So was talking to a few ppl and some of them gave their first paychecks to their moms or parents. Kinda made me feel guilty as I kept it mostly to myself..
.Id already blown off a huge chunk of the signing bonus in spring break of senior year and the rest was wasted in broker fees, apartment, clothes and all other stuff. So by the time the first pay came along I was kind of in a crunch and had to spend it on imp stuff again.
though to be fair my parents are in another country and im yet to meet them since I started working. prolly will go this summer back home for a few weeks and give them some gifts
.
anyways what did you guys do with your first paychecks?
Assuming all obligations have been taken care of, I'd love to buy myself a nice watch. I've had Casios and Swatches on my wrist for years; it'd be nice to have something high-end for a change.
I will save it towards:
Deposited it into my savings account, which I will eventually use as a down payment on an investment property
First Paycheck! (Originally Posted: 02/04/2015)
Im currently chasing my dream finance job and being a broke college student I tend to think about that first big paycheck from time to time. It keeps me motivated in some regard. Im curious to see what you all did with that first paycheck. How did you celebrate finally getting that job you wanted after all that work? What toys did you buy?
Ive thought about reinvesting most of my money but the first thing I would get is a car and sport bike. For a car I'm stuck between a honda s2000 or mazda rz7
After tax, rent and other expenses, your first pay check will likely not go very far.
At grad/analyst level, your first bonus check likely won't do much for you either.
My base is like 75k. My first biweekly paycheck was around 2800. I think around 35% went to the government.... rest of it went to utility, alcohol, and buying furniture.
Hope you find your first job soon.
Good choice on the S2000, not so much on RX7. Highly affordable, a timeless design, and extremely fun to drive. Owned one for 7 years til I had to sell it for bigger car when I got married. I have every intention of owning another one down the road.
The body of the rx7 is incredible though! They just tend to have problems after awhile with the rotary engines. Did you own an ap 1 or ap 2 model? and from what I can see I like the pic!!
AP2 :)
Student loans. Just the accumulated interest too.
I reinvested a large portion of it in my firm's fund
blew it all and then some on stuff for my new apartment. it's not as glamorous as it sounds brah
I saved as much as I could. Didn't last long.
Saved as much as I could and reduced my student loans. Only 7k more =).
Bonuses is when you buy yourself something to temporarily numb the pain
Alternatively, it's when a materialistic girlfriend starts demanding you spend the bonus on her to compensate her for putting up with you working long hours.
When I got my first bonus, my then girlfriend had this view. I disagreed and had @adapt or die's view. Relationship ended shortly after.
I remember my 1st paycheck. $87.38 for a 100 hour week. Ah the memories.
Would it be better to pay off the interest for student loans and reinvest the money until I have enough to pay it off?
Lol rent and student loans. Although I bought a PS4 soon after. And beer.
Your first real paycheck, how did it feel? (Originally Posted: 01/14/2015)
Coming up on 8 years ago in June for me (started out in BB IB).
My first thoughts: Initial glee: "I'm getting blasted this weekend" After a second look: "Fck that's a lot of taxes!!!" Trying to be sensible: "Hell yeah these will start to take a good chunk off my student loans, soon" Fck it i just got paid: "Vegas weekend trip in July with friends...?" Reality hits: "Shit i think i owe my dad some $ for helping with first/last months rent"
You guys?
Right on for me, but my decision hierachy ending at your "sensible" stage. Then follows a period of depression when I realize I put 90% of my after-tax bonus towards student debt and still will need at least one more year of bonuses ...
First real check? Came right on time.
like this
all of the above, except replace vegas with beach/golf, and remove rent, thankfully I didn't have that problem (but we also don't have to pay 1st & last month's rent like NYC)
"Everyone's a liberal until they get their first paycheck" - Guy who sat next to me once
my first semi real job, out of college at least, paid 100% in cash.... this is kinda how it went down:
@"AndyLouis" confirmed popping molly
"shit, I need a better paying job"
First real bonus ... T levels through the roof
"Can't believe that analyst got a little more than me...WTF is this shit"
Still cry every time I see taxes.
It's worse when they basically force you to join a union, because then you get another slice of your cheque cut.
pretty much dead on here... except I was lucky and didn't have any student loans. Thanks mom & dad.
I'm still waiting for that day...
what is the tax rate? Serious?
Depends on what you meant by "first real paycheck". The paycheck for $400 that I got my first pay period working retail as a 16-year-old still felt pretty damn good!
