What were your 'milestone' purchases?

What did you buy to celebrate your first SA offer? The day you converted? Or maybe the day you moved into your first NYC/London flat?

Not attempting to as pompous, I feel this type of thing is a very interesting glimpse it other peoples' thoughts, lives and aspirations. Makes everything seem a bit more 'real' and is a good distraction from the endless virus related news.

I bought my mom a louis vuitton handbag (not a tremendously expensive one, but don't worry we'll get there ; ) and I bought myself sony mx3's and kit for a sport I play when I got my summer offer xd

Any meaningful items/experiences you'd like to share : )

 

-First Summer Offer: Several hundred pounds of top shelf weed for me and my housemates. Took my then girlfriend to a nice restaurant

-Second Summer Offer (Rip conversion lol): Bought a new acoustic guitar and some GMAT prep books. Bought my little sister some jewellery and a coach backpack for her 17th birthday.

-Day I converted: Took my mom and siblings to a steakhouse and paid off some debts my mom was in (nothing massive, just some credit card stuff and overdue rent)

-Day I signed my first NYC flat: Took my current girlfriend to a 3 Michelin starred restaurant

-Day I finished FT training: Disneyland tickets

 
Funniest

Who else though he was referring to pounds as in lbs, and thought we were dealing with el chapo here.

 
Controversial

nothing because I rather put cash into investments accounts and retire early instead of buying materialistic items that only provide short term gratification

 

Eh, not a fan of this actually. Let’s say you earn £10k over a SA gig (obv it’ll actually be less than that due to rent/travel/food etc) and are able to buy an etf that produces an 8% annual return.

I feel like the £800 you get will pale in comparison to the relivable happiness you can get from reminiscing on life milestones like this. Once you start working as an analyst, the initial 10k you can contribute to your investments will be extremely negligible than the amount you will end up investing as you work throughout the years. Obv I’m not compounding, but I’d rather have say £290k saved up in the bank by the time I’m thirty rather than £300k but be able to think back at the ‘start’ of all of this and how far you’ve come since then where hopefully your future indulgences will be far more substantive than the little things we buy with a summer job say.

I think it mainly depends on where you were in life prior to the milestone. Didn’t have an enormous amount of money growing up and dressed somewhat plainly through uni. But dropping £2k on say a new wardrobe of staples can be an enormous upgrade in the quality of your life.

Apologies about the wall of text, was just on my mind.

 

agree and disagree, because you can always spend that money later and have even more left over.

I agree for things that improve your life and that’s the example you used - getting a new wardrobe, eating better quality food, saying it’s ok to Uber around, etc. etc. are all quality of life improvements that are sensible things to buy.

but what about buying a car or watch new vs used/vintage, etc. - saving 10k there is sensible. I disagree with what you’re saying because you’re still making good decisions and the way you framed what you’re saying is that it’s somewhat novel or against the grain. you can sell a watch or gold that holds certain value, but there are always things you can buy that aren’t worth it- can you make an argument against buying designer clothes (not necessarily quality)? curious to hear anyone’s thoughts on this. I’d say ~5% is great for just “blowing money” like vacations or alc/weed/drugs/etc.

thoughts? I think it has a lot to do with personality / character / life experiences that decide what lifestyle you’re ok with. in the end, just because you make good money doesn’t mean you manage it well. the thing is you won’t be able to retire on 290 or 300, and saving a bit extra to retire 5 years early or having good money management May allow you to retire 10-20 years early and live comfortably.

 

6cab59

nothing because I rather put cash into investments accounts and retire early instead of buying materialistic items that only provide short term gratification

short term gratification? my sauna has a 10 year warranty.

heister: Look at all these wannabe richies hating on an expensive salad. https://arthuxtable.com/
 

My family has always gifted me stuff for milestones. Got a Mont Blanc pen for passing my first real exams (think A-Level/SAT with highest marks) from my mom, got a nice watch from my dad when I turned 20. So not really into buying myself things.

Did go to Asia for 3 weeks after my summer internship after converting. Was planning on going to Africa for 2/3 weeks before my FT jobs starts in but needless to say Covid killed it.

 

I do agree, but I think you have to get to a certain point before experiences start eclipsing items in terms of marginal increases in happiness.

Doesn’t have to be a lot - could be simple things like well fitted clothing, enough of a variety to ‘dress well’, a decent skin care routine etc. If that makes sense, all imo anyway

 
"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Got my SA offer 2 days ago. Bought an expensive jersey with my 1/2 the value of my signing bonus

Edit: To provide more clarity, I bought a signed jersey of my favorite athlete. I would say who it is, but the team fan base is small, and it could definitely dox me

 

You got a signing bonus for SA? I'm London, don't think they do that here...

 
Most Helpful

Im giving my parents 1/4 of my bonus this year and banking the rest. I originally had planned to buy a decent used watch (think omega, tudor, tag) but after reflecting on it for some time, I determined the coolest thing I could do with my bonus is save it.

