NYC vs the South
Hi everybody I am in desperate need of some advice, and before I start I would like to recognize that I know I am very fortunate to be in the position that I am in.
I am going to be a senior at a top Ivy H/Y/P/W and I am originally from a growing southern city Nashville/Atlanta/Austin. Because of some family matters I have inherited a little over $50 million, in which I currently have in my possession. While I know that this is an astronomical sum of money that myself and my future kids can absolutely live on for the rest of our lives, I want to work a real job for personal fulfillment. My problem lies with whether I should go to New York or return home.
All of my college friends are going to be going to New York, and I personally feel that the dating pool in the city is far better than the south. But the downside is the culture and hours of the city seems like it would drain me. Moving back home would be great and my money would go much further, but I’m worried that my connections with my college friends will weaken and that the dating pool is weaker. Also to be honest, all of my friends back home are idiots with minimal career aspirations, and I will miss the intellectual nature of my NYC friends.
However I do feel like there is more career growth opportunities in real estate in my city, considering I have no real connections in NYC real estate. Ultimately I want to be able to travel and enjoy my life but I don’t want to forego the NYC experience.
Considering my situation will I really be missing out on that much in NYC or am I just young, dumb, and chasing prestige?
Thanks in advance for the help
What does inheriting $50 Million have to do with your question? Lol
To put into perspective that the increased salary of NYC does not matter as much. A lot of the allure of NYC is the higher salary in comparison to a southern city
Ah I see what you’re saying now. I’m young so I don’t have a lot of advice to give, but based on the way you’re speaking about moving back South versus Moving to NYC, it sounds like you would prefer to move to NYC.
if real.. bro is at one of Harvard, Wharton, Princeton, or Yale with 50 sheets in the bank and is asking me for advice lmao
Lmao uh…if you have $50M to your name the “work culture” in NYC has no meaning to you. You don’t need to go be a nameless analyst somewhere.
Go live and work in New York. Go live and work in the South and visit your friends in New York. Have places to live in both cities and go back and forth. Who cares at that point?
Regardless of the money, I would still have to work somewhere as an analyst. Wouldn’t that culture still apply?
$50M lets you skip a few steps, boss.
Dream bigger.
I would say to go to NYC. Reevaluate in a few years. If you're over it, move back to the south. Frankly, I would focus on learning the trade in NYC, having fun, dating, etc. and then take your skills back home and use your own money to fund your own real estate platform. Alternatively, make some connections with entrepreneurial shops in your home town and start giving them a million or two for deals they're fundraising for and then eventually see if they're willing to bring you on as a partner. I have actually met multiple people that went this route.
With $50M in the bank, I would not be worried about getting the most prestigious jobs. I'd focus on working for something entrepreneurial with impressive bosses. You'll never last being a corporate guy with that kind of money.
In terms of social life, I think certain places in the south can certainly have quality women, but my friends in NYC are constantly dating women that either have high paying careers and/or or come from family money. The sheer amount of women that fall into this bucket is insane in NYC compared to any other place in the world. If this is not important to you and you'd rather have a homebody traditional wife, the south is a great place to find it. Of course, plenty of exceptions to this and there's plenty of career women or women from money in the south as well, but they're much more difficult to find than in NYC.
You have a ton of money. Go enjoy your life. Sounds like you know NYC is where you'll have the most fun, and with the money you have you really don't need to worry about career risk. You can literally go off on your own in the south whenever you feel like it.
Thank you so much for writing this out, I really appreciate it. I think for me a big part of why I want to move home is to create a significant impact on the CRE scene. I like the idea of being a bigger fish in a comparatively smaller pond. I don’t really like the idea of moving to NYC and then moving back to the south. I would rather pick one and see it through. I have heard it is far easier to develop real estate in the south than nyc also. What are your thoughts on this?
It is 100% easier to develop in the south than in NYC. NYC is an entirely different ballgame than anything else in the country. That said, you have your whole life ahead of you. You may regret it down the road that you never lived the NYC life for a few years after college. Plus, you need a few years to learn the general trade anyway, and there are plenty of groups in NYC that hardly even do business in NYC (NYC groups that are investing heavily in TX / FL, etc.).
That is a great point. What type of firms do you think I should target to get the best experience and learn the most in NYC?
Also, my goal in moving back south would be to run my own development shop. If I work in nyc for say 5 years, would I be able to start my own shop with that experience and my capital? Or would it be smarter to try to join an already established group in the area?
