3.5 years on the job (IB), first year associate. What is a good goal for savings? I’m at ~$200k including 401k and accessories (watches, etc). Wondering where other folks stand and any tips on how to save more. Thanks!
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These threads are always pointless because it depends on too many variables (COL, parental help, equity market environment luck most importantly). I was in the exact same ASO position as you at 26 about a bit over a year ago but had about 400K all-in (extremely low COL, good investments) but then got hit by some rough investments in the market and took a major 75% haircut to that and became quite depressed at the time. Was able to quickly work my way back to about $200k so far but still a far cry .
People are probably way ahead of me now despite what may have seemed like a great start for me and I probably would have been better off just investing like normal in VOO or whatever, but I can't bring myself to do so. Addicted to the the chance of actually making it and escaping banking/PE/high finance that has made me miserable frankly. Feel pretty behind where I need to be and it's more depressing losing what you had.
Anyway all that to just say pretty much it can be so volatile and life in one year can look so dramatically different from the next and it's not always in a good way. Hope things can change God willing.
Identical story to you brother. Keep plugging along. Use those mistakes as motivations and lessons, dont let it drag you down. It dragged me down and led me to deep depression. Sounds like you are doing good tho.
Turning 27 in two months. I started in retail mortgage sales and was over $200k before age 24. This work was mind numbing and horrific and most of my stocks got clobbered (fintech and tech and bitcoin mainly). My income also decreased 90% as I was a refinance banker. I then had to sell every month to pay my rent which wiped me out as I was liquidating stocks that were down so much. I went from being very ahead for my age to essentially broke. Working my way back up.
I think going through events like this makes you appreciate money and will help in the long run, and in ten years you wont even think about it. Was a very humbling experience and would do it again in a heartbeat. I will stay risk on until im like 32. We will make it.
Keep your head up. I can sort of relate - big bet I made kept sliding downwards so my net worth didn't go up at all for a long period.
What I will say is - you're setting yourself up in a way where you can potentially get exponential increases in net worth...not linear...I think you can only have one or the other. No need to compare yourself with people going for the linear growth when it's quite clear you aren't.
Vanguard total market index. Just plow your money into that, and you’ll never have to worry about your retirement.
But yes, I agree, my strategy won’t make you rich fast enough to quit finance early.
That’s why you gotta have rich parents and marry rich! Duh!
minus $200, literally my go to hooker opened up a tab for me and put my name and phone number in her diary
Really doesn’t matter, the tail end of your career will massively eclipse the first 10 years.
Game is not to need to be here at the tail, because the only people being happy you come into yacht money in your 50s are your unborn grandchildren. That is why IB & PE are completely retarded career paths.
If it makes you feel better at 26 I had about $40k to my name
Bump
Negative with student loans, CC, and car finance
You’re in fine spot. I had 150k at 26. Was A2A too. Now have prob $1.1mm at 31. Still in banking. Just keep living below your means and putting money in S&P and other diversified indexes.
What about for those of us no longer in banking on the corporate path are we just fucked? I agree with your math otherwise in banking, but the pay cut to corporate is brutal thus far. I get that you can’t have your cake and eat it too but seems unless you are in a very high powered career path in IB/PE/HF you’re fucked these days with the way things are going. Am just depressed to continue living at this point.
Very true. Torn between enjoying my life or getting back on the train
It’s just back weighted in corporate, but you have to be really successful in corporate. Either make it to the c-suite or have equity in something that does well. Unfortunately just the way it is if at certain corporates. You may have to take more risk if you want higher outcomes at shorter periods. Enjoy the free time you have, it’s definitely a perk. Lord knows I don’t get it in banking…
I think net worth is a dumb metric to look at pre-40, any even then external factors exacerbate numbers.
When you’re young and have nothing, you need to focus on getting your income as high as possible, as that’s how you build your net worth.
I’m more impressed by someone with a $600K a year job at 26 with $200K saved than I am someone who has $1mm in the bank at 26 (leaving information on job vague on purpose).
