How much money to "feel rich" in nyc?

How much would you need to make and what kind of lifestyle (type of house, vacations, level of savings etc). And single vs married ?


Im 9 years into my career and feel like I'd need  2.5x if not 3x my income and I'm single with no debt

 

Funny thing is I’m in MF / UMM PE and even the junior partners don’t feel rich in the city. It’s only when you start hitting your stride into your 40s where you can start getting significant cash flow. So until you get to that point, you’ll need to live off $500K-$1.5M a year which is obviously a lot by any normal measure, but when you have a family / kids in NY, it’s actually not that much. Most VP / Principal level folks at that make in that range don’t own their homes and if they do, it’s usually a 1-2 bedroom as anything more than that in a desirable part of the city is $2-3M at least with $15k+ per month of mortgage payments.

 

Funny thing is I'm in MF / UMM PE and even the junior partners don't feel rich in the city. It's only when you start hitting your stride into your 40s where you can start getting significant cash flow. So until you get to that point, you'll need to live off $500K-$1.5M a year which is obviously a lot by any normal measure, but when you have a family / kids in NY, it's actually not that much. Most VP / Principal level folks at that make in that range don't own their homes and if they do, it's usually a 1-2 bedroom as anything more than that in a desirable part of the city is $2-3M at least with $15k+ per month of mortgage payments.

Yes exactly. Seems like outside of some super differentiated early stage liquidity event the only solution if that's your priority is to just delay family till late 30s? I.e. don't incur that cost until you can comfortably absorb it? That's not without a significant personal cost obviously (depending on the person)

 

What a sad excuse not to have kids. “I make a million a year but I can’t afford them”. Just admit you don’t want a family…

 

Obviously equation changes if both parents work high compensation jobs, but that’s frequently not the case. 

 
medellin

you'll need to live off $500K-$1.5M a year (...) when you have a family / kids in NY, it's actually not that much. 

$1.5 MILLION US DOLLARS A YEAR is not that much for a young family?

Some of you here really need to get a reality fucking check lol.

Ha! The CEO, whose presumably got way too much experiencing trying to temper rapidly rising comp expectations, is gonna have a heart attack. Gave me a laugh +1. 

 

Why would anyone live in NY under those conditions? If you’ve saved up $2-3m as a principal in PE just leave and live like a king anywhere else

 

As someone who has never lived in NYC (and also doesn’t work in banking), my understanding is that it’s almost impossible to have the same career path as one would in NYC elsewhere. Chicago and LA are large cities where you could move up, but someone in say Dallas wouldn’t rise as much compared to being in NYC.

My plan is to do an MBA soon and move to banking in NYC, but I still have a few more years before that.

 

Impossible’s probably a stretch, but NYC definitely accelerates your career, and there’s a huge cachet to people in smaller cities who came up in NYC (even though people in those offices don’t like to admit it)

Source: started my career in a Dallas/Atlanta type of city, moved to NYC a couple years ago and have seen my career take off, both in terms of compensation (I live way better here than I ever did before and still save way more) as well as things like the types of roles headhunters reach out for (global brand names, whereas before it was usually regional stuff).

When I go back and meet with friends / contacts from my old city, they usually publicly say things like “crazy, enjoy the taxes” and then privately say things like “super impressive” or “I’m jealous, seems like an amazing opportunity”. Tied into all of this is the fact that I moved to a much higher profile firm / role, but that’s kind of the point - jobs like this didn’t really exist where I was before, even in 2023

 

There is obviously a lot of opportunity in NYC, but there are other places with similar opportunities, you just need to know where to look.

My wife and I have had no problem keeping up with peers in NYC from a career standpoint, and we make the same amount of money they do. The difference is how much further our money goes and that we can hit major life goals much faster.

