What does your personal portfolio look like?

I'll start. Have about $250k saved:

  • $25k in random cryptos (mostly ETH, down 50%)
  • $25k in TQQQ and UPRO (underwater by around 20%; thought tides would be turning earlier)
  • $10k in i-Bonds returning 9.62%
  • >$10K = SPY, QQQ
  • $180K cash 

How about you guys? I don't feel great going short but don't want to DCA either (just yet). Looking for other options. Can't buy individual names

50 Comments
 

how many years did it take for you to save this? is this just 3-4 years? what city do you live in and whats your split between expenses for saving/expenses/rent etc? just curious - thanks!

 

are you getting 100% bonus? or had luck with your portfolio? 225K from work in 2 years is an insane amount unless you're working at a place with high bonuses. if you're making 110K base, 60K bonus, after taxes you get (110*.7)= 77K from base and lets say 30K from bonus assuming 50% taxon that. Does that mean you literally spend nothing? something doesn't add up.

 

$90K into a mix of equity indexes (primarily SP500 and some international)

$20K BRK.B (i view this as a diversified index similar to SP500 but perhaps better during a bear market). Will plan to grow this position relative to equity indexes because I believe in Berkshire.

$15K Meta (after it dropped in the 90s - seems like a no brainer imo as a long term bet)

$10K deal by deal co-invest at work (only one deal now as ASO1 and planning for co-invest to become the largest as % of net worth as i advance. Higher risk higher reward relative to indexing and i am relatively young so fuck it)

$35K cash / emergency fund (looking to keep $20K as EF and coinvest the rest as deals become available)

 

How does going all in on co invest usually go for people in the long run? What is your plan? I assume if funds perform at a moderate rate for the next 10 years then you will get crazy returns. Also, doesn’t this make the majority of your net worth illiquid? Just trying to learn.

 

(1) Given that I work in PE, I see it as having an opportunity to invest in an asset class that most people do not have access to which I find pretty neat. (2) Working for the firm while we make these investments is a good way of aligning myself and feeling like I have "skin in the game" so to speak. We target your typical 20% IRR so if we are able to hit these returns, they are obviously a lot more attractive than your standard SP500 index (albeit with more risk, concentration and illiquidity). This is more risky and makes my NW illiquid as you said, but given that I am very young (25) and with a slightly higher risk tolerance than average, I have no problem with waiting that out. This is not money that I would need in the next ~5 years. I view this as long-term investing and not something to make a quick buck. Because I invest deal-by-deal at my firm (NOT on a fund-level where payouts might be every 10 years?) I get my co-invest back (with profit) once we exit an investment which typically takes 3-5 years. Once I have a consistent stream of co-investments I should technically be getting a payout almost every other year at exit so illiquidity becomes a bit less of a factor in my mind. Hope that makes sense. 

 

asked our international PM's this same questions, and as far as developed international, IFRS is getting pretty close to GAAP and that money managers in the US who follow companies that report under IFRS feel confident in accepting their reporting standards as factual.

We're not lawyers. We're investment bankers. We didn't go to Harvard. We Went to Wharton!
 

I have access to Morningstar Advisor and some other pretty high end planning softwares. I basically steal the ideas from the top institutional investors and access their strategies for free. The likes of Blackrock and JP Morgan, which I believe are the best providers, offer model portfolios ranging from "Conservative Income" to "Aggressive Growth." I filter which model portfolios in the aggressive growth category have had the best performance, and then look up their individual holdings (which is usually 8-10 funds/etfs). I then buy those exact funds and ETF's in my personal account down to the exact same allocation percentage. So to answer your question, I'm about 10% Large US Value, 10% Large US Core, 30% large growth, 20% mid growth, 10% small core, 10% international large core, and 10% international large core EM. I then DCA to keep those percentages, so if one asset class has run up/down, it will dictate my larger trader towards it. 

We're not lawyers. We're investment bankers. We didn't go to Harvard. We Went to Wharton!
 

What bonds are these exactly? 9.62% seems like a very good yield, what's the long-term average?

 

When you're posting your portfolios are you talking about stuff that's strictly in a brokerage account or are you also including IRAs, Roths, 401ks, etc? 

 

I’m going to start off by saying that people are not good at picking stocks in general – this much is pretty widely known. With that said, it’s pretty funny, but mostly sad that IB people are just as not good at picking stocks, including myself.

Mostly every retail investor I (anecdotally) see bought into risk-on shit growth companies and crypto and now in a risk-off environment, everyone is being taken into the woodshed this year.

The only difference I can tell between dumb retail investors actually working in retail and dumb retail investors working in banking is that the bankers can afford to make bigger dumb bets. I’m DCA-ing into index funds (S&P) and holding my individual shit stocks as a reminder of how bad my judgment can be.