The former will catch the latter and is clearly well positioned to make great money for the rest of their life.
26yo, married, $270k assets/equity, $480k mortgage. Happy with how things are going.
Lol’d at this getting MS. Tf did bro say wrong
they didn't divide it in half like the judge will
My very simple non-scientific rule when I was an ANL/ASO/VP was to live off my base salary and save my bonus, with few exceptions. I was able to afford a great life in NYC and had about $1m saved when I turned 30. If I knew I was going to stay in finance long term, I probably would have spent more and saved less when I was younger.
Similar position A2A, at ~$400k after 3 bonus cycles. But had a scholarship so didn’t have any student loans, and paid under $2k in rent through my analyst years.
26: $440k
27 (post-divorce, getting extremely sick and not working for about a year as a result): -$120k
30: $200k
31: $450k
Life happens, don't compare yourself to others on this metric that is so volatile in your 20's that it is like predicting your career in 5th grade.
About 1 year ahead experience-wise, turning 27 this year. Sitting at $715k NW after 4 full bonus cycles. MM IB to MM PE. Graduated from state school with no loans, then have worked in the south entire career and lived with roommates. can attribute a lot of this to keeping expenses down in a very LCOL state relative to NYC so was able to put away decent amount of regular paychecks outside of the YE bonuses, no good stock picks, just aggressively DCA into vanilla market indexes. I will echo what most above are saying that things really begin to grow later on and your first few years are largely irrelevant when looking at things in a 10-15 year scope. Things look good for me right now but I doubt I have a long-term career in PE, so those who grind it out through early 30's will easily surpass me if/when I burnout in a year or two.
$170k at 26. Also paid off $25k of student loans.
Ignore title, work in valuations. I'm sitting at $60-75k gross with $30k student loans at 26. Grew up in HCOL city now working in another HCOL city. I've enjoyed my 20's without going overboard (eqx, the occasional music fest, running as a hobby, etc.). Getting way more into financial planning and budgeting now that I'm in a serious relationship. In the spirit of this thread, you all sound very accomplished in your own ways. Grass will always be greener on the other side, so don't let somebody else's situation or $$$ distract you from your own goals. Best of luck to all.
Bro can you pm me, going into valuations would love your perspective
IDK where some people get the $600k+ in some threads that I've seen. I'm A2A and certainly made some stupid purchases and am at just over $300k at 26. To add more context, had to pay for school myself ($30k in loans after working through / scholarships), in a somewhat expensive city (not NYC) at a reputable MM. I'm decently frugal and prioritize paying myself first but know (at least today) I want to stay in finance long term, so not overly concerned about having the most saved right now. Hopefully will makee VP and get a VP bonus under the belt with a goal of ~$1M by the time I'm 30
As others mentioned, can be highly variable. Generally had things go well, was an A2A and at 32 (about to turn 33), married NW is $2.8mm including retirement funds (401k+HSA) and $2.1mm excluding. Wife makes low 6 figures but had no real debt when married. A few things was fortunate / partially lucky to have taken advantage of
IIRC as an A2A at 26 I was probably at ~$300-350k in NW (of which $120k was a car)
im curious about your car collection
me too
Sure it’s a 2010 Ferrari 458, 2023 Audi RS6, and my wife has a 2022 Lexus GX460
Have in past owned
Obviously don’t work in NYC, one of the other major regional offices with a large presence for my vertical
That’s a high NW even for staying in banking? Any family help / what was your wife’s contribution? Not questioning ya just curious about situation. I am 31 and an A2A and probably $1.4mm with my wife and I combined. So a bonus behind you but you’re still crushing it :)
Of course the biggest family help was parents covering college and all expenses. I also probably started work with about $60k saved up (signing bonus + my parents putting a money aside through middle school/high school for me). When we met 8 years ago my wife had probably $60k net worth - her parents covered most of her college, she had a small student loan and a car payment left ($15k combined).