 

If you’re married and have kids, give in to the dark side and come to the suburbs. Places like Bronxville and Scarsdale on the NY side, or Summit and Chatham on the NJ side. Top notch public schools if you want to forego the $40k/yr expense of private, land, space, no homeless around your house, no needles on the ground, functional local governments, an actual sense of community.

 

I know nothing about New York other than what I’ve read online.

Looks like that’s around a 80-90 minute train ride from Scarsdale to around midtown Manhattan. At the VP level in banking/PE, assume it’s around 3-4 days a week in office with 3 hours of commuting every day.

I’m trying to learn as much as I can in general about the banking lifestyle in NYC. Plan on doing an MBA and moving to banking as that’s the easiest / lowest risk way for me to make more money imo. Looks like I’ll graduate from an MBA program around 28/29 years old, and I’d like to think I’d be thinking about starting a family around that time, but the hours would put a lot of strain on that.

 

Scarsdale or similar is a somewhat common move at the partner level, close to zero at the VP/Principal level. Personally, I refuse to ever commute like that, but I’ve done dinners at some of those partners’ houses (10-15k sf kind of places), and I get why they do it

Pretty common for Principal/Junior Partner level folks to move to quieter neighborhoods though - Upper West Side, Williamsburg, etc. Long Island City is the not-so-hidden gem that’s becoming popular with younger team members who want quiet without a commute (older ones still have a huge stigma against living in Queens)

 

Scarsdale is under an hour by train - 45 min if you catch the (somewhat elusive) express one. Did you map it out on a weekend? And Scarsdale is a tiny town surrounded by other train towns, so you're 10 min drive from the station at most... 80-90 min is way up like Bedford (and a sprawling area so door to door is longer too, but you get a ton of land for the money)

Most people who live in Westchester leave around 4-5, go home and have dinner with the kids, and then log on for a few hours after dinner

It's very doable esp if only 3 days/week

 

I think it really depends on what you consider well off. At $500K a year and being single, you never feel like eating at nice restaurants is a reach, but you certainly can’t afford to live in a super luxurious apartment or fly business / first class. For example, if you make $500K per year in finance, you probably get half or 60% of that through base salary which ends up being $12-15K  per month on an after tax basis. You probably shouldn’t spend more than $5-6K on rent which ends up being a 1 bedroom / 700-800 square ft apartment in West Village or Soho in a decent building. You certainly wouldn’t be able to afford a second bedroom or a car so I don’t think that’s considered well off especially when your counterparts making $500K a year in any city outside of NYC / SF probably has a 2,000-3,000+ sq ft new apartment with a BMW / Mercedes so everything is relativez

 

I think it really depends on what you consider well off. At $500K a year and being single, you never feel like eating at nice restaurants is a reach, but you certainly can't afford to live in a super luxurious apartment or fly business / first class. For example, if you make $500K per year in finance, you probably get half or 60% of that through base salary which ends up being $12-15K  per month on an after tax basis. You probably shouldn't spend more than $5-6K on rent which ends up being a 1 bedroom / 700-800 square ft apartment in West Village or Soho in a decent building. You certainly wouldn't be able to afford a second bedroom or a car so I don't think that's considered well off especially when your counterparts making $500K a year in any city outside of NYC / SF probably has a 2,000-3,000+ sq ft new apartment with a BMW / Mercedes so everything is relativez

That’s the thing, it’s all relative as you note. $500k a year I could afford business class etc. So I would eat basically wherever I wanted, travel many times a year, and lived in a nice place. Sure $500k in Charlotte would have been a more luxurious life, but I also had all of nyc to explore. 

Again, all depends on your definition of well off. I’ve lived in nyc at all income levels (well ok up to high 7 figures) and I always have people around me complaining that they aren’t actually well off. Now it’s the “well I don’t fly private” crew or similar. Everyone always finds a reason why they aren’t rich enough. 

 

All depends on what you define as "rich". Family? How many kids? Schooling? Vacations? Things you enjoy doing?

You'll get lots of inflated answers here. People think private jet, multiple homes, etc. 

