The Wall St Journal writes: When a banker from Deutsche Bank recently sat down for dinner with a friend at an upscale Manhattan restaurant, the two started joking about who would pick up the check. "I'll pay with my deferred-stock chips," the banker joked, referring to shares Deutsche Bank is paying some of its employees instead of cash.
Financial-industry execs around the world are grappling with the new realities of pay and spending. Volatile markets, weak economies and new regulations are crimping profits—and putting workers at all levels in a squeeze.
Normally, February is a time of year when financial-industry executives are flush with bonus cash and searching for places to spend it. Now many are staring at shrunken cash payouts and looming bills at home.
Bankers still make regal salaries relative to the rest of America. But the income shocks on Wall Street over the past few years show why even the highest earners are increasingly vulnerable to cash squeezes—caught between bonuses that increasingly are paid in stock and luxury expenses that continue to soar even in a down economy.
Some Wall Street investment banks have changed how they award bonuses this year, roiling employees. The result: High earners who once spent on wants are now increasingly thinking about "needs" (needs being relative for $40,000-a-year-private kindergartens). Executives who once regarded their seven-figure bonuses as fair compensation for their grueling hours and rare skills are being forced to examine their lifestyle. Bankers aren't the only ones grappling with volatile high incomes….
There's more at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204059804577227242488003760.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLE_Video_second
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