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So now that most of us are done with our SA positions, how much $$ do people think they will have saved? I am feeling pretty inadequate because after my vacation, I will only have around 3K saved. But still so happy to have a free vacation and no loans for the summer.

somewhere around -5k

Saved about 15. Gonna blow 5 on vacation, then put the rest towards rent this year.

I have about $15k saved thanks to living at home. It's mostly going to tuition and rent. A little towards a new laptop, since I'm still rocking the macbook I bought before college.

I put around 15K towards debt and savings. If you have extra cash and aren't planning to pay down debt with it, here are some smart financial tips:

(1) Series I savings bonds are like the greatest investment vehicle known to man. They don't get much press because there's a $5,000 / year limit, but that's perfect for johnny-SA who has more $$$ in the checking account than they know what to do with.

(2) You will not qualify for a Roth IRA in years where you earn a full biglaw salary. Thus this year and probably next (stub year at the firm) will be the last you can use this awesome investment vehicle. Again, the limit is ~$5,000 / year.

(3) Whether in a Roth IRA or otherwise, opening an investment account could be smart. We're not talking about daytrading - owning a broad stock market index fund as well as a broad bond index fund (both with low expense rations) is a great way to put your money 'to work' for you. It's only smart for money you have a long investing horizon on, you won't double your money in a year or anything. But they're hard (read: theoretically mathematically impossible) to beat for the average long-term investor.

Vanguard is a great company offering both great low-cost index funds and brokerage services (i.e. you can set up a Roth IRA through them and buy their total stock / total bond funds, or a target retirement fund, in that roth). Many others are good, but vanguard really sets the bar for low-fee investing - and fees are fatal to adequate long term returns.

Basically, if you want to fire and forget an investment without doing a shit ton of research, you can't go wrong with index funds at vanguard. The market could go up or could go down, especially in the short term, but you avoid many other costly mistakes or fees by taking this route.

^ excellent advice all the way around

^ fyi, you can buy $10k of I bonds per year if you buy them electronically through TreasuryDirect.

0L Hoping for 1 wrote:So now that most of us are done with our SA positions, how much $$ do people think they will have saved? I am feeling pretty inadequate because after my vacation, I will only have around 3K saved. But still so happy to have a free vacation and no loans for the summer.

Didn't really save anything, but have a tan & some great new toys. Will also get a giant tax return, so I guess that is kind of like savings.

I made nearly 40k in my three years of law school and didn't save a dime of it lol.