The Rage of the Previously Rich

[SQLDenis]

The Rage of the Previously Rich
A Lehman trader copes with the sudden onset of income shrinkage.

Boo Hoo

The Trader had come to Lehman only a year ago, after being recruited from a rival firm. He’d studied physics as a grad student, then come to Wall Street as the tech bubble and the aggressive gentrification of the Giuliani years remade Manhattan into a banker’s playground, a place where a $2 million salary could seem like the norm.

Like many on Wall Street, the Trader’s career was moving along briskly. By 2006, he had settled into a new $2 million house in Connecticut with a pool, and kept a pied-à-terre in Manhattan. With two young children, he had private-school tuition to cover. He had recently completed a home renovation, and now there was talk of a new porch with a built-in stainless-steel barbecue. The Trader estimated that he was two years from making enough money to retire and never have to work again.

But by Saturday, September 13, Lehman Brothers teetered on the precipice of bankruptcy after Barclays and Bank of America walked away from a deal. The Trader was certain of little, except that he was a lot poorer. The unvested stock from his previous year’s bonus, once worth $3 million, was now reduced to a scant $6,000. And on Wall Street, self-worth and net worth can amount to the same thing. “The hardest thing in my mind is to have your compensation cut,” a veteran Wall Street executive says. “It’s almost like you’re a bad person.”

Rest here: http://nymag.com/news/businessfinance/50523/

[AlexCuse]

i like this part the best:

Another headline read, “Should I leave my fiancé? … I guess I already know the answer. My boyfriend … rather fiancé, is/was employed by Lehman Brothers,” the posting stated. “In less than a week we went from being millionaires to just having a couple of 100K … I suppose this means it’s over. I am who I am. I personally blame all this on [Lehman CEO] Dick Fuld. I blame him for ruining my happiness.”

[SQLDenis]

What a low-life

[damber]

“It’s almost like you’re a bad person.”

Yes. You are.

[SQLSister]

i like this part the best:

Another headline read, “Should I leave my fiancé? … I guess I already know the answer. My boyfriend … rather fiancé, is/was employed by Lehman Brothers,” the posting stated. “In less than a week we went from being millionaires to just having a couple of 100K … I suppose this means it’s over. I am who I am. I personally blame all this on [Lehman CEO] Dick Fuld. I blame him for ruining my happiness.”

There's a word for women like this and it isn't a nice word. That is so disgusting. I guess she missed the "for better for worse, for richer for poorer" stuff. To leave you fiance just becasue his job has gone down the tubes (possibly for no fault of his own) , well that's just low. Karma will take care of her later though.

[Emtucifor]

"just having a couple 100K" sheesh.

It's nice my wife hasn't left me even though my net worth is about $-18,000

[chrissie1]

"just having a couple 100K" sheesh.

It's nice my wife hasn't left me even though my net worth is about $-18,000

There must be some other reason why she sticks around then. It must be one of those attachment obsessions where people can't let go of things because of sentimental value. But don't feel bad about it.