 

Correct, one caveat I would have is that educated retail investors and accredited investors acting on behalf of themselves have been pretty good at asset allocation and choosing funds and broad ETF's compared to institutional asset managers and advisors. Also, one advantage we have is that we don't have the "business risk" of taking on added risk to our portfolios if the upside match the downside. Most money managers can't invest in a certain way, because even if a fund or model is down 50%, they will be out of business and in outflows that completely destroy their asset based revenue, whereas individual investors can weather that 50% drawdown if they just wait. Advisors as well. An advisor can put their end client to potentially be down 50%, because even if that client doesn't sell out, they can still fire that advisor and just transfer their account. 

We're not lawyers. We're investment bankers. We didn't go to Harvard. We Went to Wharton!
 

Long term (retirement) portfolio: 

- 45% US total market index

- 30% Intl total market index

- 15% US small cap value index

- 10% US REIT index

- I also have a small amount (equal to around 10% of the above) in what I call speculative (but still long term) investments in individual stocks, a small amount of crypto, and art work

Short term (cash) portfolio for a future downpayment + emergency savings:

- It's around 140K now, targeting getting it up to 200k

 

Associate 1 in IB - Cov

I'll start. Have about $250k saved:

  • $25k in random cryptos (mostly ETH, down 50%)
  • $25k in TQQQ and UPRO (underwater by around 20%; thought tides would be turning earlier)
  • $10k in i-Bonds returning 9.62%
  • >$10K = SPY, QQQ
  • $180K cash 

How about you guys? I don't feel great going short but don't want to DCA either (just yet). Looking for other options. Can't buy individual names

10% 0% interest debt to family

40% public equities

20% cash

30% private equity

 

100k portfolio

Portfolio allocations:  

95%: a replication of an uncapped variance swap. Obviously cannot do that in a retail portfolio so I harvest variance premium in the options market with strict parameters that very closely replicate it. 
 

5%: Short 200 shares of Rivian Automotive. 
 

I also don’t work in finance. 

 

Aperiam reiciendis sed sit. Animi possimus quis perferendis blanditiis amet. Facere et fuga molestiae autem corporis fugit ut nobis.

Nemo vero voluptas totam qui nostrum ex ut. Perspiciatis qui omnis odio ducimus doloremque est. Sit cum possimus consequuntur est corrupti. Dolor mollitia illo aliquid magni eum. Sed aut nisi qui aspernatur illum numquam eos.

Et quasi ipsum fugit incidunt earum. Quae nostrum maxime ut rem quia.

 

Sit qui quia quibusdam culpa. Tempora quo accusamus dolorem numquam ut. Necessitatibus molestiae fugit dolorem consequatur. Quia ullam unde nulla nam quaerat amet. Odio neque ullam aut iure fugiat voluptatibus illum. Vitae animi rem veniam atque.

Blanditiis non dolorem provident. Vero quia eligendi quis magni. Aperiam architecto magni aut adipisci sed. Suscipit accusamus et suscipit recusandae ducimus.

Et hic blanditiis cum exercitationem. Est quidem voluptatibus exercitationem accusantium odit sit quas. Architecto vel quo consectetur similique non.

Nobis eaque praesentium quia quis nostrum dolorem. Fugiat inventore et placeat cupiditate. Illo sed necessitatibus quo fuga nihil qui occaecati.

 

Molestiae est sequi aspernatur excepturi quis rerum. Voluptates omnis praesentium quibusdam nobis voluptas. Optio quia et consequatur necessitatibus. Ut nesciunt nisi praesentium doloribus ea iste.

Aut tenetur et voluptatem perspiciatis. Labore adipisci et consectetur harum eum. Repellat sunt laborum neque sunt quia praesentium. Accusamus nemo consectetur fuga ut odit placeat iste.

Eos magnam et deleniti enim. Qui mollitia dicta ipsum esse. Aut porro optio minima eum. Sunt excepturi architecto dolore illo. Doloremque non doloribus repellendus quidem non.

Consequatur eligendi a voluptatibus eos quas quia. Eos id nihil repellat est. Nemo nulla et reprehenderit possimus dicta et. Ipsum fugit ut voluptates molestias culpa quam quis qui.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.6%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 99.2%
  • Blackstone Group 98.9%
  • Warburg Pincus 98.5%
  • Bain Capital 98.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Private Equity

  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 99.6%
  • The Riverside Company 99.2%
  • Ardian 98.9%
  • Blackstone Group 98.5%
  • Starwood Capital Group 98.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Private Equity

  • Bain Capital 99.6%
  • The Riverside Company 99.2%
  • Blackstone Group 98.9%
  • Starwood Capital Group 98.5%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 98.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Private Equity

  • Principal (9) $653
  • Director/MD (24) $547
  • Vice President (97) $363
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (104) $281
  • 2nd Year Associate (234) $272
  • 1st Year Associate (411) $229
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (33) $157
  • 2nd Year Analyst (95) $134
  • 1st Year Analyst (271) $124
  • Intern/Summer Associate (37) $80
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (351) $61
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”