I started feeling very well off at $500k when single. 

How long ago ? If 10+ years for eg or even 5 years inflation has been nuts so your number would be in the 700 range single today 

 

These answers are absurd lmao. These are definitely the kids who come from rich parents and are now realizing how much it takes to actually continue the lifestyle they grew up on. Sometimes I think maybe growing up lower middle class is a blessing because even as a first year analyst I felt pretty damn well off. For the first time in my life I could buy whatever I wanted and not have to worry about burning through my whole bank account. All about perspective

 

My household income is ~1mm a year and if I didn’t have parental help on top of that I would feel squeezed living in the city with 3 kids.

I think for a family, you need 2.5mm pre tax to coast in nyc/San Fran.

 
Funniest

You make $1M per year and you still need help from your parents? That’s actually crazy

 

In nyc if you make decent money as a W-2 employee, you basically pay 50% tax.

So how far can 500k really take you in nyc if you want to “feel rich” and have kids?

Mortgage, childcare, car, max retirement accounts and 529 plan is basic life stuff. To feel rich, I’d like to send my kids to private school, fly business and eat fancy dinners.

Ofc I live better than most people. But with great parents and in-laws I wouldn’t feel like a 1% in nyc on just 1mm pre tax.

What I never understand is all my colleague who marry losers when they are living in a tier 1 city. So many friends marry chicks who only bring hotness to the table. It’s nyc man, there’s plenty of hot AND rich chicks to grab.

 

So by your definition, the only working professionals who are able to "coast" in NYC/SF are MDs/partners

 
Controversial

When you’re young you think seven figures is this mythical amount that means your life is set.

But taxes, especially in a liberal state like nyc, really hurt people like me. Upper middle class trying to scratch their way into the 1% get owned by taxes. Basically 50% I pay.

So my dad and father in law has helped me out. They paid for b school and helped with a down payment on my second apartment and when we go on vacation I make them subsidize airfare and hotels.

Look, do I really need their help? Probably not.

But I told them you can help me now, or I inherit it later and probably pay some sort of silly estate tax. And they aren’t stupid. They make sure they see where their money goes. If I was blowing it on entertainment, they would tell me to f*ck off. But they see it goes to stuff that makes their grandkids lives more comfortable, so they basically do it without me even asking.

And in turn, I will safeguard the family money and hopefully grow it, so my kids and their kids get help.

The same way some families marry young and have kids young and stay poor, I hope my family keeps having smart kids who grow the money and we never have to struggle. Although I’ve noticed that money and loving parents doesn’t always equal a smart and ethical kid.

 

I don’t understand why I upset so many of you when I simply answer honestly.

The question was how much do you need to feel rich in nyc. And I said I make a mil but only feel rich cause I also have rich parents and 1 mil isn’t nyc rich.

Why did you think I want you to feel sorry for me when I make more than 99% of people on earth?

 

Comfortable with kids and a normal suburban life with all the benefits of living in Manhattan? $1.5+mm/year easily

40-50% goes to taxes, that leaves you with $800k. That's $67k/month 

If you have two kids who are not toddlers and need their own rooms, your rent or mortgage will be $10-15k/month at least. You need a car, that's $1000/mo for lease/auto payment/gas/parking. Day care/private school for 2 kids is 40k per year each, that's 3k per month. 

General living expenses (groceries + restaurants + general household items) for a household of 4 is another 5-10k/month. So far we're at ~30k in spending per month.

College is expensive, you need to save a couple g's a month for each of the kids. Call that $2-5k/month

Don't forget your savings for a rainy day (keep in mind that someone making 1+mm in finance is easily on the chopping block every time layoffs come up, so you need to save up. Call that $10k/month for the family's savings/investments. 

We're easily at 40-50k of spending + saving per month, and that's not even living a particularly glorious lifestyle. Just living as someone in the suburbs would but in Manhattan. It's not easy...


