Living dangerously: Diary of an ABS professional, Week 5

Not exactly the smartest move to buy a house which costs you your base salary in monthly payments...the bonus is called such because it's discretionary, otherwise they would put it in your salary..pity you found it out the hard way...

I was made redundant last year, given 150% of base, and promptly found a job straight after with a guarantee ... but then, I was largely responsible for bringing in way over $10 million for them last year. Main thing is, keep a positive attitude regardless of what happens, fight the good fight where there is justice to be won (i.e. with your ex-employer), and never give up. You're in good company!

I got made redudant and have been offered approx. 1.5 times gross monthly salary for over two years service. The ex-employer is a large US investment bank! Scrooge or what?? As the industry standard appears to be at least 1m for every yr worked can I pursue a claim for more dough?

I got laid off as well 2 months ago from the CDO desk of top US bank. Been there 2 yrs and they gave 1/2 years salary, nice! However a lawyer pointed out that's because it was unfair dismissal as they didn't give any prior warning and in court you'd typically get over 60K for average paid job (but it would take 6 months and '000s, in legal costs. Plus your name may be mud.
I ended up getting a job 1 week after gardening leave was up so suck it up and get yourself off the couch.

Shame on you! So macho when closing deals and wimps during a perfectly standard downturn. Anyone who has worked over five years in the City or Street knows that: 1) save when times are good for the bad years, 2) economic cycles do happen and last 3-5 years with recession, bankruptcy and rising unemployment during the slowdown, 3) the writing was in the wall - real interest rates rose + yield curve became inverted + rising swap spreads + libor 3m rose from 1 to over 5% a year making leveraged deals expensive... But, as in any storm, it will not last forever! Please do not be a wimp and behave properly. Because of rough economic conditions I changed jobs and worked for 5 banks in the last 20 years. Because of those challenges I had to be competitive in the job market so I had to read a lot, did an MBA, learned languages and successfully moved up the career ladder and raised a family. Can't you do the same? Of course crying is easier...