Bonus Amounts

“If the objective is to try to retain senior people from leaving to go to the buy side, the structure is similar to what goes on in asset-management land, but the absolute dollar numbers are going to be smaller,” Weinstein said. “I don’t know if you stay just because you can participate in those funds.”

Goldman Sachs’s eligible workers are alerted to the funds early in the year as they learn their bonus amounts, according to current and former employees who asked not to be identified talking about compensation policies. They can choose to set aside a portion of their bonus to invest in the funds, and the money is put to use over several years.

The newest partners will be notified of their selection tomorrow morning by Blankfein and President Gary D. Cohn, according to a person briefed on the process.

Even with the recent increases in contributions, the amount invested by Goldman Sachs employees pales compared with the pre- crisis funds. Bankers at the firm contributed more than $1.5 billion to employee funds tied to Capital Partners VI in 2007 and more than $1 billion to funds tied to Capital Partners V two years earlier, filings show.

Investing Risks

The reduction may be because the financial crisis exposed the risks of investing in the funds. Some that invested alongside real estate funds before the housing market collapsed lost money. The funds also aren’t liquid. General Counsel Greg Palm and Jon Winkelried, then co-president of the firm with Cohn, found that out when they needed cash in late 2008. The firm ended up buying their stakes.

Still, individual contributions have been capped because demand for the funds often outpaced their targeted size. Contributions are locked up for several years and distributions can continue over more than a decade.

Former CEO Hank Paulson had between $3.6 million and $7.6 million in 22 Bridge Street and Stone Street funds from the 1990s and 2000 as of the end of 2005, according to public financial disclosures from when he became U.S. Treasury Secretary the following year.

Blankfein Benefit