I grew up lower middle class but always had the best life growing up - always had a ton of really close friendships and from a very early age I knew that I was beyond lucky in that regard. After experiencing college and my first year as an analyst I legitimately laugh at some seniors and peers who dont even realize how seduced they are by wealth -- im talking about things such as when you inquire about a ski trip, and rather than talking about the actual skiing/mountain, the person on the other end talks all about the fine dining, the quality of the resort, etc...but never about the actual skiing. i never have and never will give a fuck about any of that. I do not consider the external perception of what i do to enjoy life. i do things like ski because i naturally enjoy it and it makes me happy.

So, my thought is that if i find myself perniciously corrupted by the fantasy of great wealth when im older, i hope that i will remember that I was the kid who did not buy anything fancy with his bonus because he promised to never turn into one of those people.

 

Good on you. It looks like you're an associate. How big a bonus we talking here?

 

my family is not well-off and i felt like i was trying to fit in and succumbbed to peer pressure.. also know kids whose family can easily afford canada goose jackets who just choose to wear north face instead, which made me feel like i on the other hand am being someone that i am not.. that just reminded me that I have not MADE IT yet and I should not indulge in conspicuous consumption at such an early stage of my career / life.

 

I got 50% off from someone using an employee discount and giving it to me and I still regret it because it’s a bit too much of a brand. also they use duck down and not goose which pisses me off because they’re called Canada GOOSE for some reason although i doubt its a huge difference. they are huge margin for sure (manufacturer sells to CG to $100-200, CG to distributors for probably 4-500, then stores sell for 800-1150/full price)

but, if it lasts for 20 years then I’m cool with it I just don’t know if it will ya know? plus kinda hard to wear a suit under, pea coats are better and look better for that. anyway CG isn’t bad if you use it for a long time. avg coat is like 25-50 per year over useful life anyway so I should reasonably be happy after 10-15 years.

 

Preppy chicks dig it, so if that's your preference you will be golden.

 

Don't sweat it and enjoy the jacket. The good thing is that you reflected onto what's important for you and what makes you feel comfortable as a person. It took you a jacket to find it out. Others are still buying Ferraris and Bentleys and are still clueless about it. Well done, a further step into growing your personality in this new chapter of your life.

Btw. Moncler is in between a product for the masses. Look at previous brands from owner. If you are looking for something expensive or with more cachet there are better alternatives.

 
TechtileConsultant:
- Got a job: Bought a Moleskine notebook and a GMAT prep book
  • Saved $100K: Bought my dad a nice SUV

  • Got married: Bought my first apartment and car

  • Last year: Bought my dad-in-law a nice car

  • Got into an MBA: planning to buy a nice watch

I come from extreme poverty and I am happy with where I am.

God damn. That is a lot of money....it would take me a decade to save that much.

 

I bought a bottle of champagne whenever I accepted an offer for an internship;

  1. Placement Year: Magnum of Moet
  2. First SA: Normal Moet
  3. First IBD SA / Getting into target Master's: Dom Perignon
  4. First BB IBD SA: Piper-Heidsieck Rare Brut

It's nice to share with friends and you can also keep the bottles as a reminder of your own professional development.

Array
 

I've thought about milestone purchases often and made a mental list of things I would have liked (e.g. watches, clothes etc) but when the moment comes I always seem to get a very strong sense of hesitation and never go through with it. I'm always happy to spend money on others but never just on myself. Recent milestones have ended up with my taking family/my SO out to dinner or on trips because I don't want material things for myself. Happy to buy them for others though.

 

The minute I got my first SA offer I emailed everyone I knew to try and get a better SA offer, found a not-even-close-to-BB-bank in S&T (BNP/Cantor/Stifel/SocGen)...as soon as I got the FT offer from that internship, looked around for something else...

In conclusion: started with a summer offer from a rating agency October 2018 and ended September 2019 with a front office offer at a tier 2 BB (Barc/CS/Citi, BAML)

After that, I chilled out in school and prob treated myself to not-leftovers for dinner

 

My first legitimate job was working as a host/hostess stand at a major American chain restaurant. I was 16 years old. I bought a Levis' trucker jacket with my first paycheck, and still wear it semi-regularly 8 years later.

After I got my first bonus in my physical oil and gas scheduling job was a nice tennis racket and shoes. Pretty damn simple, but I wanted something practical that I wouldn't splurge on otherwise.

 

Incoming SA here. originally was going to buy a starter watch bc I know all the cuck interns in IB have daddy’s money and always flex watches. but now that it’s virtual I’m investing it. markets low right now and I don’t need anything currently.

 

How much of it are you gonna invest? I can understand say funding a few £250 trading accounts to practice but realistically my man doing any form of active investing with say the £8-9k is a bit risky, and you can’t really put it in an index fund or etf atm

 

Eh, it's about how much utility you get out of it. If you wear your sunglasses only twice a week for a year you'll spend less on them than daily coffee ($300 / 100 times worn = $3/day)

Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes.
 

Used part of my first bonus to buy a bike. Greg LeMond would go on to win his 2nd TdF that summer. It was a while back :) Good memories!

