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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The Black & White Soiree and The Power of One
Pipeline, What's OnEvery year, I host a traditional holiday party called the Black and White Soiree. It’s a gathering of about 60 friends in my small vintage apartment. My friends Alanna and Megan help with the cooking because, as my mother would say, I am domestically challenged. I managed to make cookies but I told people they were for only decoration. They didn’t look edible although they managed to disappear, along with the other hors d’oeuvres.
Each year at the party, we raise money for a different charity. This year, we asked our guests to make an optional donation to breast cancer research. In honor of our charity, Megan found light pink M&Ms that I put out in crystal cocktail glasses. Then we also served Oreos, marshmallows and Hershey kisses to follow the theme. It was a classy affair made even fancier by the dress code. I requested black and/or white attire, no jeans.
The party took place on Saturday, December 15th, and Chicago had a horrible snowstorm that night. I remember looking out the window around 3 p.m. wondering if anyone would show up because of the weather. In the end though, I was impressed with the turn out. Inside we stood in my warm orange-spiced kitchen while a blizzard spun snow around us. I kept the keg on the porch so we never forgot how nice it was to be indoors. The room was filled with the scent of cloves and wine.
Most people drank sangria, except for those who braved the cold to get a beer from outside. We all raised our glasses and toasted to recent engagements, promotions and babies on the way. Our black and white outfits were decorated with light pink ribbons in the name of breast cancer research.
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New Year’s Resolution: Five Tips for Getting Out of Debt
Money TalksGood. That means you are ready to do something about your debt problem. Earning a high salary is a great opportunity to gain financial security as a relatively young person, but its not the whole story. You need to take control of not only how much you earn, but how much you spend as well, and be willing to make the hard choices in terms of cutting back on expenses and luxury items in order to get a handle on your debt issues. Here, The Glass Hammer helps you get a jump-start on your New Year’s resolution with five tips to help you become debt free in 2008.
Come home early one night and put those Excel skills to work at home. The first step in making a budget, scary as it is, requires taking stock of the actual amount of money you spend in a given month. To do this, save all your receipts for a month – restaurant meals, bar tabs, cab rides, beauty treatments, impulse shopping trips, and especially ATM withdrawals. The true dollar amount might shock you into submission, but it is important to have an accurate idea of your “expenses.” Then, make a list of all of the expenses that you anticipate on a monthly basis going forward – rent, utilities, food, credit card bills, entertainment, transportation, etc. Write these down in an Excel spread sheet that has two columns for each month – “Actual” and “Expected.” The idea is to work towards making numbers converge. Read more
How To Get an Amazing Year-End Bonus
Expert AnswersIt doesn’t get much better than receiving an amazing bonus after you’ve worked hard all year. However, bonus season can be fraught with anxiety. But it doesn’t have to be that way and in fact, it should not be that way. Here are some sure fire ways to plan ahead in the New Year ensure that you get the amazing bonus that you deserve next time around.
Write down your three top priorities for 2008 and review it with your manager. Make sure the two of you are on the same page because nothing brings in the bonus dollars like clarity and transparency. Try to set aside an hour for this discussion, but no less than half an hour. Many of us let the urgent crowd out the important, but there is no better time spent in January than ensuring that your list of objectives is understood and approved by your manager. Give this a lot of thought BEFORE the meeting. Make no mistake about it, your good work is a direct reflection on your manager, who by the way, really cares about his or her bonus as well!
You should put specific deadlines on paper for your quarterly, mid-year and year-end goals. Everyone wants to do more strategic work rather than focus on day-to-day responsibilities. What better strategy is there than to use these goals to build upon each other towards an outcome that will benefit you, your manager, and your company? Ensure that these deadlines are realistic and do not over-promise. Under-promise and over-deliver and those bonus dollars should fly to you at year-end!
Only Santa checks his list twice … you need to check it every quarter to ensure you are on track. And let your manager know what you are doing, which will impress upon him or her how serious and committed you are. Schedule a mid-year review of your objectives and your accomplishments to date. Remember, there are many things you can’t control (the economy, your CEO’s decisions, etc.) so control what you can and you’ll be in a much better place. Stay close to your objectives and make the necessary adjustments to ensure you complete what you need to.
Few of us do this and many of us can benefit from this investment of time and energy. When you are home, turn off your Blackberry and set aside some time to think about how you can improve your work. Perhaps you can think about a better way to format a report, or an easy way to ensure your work is shared with people that will benefit from it. Perhaps your department can better leverage the work done by another group. Think about how to do things better and write your ideas down.