 

 
jaxcut4

Comfortable with kids and a normal suburban life with all the benefits of living in Manhattan? $1.5+mm/year easily

40-50% goes to taxes, that leaves you with $800k. That's $67k/month 

If you have two kids who are not toddlers and need their own rooms, your rent or mortgage will be $10-15k/month at least. You need a car, that's $1000/mo for lease/auto payment/gas/parking. Day care/private school for 2 kids is 40k per year each, that's 3k per month. 

General living expenses (groceries + restaurants + general household items) for a household of 4 is another 5-10k/month. So far we're at ~30k in spending per month.

College is expensive, you need to save a couple g's a month for each of the kids. Call that $2-5k/month

Don't forget your savings for a rainy day (keep in mind that someone making 1+mm in finance is easily on the chopping block every time layoffs come up, so you need to save up. Call that $10k/month for the family's savings/investments. 

We're easily at 40-50k of spending + saving per month, and that's not even living a particularly glorious lifestyle. Just living as someone in the suburbs would but in Manhattan. It's not easy...


 

Agree 

Smoke Frog

When you're young you think seven figures is this mythical amount that means your life is set.

But taxes, especially in a liberal state like nyc, really hurt people like me. Upper middle class trying to scratch their way into the 1% get owned by taxes. Basically 50% I pay.

So my dad and father in law has helped me out. They paid for b school and helped with a down payment on my second apartment and when we go on vacation I make them subsidize airfare and hotels.

Look, do I really need their help? Probably not.

But I told them you can help me now, or I inherit it later and probably pay some sort of silly estate tax. And they aren't stupid. They make sure they see where their money goes. If I was blowing it on entertainment, they would tell me to f*ck off. But they see it goes to stuff that makes their grandkids lives more comfortable, so they basically do it without me even asking.

And in turn, I will safeguard the family money and hopefully grow it, so my kids and their kids get help.

The same way some families marry you and have kids young and stay poor, I hope my family keeps having smart kids who grow the money and we never have to struggle. Although I've noticed that money and loving parents doesn't always equal a smart and ethical kid.

Agree. I make 650-700k cash single and I totally get you (not counting the carry since it's all paper money and who knows when / if you get it). I do not feel wealthy. For me that level is when you're renting Hamptons houses, yachts, never taking public transport again etc and still saving 30%+ pre tax and unachievable until I'm making 1.5-2m+ single or 3-4m+ with wife kids. And that's still below the tier of people who own the things I mentioned 

 

Cars are $1K+. If you get a $60-80K car, it’s $1k on just the monthly payments. Add another $500-1K on covered parking and insurance especially in New York.

 

I make $500k and live with my girlfriend who makes $250k. Neither of us has debt. I would say we feel, maybe not "rich", but extremely comfortable with no budget, living a life that 99% of people would consider rich.

We spend $5k on rent, split 67/33. I spend probably $100-150 a day average on eating / drinking (weighted toward weekends) with occasional Michelin Star meals, drop $1000 here and there on clothes, travel somewhere small (like a weekend trip) maybe once a month and go to Europe for 1-2 weeks every summer and winter with first class flights and upscale hotels. I still save $125k+ per year (should be more north of $150k this year). If I needed to tone the lifestyle down I could eat at home / in the office, stop buying trendy shit, and travel more reasonably and probably save an extra $25k+ a year, but I'm very much enjoying my late 20s.

The big differentiator is kids - I neither have them nor want them, so I'm able to live a pretty upscale lifestyle while still saving for retirement (and all of this excludes carry, which I value at zero but which would supercharge that retirement account).

