WALL STREETERS PUT BONUSES IN HOMES,
ART, NOT BANKS;
NOT A "GENEROUS" GROUP.

"According to a survey of more than 200 Wall Street professionals who took home at least $2 million in cash from their 2006 bonuses, respondents are spending 11% of their payouts, on average, on watches and jewelry. For even the lowest-paid bankers in the survey, that's a bling budget of more than $200,000".

"Art prices keep soaring, and the Armory Show in New York this weekend is sure to bring crowds of bankers looking for the next Chuck Close or Richard Prince. Wine purveyors are drunk with delight as financial types fork over $345,000 for a case of 1945 Mouton Rothschild".

"The richest bankers are the most lavish spenders -- deploying a larger proportion of their take toward homes, cars and luxury goods. Roughly half of the survey's respondents took home bonuses of more than $5 million last year; this group spent 16% on watches and jewelry and socked away about 9%. By comparison, the other half of respondents -- those who received $2 million to $5 million -- spent only about 7% on baubles and put 23% into savings.

And despite the notion that the really rich give more to charity, the rule didn't seem to apply to the bankers in this survey. Respondents gave about 4% to charity. Those receiving bonuses of $5 million or more gave the same proportion as their poorer peers. Says Mr. Prince: "This is not an especially generous group."

link