Confident About Bonuses

Profits among investment banks bode well for bonuses, and all signs indicate Wall Street's professionals are feeling optimistic.

A number of banks recently posted stronger-than-expected earnings, and businesses that cater to New York's financial crowd are reporting spending on fine wines, private jets and top-of-the-line cars is getting back to late-1990s levels, according to the New York Daily News.

"If bonuses go up 25 percent, the average American person may say, 'I'm going to get that car I wanted,' or 'I want to take my girlfriend or wife to the most expensive restaurant in the city,' " Andrew Roost, a vice president at compensation consulting firm Johnson Associates, told the newspaper. Roost said the current job market on Wall Street, coupled with the investment banks' strong performance, is making securities industry workers feel, in the words of the Daily News, "flush."

Indeed, Gary Goldstein, president and chief executive of recruiter the Whitney Group, said he believes bonuses will rise 10 to 25 percent this year, with some managing directors seeing bonuses in the $2 million to $5 million range.