~1 hour long commute to save money as a first year i-banking analyst?
Wondering if I could get some advice here. My parents are really encouraging me to live at home during the first 6 months of my Analyst program, which is starting to sound attractive to me. Since I will be at work most of the week, it wouldn't make sense to splurge $1700-2000 on a subpar apartment (which is normal for the area that I am working in next year, even with roommates). I could save about $12,500 in these first few months, which I can then use to rent a nicer apartment or to save for grad school. I know my social life will be duller, but I am a homebody and know I can manage that for a bit. However, my only concern is the commute--it is about 1 hour (or less) each way using public transportation, and I know with the rough hours this will be tiresome. Has anyone else done this/know anyone who has done this and can give me advice? Or can any former first-year analyst give me the pros and cons?
This has been discussed many times, and the advice is always the same: do not do it. If your parents are like most, they probably have no clue what IB is and seriously think that it is some 9-5 bank teller job.
The money that you save will not be worth the headache of having to travel two hours EVERY SINGLE DAY just to get to and from work. That is absolutely insane, especially with the late IB hours.
Second this. Beyond the amount of your life you'd waste on the train, I don't know if you could logistically pull it off-do commuter trains even run that late/early (Metronorth, NJT or the LIE) and if they run all night I highly doubt they're frequent. And you're more or less on call as an analyst. If you're not still or already at the office, it's pretty common to get called/txt/emailed saying something needs to be done asap and you have to be there right away. If you're an hour away on a typical morning commute, when you get called in you're a good 1.5-2 hrs away by the time you get your shit together and wait for the next train and that just won't be acceptable.
You will be looked down upon by your co-workers when you tell them that you still live at home.
This guy saying you will be looked down upon is just being a dick, but in all truth get an apartment. I and doing my 4th internship this summer and although its not traditional IB, it is a FO roll with 12 hour days. Tacking another 1.5hours each day on to that with my commute is hard, but it saves me a lot of money.
Yea it's expensive, but if you can afford it, definitely live in the city. It will also be a lot of fun.
Honestly it sounds like a lot of money right now, but in the long run its absolutely nothing. The only thing I could imagine worse than being an entry level banker is doing it while living with your parents an hour away. Not to mention the logistics of if this is possible, the money associated with commuting, and assuming you value your time (which you wont have much of). You are going to miss out on a lot of experience by not living in the city and your reputation among your peers wont be as high if youre constantly skipping out on grabbing a beer after work to catch the train home. Especially in the beginning when youre getting to know people. Dont even want to bring up the effects this will have on your dating life..
This is a horrible idea. Have people not explained to you IB hours? You'll be getting less than ~4 hours of sleep during the week with this plan. It's not even about maintaining a social life, it's about not getting a heart attack.
Thanks for your comments everyone. I'm trying to find a place in the city now, just trying to find roommates.
Hey man, I'm in a very similar position and looking for a roommate. Please pm me if interested.
Christ, no. I lived an hour away from my first job and the commute about killed me working maybe 60 hours a week. You really don't understand how soul-crushing it is.
You will realize that removing that brutal commute from your routine will give you so much more energy at the end of the day. If you can afford to live in the city, do it.
Rough hours - how do you guys have time to socialize and have beers at the same time?
An hour commute sucks. A lot. Don't do it, especially if you're at a firm where you could be working 80+ a week.
No way. Those 2 hours are about 33% of your sleep time! a significant portion since 6 hours a night is relatively unsustainable as is.
Tell your parents their over-bearing methods have paid off; you are now an investment banking analyst and they can ease up a little.
My commute - and I definitely work less than you will be - is 30-45 minutes and it is absolutely unbearable. On the way home, it feels like a complete waste of time (which, well, it is). It'll be worth the time, money, and stress reduction.
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