If you're talking about truly wealthy, jet setting, yachts, etc. - I would say that starts in the mid-upper 8-figure net worth space, but that varies a lot less with location and is a lot less dependent on "income" vs assets

 

Agree that’s a comfortable life, but you basically are renting and that’s very literally the definition of not being rich. At $500K a year, you can barely afford a $1.5M home in NYC which is basically a 1 bedroom apartment in West Village lol

 

Agree that's a comfortable life, but you basically are renting and that's very literally the definition of not being rich. At $500K a year, you can barely afford a $1.5M home in NYC which is basically a 1 bedroom apartment in West Village lol

As the other post said, not everyone wants to buy and in many cases it doesn’t make sense to. I eventually bought a place in nyc but it’s because we were having a kid and wanted stability and our own home. Most of the time renting beats out buying in nyc, you should just run the numbers. There is this weird notion in peoples head that you must buy a place to say you’ve “made it”. 

 

This thread has basically confirmed that 90% of people in finance will continue to live middle class lives in NYC with the exception of the 10% that make it to Partner, MD, etc. equivalent for IB, PE, Law, etc. If you're a middle of the rung corporate employee in your 30s, why would you ever voluntarily live here? You're too old to fully take advantage of the city so why not go elsewhere if you can? Genuine question. 

Why are you too old to take advantage ?

 

Think $250-300mm net worth to be upper middle class in NYC
at $100mm you are making like $4-5m a year in treasury yields which barely pays for more than one house and three kids schools. At $150mm now and feel scrimped 

 

I have to take the other side here and just comment on how out of touch this thread is. Some of you guys have some serious lifestyle creep and/or just grew up extremely well off. $1.5-$2mm just feel middle class????? Holy shit lmao. I am in my late 20s and I make around $200k a year and my gf makes around $100k a year and we feel rich. Contrast to the way we grew up, I can buy pretty much anything I want within reason, go wherever I want to eat and travel wherever I want to go. I feel as though I have a pretty high degree of financial freedom.

 

Is that 300k combined all-in or base? I felt pretty comfortable on analyst comp for a single person within reason and I'm sure my desires and expenses will increase over time but so will my income so its pretty surprising to hear people that are further on this path seem less financially free than I do right now.

 

I think once your $15-$20 liquid you start to “feel” rich. The reality is once your 10 liquid you ARE rich, but you asked feel. Which means: “what are my peers +/- 5 years from my age worth”, “how rich are my parents / family / neighbors”.

A 30 year old worth 15 feels a lot richer than a 50 year old worth 15

 
passthrumonster

I think once your $15-$20 liquid you start to "feel" rich. The reality is once your 10 liquid you ARE rich, but you asked feel. Which means: "what are my peers +/- 5 years from my age worth", "how rich are my parents / family / neighbors".

A 30 year old worth 15 feels a lot richer than a 50 year old worth 15

$20 liquid doesn't even buy a sandwich at katz deli

 

This thread is an embarrassment. Top three awful posts:

3rd place: you need 20mn liquid to feel rich, unless you are 30 with 15 which is rich.

2nd place: $500-1,500k a year is tough to live off of until the carry dollars flow in

1st place: I make $1mn a year and get support from my parents. 
 

you all need a serious reality check as to how good you have it.

 

1mn a year with additional help from parents is insane

 

Did you read my post? Or were just eager to join the other first years and show the boomers they are greedy?

The question was “feeling” rich in nyc, the most expensive city in the world.

I said I make a million and in nyc you don’t feel rich. Yes, I’m in the 1%. But I don’t feel rich in nyc cause of the high cost of living. But I do feel rich because I have rich parents who help me out.

Do I need their help? Of course not. But they want to give money now rather than wait for me to inherit it. When my dad says hey would you like an extra 100k for your down payment because I don’t need it, should I say no thanks dad I’ll wait to inherit it?

I’m thinking it’s jealousy from people with losers for parents, but wouldn’t people like you be jealous if I was a trust fund kid and just spending money? Wouldn’t the fact I earn my own negate your jealousy? Or do you get annoyed im rich and have rich parents. Like you feel it’s unfair or something?

Cause I can see a trust fund kid eliciting jealousy but why would someone who earned their own keep piss you off? Is it just a general annoyance at rich people?

