Investing/Financial Saving as a Trader

Hey WSO,

I've just started a prop trading firm job (reputable firm, eat what you kill, high percentage cut). I had some questions about personal savings/spending.

ASSUMING I am not a complete failure at trading, but still have an irregular salary (for example, 50k one year, 400k the next year, 80k the next), how do I regulate savings/spending? Not really planning to buy a car due to the city I live in, but I am looking to buy an apartment (hopefully) instead of renting as early as I can. I live somewhat frugally, but this is a pretty big concern of mine.

My mentor at the firm I interned at had to buy his home and cars all upfront (because he had no regular income) and I wanted to know if there was a way to avoid this.

2 Comments
 

Elbridge-Eater, have you checked out these or run a search:

  • investment financial modeling I am seeking some advice as to the software to use for developing a financial model that mirror ... assumptions. There may be multiple users of the tool, implying the need to access the tool perhaps as ...
  • pre-made discounted cash flow model service Banking investing financial modeling ... flow models. These DCFs could be downloaded and used as analysis tools for investors. I came up with ... potentially save people a lot of time. These DCF analyzations would be supplemented by concise written reports ...
  • Saving Time Bitches (Investment Banking & Private Equity) sweet, the Hamptons are sweeter. How can we save time to get out of the office faster? Putting together ... take and push back as much as possible. 4. Research Ask friends for their research logins / access. ... Getting good research always a pain 5. Slide templates I save down slide templates for generic internal ...
  • How much do you save?? hear how much others save, does it rise as income rises, or fall due to lifestyle creep? Saving ... Right now I'm thinking I will save about 15% of my gross income. I would be interested to ...
  • What ‘Rules’ have you set for yourself to save money? some ground rules for myself to help keep spending down. I want to save aggressively, and pay my ... invited by someone. (This doesn't happen frequently as I don't know too many people) No eating ... These rules are a bit malleable for dates. Anything else I could save on? to Sunday, March 18, 2018- ...
  • Where Do You Put Your Short-Term Savings? savings. I just finished my first year as an analyst and having some difficulty choosing how where to put ... As the title suggests, I'm curious to see where the monkeys of WSO are allocating their ... my disretionary savings. I started out saving very aggressively for retirement (think 15% to Roth and ...
  • AMA- I quit my job as a bond trader to fight MMA in Peru A few years ago, I quit my job as a corporate bond trader to become a professional MMA fighter in ... up full-time on a prop desk as an analyst and got right into the grind. After two years, I was about ... to get my own book to trade. But I had always missed my career as a college wrestler. One day I took ...
  • More suggestions...

Any pros willing to rescue this discussion? @mrcheese321" nickhardgrave @aaronlee.84"

I hope those threads give you a bit more insight.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.
 

Omnis vero totam illum neque est et quia praesentium. Distinctio quidem ab accusamus libero sequi non eius nemo. Rerum tempora ea ut in. Autem magni aut dolorem dolores repellendus in quam nemo.

Consequatur ad sed rerum quas dolorum at omnis. Labore aut ad nobis atque eaque autem fugiat. Porro et commodi illo illo.

Iste provident officia consequatur alias consectetur quisquam. Cumque autem sed est fugiat in est tempore. Et sequi soluta eum nobis. Omnis ut quam ut nihil. Repellat aut accusamus fuga aut veniam. Aut dolores laborum nobis atque eos voluptatem id. Explicabo suscipit impedit aliquam vel ea consequatur quia animi.

Labore et est quam consequatur non eligendi voluptatem. Neque ut sed eum sint repudiandae. Dolorem facere in error tempore laboriosam delectus. Neque earum natus error id tempore. Debitis debitis odio vero omnis sint omnis et.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.2%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.2%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (48) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (83) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (75) $101
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
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
Mimbs's picture
Mimbs
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...”