When is a part-time job better than a full-time job? When it pays nearly 10 times what the average full-time job pays in America.

Bank directors, who work part-time guiding financial institutions, can make up to $500,000 a year. The median household income in the United States is a little more than $50,000 annually.

Goldman Sachs paid its directors an average of $488,709 in 2011, which represented an increase of more than 50% above the payout from three years earlier. Some individual directors actually made more than half a million dollars.

Morgan Stanley paid its directors an average of $351,080, while Citigroup paid $315,000. JPMorgan paid $278,194 in 2012, and Bank of America paid $275,000.

To emphasize that serving on a board of directors is not necessarily a full-time occupation, here are some of the board members of Goldman Sachs and what else they do:

• M. Michele Burns—CEO of the Marsh & McLennan-sponsored Retirement Policy Center; also serves on the board of directors of Wal-Mart and Cisco
• William George—professor at Harvard Business School; also serves on the board of directors of Exxon Mobil
• Stephen Friedman—chairman of the Stone Point Capital private equity firm
• James A. Johnson—vice chairman of the the Perseus merchant banking and private equity firm; also serves on the board of directors of Target and the Forestar Group
• Lakshmi Mittal—chairman and CEO of the ArcelorMittal steel company; also serves on the board of directors of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS)
• Adebayo Ogunlesi—chairman of Global Infrastructure Partners, a private equity firm; also serves on the board of directors of Callaway Golf Company and Kosmos Energy
• Debora Spar—president of Barnard College
• Mark Tucker—member of the International Advisory Committee of the International Centre for Financial Regulation.

-David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

At Banks, Board Pay Soars Amid Cutbacks (by Susanne Craig, New York Times)

Wall Street Recession Strategy: Fire People and Give Survivors a Raise (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Wall Street CEOs Got 20% Raises Last Year…Did You? (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Income Gulf between CEOs and Workers 11 Times Greater than in 1965 (by Matt Bewig, AllGov)