 

LMAO. This has to be the most out of touch take I have ever read on this site. “Losers for parents” = don’t subsidize their kids lifestyle despite them making $1mm+ per year. Holy shit bro I think you need a reality check. People aren’t mad that your parents help you, they’re mad because you are so cavalier about asking for money despite being a top 1% earner and acting like life would be unbearable without it.

 
Smoke Frog

Did you read my post? Or were just eager to join the other first years and show the boomers they are greedy?

The question was "feeling" rich in nyc, the most expensive city in the world.

I said I make a million and in nyc you don't feel rich. Yes, I'm in the 1%. But I don't feel rich in nyc cause of the high cost of living. But I do feel rich because I have rich parents who help me out.

Do I need their help? Of course not. But they want to give money now rather than wait for me to inherit it. When my dad says hey would you like an extra 100k for your down payment because I don't need it, should I say no thanks dad I'll wait to inherit it?

I'm thinking it's jealousy from people with losers for parents, but wouldn't people like you be jealous if I was a trust fund kid and just spending money? Wouldn't the fact I earn my own negate your jealousy? Or do you get annoyed im rich and have rich parents. Like you feel it's unfair or something?

Cause I can see a trust fund kid eliciting jealousy but why would someone who earned their own keep piss you off? Is it just a general annoyance at rich people?

Whether or not your parents help you out isn't even the primary point. If you've got $500k a year after taxes, even if you're spending $50k/kid for private school and have a $2M mortgage at ~$13k a month, you still have $200k of play money a year. If you spend $250 a day on food/entertainment you still have $100k left. Even if you spend $25k twice a year on a nice family vacations (including first class flights) you've got $50k left. Feeling rich is all relative but if you have money for 3 kids in private school, spend gratuitously on food and entertainment, take multiple nice vacations per year, live in a $2.5M house (assuming you put some money down), and still have play money left over most people would say that's a pretty rich lifestyle. 

 

“Losers for parents” says it all pal. Get lost 

 

Household (family of 4) we made around $850-900k a year and felt poor.

Wife: $135k + 25k bonus (non-finance executive)

Me. $200 base + 2x+ bonus

2 rental properties: $140-150k

After maintenance, mortgages and taxes rental properties broken even (but we are building equity)

After 401k, take deferred comp, and income taxes - walked away w $360 or so (had to pay income tax on rental properties)

Rent $144k

Kids school: $80k+

Bills/food/clothes: $60k

Parking garage and insurance: $14k

Vacation / unexpected costs / eating out/ helping family / hidden NYC costs : $30

We were saving around $10k in cash a year, but working 70 hour days.

We moved to the suburbs, went to public school, changed our lifestyle and that is now 20x higher

 

Anonymous Monkey

Household (family of 4) we made around $850-900k a year and felt poor.

Wife: $135k + 25k bonus (non-finance executive)

Me. $200 base + 2x+ bonus

2 rental properties: $140-150k

After maintenance, mortgages and taxes rental properties broken even (but we are building equity)

After 401k, take deferred comp, and income taxes - walked away w $360 or so (had to pay income tax on rental properties)

Rent $144k

Kids school: $80k+

Bills/food/clothes: $60k

Parking garage and insurance: $14k

Vacation / unexpected costs / eating out/ helping family / hidden NYC costs : $30

We were saving around $10k in cash a year, but working 70 hour days.

We moved to the suburbs, went to public school, changed our lifestyle and that is now 20x higher

Interesting take and glad that your family changed up the lifestyle and figured out the finances. But I am genuinely curious how you could feel poor walking around an apartment/house that cost 12k per month in rent. That must have been quite a luxurious property…

 

Household (family of 4) we made around $850-900k a year and felt poor.

