wise words! wise words! If i can get into an i-banking gig, (currently big 4 valuation intern), I plan on living the same way. Are there more of people like you out there? I feel like everything I read here is about who is the biggest pompous arrogant person around and lets go clubbing, or to the top bar, etc. It is good to here that some people out there do actually just want to be in the finance industry, like the atmoshpere, and live quiet lifestyles then going into it for the pay

'man made money
money never made the man'

that's ll cool j. its funny that a rapper figured out what most ib analysts are not even aware of.

deflation deflation deflation... cash is king

dude iliiniprogrammer always posts about hangliding and biking and shit... he sounds like has a sweet life... i don't think he enjoys new york that much but from the way it sounds he has a pretty extreme lifestyle... i know i couldn't do that shit lol

always save some money but dont save too much on life quality. you might earn as much as you make in a year now per month later in your life, but it's only half as fulfilling when you are old.

Most of your net worth as college graduate is in the form of long-term earnings potential, not the mere few K's that you have the option of saving as an analyst. Although frugality might have served one the short run in the past three years, it is not necessarily advisable to those with true expectation of future wealth.

Although your maxim may feel like good advice nowadays, you forget that leveraging up with expectation of high return later is likely to be the rational strategy that helps you begin feeling the benefits of that wealth earlier on.

I also wouldn't blame the risk takers. They are the most likely to reap the rewards and realize their potential.

While it may seem like the smart and practical thing to do, I have to totally disagree with OP. My mentor (family friend) is a partner level md at GS and I get the pleasure of having dinner with him once every few months when he is in California. Even while I was growing up, he told me to not worry about the little things in life such as saving money and being frugal. I thought he was fucking retarded when he told me that, but after hearing his explanations, it really made sense.

If you ask any guy who is at least 40 years old that has built himself a sizable net worth (>2M) based on hard work if he is willing to exchange $250,000 to be able to relive his youth (ages 22-28) again, he will say YES in a heartbeat. And $250,000 is a high estimate for the amount of money that one would save over the course of 6 years.

This mentor has discouraged me ever since freshman year from entering IB (as an analyst) and he refuses to help his son with getting an internship in IB. Instead, he pushes us to live life and make memories and then enter IB as an associate after b school if that's what we really want to do.

How much can you REALLY save during the first few years out of college? Maybe $30,000 a year? Once you make VP in your mid 30's you will make all the money that you would have saved by living frugally in a single month! So go out, piss away your measly analyst bonus, and enjoy life!

*obviously everyone should have a rainy day fund, but not as dramatic as Illiniprogrammer puts it.

my $0.02:

I both agree and disagree with you, OP.

I mean, I spot on agree on what you suggests NOT to do, but I think that you go too far with your frugality.

What makes or breaks the whole thing is not how much you spend, but how you spend it. $400 for a night out is f**king stupid. But I think if you were to find an opportunity to spend $200 and have a great fun, that should be taken, provided of course that it leaves you enough resources to continue paying up your studend debts at a fast rate and that you have a nice chest for rainy days.

$200 in what? Well, the answer varies from person to person. For example, as Illini would probably agree, hangliding is awesome (don't know how much it costs in the US). If you were in London, given some planning, with $300 you could take a low cost flight to anywhere in Europe and have an awesome weekend with friends living there. As many others, said, $30-40 in the right places and the right company beat the $400 club 7 to 1.

Bottom point: don't be f**king stupid with your money, but don't play Scrooge either.

Still, if you are happy with a frugal style, and you feel you won't regret it later, go for it. Just don't do it out of paranoia.

All this tells me is that the grass is always greener. I'm sure that for every guy who wants to relive his youth because he "worked too hard", there is another that wants to relive his youth because he didn't work hard enough and is stuck in a dead end job living paycheck to paycheck for the rest of his life. Personal finance advice from a rich, successful guy, with a midlife crisis, should not be taken as gospel.

