An1 Savings Pre-Bonus?
Wondering how much An1's have saved pre-bonus? Savings as in all types, so including brokerage, investments, 401k, etc.
I am interested in pre-bonus numbers since I understand that they can be quite varied and hard to estimate. Am on a 110k base and paying ~2200 in rent, trying to budget and get a sense of savings. Will note also plan to send parents a few hundred a month, but unsure how to budget the rest out, given I have never actually worked as an FT adult before this.
I know there are threads in previous years, but I am curious about updated data given the 5-10% rent increase from 2024, even pre-FARE act, and the subsequent increase in rent from there.
Based on the most helpful WSO content, here's a breakdown of what you can expect as an Analyst 1 (An1) saving pre-bonus:
Savings Potential:
Budget Breakdown (for a take-home of ~$4.5k/month on an $85k base):
After these expenses, you’re left with $800–$1,000/month for savings or investments.
Key Considerations:
Savings Goal:
By sticking to a disciplined budget and avoiding unnecessary expenses, you can comfortably save a significant portion of your income even with NYC’s high cost of living.
Sources: Can someone help me with budgeting? 170k as a 22 year old is absurd to me., I cant save money, Millionaire by 30, Millionaire by 30, Managing Your Money - Building a Personal Financial Model
I pay $2,400 a month in rent and max my 401k. After I pay for food, gym, utilities, ect, I’ll usually save $800-$1000 a month and then plan to invest my bonus.
If I can have $10k in savings off base plus saving my entire bonus, that feels like a good spot to be in for me.
Also respect to you for sending money back to the family.
Great, thanks for the datapoint. My parents are very poor, and I'll be making significantly more than they do, so I figured I should give back some money.
I was planning to give them 800-1000. My only real non-spend might be gym, as my I have a gym in-building. Wondering if you think that is too much and/or if there's anything I can cut back on? Also wondering if I should potentially cut back on 401k or if that's too much? Thanks!
Get a nice gym membership bro reward yourself with the healthiest way you can
I think you put as much into the 401k as you can while ensuring you have some accessible savings. It’s unlikely but layoffs can happen and you need to be able to cover rent and food for a few months if it does.
Once that’s covered I say load it up as much as you can.
That rent is pretty cheap do you have roommates?
I will have roommates. I don't think it's super cheap, most of the analysts I know are spending 2200-2700 or so on rent, with the cheap people spending 2,000 (typically pretty far out and/or living in a really small room). Just to note, this is all for NYC. I tried to stay on the lower range of that because am also planning to send money to my parents.
That's on the very low end for NYC. 2,000 is unheard of anywhere in Manhattan outside of 3+ roommates. A studio alone would at best be 2,800+
Most of the people I know are living with at least 1 roommate, everyone in a studio is paying well over 2800. It could just be a sample size issue where I know, on average, An1s who are cheaper relative to the broader An1 population. Either way, any budgeting or savings advice would be really appreciated! Trying to get some savings while also giving some parents to parents, just in case I burn out of this career path!
Listen here's my best advice as someone who has been through it all and what no one else on here is going to tell you.
First determine 100% if you want to be a career banker/PE/HF/Buyside track or not. I am NOT telling you which path to choose or that one is better than the other, but rather simply to DECIDE yes or no to that question it's that simple. This is of utmost importance.
If you are going to for certain be on the high finance path for life (this is not most people contrary to what WSO thinks) it literally doesn't matter what you spend or save or whatever. Like just go rent a 4k apartments and spend everything (serious) because that's the kind of earnings gap between IB or Buyside and everything else. If you're going to be like most people and go to something more chill you need to be very diligent with savings, and the BEST advice would be to move out of NYC to a MCOL city after the analyst stint. You are not going to get an earnings bump in corporate for just being in NYC I don't know why people perpetuate this lie. That's the real advice that will actually move the needle more than 1k less spend here and there.
I track net worth and savings monthly for peace of mind, but I'm not aggressively frugal. I go out every other weekend and spend ~$2,400 on rent (NYC rents are insane). This year has been good for the market, so the numbers might be slightly inflated.
Over the past 12 months on ~$120k TC pre-bonus, I saved ~$55k total (~45% of gross). That breaks down to ~$25k liquid (checking for emergency fund/brokerage/high-yield savings) and ~$30k illiquid (Roth for the first half-year/401k not counting the match; was fairly aggressive on 401k for the first half-year).
1st-year bonus is $75k (top bucket at a BB), making my total comp ~$195k, which would push my savings rate past 50% gross once that bonus cycles through as I am planning to save my full bonus.
which bb pays 120k base to an1?
probably includes 10k signing bonus, esp since he said TC and not base
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