prestige over money or money over prestige

[Burning Sands, Esq.]

lol your law school furniture wasn't good enough, huh

Man WHAT law school furniture?!?

I've had roommates since (and during) undergrad.  I've never owned a couch until about 5 or 6 weeks ago.  LOL  Sad but true.

[A.]

I wish that were the case with me.  But I had to buy furniture last year when I moved out of the dorms (which they subsequently phased out).  Moving in a couple of months is going to be a female dog.  But I guess at least I can gradually replace stuff instead of having to buy everything up front.

[Burning Sands, Esq.]

Although $10-15k/year when you're bringing home $100k isn't that bad.

man...it's just one more thing to add to the list of things that you have to end up paying for starting off.  I ran into some of my fellow NY associate folks at a function the other day and it was funny, we're all sitting there talking about the practice and what not, and then somebody asked "ok so is anybody else living check to check or is it just me?"  The whole group threw their arms up like "THANK YOU!  I'M SAYIN!"  Nobody wanted to say it first but we were all thinking it.  My homegirl from Harvard was like "Please, my TV has been sitting on the floor for the past 3 months.  No TV stand!"

Its like, you make "all this money" on paper, yet you're not rich, but you don't wanna say that to your friends and family and outsiders because (i) they'll slap you, (ii) that doensn't make any sense because they know what you make and (iii) you yourself are wondering what the hell is going on.

At least in my case, I know where my money is going - bills, loans, rent and furniture for my new place, CLS courses, registration in NY for my car, my new license, new suits, ties and shoes for work, etc. etc. etc.  I like to call these "Start Up" costs, like when you start a new business because these are all, for the most part, initial fees that I will never have to pay again.  At least not for a long time.   I couldn't very well go without a bed, so I saved up and bought a good one.  Now I got that bed problem covered.  Next I needed a couch, and so on and so on.  And for me, I try to avoid "financing" more crap like tables and mattresses and crap.  I've got 3 credit cards, and that's enough for me.

So starting off is a little tough.  Living in a big city doesn't exactly help either.  After a few months it all starts to balance out though.  You still have some recurring costs and debts but after you've become more established they're not so bad.  (its all relative)

This is why I'm seriously considering moving back home for a year after school is over. I'd rather not pay rent and save that money for a down payment.  Plus, I wouldn't have to buy furniture, food, all that crap, though of course, I'd give my mom a good bit of money monthly.  But I rather give it to her than some random.

That would be the smart move, in my opinion.  If guys were allowed to live with their moms as grown men (c'mon ladies, you know what I'm talkin about) and my mom lived in the tri-state area, sure, I would have been chillin on her couch with the quickness to do just that.  You should be able to save about $30k inside of 6 months easily without breaking a sweat.  That's enough for a down payment at most spots, even at 10%.  If not, just save a little more and call it a day.

[deedeeleigh]

This is why I'm seriously considering moving back home for a year after school is over. I'd rather not pay rent and save that money for a down payment.  Plus, I wouldn't have to buy furniture, food, all that crap, though of course, I'd give my mom a good bit of money monthly.  But I rather give it to her than some random.

This is my Dad's plan for me, though I'd be 30 years old at the time and it just seems wrong. MCB are you not worrying about the commute in? I know my parents place in Bklyn is way the hell down on a slow line, and with the hours NYC firms require...then again, they do give you a towncar to get home every night.

All this talk makes me seriously consider other areas, like Philly and Wilmington.  Why don't more people go to these areas? They pay 145, but the city tax in NYC alone is about or more than 15k a year, so that's a wash, and the COL is so much cheaper.

It's so good to hear from current associates on how the costs work out. It just doesn't seem right to be living paycheck to paycheck and working those crazy hours.

[Special Agent Dana Scully]

This is why I'm seriously considering moving back home for a year after school is over. I'd rather not pay rent and save that money for a down payment.  Plus, I wouldn't have to buy furniture, food, all that crap, though of course, I'd give my mom a good bit of money monthly.  But I rather give it to her than some random.

This is my Dad's plan for me, though I'd be 30 years old at the time and it just seems wrong. MCB are you not worrying about the commute in? I know my parents place in Bklyn is way the hell down on a slow line, and with the hours NYC firms require...then again, they do give you a towncar to get home every night.