Obviously you check the education box without a doubt, but is your resume and campus involvement also strong? Assuming it is, my personal goal would be to land a job with an top tier NYC development group that focuses regionally (or nationally) on a property type that you're interested in long term. My biggest requirement above all would be that I am learning directly from someone who is very sophisticated. Carlyle, Related, Hines etc. After several years, maybe you switch cities and take on more responsibility elsewhere at a smaller dev shop while maintaining that requirement for sophisticated learning. Not crunching numbers for an SEC frat guy, which I'm sure are plentiful in development where you're from. I think another factor to consider, given your eventual shop will utilize your personal money, you should think long term about in the industry and what you want to target. As an example, instead of market-rate multifamily it might be smart to focus on affordable housing development and taking advantage of the tax breaks plus long term outlook. I am sure you're already considering it, but you should also put the $50M to work now beyond just collecting a 4-5% on it.
I'd be curious what someone older thinks about my next statement... but I know a handful of smart developers in my Southeastern city who would bring you on and teach you what they know if you invested a sizeable check with them. As long as you have credible references vouch for them, then you're killing two birds with one stone. Investing your capital and learning from smart developers. Plus, it's kind of cool you'd maybe working on deals that your money is in. The downside to this is that you'd be lifting your skirt and they'd know your cash situation. If a couple partners knew, and agreed to keep it private, then personally I wouldn't mind that, but that's up to you.
If I were you I would move to NYC and get a job with good WLB
Why not just try nyc? If you like it - amazing you stay. If you don’t like it - you get to leave.
NYC, consider investing in rent-regulated and highly subsidized properties, such as those for the homeless and Section 8 housing. Learn to navigate the system, and once the properties are stabilized, you can exit and then repeat the process.
Lol.
I think you’re in a unique position where you could actually take the most interesting job to you regardless of pay. Quite an advantage and gives you some freedom. I know that I need to make X amount to live the lifestyle I want, so finance is superior to most other paths. But if money isn’t a factor you can just solve for some combination of network, skill dev, and personal interest. Depends on how you rank that. A good bank or fund would get you some good contacts but your Alma mater did that pretty well already. If you just want to become a good investor I would seek out an established fund with an apprenticeship model where you can attach yourself to a killer manager and build the skills to go out on your own sometime down the line.
You could also go a separate direction and be a public servant which pays a lot less in cash and more in global awareness, information, patriotic fulfillment. Parent was in foreign service so many of our family friends are diplomats / ambassadors. The Bush family strategy can make a lot of sense for legacy purposes. If I had four kids I would encourage at least one on Wall Street and one inside the beltway each generation.
Having one kid in wall street is not really a powerplay anymore lol. I would rather have a kid who is a surgeon or something but then again I'm Indian so that's probably why
Agreed it's probably because you are Indian. Wall street still fucks.
There’s no “right” answer here. It comes down to personal preference. For what it’s worth, I inherited a similar amount of money and can share why I chose to do the whole “high finance” in NYC song and dance.
It all comes down to the people. The quality of people in the city is insane. Getting to meet, learn from, and get drunk with the best and brightest has been invaluable.
I can always go home whenever but right now, I’m having a great time personally and professionally.
Dude if you have 50 mil in the bank take a risk at a start-up that could blow up. If it fails you still have 50mil and if it works you are a multi millionaire. Don’t worry about working your way up a bank and eating shit as an analyst. Get into corp fin and swing for the fences
#1 thing is avoid losing any of this $50M. Hopefully growing and compounding it. To do this, you will want to avoid investing in your own deals or your friends deals for a long time. It's like smoking your own dope.
To this point, if you're friends back home are dumb, then they will want you invest in their dumb businesses. Everyone will know you have money. In a place like NYC, no one has to know and $50M isn't going to make a lot of people blink there anyway. This could be a good opportunity to quietly drop those friends if they don't mature.
Remember, even a homebody like Warren Buffett worked in NYC for a few years before he went home to Omaha.
If you do NYC, I would recommend trying to find something generalized and transferable. What about something like REIT equity research? Ok, that's not generalized or transferable, but you'd see a lot of companies/assets, get contacts, and a great base of knowledge.
Absolutely NYC. Not even a question. You'll regret it later in life if you don't. If you hate it after a couple years leave. You only live once. The south ain't going anywhere
Honest answer here.
I would join a respectable role that still gives you a good work life balance. Asset manager (long only), Brown brothers Harriman, wealth manager roles, etc. Have fun. Get in touch with your creative side. and really develop passions. This will all take you much further in life as far as self-fulfillment goes than a job people solely pursue for money (which you already have)
Dude - move to New York. Everyone shits on NYC and frankly all the big cities for political reasons, but honestly, there is no other city in the US comparable to it in my opinion. You gain a whole different perspective and frankly coming from the south and going Ivy league it may be beneficial for you as I assume you have lived a specific way your entire life (I probably shouldn't assume). Obviously with the money you have you wont have to worry about the cost of living here and can truly enjoy all the great things the city has to offer. If you ever want to leave, the connections you build here will just be that much more beneficial either way.
