The most prestigious law school admissions discussion board in the world.
|
 |
 
|
Does it make sense to live in EAST VILLAGE?
Poast new message in this thread
Date: July 28th, 2012 11:34 PM
|
Date: July 28th, 2012 11:59 PM
I'd consider some Brooklyn/Queens neighborhoods if you're looking for that price range with stuff to do at night.
Where are you commuting to? |
 |
Date: July 29th, 2012 12:06 AM |
|
Date: July 29th, 2012 12:09 AM |
|
Date: July 29th, 2012 12:16 AM |
|
Date: July 29th, 2012 12:18 AM |
|
Date: July 29th, 2012 8:12 AM
Assuming you max out your 401k after about 3 years your takehome will be about $8k/month. If you've hustled you'll MAYBE be down to $150k in debt with a monthly minimum payment between 2k and 2.5k depending on your interest rates.
$8k minus $3k for rent minus $2.5k for minimums on loans equals $2.5k left over every month for life + savings. That's not bad in terms of QOL, but it won't let you save a lot or throw a lot extra at your loans every month.
BIGLAW only sounds like great money before you get there. The reality is that inflation, frozen salaries, shitty bonuses and exploding student loan burdens with high interest rates make this a much, much less good job than it was 10 years ago. Still better than the alternatives, but you're not going to be balling debt-free as a 4th year.
With $230k in loans, the best you can hope for is 5 years of a comfortable but not extravagant lifestyle that will allow you to leave the job you will by then HATE with maybe $100k in student loans, $100k in a 401k and $20k or so in cash. This will allow you to move to another job that you hate slightly less where you will make enough to cover the $2k/month you'll still be paying on your loans while hopefully not downgrading your lifestyle too much.
This is a shitty profession. |
|
Date: July 29th, 2012 8:22 AM |
|
Date: July 29th, 2012 8:54 AM
I give myself a $4k vacation budget every year, every year have been some place cool like Thailand or Argentina. I live alone in an apt in Manhattan that costs me ~$2500/month. I try to avoid eating out at places that cost more than Chipotle unless I'm on a date or the firm is paying. I don't have cable because I'm never home to watch it anyway, and Netflix/Hulu are cheaper.
I'm hoping to make it another 2 years. This job really sucks. |
|
Date: July 29th, 2012 12:19 AM |
|
Date: July 29th, 2012 12:20 AM |
|
Date: July 29th, 2012 12:26 AM |
|
Date: July 29th, 2012 12:28 AM |
|
Date: July 29th, 2012 1:17 AM |
|
Date: July 29th, 2012 11:25 AM |
|
Date: July 29th, 2012 11:07 AM |
|
Date: July 29th, 2012 11:20 AM |
|
Date: July 29th, 2012 8:24 AM |
|
Date: July 29th, 2012 9:27 AM
People who say shit like this clearly do not work in BIGLAW (and probably never will). |
|
Date: July 29th, 2012 9:20 AM |
|
Date: July 29th, 2012 10:40 AM |
|
Date: July 29th, 2012 11:00 AM
Two helpful questions...
What type of bro are you? The more bro like you are the more you should consider Murray Hill, it's insanely cheap and convenient for you and plenty of nightlife if you like that type of nightlife.
If you're a little more off the beaten path than east village is a better neighborhood for you (though you'll obviously be perfectly fine in either neighborhood).
How much do you care about living in a nice place and how do you feel about roommates?
If you're going to spend 2-2.5k on a 1br, it'll be perfectly livable, but not particularly nice. If you spend 2-2.5k on a 3br it'll be REALLY god damn nice. I personally did the latter because I had good friends in NY, but I probably would have found some roommates even if I didn't because he QOL is so much better with roommates.
As for midtown east, you'll be fine everywhere from 100s to LES to get there in under 20 minutes on the subway (queens is also really quick to midtown east and has great value), just try not to be east of 1st or maybe A depending on how much you care about a long walk to the subway.
Feel free to ask whatever I know the area very well. |
|
Date: July 29th, 2012 11:20 AM
http://guestofaguest.com/new-york/nyc/every-woman-in-manhattan-is-single-and-its-their-fault
|
|
Date: July 29th, 2012 11:10 AM |
|
Date: July 29th, 2012 11:18 AM
Posts like this really arent that helpful. Yes LS was a WAY better deal 10 or even 5 years ago but I didn't make any egregious budgeting error here mang. |
|
Date: July 29th, 2012 11:19 AM |
|
Date: July 29th, 2012 11:23 AM
I'm just an SA, that's why I'm figuring out where to live/ what I can realistically afford without being miserable. |
|
Date: July 29th, 2012 12:09 PM
Assuming you want to max out your 401k (which I STRONGLY recommend that you do because of the tax savings), as a fist year your takehome pay will be about 7k per month. As a second year, about 7.5k. Third year 8k. Bonuses will be negligible after taxes (~$4k, ~$6k, ~$9k), so don't count on them. The minimum on your loans will be $2600-$2900 depending on your interest rates, so let's call it $3k just to be safe. This means that after paying the minimum on your loans, you will have left over:
1st year: 4k/month 2nd year: 4.5k 3rd year: 5k
After that it's really just figuring out what your priorities are. You can def afford a 2.5k 1 bedroom for just yourself. Just realize that if you do that, you will likely not be able to pay any extra on your loans until probably your third year or so, at which point you will still owe ~$200k and will likely not have very much in savings.
I'm not telling you not to do it. Only you can decide what your priorities are. If you have parents who are willing to help out if something goes wrong, cash savings may not be as important to you as to some other people. If you KNOW (not think, but KNOW based on actual relevant concrete experience, like having worked 80 hours a week in a bank for 2 years before law school and having dealt with it okay) that you'll be able to make it 5 years at the firm, then you can probably spend more than other people who have no idea whether they'll last longer than 18 months.
Do what you want, just keep your eye on long-term goals. If you can put an extra $1000 towards your loans during the first couple of years by having a roommate or two, you'll enter your third year $170k in debt instead of $200k, your monthly payment will be lower by about $400/month.
Lowering your monthly payments by paying off high interest loans first is KEY because your remaining monthly payment will largely dictate when you can actually afford to leave BIGLAW.
Another thing to consider if you really don't want to have roommates and don't have much furniture is living in a studio on the UES for your first year for <$2000. Your ability to amp up your lifestyle in your 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc. years at the firm will correlate DIRECTLY to your ability to save in your early years. The raises are only about $500/month after taxes. Figure on rent going up by $150/month or so every year, and it's easy to see that most of the amped up lifestyle will come from reduced student loan obligations achieved by paying more than the minimums in the early years. |