Saving Money on NYC Housing
NYC is an absolutely amazing city (best city in the world imo but that's a separate discussion). I was lucky to be born and raised in NYC (Staten Island so not that lucky tbh). I'll be working FT at a firm in Midtown starting next summer and I'm wondering if it's worth it to live in Manhattan right off the bat. Rent is insane and saving an extra 25-30K by the time I'm 23 sounds like a good idea. Rather than getting an apartment in the city, I can live at home for my first 2 years. The downside is the 1-hour commute to work each morning and not getting the Manhattan nightlife experience straight out of college. What would you guys do? Is spending the extra 30K over my first 2 years worth it or should I pocket the money and get a head start on my savings? Context: I'll be working in S&T so my bonus won't be as nice as those who are in IB but my hours will be much better, which makes commuting easier.
Bump
Save it and live at home. You can always take an Uber or something. Listen to podcasts or music while the commute. Use that savings to invest.
I'll be living in a cardboard box out front of my firm
Like you said - if it's not IB, your bonus is less and your hours are less (and therefore more time for sleep/commute), so I would strongly recommend living a home. A place in Manhattan worth living is walkable to work (why would you pick a place that you would have to commute from when your alternative is living at home and still commuting but a little longe) which is probably going to gross 1500-2000 a month for a solid 2br/3br place so you're actually really looking at ~40k savings, not the 25-30k you talked about. I'm not sure what S&T bonuses are but I'm assuming it's around 1/2-2/3 base so assuming 85k base & gross 130k all-in that's like 85k take home? You pretty much get an extra 25% bump to take-home if you don't pay rent each year.
No brainer to live at home IMO. Only downside is less exposure to nightlife etc
Very well said. Tbh it's definitely the smart/adult thing to do so I'll most likely go with that unless I find an apartment that's a steal
I would consider it if you could find an apartment for 1200-!
Why can’t you get the nightlife experience? Isn’t the ferry 24 hours?
It is but the last thing you'd wanna do is have a 1-hour commute back home at 4am when you're trashed
That in addition to the social awkwardness of bringing a girl back to your place with presumably your parents sleeping / having to explain that you still live with your parents to the girl even though you ARE independent and COULD be living by yourself but instead is choosing to be a responsible adult saving 40k in real dollars that you're eventually going to blow on coke and st- ahem. Roth IRA
Long Islander here, NY, absolutely no way to go back home trashed on the ferry. I was absolutely privileged and I appreciate everything my parents done for me to live where I was or am. Long Island Railroad (LIRR) took 48 minutes without stops to get to Penn Station, then, waiting for the subway to get to where I needed to be. Can you not find an apartment with friends or do you prefer living alone. The nightlight is great but is really worth $20-30K when you can save and invest it? That is your personal decision.
P.S Also on the train-ride home, I can't even count even how many times home many drunk people are starting fights. Penn Station allows drinking publicly, NYPD don't care, you can bring beer on the train too. It get ridiculous. Believe me, you will do stupid dumb sh*t when you buzzed or drunk. Don't risk it for nothing, stay safe friend
I'm a pretty social guy so finding roommates isn't a problem but even then I would still be paying around 2K for rent whether it's a 2 or 3 bedroom apartment which is absurd tbh. I bet those drunk train rides made for some interesting stories lmao
"Save , Stack, Repeat " - Gandhi
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win "Mahatma Gandhi"
"Live, Love, Laugh" Patrick Curtis
NYC is most certainly not the best city in the world lol, not by a long shot
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