Despite some devastating layoffs and pay cuts on Wall Street, there are bound to be some people who deservedly receive a 40% raise.  Take for example, TD Ameritrade President and CEO Fred Tomczyk, who had a 'rewarding' Thanksgiving. Our counterparts at footnoted.com - who love rummaging through SEC filings - report that at 4:15 p.m. ET, on Wednesday, 11/23, the day before Thanksgiving, AMTD filed this Form 8-K:

“Under the terms of the management incentive plan of TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation, for fiscal year 2012, the base salary of Fredric J. Tomczyk, president and chief executive officer of TD Ameritrade, was increased by $200,000 to $700,000, and his annual incentive target was increased by $100,000 to $5,600,000.  Mr. Tomczyk’s annual incentive continues to be comprised of 30% cash and 70% equity.”

The C-I team was pretty excited about the news, in anticipation of learning about Mr. Tomczyk's contribution to the bottom line.  Then, footnoted.com sort of took "the wind out of our sails," saying that "TD Ameritrade blames the fine print…" for allowing a 40% raise - something about “terms of the management incentive plan” - couldn't quite understand;  it was a little over our heads. footnoted.com adds that, while company assets and revenues are up over prior year, AMTD stock has declined about 20% for the year-to-date.  This shouldn't thrill shareholders, who apparently have not benefited from Mr. Tomczyk's contributions to the company.   However, they should not despair - there's always 2012. [footnoted, 11/28/11, "TD Ameritrade blames the fine print…"]