This is how badly you have missed the chance to earn money in investment banking

There have been a few times in the past decade(s) when it was possible to make a lot of money working in an investment bank simply by cashing in your ever-appreciating stock-based bonus.

One of those times was the period between 2003 and 2007. Another was 2008-2010. Anyone working at Citigroup between 1995 and 2000 was especially lucky: the bank's share price rose nearly 600% in that time alone.

Now, with the chief executives of Jefferies and RBS Global Banking and Markets selling large holdings in their employers and some European banks' share prices falling 10% in a single day, getting rich through a stock bonus is no longer possible.

According to Financial News many experienced bankers see no point in hanging on as a result. Former editor William Wright claims to have attended a wedding at which half the hedge fund managers and traders he spoke to had either stopped working or were thinking of doing so.

"For the past three years everyone had been working harder than ever in more volatile conditions, in exchange for less money, less fun and more stress," a trader told him.

This may not be strictly true. As the figures below for various banks show, if you were issued stock in one of several banks in 2008 and you had the good fortune to get out of it in early 2010, you would have done very well indeed. Barring the resolution of the sovereign debt crisis and a relaxation of bank capital rules, it's the future that looks dire.

When it made sense to receive a stock bonus:

Goldman Sachs: share price increased 228% between January 2003 and May 2007, and 101% between January 2009 and January 2010.

Morgan Stanley: share price increased 112% between January 2003 and June 2007, and 86% between January 2009 and January 2010.

Credit Suisse: share price increased 190% between January 203 and February 2007, and 86% between January 2009 and January 2010.

BNP Paribas share price increased 234% between January 2003 and June 2007, and 78% between January 2009 and January 2010.