Savings (Early 30s in NYC)

Roughly how much have you guys been able to save since graduating from college? Curious how much someone in their early 30s living and working in NYC should have saved (roughly)

 
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It’s going to depend on what your career path has been so far, what your lifestyle has been, and how much you want/need in retirement (including at what age you want to retire). What you’ll need to retire will depend on what type of lifestyle you’ll want and how much debt (home) you have. I think returning with a steady income of $70-100k is probably enough, so need a few million saved.

This won’t be all that helpful, but I’m in early/mid 30’s, have been living in nyc, and have ~$6mm although mostly in deferred compensation and equity that isn’t immediately accessible. Outside of firm equity (which isn’t always straightforward to value), breakdown is $150k checking, $1mm home equity, $500k investments, $500k in retirement.

Although early on in my career it was very hard to save in nyc, most I was able to do was 401k stuff (tried maxing it out) and maybe $10k a year or so, it wasn’t until I got a few breaks and moved up in my firm that the income made it much easier to save a bunch.

 

Numbers are individual (well really just divided accounts by 2 for simplicity as accounts are held jointly).

No kids, that would make saving in nyc much harder (depending on private school, etc), definitely affordable now with where we are in our careers, but would have been very tough 5-7 years ago (larger apt, daycare, etc adds up).

 

I actually didn’t start in IB, to be honest in college I didn’t really understand the hype with IB (I was also pretty ignorant about it all - don’t know if it was just due to “back in the day” or whether I didn’t pay attention). That isn’t to say I didn’t recruit for it (although too late) but I had less of an interest in it and saw what it did to my friends (brutal hours, hated summer internships). Like I said I was a bit lost on what it all meant, and I didn’t really enjoy the accounting technicals, etc. I was very interested in trading markets, math/science, and some tech. I went to a “top/target” school, so I recruited much more along the prop trading and tech side of things.

So I worked at a prop place for a bit, then actually worked in a more tech “research” type role, and then moved to HF. So I skipped the B-school stuff, and luckily the brutal hours (although I probably work 60-70 hrs and did for a long part of my career, but that is nowhere near what some IB analysts have to do). I was introduced to the fund through a friend, and started off mainly just learning about some different asset classes and how it all works (had some understanding but wasn’t a specialist in any way).

 

The $12mm is in equity or deferred (bucketing together, although to your second question they are different) - keep in mind I am combining with spouse (who has a high paying job and equity shares at her firm - so I am combining stuff a bit to anonymize, although maybe not that important).

As for taxed, most (60-70%) hasn’t been (as another poster called out) as that is the deferred portion, the equity portion is taxed/treated differently.

 

30 y/o couple combined net worth and I am not blowing smoke (like that HF guy probably is) - $100K cash, $600K investments, $2M trust, $350K 401k. This is combined which is how you should look at it as a couple.

combined earnings around $700K

I still stress amount money every single day and live very frugally.

 
Analyst 1 in IB-M&A:
30 y/o couple combined net worth and I am not blowing smoke (like that HF guy probably is) - $100K cash, $600K investments, $2M trust, $350K 401k. This is combined which is how you should look at it as a couple.

combined earnings around $700K

I still stress amount money every single day and live very frugally.

How do you stress about money with a combined household income of $700k.....

 
Leverage Hero:
Analyst 1 in IB-M&A:
30 y/o couple combined net worth and I am not blowing smoke (like that HF guy probably is) - $100K cash, $600K investments, $2M trust, $350K 401k. This is combined which is how you should look at it as a couple.

combined earnings around $700K

I still stress amount money every single day and live very frugally.

How do you stress about money with a combined household income of $700k.....

You don't know how long it'll last. That's how you stress out about it. Lots of high-earning couples can make that sort of money for a minute. Very few can feel confident they'll make that much for 15-20 years. If you get used to living on most of your $400-$450k after tax income, and you have $2M saved, you'll burn through those savings real quick if your income falls.

 

26 yo, not NY, but just got a job in a t2. 3 years corp dev/strat in midwest F500, bought a house in cash, then sold it, paid for MBA at EU T10 with it. Worked a year in REPE as an MBA intern to maintain some cash during my MBA.

No debt coming out with ~$25K in savings. We’ll see how it progresses, but shooting for $500k NW by 30yo combined with my wife.

 

I'll chime in. Early 30 y/o here, married and one kid. Have always tried to live frugally and continue to do so to this day. Wasn't huge on "models and bottles" but pretty big on having nice meals, drinks and traveling. FWIW, when I say nice meals, I've been to many of the nice Michelin NYC restaurants, but also did a bunch of $1 slices, Halal Guys, etc. (good meals don't need to cost a fortune, but to each their own). For drinks, I didn't mind paying $18-20 for nice cocktails, but also enjoy going to happy hours to get $5 beers.

Started in IB (came from complete non-target) and still working in professional services. Still living in NYC, but not Manhattan (though not sure the virgins and kiddies of WSO know the difference but oh well).

