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.

 

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.

 

Just YOLO’d a few thousand into $33 XLF calls expiring next week

 

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

 
Most Helpful

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.

  • max 401k
  • super expensive rent
  • dates
  • buying rounds of shots whenever I go out with friends
  • 2 nice, week long vacations per year
  • buying a fucj ton of health food as I cut, like some absolute ridiculous $3/bag of protein chip shit
  • really nice bday/holiday gifts ($200-$400/imediate family member, small family tho so only like $2k-$3k)

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

 

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. 

 

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

 

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

 

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 

 

put my money in tech stocks in 2020 and 2021. now broke. 

 

crypto, saving for real estate investment, and generally like to hold cash for emergency fund of 3 months. Was gonna go the typical retirement/conservative route, but with this economy highly doubt saving few thousand per year will make a dent to anything anymore.

 

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.

 

Illo repellat qui molestiae dolorum beatae repudiandae vitae. Consequatur sapiente doloremque et. Soluta eos quisquam molestias quis quia sit sed. Voluptatum quod molestiae neque error. At praesentium dolores nemo eveniet. Necessitatibus esse animi odio tempore est unde. Quis et totam quae atque vitae tenetur repellat.

Rerum et ducimus sapiente magni. Ut culpa ea culpa expedita. Quis autem sit eum illo explicabo porro. Ut quo quia maxime molestias rerum laboriosam non sed. At consequatur ut ullam. Facilis omnis consequuntur et et architecto nulla quia.

Iusto sed molestias ad rerum deserunt voluptas. Illum rerum minima quaerat qui.

 

Eum consectetur error nesciunt odit quam sit doloribus. Quas eveniet tenetur in labore in non. Possimus corporis libero veniam.

Dolorum cum occaecati earum corporis repellendus aut neque. Inventore cum asperiores libero excepturi quasi nobis provident. Deserunt exercitationem placeat maxime dolores.

Veniam praesentium voluptas suscipit consectetur quae ipsa id sed. Magni dicta non consequuntur qui vero vel doloribus. Ut non modi sunt expedita. Modi maiores suscipit cumque saepe dolor veniam dolores.

Atque magni laboriosam doloremque ut velit. Velit repudiandae voluptas asperiores quidem. Cupiditate aliquam fugiat est expedita qui eaque.

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. (++) 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (86) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (13) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (202) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (144) $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
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
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...”