All this talk makes me seriously consider other areas, like Philly and Wilmington.  Why don't more people go to these areas? They pay 145, but the city tax in NYC alone is about or more than 15k a year, so that's a wash, and the COL is so much cheaper.

It's so good to hear from current associates on how the costs work out. It just doesn't seem right to be living paycheck to paycheck and working those crazy hours.

Yes to the bolded.  But, I worked at a firm around midtown or the lower east or west sides, the commute would be about 45 mins.  Not too bad.  But I could deal with it if it meant that I could pay my loans off quicker and/or save faster for a downpayement on a condo or something.

[Burning Sands, Esq.]

This is why I'm seriously considering moving back home for a year after school is over. I'd rather not pay rent and save that money for a down payment.  Plus, I wouldn't have to buy furniture, food, all that crap, though of course, I'd give my mom a good bit of money monthly.  But I rather give it to her than some random.

This is my Dad's plan for me, though I'd be 30 years old at the time and it just seems wrong. MCB are you not worrying about the commute in? I know my parents place in Bklyn is way the hell down on a slow line, and with the hours NYC firms require...then again, they do give you a towncar to get home every night.

All this talk makes me seriously consider other areas, like Philly and Wilmington.  Why don't more people go to these areas? They pay 145, but the city tax in NYC alone is about or more than 15k a year, so that's a wash, and the COL is so much cheaper.

It's so good to hear from current associates on how the costs work out. It just doesn't seem right to be living paycheck to paycheck and working those crazy hours.

Actually you'll be happy to know it's not quite that bad.

Direct quote from my bi-weekly pay stub:  "New York City Tax  222.74"

So that's about $445 a month, x 12 months = $5,345/yr.

Not quite 15k but bad enough still.

[Special Agent Dana Scully]

This is why I'm seriously considering moving back home for a year after school is over. I'd rather not pay rent and save that money for a down payment.  Plus, I wouldn't have to buy furniture, food, all that crap, though of course, I'd give my mom a good bit of money monthly.  But I rather give it to her than some random.

This is my Dad's plan for me, though I'd be 30 years old at the time and it just seems wrong. MCB are you not worrying about the commute in? I know my parents place in Bklyn is way the hell down on a slow line, and with the hours NYC firms require...then again, they do give you a towncar to get home every night.

All this talk makes me seriously consider other areas, like Philly and Wilmington.  Why don't more people go to these areas? They pay 145, but the city tax in NYC alone is about or more than 15k a year, so that's a wash, and the COL is so much cheaper.

It's so good to hear from current associates on how the costs work out. It just doesn't seem right to be living paycheck to paycheck and working those crazy hours.

Actually you'll be happy to know it's not quite that bad.

Direct quote from my bi-weekly pay stub:  "New York City Tax  222.74"

So that's about $445 a month, x 12 months = $5,345/yr.

Not quite 15k but bad enough still.

hell yea that's enough.  ahh well, at least you'll get a good tax return right?

you don't have to be specific, but how badly does the fed tax affect your take home figure?

[A.]

Why would he get a tax refund?  And if he does get one, he should adjust the next year so that he doesn't get one.  I'm not about giving the gov't interest-free loans.

[Special Agent Dana Scully]

Why would he get a tax refund?  And if he does get one, he should adjust the next year so that he doesn't get one.  I'm not about giving the gov't interest-free loans.

i'm thinking in terms of next year.

[greenplaid]

Yeah sounds like you overreacted.  Fill out the forms and go to Cornell.  End of thread.

 


Yeah, do what they said and see about $ for Cornell.

BTW, I went to Rutgers Newark and there are a couple of Cornell folks in my class at my firm in Manhattan and now we're all at the same place so...it all comes out in the wash I guess.   

Lol you know I didn't mean it like that.  Correction:

Yeah sounds like you overreacted.  Fill out the forms and go to Cornell, unless you can manage to be a supastar like Sands, which is statistically unlikely.  End of thread.

"supastar like Sands"
This is the consensus of the board Burning, Esq. You did and do take care of 'business.'
Hats Off!