knowledge). But I guess it's likely they are getting paid at a premium given that they're amassing more degrees?

 

[Infinity]

I only brought it up because a couple of my friends who are doing joint degrees (JD/MBA) and working in PE are getting substantially more than that sort of sum over the summer (and much closer to what they'd get at the firm - like I said, the standard is $3100/wk and this is public knowledge). But I guess it's likely they are getting paid at a premium given that they're amassing more degrees?

Yeah thats probably what it is. I know that an MBA really makes a difference in salary for IB, Hedge Funds, etc. It also provides more job security. I talked to one of my experienced professors and he told me i'm guaranteed six figures starting next year. I'm excited about that. However, the hours are going to murder me. I would much rather do trading. Unfortunately more and more trading is going electronic nowadays.

 

[ntalwar]

I would much rather do trading. Unfortunately more and more trading is going electronic nowadays.

The firms still employ traders, even in an electronic environment.
Also, traders are evaluated more on how much money they make or lose for the firm. Those who make little or no money get a smaller bonus and/or are eventually cut. It's still probably worth giving it a shot though.

 

[redhotswami]

My current role involves management accounts, business planning, budgeting - that kind of thing.

OHH. so that's why you're the financeguy. i thought you were just a fan of that dude.

 

[sulawesigirl4]

So speaking of financial data, I read this little item about how the US govt is shutting down a website that tracks economic indicators.

The Bush administration’s latest move is to simply hide the data. Forbes has awarded EconomicIndicators.gov one of its “Best of the Web” awards. As Forbes explains, the government site provides an invaluable service to the public for accessing U.S. economic data:

This site is maintained by the Economics and Statistics Administration and combines data collected by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, like GDP and net imports and exports, and the Census Bureau, like retail sales and durable goods shipments. The site simply links to the relevant department’s Web site. This might not seem like a big deal, but doing it yourself–say, trying to find retail sales data on the Census Bureau’s site–is such an exercise in futility that it will convince you why this portal is necessary.

Yet the Bush administration has decided to shut down this site because of “budgetary constraints,” effective March 1.

Economic Indicators is particularly useful because people can sign up to receive e-mails as soon as new economic data across government agencies becomes available. While the data will still be available online at various federal websites, it will be less readily accessible to members of the public.

In its e-mail announcement on the closing of Economic Indicators, the Department of Commerce acknowledged the “inconvenience” and offered “a free quarterly subscription to STAT-USA®/Internet™” instead. Once this temporary subscription runs out, however, the public will be forced to pay a fee. So not only will economic data be more hidden, it will also cost money.

 

[ntalwar]

The price will be volatile, but the trend is still up.

Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil advanced to a six-week high above $99 a barrel in New York, and gasoline futures rose to a record, on speculation OPEC will curb production.

This is why I'm still long term bullish (and long) on energy. Supply doesn't know about demand. Until we start seeing mass conservation or rationing, prices will stay high and move higher.