In this particular industry, the top 5 firms are giving an average year-end bonus of US$201,500 for each employee this year. This is about S$290k.

Yes, you heard it right. These lucky workers are each getting an average cash payout this Christmas amounting to what most people here in Singapore earn in 5 years or longer.

What most of us earn in 1 full year is just one-fifth of what these people get for Christmas alone.

This only happens in the wonderful world of investment banking.

As reported widely, including in Straits Times and in Bloomberg (which compiled the data), the 186,000 employees working at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns will be getting a combined total of US$38 billion at year end.

This is still US$2 billion more than last year, despite the subprime crisis and stock market woes largely attributed to the "smart" financial engineering done at Wall Street.

As these 5 firms all have offices in Singapore, don't be surprised if your friend tells you he just bought a Ferrari and maybe even a district 10 penthouse thanks to his company's holiday present.

This is also why I encourage top students to aim to be an investment banker. See this post too.

Career advice for students: If you want to save lives - a popular (stock) ambition among top students - why be a doctor when you can build hospitals?

So, parents, please tell your kids not to give such stock responses.

At least be a little creative - "I wanna save lives, so I'll accumulate millions working as an investment banker, and retire in my forties to build hospitals and hire the best doctors."

http://www.salary.sg/2007/average-bonus-of-us201500/