The "analyst experience" is not inherently valuable. Akin to college, it is much more of a credentialing mechanism. You have a $50m skip the line ticket. The absolute best way to get valuable experience is to find someone that is a bonafide expert in what you want to do and devise a way to work for them. This is where your 50m comes into play.
I think you should move to NYC and enjoy yourself for a few years while you figure out exactly what you want to do. There is no better place in the world. Once you are comfortable picking a career path, I think everything becomes more clear
Would live in NYC while you’re young, if you’re rich you can actually enjoy the city. Would def move back South after 2-4 years
What’s so good about the city though? Why not just go back to the south right away?
No place like NYC, good place to really grow and experience life for a while. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere
This is crazy I am in the exact same situation as you only with a slightly weaker target school and not quite as large an inheritance
been debating pretty heavily as well on this since I'm from the south but all my friends will be in NYC
That is wild man. I really don’t know what to do because I feel like I can make a way bigger impact in the south instead of following everyone to NYC. What is your thought process
heres my plan:
my inheritance is kind of weird in that I have to put it back in to real estate, so for the next two years while I'm in school I'm gonna do some of my own deals, and then I have something lined up post grad on the real estate buy side in NYC. at least for the near future, I'm not really worried about money and I think that the big city experience with all your friends is kinda priceless, same with the people you will meet in the industry in ny
then in like 7-10 years I want to hopefully raise my own fund / re evaluate where I want to be in terms of location. unfortunately i think most of the south just doesn't compare to like NYC / most California cities (in terms of life quality) if money is not a concern imo
Reading about all of yall in this "situation" makes me want to rope
I am awaiting the UGA/Emory/Tech alumni that are going to flood this thread with cope about how Atlanta isn't a shithole
I go to one of the listed and had absolutely no desire to land a gig in ATL lol
Congrats, you aren't like the rest of the sheep who hang out at Neighbors until their are 31. Go forth and prosper
What does you family do?
I'll give you some advice from someone who left NYC to move to the south and did not find the same level of fulfillment. Ignoring the money part of the equation, I would ask yourself what kind of person you are. Do you enjoy boating, SEC football, and bbq with some real estate thrown into the mix? Do you consider yourself an intellectual elite who frowns upon everyone who is okay making 250k-500k at their career peak and talks about how sick they were at high school football? These are obviously stereotypes of each location but you will find more people that fall into the stereotype in each respective city.
Based on your comment that your friends back home are idiots, it's likely that you would fall into a similar pattern should you associate with them. My suggestion would be to stay in NYC as you can find all different types of people in the city, however it is more challenging to find the NYC culture in any of those previously mentioned markets. It's always easier to leave NYC when you want than to get back into NYC when you want (competition is much harder, think of the old adage "if you can make it in NYC then you can make it anywhere"). Not to mention there is some level of dislike of NYC culture in the south, assuming you don't end up at a Jamestown type.
Agree with this. Stereotypes exist for a reason. And there are tons of exceptions to them, but you still feel the impact. What I mean is that I've met tons of really intelligent and motivated people in places like Austin that can give people in NYC a run for their money (or a good amount of them were NYC people that moved here), but you still feel that Texas-ness in your daily life and with enough people that you interact with that it matters.
As FinancialBarn mentioned above, some people like that. They like that they can make $250k - $500k a year and maybe hit a homerun on a few deals over their career that makes them rich while having a slower and more manageable life and having a nice house with space and still having enough nice restaurants to get their fix when they are in the mood. Other people couldn't even imagine living that way. It depends the type of person you are, just don't confuse that Austin and Nashville are no where even in the same ballpark as NYC in terms of intellectual power, shear amount of amenities and things to do or women to date, and fast paced energy.
Many NYC / LA people end up in the south not because it's their ideal place, but because they simply can't afford to live the life they want in NYC / LA while raising a family and maintain any semblance of work life balance. so they make the trade off knowing that the south is still a decent place to be even if it's not the best but they can actually afford to live a good life there without sacrificing their sanity.
How would you say that those aspects of NYC make your life better? Not trying to challenge you, just trying to get your thought process. Would you not want to be one of the smarter or wealthier people in your city? What does more competition get you? Also what do you think about the difference in culture regarding work life balance of NYC and the south, is the nyc culture worth it?
OP - I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but based on reading many of your responses, I get the sense that you could see a lot of benefit from talking with a therapist. I see one myself and trust me when I say many successful real estate guys do as well (I have been pitched by one of the most successful guys I know of how important it is). You seem to have an irrational fear of competition or other people being better than you which can often be attributed to something in your upbringing. Having someone to talk to with about this could not only make you feel happier but also open up many doors in your life when you lose this fear.
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