But if you mean by first full-time paycheck.... it was something like $5,000 deposited to my bank account (signing bonus included). I was... severely underwhelmed. I was living in an apartment that cost $2200/mo (was roommate searching at the time, sobsob). So I was like... "Yay, I can pay rent without struggling for once!"
$2,200?! damn, hope you found someone quick
Yeah first real paycheck was like... "that's it?" First consulting bonus was also like "really... that's it?".
First finance bonus was significantly more satisfactory.
Light.
"Woohoo! I can now afford to eat out. Time to drive the rusty honda to Taco Bell!" (No seriously, my first paycheck was age 16 as a lifeguard)
Jeeeesus Illini, we get it - you drive a rusty Honda. (JK, I love it.)
Lived at home during my first internship, so all that cash went swiftly to the booze fund instead of rent.
Looking back, the paychecks felt like monopoly money. Outside my office, a huge sign would flash the time followed by the dow jones average. Fun to look at while sipping coffee, the time would dissolve or spin around back to the dow. The day the music stopped, a day when this dow bank sign comically read 7,000, a change loomed over my desk like a dark storm cloud. I had decided to start my own company rather than go back to school or wait and see how the firm would react to the worst market news in decades.
The first six months were agonizing at best, trying to develop a professional services product from scratch. Three were in development at once but nothing seemed to take off because the market was at its worst. The process was intuitive and quick: find a problem, grab a book and figure out at fast as possible how to spin into making money.
One April day the workflow was manageable, a type of feeling where instead of falling behind traffic, you're cruising at the speed limit matching the other cars. And while minding my own business, a client gave me a $500 installment check.
A light bulb turned on that day. A single mid-tier suit sells for more than this check. This was a Las Vegas incidental expense line item. But staring down at that check, my brain was convinced the number was worth more than the amount shown. And that changed my line of thought because if this situation was happening, then there must be other checks worth less than the amount shown. An understanding moment of a pure accolade.
About a year later another company purchased the contracts and I joined the acquiring company. Overall, the first business failed rather easily and folded at the sniff of competition. But that first check burned a hunger for bigger and better ones, that's a guarantee.
Looking back, the paychecks felt like monopoly money. Outside my office, a huge sign would flash the time followed by the dow jones average. Fun to look at while sipping coffee, the time would dissolve or spin around back to the dow. The day the music stopped, a day when this dow bank sign comically read 7,000, a change loomed over my desk like a dark storm cloud. I had decided to start my own company rather than go back to school or wait and see how the firm would react to the worst market news in decades.
The first six months were agonizing at best, trying to develop a professional services product from scratch. Three were in development at once but nothing seemed to take off because the market was at its worst. The process was intuitive and quick: find a problem, grab a book and figure out at fast as possible how to spin into making money.
One April day the workflow was manageable, a type of feeling where instead of falling behind traffic, you're cruising at the speed limit matching the other cars. And while minding my own business, a client gave me a $500 installment check.
A light bulb turned on that day. A single mid-tier suit sells for more than this check. This was a Las Vegas incidental expense line item. But staring down at that check, my brain was convinced the number was worth more than the amount shown. And that changed my line of thought because if this situation was happening, then there must be other checks worth less than the amount shown. An understanding moment of a pure accolade.
About a year later another company purchased the contracts and I joined the acquiring company. Overall, the first business failed rather easily and folded at the sniff of competition. But that first check burned a hunger for bigger and better ones, that's a guarantee.
regarding the tax thing, does anyone have any tips for the withholdings/allowances? Is there a way to set so the perfect amount of tax is deducted and there is no refund or owe when taxes are due? Not too keen on giving the government free financing.
IIRC each exemption claimed = ~ $4,000 off of your income.
If you worked 6 months (half the year), figure out how uch to take off of your tax liability such that:
6/12(Tax(Your annual Salary- exemptions$4000))= Amount you will actually owe from workin 6 months.
The exemptions are a deduction IIRC. You have to take a look at the IRS's instructions to employers to figure out exactly what the amount is. Also don't claim more than 9 exemptions.
Felt good.
It was during my SA stint. I was pretty much spending everything I made
First paycheck as a construction worker in high school: Wow, this sucks, time to get a better job
First time I made $500 in one night as a bartender: I could take the rest of the week off, but I won't
First paycheck in NYC: Ah yes, that's nice
First bonus: Yes, yes that's definitely nice, now I can seriously start funding what I REALLY want in life...
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