“I recently had a LinkedIn audit call with Arnau as part of my WSO Academy program, and it was one of the most practical and useful sessions I've had so far. I came in thinking my profile was in decent shape. I left with a clear picture of how recruiters and bankers actually see it, and a concrete list of changes that will make it work much harder for me.
Some background: I'm moving from corporate finance into investment banking, corporate banking, and private equity. I have an MBA in Corporate Finance, a PMP, and several years of finance and project management experience. Making that kind of move depends heavily on how you present your story, and LinkedIn is often the first place a recruiter or analyst sees it. That's why this session mattered so much to me.
From the first few minutes, Arnau was well prepared, direct, and focused on what actually moves the needle. He didn't just give generic tips like "add a professional photo." He went through my profile section by section and explained why each piece matters to someone in finance who's quickly scanning candidates. His feedback was honest without being discouraging, which I really appreciated. He pointed out where my profile was underselling my experience and where it wasn't clearly showing that I'm aiming for banking and PE.
What stood out most was how he helped me think about positioning. My background covers corporate finance, project management, hospitality, and real estate, and it can be hard to make that read as one clear story. Arnau helped me connect those experiences to the skills banks look for: financial analysis, modeling, managing budgets and capital, and working with senior stakeholders. He showed me how small changes to my headline, About section, and experience bullets can make that story obvious within seconds.
The session was also very actionable. I didn't leave with vague ideas. I left with a short list of specific edits I can make right away. That matters a lot when you're job hunting and every week counts. He also shared advice on using LinkedIn more actively, such as engaging with the right people and content, so the profile supports my networking instead of just sitting there.
I also want to recognize the overall WSO Academy experience. Between the modeling bootcamp, the company research work, the mentorship, and sessions like this one, the program has given me structure and support during a career transition that can otherwise feel isolating. This call was a good example of what makes WSO different: the people coaching you understand the industry you're trying to break into and give feedback that reflects how hiring really works.
If you're a WSO member and haven't booked a LinkedIn audit yet, I'd strongly recommend it. It's a short time commitment, and the return is significant. Your LinkedIn profile is often your first impression, and having an experienced set of eyes on it is worth it.
Thank you, Arnau, for your time, honesty, and practical guidance. I'm excited to put the changes in place and keep building toward my goal of breaking into investment banking.”
Blew my internship money on luxury hotels
save most of it tbh, not really anything
I know the motto used to be spend the base of save the bonus but I do not think that is a smart idea. Base Salaries have gone up and bonuses have gone down for most places. For this reason, I would first save up an emergency fund that is equivalent to 3-6 months of your living expenses and then invest the rest. It also might be a good idea to start tracking your expenses so you do not spend too much on things that do not bring you utillity.
Buy the dip, short the vix, and fuck bitcoin.
Drugs
Actually a question i started asking myself more and more the closer i get to my first big salarys. Like nice clothes? Already got some but theres a limit of much you can spend and how much your closet fits. Not paying for stupid brand names. Like 400$ per cashmere sweater is fine but 4000$ loro piana is stupid. A nice Car? Well depends on where you live a car can be unusable, and is an ongoing liability. I can see myself with luxury rental cars and hotels. Nice restaurants. Nice vacations. But always rewatch american psycho if you think next designer furniture or designer suit will finish your inner cravings.
Lose it on sports betting
Same, probably falling on deaf ears but pull out now with whatever losses you have. I’m down $20k and had to close all my accounts to prevent myself from betting when I get hammered. I joke about it but it’s a really dark hole you can go down.
glad im not the only one.... wish that shit wasn't legal.
Just YOLO’d a few thousand into $33 XLF calls expiring next week
Clothes, nicotine, food, rent, gym & cumcoin
They should have a zyn machine by the coffee machine in all offices. You make a nice coffee and grab a fresh 6 mg of your choosing - can probably increase worker productivity by atleast 25%
For real, not huge on Zyn so I usually sneak to the bathroom 1x a hour to hit my elf bar
I’ve been asking myself this shit the past year - what am I doing with my money? Went single halfway through which I realized has helped a lot.
