NYC Budgeting
Moving to NYC next for a new PE role. How do folks go about budgeting in the city? Base comp is $175k and I’m looking to save 40-50% of it due to some personal challenges I went through this year. Is it possible to rent for $1.8-2k in a 3-4 bed shared apartment in a decent neighborhood? How much do folks typically spend on food and transportation? I don’t drink so no spending on bars for me but I do want to join a gym and do other activities as well as explore the city.
Unless you are right out of a college frat house, living in a 3-4 bedroom apartment sucks. I would look to have 1 roommate and spend about $2k pp. You won't be in the West Village in that price range, but can be in the UES, EV, Murray Hill, maybe a bit farther up the UWS, etc.
You can get just about anywhere on the subway and that is $3, try not to get in the habit of Ubering as that is beyond expensive (taxis are cheaper btw). Same with food - office lunch options are wildly expensive, plan to meal prep. The $20 salads add up on your waistline and wallet. I cook most of my meals and spend $400-500/month on groceries.
How do you find the time to do this? I've done meal prep on Sundays but generally the food is bad by Thursday / eating a reheated frozen version of what I've eaten for the last three days is unappealing to me.
Same here! Eating the same thing multiple times a week is the biggest issue for me
Yeah totally agree. I prep on Sunday lunch and dinner M-W. Thursday I either eat out, or if I've had time to cook during the week I'll have a fresh meal for then. Fridays WFH
I usually prep 2 different things, 3 portions max. I rotate lunch/dinner so I'm not eating the same thing at the same time 3 days in a row. And sometimes I am just NOT feeling something and I give myself permission to not eat it.
Figure out what works for you, might not be prepping every single day and that is fine, just 4-5x a week of $20 lunches as your norm is the problem. I started out in my career buying lunch every day but I gained a ton of weight and it was so expensive I had to figure out something else out.
bruh how does a 400 calorie sweetgreen salad add up on your waistline?
agree with a lot of what you're saying but also think working high finance / junior level hours you're not going to have time to do any of this. Maybe meal prep once a week sunday night to have 3-4 cheap dinners / week, brown bag lunch a couple times a week, and call it a day. I think a $6k per month ($2.75k rent & utilities, $1k food (includes ~10 takeout meals a week at ~$15/meal + $100 of groceries), $1k transportation, $250 gym, $1 misc.) lifestyle in NYC is absolute bare bones enough and on a $175k salary, he'll be saving like $50k per year pre bonus. I lived like that that for four years (albeit from 2015-2019 so reduce each bucket by ~25%) and saved up like $300k by the time I was 26.
Sweetgreen can easily be 1000 calories. If you look at the default bowls on their online menu most are 800-900 calories. That doesn't include bread which is another 100
Agree as an IB analyst, this guy is a PE ASO and should have a little more control over his evenings
lmfao. You don't have to spend $250 per month for a gym lol. there are many cheaper options that are just fine such as NYSC.
I've been trying ready meal prep delivery services for the past few weeks. I've tried a few but CookUnity has been my favorite so far. Its about $150 a week for 12 meals and all you have to do is throw them in the microwave. My biggest issue with these companies has been that the sodium content is insane, but CookUnity is reasonably healthy and you can pick your meals.
Also dont sleep on FiDi, there are some nice apartments down here for good prices.
I really don't find meal prep services compelling. At $150/week for 12 meals that a little over $12/meal. Compare that to a few dollars more for a (relatively) fresh meal at Chipotle, DT, etc. $12/meal for frozen food is crazy to me. Macros on those frozen meal preps are mid too
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