Monthly Budgets

When I was an analyst I lived in NYC on a $55k base and was cash flow positive basically every month for a few reasons.

1) I had a roomate so my rent was around $1200/month.
2) Work basically paid for everything else including cell phone, dinner, etc...Rothschild even had a free cafeteria back then(not sure if they still do) so you could have a free lunch if you werent sick of the food

Basically you should be able to break even or have a bit of debt (aka less than $10k not including student loans) if you are an analyst in NYC...if you're working 80-100hrs a week sometimes you can be slightly CF positive but it really depends on your spending habits and rent.

I had some money saved up from working while in college that helped keep me out of credit card debt before my first bonus, but otherwise I was cash flow negative. I would say even though my hours were on the longer side, I still managed to blow through my monthly paycheck because my rent was about 500 dollars higher than yours (even with a roommate), had a girlfriend the entire time, and my friends and I partook in alot of extracurriculars after work and on the weekends.

When I was an analyst, I was cash flow positive. Now that I am an associate, that is still the case. Reasons why this was easy:

1. Had/Have a roomie (1,200/month then 2k/month now)
2. Have a significant other whom I share going out expenses with
3. I like beer and dive bars, so I don't spend that much (my favorite bar only charged me about 20 bucks a night of drinking for 10-15 guinness)
4. I take advantage of every perk from cars, to cellphone, free food during the week, getting lunch with my dinner orders

However, I do love expensive restaurants so I was cashflow positive in the vicinity of a hundred or two hundred bucks a month back then.

1) have a roommate - my rent is slightly less than 1/3 net income which is the recommendation for budgeting

2) live walking distance from office so basically 0 transport cost (unless I'm lazy/running late)

3) don't go out to eat too much - when I have free time I prefer to cook

4) I've also realized I prefer to spend the weekend catching up with friends at parties or bars rather than doing the expensive clubbing scene (which I lived for when I was in college)

I have both savings and a little bit of credit card debt - the savings more than cover the debt.

Just be good about money - for me I don't plan to say in banking for more than a few years so I need to be prudent and save rather than living in some hot penthouse and ending up living on credit cards for the last week of each month before payday.

I'm fairly embarassed to say that I'm cash flow negative as an associate in PE now (making 35%+ more base). Seems like every month I have a crazy "one time" expense...

ditto on the "one time" expenses.

I think thats a sign I'm not good at managing my personal finances. I always seem to be in the scenario of "I would been ok, but I had to spend XYZ on ABC necessity." So you assume there won't be an ABC next time, and you'll be able to save/pay more on loans or CC etc... but there is always some big expense or another.

baby steps.

I'm with you guys on the one time expenses, every month there is some flight, technology, need a new suit, concert or whatever. I budget in substantial "savings" each month, and that always gets eaten up.

Still manage to keep it cash flow positive, partially through the wonders of paying attention to when credit card cycles are. Just put off buying that flight for one day and suddenly you are cash flow positive for the month.

Gotta love that 50 day float (buy item on day 1 of credit card cycle, pay 50 days later).

I have the Citi Professional Cash card, since I have never not paid in full each month the rewards work out to about a -2% interest rate (1% back on everything and 3% on restaurants and a few other things).

So, I get paid about 2 percent monthly on my average balance.