There are many benefits to having mentors in your field or in another field:
Mentors can help you navigate your career and they can also be guardian angels when you need someone to watch your back. Cultivating this type of relationship can pay off down the line, both in terms of your bonuses and non-monetary compensation.
Now its time to schedule a year-end discussion with your manager. If you’ve followed steps 1-5, your year-end meeting will be filled with positive feedback, and will lead to the desired outcome in terms of bonuses. Your bonus should be a good one because you’ve planned well, you’ve constantly innovated, and you’ve gotten exceptional advice along the way. You are now in the best possible position to receive an amazing year-end bonus. Enjoy it because you’ve earned it!
All information is copyright © SixFigureStart 2007. Caroline Ceniza-Levine and Connie Thanasoulis are two founding coaches of SixFigureStart, a career coaching firm for people in six-figure careers (www.sixfigurestart.com). Ask a question or give us your feedback at 212-501-2234 or at info@sixfigurestart.com.
Happy Holidays
NewsHappy New Year. We will return on the 2nd January with more articles to aid and inform you.
Theglasshammer.com is for the people, so if anyone wants to contribute a guest blog or be interviewed do get in touch with our Editor erin@glasshammer2.wpengine.com
We also want you to write in and tell us about events that other women could attend for networking, and please do put us intouch with your women’s network leaders for further collaboration.
In the New Year we will be following an editorial calendar which will look like this:
News Articles everyday of the week. If the press are writing about issues that are important to women in finance, we will give you our very own take on it.
Mondays- Voice of Experience interviews- we interview women who have broken the glass ceiling and have made it to the top. What advice do they have for our readers? Mondays are also a chance for us to interview outstanding human beings who contribute to society greatly (as well as being excellent in their careers!). Look out for these articles under Spotlight on People.
Tuesdays- Work/life issues. How to have it all. We also cover Returner Programs on Tuesdays- so if you are looking to off-ramp or perhaps return after a career break, then watch this space!
Wednesdays- Career advice on to “how to” get to the next level. Expert answers from career coaches, lawyers, peers and mentors.
Thursdays- Industry news. We get deep into the functions of different parts of the sellside and buyside. We cover industry events.
Fridays- Fridays is when we can all have a little fun. Tune in for some hilarious true life tales from our writers and readers about what its like to work in financial services. We also cover ” passions” and we would love to hear what you live to do on the weekends! Evolved People have interesting lives.
May be 2008 be personally and professionally fulfilling.
Cheers,
Nicki Gilmour
Publisher
Passions: Sailing the High Seas
PassionsLife has a habit of throwing the unexpected my way, however, so when my husband developed a sudden and irrational longing to pursue yachting, I sighed. Why doesn’t he have a yearning to lie by a sun-drenched pool with an exotic drink and a stack of books? Still, if he’s going to have a mid-life crisis, I suppose I’d rather be there for him (lest he run out and buy a sports car while I’m not looking). So, with a quaking heart, I signed up with him for a five-day ‘Competent Crew’ course in the Mediterranean.
Turns out, we had a ball. Yes, there were scary moments. Like when we were in Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in Morocco, and I was manning the helm and came out of the lee of a large rock and hit a force seven wind with all sails up. The boat heeled over to a 45 degree angle, I yelped and struggled to keep our course as the churning sea rushed up over the stanchion rails and we were tossed around like a cork in a washing machine. We graduated from that watery baptism without mishap, only to encounter an even stronger wind, with a tidal tug around Europa Point on Gibraltar, but more of that later.
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Breaking News Update: Bhutto Assassination
NewsWhile her politics and public statements were at times controversial, Ms. Bhutto was a champion for change and a strong female voice in a country and a culture that has for many years marginalized women and failed to recognize their right to equality.
Upon hearing today’s news, The Glass Hammer publisher and CEO Nicki Gilmour said, “I think anyone who saw Ms. Bhutto speak at the 2006 Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) will know that this inspiring leader is a loss to the world since she had a great understanding of the eastern and western cultures. She endured the killing of her own family and followers but continued to take actions to foster democracy and women’s rights in Pakistan.”
Whether or not she really could have brought democracy to Pakistan is hard to answer. A deeply polarizing figure who had spent the last decade in self-imposed exile, her previous terms as Prime Minster from 1988-1990 and 1993-1996 were plagued with scandals and charges of political corruption, and she faced daunting political and military opposition from President Pervez Musharraf’s administration, with whom she had recently been trying to negotiate a power sharing agreement.
Unless you live in a country you can never really understand the culture and all of the dynamics at play, and it is not possible for us to speculate from a privileged position as women in finance in Western countries about what would be best for the people of Pakistan. However, one thing is clear. Ms. Bhutto had a mighty spirit, a brave plan and the international experience to work with people within her country and leaders throughout the world. An articulate fearless leader and a woman to inspire us all, she will be missed.