Honestly. Not fucking bad as much as I hate this job.
Reason for maxing 401k and not just contribute the matching? Genuinely don’t know which is the right move here
For me, it's the easiest way to save a ton of money without ever seeing it in the first place. Out of sight, out of mind. Also, it lowers your taxable income now which is great.
It is the most tax-efficient way to invest your money for retirement given you don't have to pay capital gains tax. I prefer the Roth option to pay income taxes now and then never pay additional tax no matter how much the account grows.
If you invest current max of $22,500 at age 25 with 7% annual return, it will grow to $240,223 by age 60 when you're able to withdraw. That's a gain of $217,723 for which if not in a tax-advantaged account you'd pay $32,658 in capital gains tax (assuming 15% rate). Magnify this by 20+ years of 401k contributions and the cumulative tax burden grows dramatically.
From my standpoint, in this career you're making enough money to start maxing after having built up some savings buffer within the first 1-2 years and will typically have excess cash well above expenses so might as well invest in the most efficient instrument for you're retirement and reach retirement financial independence on paper as soon as possible giving you more flexibility to take risks during your career and complete comfort after 60. If you stay in banking, you'll also continue to earn well in excess of the 401k max that if you still want to build investments outside of retirement assets, you can do that too.
how much is your rent? are you in NY?
..
Early retirement fund
tell me you lost your common sense/soul pursuing IB without telling me you lost your common sense/soul pursuing IB
Pay taxes so some smiling suit in DC can blow it on bs programs
Start building good money habits because it only becomes easier to spend it. Every extra dollar you earn will be fully discretionary. I saved/invested $180k last year out of $330k earned pre tax
Lol what in the world, what’s your tax rate??
Sorry what? 330k after taxes in NY is like 205k, how did you survive off of 25k?
Who says I’m in NYC? And part of it is untaxed as straight into pension so that helps
How do people get this far and not have any clue what money is for?
you should spend as little as possible and save as much as you can into index funds and maybe a HYSA for a real estate down payment
target a 60% savings rate
to start with, you should absolutely be contributing the max $22.5k to 401k (this will only cost you like 12k after tax at NYC rates)
You can’t afford luxury crap until you have 25x your annual spending in liquid assets
This is fine advice for people who don’t work in careers where your comp doubles every 2-3 years for the first 10-15 years.
Yes, if that reliably happens, this will be massive overkill.
will buy optionality for potential hiccups or values changes tho. Whoops! You got your analyst spot at CS! Oh, you’re 26 and now you’d rather focus on fitness than working 100 hours a week for 10 more years?
no problem, you’ve already got a few 100k in the bank and you’re not dependent on a high income to maintain your lifestyle
That’s a bit like saying cost control doesn’t matter for growth companies and we all saw how that ended
ya'll these comments are gold. sounds like the life
put my money in tech stocks in 2020 and 2021. now broke.
give it to Uncle Sam, landlord, student debt servicer, Amazon (Whole Foods for groceries and various other purchases), Uber (including UberEats), and restaurants. the remainder goes into SPY.
.
Rent, credit card and the rest goes to building up the emergency fund. Getting laid off set me back to stage 1 entirely
80% goes to VOO and QQQ and surviving with the rest.
Buy section 8 housing, actually can be a good investment
Boats & Hoes
hustler university courses
Models and bottles. Gotta remember the original promise
Don't work at a bank anymore, but make a similar base now in new role. My advice to an analyst would be to save an emergency fund first, and then fund stuff like HSA/IRA/401k as much as possible with your base, but not so much that you feel constrained at all. And then bonus can go towards discretionary savings. Yeah having a fat brokerage account is nice, but once your emergency fund / HSA / Retirement accounts are well funded, that's a huge safety net to have if your career gets disrupted. I max my 401k / HSA / IRA (ifmy AGI can be pulled down low enough, backdoor if not) with my salary, and then that leaves plenty of money for enjoyment while knowing I am being smart with my money. My bonus is what gets plowed into the markets.
Xxx
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