Contributed by Alana Elsner

“Who is a better businessperson- Donald Trump or Mother Theresa?” someone once asked me. “Donald Trump, of course,” was the obvious answer. “No, Mother Theresa,” he replied. With smug smile that comes from stumping someone, he listed her achievements including bringing record donations not only to Calcutta but also to the Catholic Church. And her name and face were as recognizable as Michael Jordan’s- remember this was the 90s. She was perhaps the first of the modern day chariteurs- entrepreneurs bringing business-like basics to charity.

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Contributed by Caroline Ceniza-Levine

In the ideal world, you would use January to reflect on goals accomplished and to set the stage for next year’s performance review and bonus discussion. However, if it’s January and you haven’t prepared for this year’s bonus talk yet, then you need to focus on last-minute moves:

1. Find out exactly what bonus decisions have already been made
   Are the final bonus figures still being calculated or are the checks already in payroll? If your company’s culture is open to this type of inquiry, ask your manager when the bonuses are determined and where your group is within the process. Aside from your manager, experienced colleagues or your mentor may know this information. Where you are in the bonus decision cycle impacts what you can negotiate for. If your department has just received the allotment for its group, then lobby away. If the checks are already cut, then you have to accept that the die is already case and start setting the stage for next year.
2. Find out how the company is doing overall
   Is the company having a banner year or have targets been missed? Read those company status memos that you may have tossed aside. Read the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, press releases and industry news analyses. Even if you are a star individually, the total company pool impacts your share and more importantly impacts how you should ask for your share. Being aggressive during a down year may rub people the wrong way. Definitely ask for what you deserve but temper your style based on the company mood. If it’s a big profit year, then you should feel more confident to ask away. Read more

Contributed by Susie Potier

Come December, the whispers on Wall Street are not about who is doing what for New Year’s Eve or where to go on the perfect winter beach getaway. Let’s not kid ourselves. The talk on the Street is all about bonuses. Who’s getting how much, and more importantly, who’s not getting as much as he or she expected.

While the process of handing out bonuses is generally shrouded in secrecy, that doesn’t stop people from speculating. Relevant facts under consideration include how much employees at the same level received last year, whether profits for the year were up or down, whether stock prices at publicly traded companies rose or fell, and how the company was impacted by the subprime mortgage crisis, among other things.

While bonuses at investment banks and hedge funds won’t be handed out until January or February, depending on when the company’s fiscal year ends and what their internal policies are, one group of Wall Streeters is already sitting pretty: lawyers. Unlike investment bankers, who generally receive bonuses tied to individual performance and market returns, most New York lawyers at major law firms receive “lockstep” bonuses, meaning that all members of the same entering class receive the same amount, set annually by the managing partners of the firm and distributed in the all-important bonus memo.

This year, there was a slight shake-up in the attorney bonus world, when Cravath, Swain & Moore announced “special bonuses” to be paid at year end, and other big law firms quickly followed suit. The bonus watch was aggressively chronicled through the leaking and posting of internal firm memos posted on the online legal gossip site abovethelaw.com, which most big law firm associates spend the month of November avidly reading. Second year associates at big law firms in New York (class of 2006), who last year got a raise to a base salary of $160,000, would now be receiving $35,000 as an annual bonus, in addition to a $10,000 “special bonus,” according to Cravath. Bonuses for ascending classes were to be paid out as follows:

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Contributed by Lauren Davis

Move over, fantasy football. There’s a new game in town. The UpDown, a new fantasy investing site, enables its members to trade stocks rather than quarterbacks. The site provides each member with a $1 million dollar virtual portfolio, which they can then invest and grow, all without the risk of putting up any of their own money.

Fantasy stock picking can be a great way for women who are starting out in finance to increase their confidence in the stock market and their tolerance to risk in a friendly, collaborative environment where they don’t have to be afraid of failure. For these reasons, the site has proved very popular with women users. (More so than fantasy football, but the sporty women who brave the office fantasy pool will be the subject of a forthcoming Intrepid Women article).

According to cofounder and CEO Michael Reich, The UpDown was envisioned as a way to harness the “wisdom of crowds” to create a powerful investing tool. In addition to investing, The UpDown members provide analyses and tips on stocks, and can rank and provide feedback on the stock analyses of other members. Reich’s hope is that, as it grows, The UpDown will consistently beat the S&P 500, and he notes that, even though the site is only a few months old, a handful of members have already doubled their portfolios. And, even though it deals in play money, the site offers a very real incentive for members to do well: it pays cash to members whose portfolios outperform the S&P, as well as for the week’s most insightful stock analyses.

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