Wife: $135k + 25k bonus (non-finance executive)

Me. $200 base + 2x+ bonus

2 rental properties: $140-150k

After maintenance, mortgages and taxes rental properties broken even (but we are building equity)

After 401k, take deferred comp, and income taxes - walked away w $360 or so (had to pay income tax on rental properties)

Rent $144k

Kids school: $80k+

Bills/food/clothes: $60k

Parking garage and insurance: $14k

Vacation / unexpected costs / eating out/ helping family / hidden NYC costs : $30

We were saving around $10k in cash a year, but working 70 hour days.

We moved to the suburbs, went to public school, changed our lifestyle and that is now 20x higher

People exaggerate so much, felt poor?! Come on…didn’t feel rich? Sure, but poor?! You weren’t saving much, yet maxing out 401k, had deferred comp, and we’re building equity in rental properties. 

That + your home and the kids school. That’s not poor…at all. 

 

Feeling "broke", is probably a better way to phrase it.

I invested a lot of my bonuses early and bought properties, but those require a lot of capital for upkeep and maintenance. I often questioned my logic, but resolved that I was playing the long equity/future passive income game.

We continued to make more money, but felt like we were saving less and less, but most of our increased expenses were due to additional cost of having children. 

Contrary to logic or popular perception a 4 bedroom for $12k in Manhattan is just not that nice. I lived in far better apartments when I was single after got bumped to associate and VP - far, far better. To be honest I felt much wealthier then than I do now. 

The real point of this post is/was - how much do you need to feel rich in NYC. The answer is it depends on a number of variables, but for my circumstance making almost $1m a year didn't make me feel anywhere close to "rich". 

 

I live in LI. I make $350K. After taxes, social security, 401K, health insurance and property taxes, I take home about $200K. Maybe a bit less. This is enough to afford a moderate home (4 rooms 2 baths), 2 semi-lux cars (one Lexus and one Acura), 1 vacation a year and about $15K-$20K in annual savings. 

 

At $2mm a year you'll feel okay.

To feel rich I would say $4mm income a year. that way you get $2mm after taxes and you can afford a nice 3-4 bedroom for your family and not worry about luxurious vacations or private school for 3 kids.

but if you want to feel not rich and decent then $1-$2mm is enough which is $600k to $1mm after taxes.

 

I think this thread actually answers the question quite well—there is no amount of money that makes you feel rich in NYC. The amount of people and wealth means there is always another rung to climb. The one reasonable answer said, “partner level, mid 40s-50s. Aka, when you retire maybe then you will look at some of the places people own and think, “yeah, I could afford that”. 
 

You aren’t competing in finance in NYC, you are competing with literal royalty, the best celebs and athletes, and inherited money that has diligently worked for generations to build wealth even wealthy people could only dream of.

Unless you leave NYC, you will always feel poor. There’s simply too many ultra wealthy people, so there is always another shiny object. I’ve heard established partners complain because they aren’t ken griffin wealthy. On top of that, the culture of one-upping your consumption means people need to keep making money otherwise they will go bankrupt. It will never be enough.

The way to be wealthy is to budget responsibly and save every month for long term purchases while also having multiples of that as savings. As an example, if you have a $1m house with a few kids running around and spend $12k a month, or ~150k a year, you will feel very rich if you have $3m saved and aren’t outspending your earnings. The way to feel poor is being worried if you lose your job you are screwed or if you have unsustainable spending. Real wealth is having passive income exceed your expenses. I.e. if you can earn 5% on $3m, to cover your $150k of expenses a year, all earnings after that are just adding to the pile and extending your ability to spend and cover expenses.
 

I think it’s hard to feel wealthy taking about income. Income doesn’t make your feel secure because taxes take so much of it. Post tax savings accumulating are where you feel like a king. 

 

For those of you raising kids in NYC what is your rationale for not moving to the burbs?  My wife and I discussed it but felt we could provide a much better quality of life for our kids (at significantly less costs) in the burbs vs staying in the city.  Also felt like the burbs were just a much better environment for kids.  The only downside we saw was the commute which means less time with the kids during the week but felt that all the positives outweighed the negatives.   