Otherwise we tend to be on the more conservative side in terms of spending overall (rarely do fine dining, more house parties vs. bars when we were younger, only 1 vacation a year). Throughout my career have probably on average saved $1-2k per month from monthly salary (net of 401k /HSA which about 6 year ago we had begun maxing). Bonus (was mid-upper bucket every year on average) have saved ~80% typically, with the exception of the years I bought a car.
But as mentioned I was fortunate that overall throughout my time I lost very little to depreciation (the 458 actually appreciated which offset most of the depreciation on the R8 (bought used), Camaro, and the Raptor (sold during covid high prices for the same price I bought it). So essentially it netted out to about 75% of bonus saved on average since the only other big chunks were on cars (which was close to breakeven), watches (also generally broke even over time - bought some pieces including a Rolex Batman and AP RO 15450 used pre-hype and below MSRP) and a downpayment for house (which has appreciated). House has gone from $1.62-$1.8mm (so gained $180k), mortgage at 2.75% interest rate.
But most importantly, since 2014 when I started in banking, the SP500 has essentially tripled. Heck, since 2019 when I was 5 years into my career, it’s doubled. Have always had a habit of putting most of my savings into fairly standard equity ETFs, and have gotten lucky with one of the biggest (stimulus fueled) bull runs.
~350K at 26. A2A, fortunate enough to not have any student loans. Live in T2 city. I'd say my spending habit is doing what I can to feel finance freedom, within reason. What I mean by that is I never second guess buying that daily coffee people debate, buying the pair of shoes of you want, going to that concert, doing weekly/biweekly dinners out, etc. and not giving it much of a second thought. To me, being fortunate enough to mentally have that freedom is something I really value and strive for.
What that comes out to is spending a decent amount of my base. at $175K I was saving ~2K a month. Then pretty much bank the whole bonus. Usually earmark a new piece of furniture and then a vacation. Not a huge watch guy so haven't ever had a purchase exceed $4k.
Another thing I'd add is everything I save goes right to my financial advisor and have done fairly well the past couple years. Could I get similar returns myself? Maybe. But I like the peace of mind that it's being handled by someone else and I don't have to worry about it. Also nice to have someone to bounce questions off and helps with future planning. I have him take out $2K from my bank every month (probably moving to $3K once my 200K salary kicks in) and then give him 95% of my bonus.
I’m in a similar place ($450k) with a similar mentality. The point about never second guessing a purchase is spot on.
The other nice thing is it provides you a lot more control. It’s a lot easier to tell people no. Someone trying to blow up my weekend on something non-urgent, no thanks, I flagged I had dinner planned at 7 with my mom and I don’t for a second consider cancelling or being late. I go on vacation, attend most happy hours, probably arrive too late and leave too early. Maybe my bonus gets dinged $20k - or $14k post tax - doesn’t matter, made that in capital gains / dividend and I’m still upper mid or top bucket and good enough not to get fired
I’m 28 with around $670k net worth. Around $750k in liquid investments with about $80k left in student loans from MBA (already paid off some undergrad loans but scholarship covered most). My best comp year was around $230k TC. I’ve typically saved between $2-5k per month and then all of the bonus. Should be able to hit $1mm (in assets) by 30 pending no major market downturn.
I’m not a big spending and have always lived conservative. I understand the live on base and bank the bonus mentality. This resonates more with me now than when I was fresh out of undergrad as I now put a lot more value into having a nice apartment, food, etc. But I would think hard about finding a way to save a fair amount of base pay. Especially considering that if you build up a decent nest egg early on, you could walk away from finance anytime and never have to worry. For example, the FV of what I have saved, regardless of what assumptions you make, will be tens of millions—even if I never save another dollar
25 y/o. $800k. I work in tech as a SWE. Didn’t realize y’all were payed 🥜. 😴
Here in Germany you start working at 26... Cheers.
29 and 3rd yr IB associate, ~$1.05MM
Asso 3, London, £440k (includes pension pot and unrealized capital gains)
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