MSN Leaves Women in Business off its “Most Influential” List
Breaking the Glass CeilingMSN released their annual list of the most influential women in 2007. The list included politicians (two, to be exact), singers, television personalities and actresses (six, to be exact), a random woman who popped up on the radar of bloggers at some point during 2007, a coach and an author. The big shocker? The list did not include a single woman in business, finance or law. That’s right, according to the movers and shakers at MSN, the myriad ways in which women leaders impacted our society in 2007 did not merit a single mention of women in the corporate world. In contrast, the list of most influential men was dominated by politicians and businessmen. Here, the list of 2007’s influential women, as interpreted by MSN News:
However, readers on the MSN message boards also noticed the discrepancy, which caused a bit of an outcry. Several readers noted that it seemed ridiculous to include Miley Cyrus and Benazir Bhutto on the same list of anything. The stark and surprising absence of women leaders in business was observed by several commentators, who panned the list as a superficial and inaccurate reflection of women’s accomplishments in 2007. One reader stated that she was disappointed in the list, which consisted mostly of “sexy-looking media celebrities,” and did a disservice to Clinton, Bhutto and other serious hardworking women who were left off. Another reader summed it up nicely, lamenting the exclusion of the “hundreds of women trying to make the world a better place” and stating bluntly, “that’s five minutes of my life that I will never get back, thanks.”
This pseudo-list of accomplished women inspired The Glass Hammer to try to compile the real thing. Who do you think should be included on the list of most influential women in 2007? Write to us or post below to let us know your thoughts. This article will be published shortly after the New Year.
Are Men Threatened by Your Success? Come to Washington, D.C.
Intrepid Women SeriesContributed by Sally Lee
This piece is in response to “The H-Bomb,” an article by Erin Abrams which was published on The Glass Hammer a few months ago. The basic argument of the piece was that smart, successful women with high-powered and high-earning jobs (in this case, graduates of Harvard Law School), had a hard time meeting men who were not threatened or intimidated by their professional status and income (hence, the H-Bomb).
To those women in New York and other large cities who have felt it necessary to apologize for their hard-earned success because of the insecure men that they encounter, I have a suggestion. Move to Washington D.C., a city where there are plenty of men who actually like and even expect a woman to be educated, successful, and have lots of money. It seems, at least according to an unscientific poll conducted by this observer and her female friends, that there are plenty of men on the D.C. dating market who have visions of quitting their jobs, being provided with a weekly allowance, and having all the time in the world to play golf!
Honestly, not all men are like that in D.C., but there are some sad yet funny stories to share regarding the dating woes of women in our nation’s capital regarding these types of men. For example, I once dated a guy who said to me, “If I quit my job for six months and try to find myself, you’d be able to support me, right?” I wasn’t sure if he was serious, particularly because we were on a third date, so I replied, “I don’t understand the question.” He answered in an exasperated tone, “You know what I mean. If I decide that this job isn’t for me, you’d be able to take care of me until I found something else, because you make enough money, right?”
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Is Ageism a Ticking Time Bomb for Women?
Expert AnswersContributed by Rebecca Chong of Rooks Riders Solicitors
Accountants, bankers and analysts are increasingly finding that they have more in common with celebrities than they ever realized or wanted. It is no secret that Tinseltown and the media have been unkind to women who dare to age. For Hollywood, this led to some of the industry’s finest hitting Cannes with “Searching for Debra Winger,” a documentary exploring Hollywood’s treatment of the aging actress. Across the Atlantic, a high profile campaign was launched against the removal of OBE-awarded and respected British journalist Moira Stuart from Sunday AM, reportedly eased out because she was too old for TV (although this was always denied by the BBC). For women of all ages working in a society ruled by the commercial power of image, particularly for those working in the financial sector where the big institutions fix their eyes on the keen and capable amongst the freshly graduated, it appears that sexism and ageism is the double glass ceiling to progression in the work place.
A study on working women and ageism, by Women in Journalism, reveals the hidden fear:
As the cosmetics industry feeds off the resulting frenzied quest for the fountain of youth, it perpetuates the fallacy that has permeated society; that whatever the profession, only the young and vital are valuable. For example, Liz Walker, proprietor of the House of Beauty in Barnsley, Yorkshire, recently commented to The Guardian Unlimited that it is Botox that her increasingly younger clientele are ‘clamouring’ for.
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2007: The Year in Bonuses – Winners and Losers
Money TalksContributed 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:
Read more