 

For those of you raising kids in NYC what is your rationale for not moving to the burbs?  My wife and I discussed it but felt we could provide a much better quality of life for our kids (at significantly less costs) in the burbs vs staying in the city.  Also felt like the burbs were just a much better environment for kids.  The only downside we saw was the commute which means less time with the kids during the week but felt that all the positives outweighed the negatives.   

For us, we actually see it the other way, although we make good money and are financially stable so the financial side isn’t really a part of the equation. To us:

NYC Pros

- lots of exposure to art, museums, etc. Basically lots of educational things to do (story time at libraries, plays for kids, etc)

- lots of interaction with people. Our kids spend the time at the park and outdoors all the time. 

- diversity of people, many suburbs aren’t diverse and I find that a hard environment to grow up in

- incremental independence: growing up in nyc you start getting “freedom” in a more incremental way (subway to see friends, going to the park, etc). In the suburbs you are dependent on parents until you suddenly get a car and then hell breaks loose 

Cons

- safety: while I’m not terrified of the city like some people (or how some media paints it out to be) but it’s still a concern. More freedom at a young age also can put a child at risk, and no matter where you live there will be people with mental illness on the street 

- cost: like I said not a major consideration for us but a big one for many

- schooling: I have looked at private and public, nyc has amazing public schools but a lot of them are complicated to get into and require testing, etc

- private backyard, room to run around, etc

Anyway, to us, the pros outweigh the cons. 

 

This question is a contradiction, feelings are unique to an individual circumstance/person so there can’t be a universal/always answer. My subjective view is that around $250-300k in income per member of the household is sufficient for a very high quality of life. If you require property ownership/private school for kids you probably need to be a bit higher (depending on the duration of your high earnings period and if being able to walk away is part of feeling rich for you). But, in NYC there is always someone much richer than you around the corner, so avoiding lifestyle creep is crucial.

 

Facere dicta quasi molestiae nostrum consequatur autem quo. Voluptas et dolorem error recusandae quasi. Ut libero ullam minima officia consequuntur doloribus. Vero quia est odio laborum ducimus deserunt. Est aut laudantium laudantium id.

Culpa qui nulla sit voluptatem accusantium. Ut et autem similique voluptate enim.

 

Dolores nisi excepturi dolor architecto perferendis cumque dolore. Dolore voluptatem rem ratione omnis est consequatur aut.

Iure sed id alias est. Id nesciunt rem dignissimos perferendis facilis dolorum id. Et placeat eos corrupti officiis optio.

Atque accusantium eos omnis incidunt et. Iure quaerat assumenda enim eum cumque. Nemo est ea quae quis mollitia velit. Est deleniti et nihil nihil qui optio explicabo.

Quae consectetur dolor soluta est. Provident blanditiis nostrum et at fugiat quod natus. Ea error eaque aliquid reprehenderit. Consequatur id dolores nihil nihil cum.

Career Advancement Opportunities

April 2024 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.5%
  • Blackstone Group 99.0%
  • Warburg Pincus 98.4%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 97.9%
  • Bain Capital 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

April 2024 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.5%
  • Blackstone Group 98.9%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 98.4%
  • Ardian 97.9%
  • Bain Capital 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

April 2024 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.5%
  • Bain Capital 99.0%
  • Blackstone Group 98.4%
  • Warburg Pincus 97.9%
  • Starwood Capital Group 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

April 2024 Private Equity

  • Principal (9) $653
  • Director/MD (22) $569
  • Vice President (92) $362
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (91) $281
  • 2nd Year Associate (206) $266
  • 1st Year Associate (387) $229
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (29) $154
  • 2nd Year Analyst (83) $134
  • 1st Year Analyst (246) $122
  • Intern/Summer Associate (32) $82
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (314) $59
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
9
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”