Retired Navy, Data Analyst, Data Engineer, Data Scientist, Quant, or whatever term for the "numbers guy"
 

Nothing out of the ordinary since I have never been a very materialistic person (haven't bought new clothes since I went to college besides for networking events or family buying those for me when I'm at home) but after realizing that excel runs insanely slow with a couple of data analysis (from the Analysis ToolPak) I am currently looking for RAM upgrades - the 16gb one is around $80 and it seems like a good value add.

 

Can someone reply to me and tell me why everyone wants to buy a new watch? I'm very confused, it seems out of date to me since you can see the time with your phone or a clock

 

I think buying material things when you realize your first nice paycheck is always a bad idea because it builds bad habits. It doesn't make you very different from other idiots living paycheck to paycheck.

Invest it, and once you have some cash flow coming in from money that isn't strictly tied to your time (this means you're still poor), then feel free to buy some dumb shit.

 

Not at all. I have made and lost a lot of money enough times to know not to spend a decent portion of my cash on anything other than investments. It doesn't take long for this to compound and yield great results. After a little while, you can blow cash on dumb things without feeling it at all. Also during times like this...it's awesome having a cash cushion that I can spend on buying cheap assets.

It really only takes a few years to get to the point where your spending can't keep up with what you're earning if you're remotely reasonable and allocate well early on...

 

This list is reading more like big purchases in life I had to make with my bonus... life in the BO/MO for you I guess.

Placement Year: Used sports car that cost 15K

Y1 Bonus: Nice Christmas presents for my family and a ton of music festival tickets for myself

Y2: 6 bottles of Veuve for this NYE party I threw, New mid-level SuitSupply Suit ($700 if I remember correctly), more festival tickets

Y3: Moved to a BB this year. Got some nicer dress shirts (mostly from Brooks but splurged on some customs as well) and some Italian ties (Zegna, Ferragamo, Versace, etc.). 2 pairs of Allen Edmonds (finally I thought I had made it lol). Golf outing at a local PGA-tour resort ($200 tee time)

Y4: New Laptop. Traveled a lot to visit old friends from College. $500 Michelin star dinner with my family to celebrate me going to B School and my sibling going to college.

 

Analyst stub - Essentially threw it away, went to Vegas the weekend after bonuses and then steadily depleted the rest through my first summer in the city

Would I change my decision in hindsight? Absolutely not.

 

Just investing my bonuses. Eventually I want to give some money to my parents and get my siblings some nice Christmas presents.

On a different note, I won a cash bet with an executive at my firm for several thousand dollars cash (not going to say what I did as my entire firm knows about it and I don’t want to dox myself). Now I have all my poker games bankrolled for the foreseeable future.

 
  • First "big boy" intership: Bought a new laptop (used) and running shoes
  • Current internship + GMAT: Bought a decent suit and hand-crafted dress shoes

  • When I start with my masters: A pair of full-brogues and a nice but affordable watch (300-800€)
  • When I graduate: A good suit and a nicer watch (1,500€+)
  • When I get a real big boy job: A girlfriend
 

If you're not joking about that last bullet point I'd urge you to reconsider. I can understand why you might have that sentiment, since I've had the mentality to deprive myself of nice things until I reach some arbitrary milestone. However, doing so did not help me reach the next level and actually made me depressed. If you have an opportunity to do something nice (so long as it's not outrageously expensive), you should go for it

I’m a fun guy. Obviously I love the game of basketball. I mean there’s more questions you have to ask me in order for me to tell you about myself. I'm not just gonna give you a whole spill... I mean, I don't even know where you're sitting at
 

No no, I am used to being kinda unsatisfied with almost everything I´ve ever done; the problem runs in the family and is based on a narcisstic streak. At some point, you just accept that you will never be happy.

 

First year bonus: Invested Second year bonus: Bought an Audi (amazing car) Third year bonus: paid off parent's loan (best feeling in the world)

“Self-control is strength. Right thought is mastery. Calmness is power. ” - James Allen
 

After I got the return offer this past summer I bought a bottle of blue label, a cigar an eight ball and got a table with some of boys that night.

Can't wait to do it again once that year end bonus hits.

 

A nice mattress. Started in IB after doing a job i hated for 2 years getting paid crap. Never had the cash for a ~$2k purchase until a few months into my new gig. I was sleeping on an old full i bought used off craigslist in college. It got rained on strapped to the roof of my car driving home after graduation - had a nice smell to it.

I have plenty of nice shit, watches, car, etc. BUT nothing made me feel like i had "made it" more than sleeping in my new bed the first time.

 

To all those in IB who said they bought cars for themselves as milestone purchases (congrats btw!), are you guys based out of NYC? And if so, where are you parking your cars?

I ask because I'm an incoming Associate at an EB and am thinking of purchasing a car, for leisure such as weekend trips, golf outings, etc. I live in the Newport/JC area and my building has a garage. Any fellow IB-ers living in Newport/JC/Hoboken who have cars?

 

Curious, where did you end up parking? If I had seen this post earlier I would have told you to just pay for a spot in your building's parking garage bc it can get even more expensive otherwise.

 

SA offer: partied with my friends and got extremely drunk

FT offer: partied with my friends and got extremely drunk

I see a pattern here...

 

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