Laid-Off Wall Streeters Bartending, Baking Cupcakes

Tough times on Wall Street mean more than 76,000 workers in the financial service industry—including traders, bankers, and analysts—are now out of a job. What are they doing now? Trying on new careers for far less pay, reports the International Herald Tribune.

Take 27-year-old Harvard graduate Jessica Walter, who lost her job as vice president for credit strategy at Bear Stearns. Now she's in the cupcake business. Or Jeff Salmon, who left a job investing in asset-backed securities to open a hair-salon franchise in New Jersey. According to the story, former traders and bond salesmen are also bartending and selling real estate. Other ex-traders are paying the bills by gambling (perhaps inspired by the movie Boiler Room?).

And while bankers with a financial cushion are buying ranches out West and moving to Dubai, laid-off investment banker Joshua Perksy is trolling Park Avenue wearing a sandwich board reading "Experienced MIT Grad for Hire."

Reader Comments Read all comments (3)

Add Your Thoughts

Comment Name State Select One AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY International Email

Please enter the two words below into the text field underneath the image.

Incorrect please try again

Enter the words above: Enter the numbers you hear:

Your comment will be posted immediately, unless it is spam or contains profanity. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.