What Car Should You Buy With Your First Big Bonus?

NONE...you should pay off your student loans like my wife and I did rather than buying a flashy car or putting a down payment on a house.

Oh wait, what am I talking about? Just spend the money. Hopefully, someone else in society will take care of the loan for you. Remember even as an IB analyst earning $150K per year, you're still entitled to that $10K!!!

26 Comments
 

Wait how does IB analyst making 150K qualify for loan forgiveness? I haven’t really read into it but I thought it was ppl making less than 125K?

 
aiai415

Wait how does IB analyst making 150K qualify for loan forgiveness? I haven't really read into it but I thought it was ppl making less than 125K?

$125K if single, under $250K if married.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Isaiah_53_5 💎🙌💎🙌💎

aiai415

Wait how does IB analyst making 150K qualify for loan forgiveness? I haven't really read into it but I thought it was ppl making less than 125K?

$125K if single, under $250K if married.

Which means not everyone gets this free pay off.

SafariJoe, wins again!
 
Funniest
WolfofWSO

Adjusted gross income. Just dump a bunch in a 401k to get there.

Isn't the deductible limit still $18k?  Even with that and a HSA max are you getting under the limit?  God knows he doesn't have a girlfriend much less a wife with that post.

The only difference between Asset Management and Investment Research is assets. I generally see somebody I know on TV on Bloomberg/CNBC etc. once or twice a week. This sounds cool, until I remind myself that I see somebody I know on ESPN five days a week.
 

Get a Nissan Versa. When people ask why you got a Versa make up a lie about not wanting to use some nice sport car you already own as a daily driver.

 

M2 / M3 / M4

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 
Gordon.Ghetto

M3 will be the move, once I'm out the city

Sweet!

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

That's a good thing.  More money in the hands of the middle class will mean more people buying houses, cars, etc. and growing the economy instead of paying off debt.  The right wing tries to do this every time they get in power except they give all that money to corporations and expect it to "trickle down" to the middle class.  But those companies can also build factories in China or buy back their own stock....

 

Assuming I were an IB Analyst already and lived in a city other than NYC, I'd get a clean 64 mustang convertible or 67/68 fastback. Or a E24 BMW CSi 

 
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You're right in that your analyst bonus (assuming you're not in NYC where having a car makes no sense) shouldn't be a segue into buying a sick car as you'll have living expenses / savings / investments (whether this is stocks / RE / private stuff) you should make sure you have a good handle on first. But your question was what should you get as your first big bonus, so to that point, if you earn a bonus of 200K+ for the first time as an associate I think it's fair to consider buying a car you actually like and not just a strictly utilitarian ppl transporter. But I'm saying this as a car guy and an optimist for your future earnings so take it with a massive grain of salt lol. Life is too short to not drive the car you want if you can realistically afford it and you can wait as long as you want as a salaried employee to wait for the "right" time but you have to prioritize what's important to you. Can go either way re getting the car or saving etc but it's up to your interests. And if you're not a car guy, don't buy an expensive car for the wrong reasons such as having it for flexing purposes and allocate your money elsewhere.

Also in this environment consider such purchases twice given bonuses will likely be weaker than what you've seen in recent years until firm revenues start to go back up at a macro level.

 

Correct, you can do whatever you like with your own money.

My point is that when someone else is paying the student loan that you didn't pay off while you drive a fancy new car, that's kind of bullshit.

Also, sure.  Enjoy your fancy car that you bought ahead of time and enjoy buying a house that's perhaps a little out of your reach and do it all before tackling your debts but DON'T come whining to the rest of society when you can't make your mortgage payments.

 

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