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How much did you have saved up after 2 years in banking?
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honest q - how will my answer change anything that you are doing / if at all
Based on previous WSO threads, here are some insights on savings after 2 years in banking:
IB Analyst 2 in IB - Gen:
Certified Private Equity Professional - 1st Year Associate:
Certified Investment Banking Professional - 2nd Year Analyst:
These examples show a range of savings from $45k to $95k after 2 years in banking, with variations based on personal circumstances such as debt repayment and investment strategies.
Sources: How much have you saved?, It’s 2 years, you got this, How much have you saved?, How Much Money is Enough - Two Ways to Figure it Out, How much have you saved? How much do you spend each year?
Unfort only people who will likely respond are going to be the extremes. Either spent it all or literally never saw the day of light as an analyst and saved every dollar of their bonus.
IMO—but I am sure others will disagree:
If you are going to PE or have a clear indication of mid to high paying salary jobs for your career, I think post-analyst stint as long as you have a healthy 12-month runway of savings to sustain yourself / basic rent/food, etc you are doing fine to good. If you have, say, 25-50% of your post-tax bonus on top, you're doing great.
~200k, but was p conservative
Jesus Christ what was your bonus numbers
In nyc?
My current savings / debt below. I haven’t received my second year bonus yet but I’d expect it to be ~$75k pre-tax.
Cash: 15k
Brokerage: 28k
Crypto: 3k
401k: 46k
HSA: 8k
Student loans: 10k
Credit card balance: 2.5k
Net worth: ~$90k
For extra context - my parents paid for my essential expenses in college (rent & groceries, but not travel / going out, dinners, etc.) and I took out max federal student loans ($22.5k I believe).
I’ve been investing since 8th grade which makes up all of my brokerage at this point (i.e., all my money from banking has been spent or is sitting as cash in my bank account). I know this is dumb but I’ve had a lot of cash expenses coming up that I need the balance for between travel / moving / surgeries.
Probably had around $2k that my parents put in my brokerage when I started investing and then everything after that was money I made in high school jobs / college internships.
I’m a top analyst at strong group in mid tier BB FWIW. I would say I don’t have good spending habits but I’m also not frivolous.
I go on fun trips and don’t hesitate to buy nice dinners / go out semi-frequently, but I’m also not dropping $$ on bottles, buying designer clothes, etc.
Bump
145K including a 20k 401K
ANL1 bonus was 35K
ANL2 has not been announced
I wouldnt call my spending conservative but also not too crazy (expensive dinner would be anything above $250 pp)
How is this even possible unless you are in LCOL city? How much savings did you have pre-banking?
110k + 125k + 35k = 270k * 65% = 175k
came in with 50k+, paid rent though for two years in NYC
Pre year two bonus:
Cash/post tax securities: $39k
Car: $30k (live in LA so need one, financed for $40k new in 2022 and subsequently paid off)
401k: $27k
Honestly feels a bit depressing reading some of these savings thread from years past. Got a really poor bonus (despite being top bucket) due to group / firm performance year 1. Can’t imagine year two is going to be pretty, either.
not to be rude but 40k on a car is a ton for that early in a career
That’s about average in my group for analyst cars. Lots of teslas, base BMW / Audi / Mercedes. Got a $25k signing bonus and spent $10k moving, so threw $15k down. I got a 2.2% rate for 72 months. Was effectively free money. Very affordable. Payment worked out to like $375. I paid it off in like 8 months because it stressed me out to have car debt (although I recognize this was a suboptimal decision considering I could’ve held the cash in a high yield account and banked the spread on the note and the HYSA). For reference, now, the average car payment for a new vehicle in the US is like $735, and the median income is like $40k for individuals and $70k for households. In this sense, I think the purchase was totally reasonable and affordable compared to the average. In retrospect, if I could rewind, would’ve done exactly the same. Not everyone wants to drive a beater or a base civic.
Honestly, based on how the car market has been the last 3 years 35-40k to get something reliable is really not that bad of a deal.
Post 2nd year bonus:
- 401k: 45k
- Investments & Money Market/Cash: 105k
- Outstanding Student Loans: (20k). Used 1st year bonus to pay off 30k in student debt last year
Went on two pretty expensive trips during my analyst stint (both of which were totally worth it), and happy with where I’m at.
Where did you go on the trips?
Vietnam and Columbia
I think mine was ~$75-100K, but it was also during a pretty massive bull run in the late 2010s. If you’re on this career path, the compounding of your capital + incremental raises of each job completely makes how much you made in your analyst years look like peanuts. I’m basically 10x this number after 7 years of working and this should continue to ramp at this rate or even faster.
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