IlliniProgrammer, you never cease to amaze me. Sound advice like this is how a person becomes wealthy. I always enjoy reading your posts, like I've said before.

A person's net worth will primarily be determined by how much they save. Investing is important, like you were saying. However, investing your own personal funds is the best, in the long run. The way you're living you'll be able to make some good investments while still staying out of too much personal debt. Plus, sounds like your hobbies won't give you STDs.

Living conservatively can be a great way to accumulate wealth.

someone above got it right when they said its worth it to live closr to work. bankers should understand this economic concept: its not about the money per se, as much as the utility you ultimately get out of that money.

all the money you could save by living an extra 30 minutes away is like 1/10th of one years bonus if you excel and get promoted in finaince. makes a lot more sense to live closer.

ditto to all this don't drink live frugal stuff. this doesn't mean you should blow through money either though. use your common sense and make sure you have enough money to cover our obligations and potential emergencies. don't think saving on analyst drinking money is the path to long term wealth tho, its not. the point is just to enjoy as much as possible w/out going broke and while excelling at work.

gl

Very wise words. I wish I was as frugal.

Definitely agree on being frugal. There are right ways to do it- for example, until recently, I lived w/ roommates, but I didn't see this as a negative at all- coming home to an empty house seemed terribly depressing to me, and I chose my roommates carefully, and am still friends with most of them.

You should go to the clubs every now and then, just for the experience, and even get a table, just to see what its like. If you make a habit out of that though, you are a friggen moron and should really just give in and start going to whorehouses and massage parlors- its cheaper. I have never been a big fan of tables at clubs- you are going to clubs to meet new people right? Why would you pay extra for something that tends to keep you and your friends anchored in one place? Same w/ restaurants, go every once in a while, see what really awesome food is like, but don't make it a habit.

I have always found that its where you at, not who you are with that determines how good a time you have. Look back on what you consider to be the most fun nights you have ever had- was it because the DJ was so awesome, or you had a table at some expensive place? Or was it because your buddy (or perhaps you) got so shitfaced that he went home in a cab w/ some old cougar chick from Brooklyn and woke up not having a clue as to where he was or how to get home? The best times of my life were drinking beers out of a keg, or $1 buds, not $15 grey goose.

To me, saving is more about getting freedom- freedom from having to take your boss's shit, from paying a mortgage each month, freedom to tell your cell phone company that overcharged you for the 10th farking time to take their shady ass billing practices and shove it up their ass, and yes you can go report me and lower my credit score all the F you want, because I don't need credit anymore. Even when I get to that point, I will probably still work and all that, but knowing that I don't HAVE to, will be absolutely thrilling and lower my blood pressure.

IP,

Your "cognitive dissonance" comment in the "Ted thread" had me bawling. So many "players" so deep into the "game" they don't even realize how to "keep score".

I think the "aura" of NYC knocks a lot of younger kittens on their tails. You don't need me telling you that you've got the right attitude but you do.

As someone who is an analyst @ a BB in S&T, and lives in one of the "nicer" parts of manhattan, my best advice is to save ALL or damn near close to all of your bonus. If you go to meatpacking one a weekend or every other weekend, you can still have an awesome time--also get hammered before, no need to get table service EVERY time, trust me getting laid isnt dependent on bottle service, at least if you can spit some game

The biggest problem with this is that he's giving this advice assuming that you'll turn into a BSD high net worth person in your 40's. Well, OF COURSE the 40 year old MD wouldn't think twice about turning back the clock and not saving when he was in his 20's. Not everyone is going to have a $2mm net worth later in life due to choice or circumstances.

But think of the idea of the salesman. If he is struggling, he doesn't downsize into a worse car and suit, he gets the new car and new suit. It's all about positive signals! Signalling is needed to info assymetries. You must project an air of success in life; it will become reinforcing.

I am planning on spending about 1/3 of my after tax income on rent. Does that sound about right?