I'm wondering if I should continue to live in a shithole and continue to save money or if I can finally enjoy and go up to $2,500 a month for a 2BR with a balcony. Over the last three years in consulting I've saved about $200k but I am looking forward to when the market crashes and that all dries up (just a joke). Looking for benchmarks from current Associates. Thanks.
| +117 | Future of PE | 27 | 7h |
| +26 | Hardest time I have ever seen to be a GP | 3 | 4d |
| +20 | How to Get on Career Track / Stay Post ASO years | 6 | 3d |
| +14 | KKR comp for Principal | 20 | 2d |
| +12 | MBA and Private Equity | 5 | 1d |
| +10 | Undergrad summer PE analyst positions | 3 | 8h |
| +9 | Buyside in London with nice WLB and pay | 1 | 11h |
| +9 | 2028 Oncycle PE | 10 | 4h |
| +9 | LMM/MM PE London | 5 | 3d |
| +8 | Lindsay Goldberg FT 27 | 8 | 1d |
Career Resources
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
I live in downtown Chicago and pay around $2,500 for a one bedroom place. It's got an awesome view, solid amenities and is a close walk to the office, the gym, restaurants / bars, etc. I lived in shitholes for a while and saved a bunch of money but I love living in a nice place (been here for about 2 years now).
Overall, it's nicer to come home to and girls appreciate you having a nice place more than you think.
Spend the min possible. Don't worry about what other people are doing. Unless you have kids, just keep rent as low as possible (within reason) and deploy that cash elsewhere.
Agreed a nice pad helps a lot with pulling chicks.
OP I gotta say though, 200k in 3 years is pretty low vs m&a / IB
Saving $200k within your first three years shows incredible discipline. Nice work.
The general rule of thumb for rent is 25-30% of pre-tax income on rent, but that's somewhat outdated.
That means you could be theoretically spending like 6-7k a month on rent and could be fine. Obviously you'd be silly to spend that much on rent as a ~25 year old even if you could, but I'm also against the "save every penny" mentality that some have.
Assuming no kids and no family, ~2-3k is a perfectly acceptable amount to pay for rent in my opinion. If you're in a major city, you might have to get roommates (or a smaller studio) if you're in a Chicago or the equivalent, that could get you a nice 1 bed or a decent 2 bed if you want the space.
Having a cleaned up living space is huge from a mental health perspective and to me, part of becoming an adult. I have some friends that have had crappy places/multiple roommates, but pay 1k less on rent than I do, but I can't say they're much better off. The 12k they've saved over the course of the year hasn't made a material difference in their lives. Unless you can go to an extreme and pay 0 rent by living at home, you're going for some sort of FIRE lifestyle where you want to retire at 30, or the extra 10k could be utilized in some hugely helpful way (student loans, remittance to family), I'd say pay up for a place that will make you happy.
Plus in my opinion 2500/month for rent for a great place vs 1500/month for a place with a lot of compromises just isn't worth it. Time and convenience are going to be huge over the next few years as you work hard to succeed in PE. Adding a mediocre living situation on top of that isn't worth it.
Just my 2cents though.