Me and wife's savings/net worth below, just providing some rough figures: -Cash: ~$250k -Investments: ~$130k -Property (apartment): ~$1.2m (with ~80% of it financed by a mortgage) -Debt: $0

 
Investment Manager in HF - Other:
It’s going to depend on what your career path has been so far, what your lifestyle has been, and how much you want/need in retirement (including at what age you want to retire). What you’ll need to retire will depend on what type of lifestyle you’ll want and how much debt (home) you have. I think returning with a steady income of $70-100k is probably enough, so need a few million saved.

This won’t be all that helpful, but I’m in early/mid 30’s, have been living in nyc, and have ~$6mm although mostly in deferred compensation and equity that isn’t immediately accessible. Outside of firm equity (which isn’t always straightforward to value), breakdown is $150k checking, $1mm home equity, $500k investments, $500k in retirement.

Although early on in my career it was very hard to save in nyc, most I was able to do was 401k stuff (tried maxing it out) and maybe $10k a year or so, it wasn’t until I got a few breaks and moved up in my firm that the income made it much easier to save a bunch.

Investment Manager in HF - Other:
Numbers are individual (well really just divided accounts by 2 for simplicity as accounts are held jointly).

No kids, that would make saving in nyc much harder (depending on private school, etc), definitely affordable now with where we are in our careers, but would have been very tough 5-7 years ago (larger apt, daycare, etc adds up).

So "Investment Manager - HF - Other" has $12 million between spouse and himself? Does wife contribute to annual earnings and how much over past few years was investment growth vs wages as contributing factor to net worth growth? Regardless, that’s the kind of story that makes you want to stay in this field, but we all worry about longevity in this industry unfortunately.

It’ll be a few years before I hit 30 but 950k across cash and equities.

 

He also is not counting tax hit that he will take cashing out all his assets (deferred comp / equity). So he has like half that.

But cool flex man. There is always someone richer and more successful than you. I was making more than that every year of my early 30s, and you readjust your scale pretty quickly without enjoying it.

To make this more productive, my biggest regret is saving in my early 20s. Saving is for people with no future.

 

rumplestiltskin

To make this more productive, my biggest regret is saving in my early 20s. Saving is for people with no future.

This is some of the worst advice I’ve heard. Not trying to pick a fight. But I’m young (as far as life goes, but “old” relative to this board) and because I saved and invested, my future is now in my own hands. 
 

Having control of my own destiny and not being stressed daily is entirely a function of finding plenty of ways to have fun and still spending but skipping the $1500/night hotels in Greece or the $100k car.  
 

Anyone can some simple math on compounding and then decide whether spending 10k here on this or 20k on that is worth it today versus investing it and having 100k in 10 years. 
 

 

So you respond to his flex by flexing yourself? This is perhaps my biggest gripe with this industry, the people in it are insufferable, self-absorbed tools whose entire sense of self-worth is oriented around money and their career.

And then they wonder why they can't find a girlfriend who wants them for anything except their wallet or why they are divorced twice by 40.

 

He's also not counting whatever valuation hit he should take on the partnership stake he has - between this and the taxes I'd cut his estimate to 25% of notional on this part. So this cuts his total estimate to about 4-5 mill including both his partner and himself. That's pretty good if you want to retire early to some low COL state, but NYC is so ridiculous that in order to maintain his lifestyle he'll still have to work until he's 55 or 60 (assuming he wants kids).

Investment Manager in HF - Other:


It's going to depend on what your career path has been so far, what your lifestyle has been, and how much you want/need in retirement (including at what age you want to retire). What you'll need to retire will depend on what type of lifestyle you'll want and how much debt (home) you have. I think returning with a steady income of $70-100k is probably enough, so need a few million saved.

This won't be all that helpful, but I'm in early/mid 30's, have been living in nyc, and have ~$6mm although mostly in deferred compensation and equity that isn't immediately accessible. Outside of firm equity (which isn't always straightforward to value), breakdown is $150k checking, $1mm home equity, $500k investments, $500k in retirement.

Although early on in my career it was very hard to save in nyc, most I was able to do was 401k stuff (tried maxing it out) and maybe $10k a year or so, it wasn't until I got a few breaks and moved up in my firm that the income made it much easier to save a bunch.

- expand -

Investment Manager in HF - Other:


Numbers are individual (well really just divided accounts by 2 for simplicity as accounts are held jointly).

No kids, that would make saving in nyc much harder (depending on private school, etc), definitely affordable now with where we are in our careers, but would have been very tough 5-7 years ago (larger apt, daycare, etc adds up).

- expand -

So "Investment Manager - HF - Other" has $12 million between spouse and himself? Does wife contribute to annual earnings and how much over past few years was investment growth vs wages as contributing factor to net worth growth? Regardless, that's the kind of story that makes you want to stay in this field, but we all worry about longevity in this industry unfortunately.

It'll be a few years before I hit 30 but 950k across cash and equities.

 

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