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Incoming 1st year, NY, firm on 180K Scale. All told, have about ~$102K in debt, but burned through most of my personal savings to keep the principal on my loans as low as possible. Really thinking about living on LI with parents & commuting into the city to save money. Back of envelope calculations say I can largely pay off my loans in approx. 18/20 months that way.

I know that living with parents has a huge social stigma at these firms. But, I'm really afraid of only lasting 2 or 3 years at the firm (not my intent - but totally could happen), paying $2,500 a month in NY rent (thus not making a real dent on the loans), and being forced to go to a job where I can't make up for the loss in income & pay living expenses + loans...

Someone tell me I'm being overly negative.

Why would you ever need to tell anyone you live with your parents if you're worried about it? I live with a member of my extended family and the only times it has ever come up was when I actively brought it up. I also don't think anyone would care, but I'm not in the NY market.

How does having to pay 2,500 a month in rent mean not being able to make a real dent in loans? You're getting paid 180k (probably closer to 190 with bonus), so take-home is going to be around 110k. At that rent you'll be paying 30k towards rent, probably around 20k on food and other living expenses, and you'll have about 60k left over to do whatever the fuck you want with. If you put most of that towards loans, that's a pretty hefty dent.

Am I missing something?

Anonymous User wrote:Why would you ever need to tell anyone you live with your parents if you're worried about it? I live with a member of my extended family and the only times it has ever come up was when I actively brought it up. I also don't think anyone would care, but I'm not in the NY market.

This would be a reason. Favorite quote: "In fact, you are better off saying you sleep at your desk at work than to admit to sleeping in your childhood bed. Like it or not, nearly all clients or fellow lawyers would use such knowledge against you in some way."

http://abovethelaw.com/2016/06/beyond-b ... g-at-home/

Anonymous User wrote:How does having to pay 2,500 a month in rent mean not being able to make a real dent in loans? You're getting paid 180k (probably closer to 190 with bonus), so take-home is going to be around 120k. At that rent you'll be paying 30k towards rent, probably around 20k on food and other living expenses, and you'll have about 70k left over to do whatever the fuck you want with. If you put most of that towards loans, that's a pretty hefty dent.

Am I missing something?

You misread the post. My worry about NY prices was about post-biglaw. i.e. getting pushed out pretty quickly, and being stuck w/a large amount of student loans left.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:How does having to pay 2,500 a month in rent mean not being able to make a real dent in loans? You're getting paid 180k (probably closer to 190 with bonus), so take-home is going to be around 120k. At that rent you'll be paying 30k towards rent, probably around 20k on food and other living expenses, and you'll have about 70k left over to do whatever the fuck you want with. If you put most of that towards loans, that's a pretty hefty dent.

Am I missing something?

You misread the post. My worry about NY prices was about post-biglaw. i.e. getting pushed out pretty quickly, and being stuck w/a large amount of student loans left.

Wouldn't you have your loans payed off, or mostly payed off, by that point anyways? If you can drop 60k on your loans each year, and you last a couple years you'll be golden.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Why would you ever need to tell anyone you live with your parents if you're worried about it? I live with a member of my extended family and the only times it has ever come up was when I actively brought it up. I also don't think anyone would care, but I'm not in the NY market.

This would be a reason. Favorite quote: "In fact, you are better off saying you sleep at your desk at work than to admit to sleeping in your childhood bed. Like it or not, nearly all clients or fellow lawyers would use such knowledge against you in some way."

http://abovethelaw.com/2016/06/beyond-b ... g-at-home/

I think you're missing my point. You literally never have to mention who your roommates are. "I live on Long Island." Full stop. If anyone asks "why," you say "Oh, it's where I'm from." Full stop. Part of being a lawyer is learning not to volunteer unnecessary information.

Jesus christ, I would kill to be able to save 20k plus on rent each year while paying off debt in NYC.

kingpin101 wrote:Jesus christ, I would kill to be able to save 20k plus on rent each year while paying off debt in NYC.

I know what you mean. That ATL article (plus - not gonna lie - the general social stigma of being 26/27 and living at home) have me spooked a little, but it is otherwise a very good deal.

Anonymous User wrote:

kingpin101 wrote:Jesus christ, I would kill to be able to save 20k plus on rent each year while paying off debt in NYC.

I know what you mean. That ATL article (plus - not gonna lie - the general social stigma of being 26/27 and living at home) have me spooked a little, but it is otherwise a very good deal.

Fuck the professional social stigma. You can pretty much avoid that by not mentioning it. Seems like a non-issue.

Trying to get laid seems like a bigger problem. "Don't moan too loud. My parents are asleep in the next room."

maybe this is a west coast thing, but I have had multiple associates tell me during interviews that they live with their parents. i don't really buy the social stigma thing.

I have 20k-ish more in debt than you OP and feel the same fear about burning out early. But I don't know why you're so concerned. Yes, rent is a lot and you could save a lot but your debt to income ratio is good and you can easily pay it off in two years if you're a disciplined spender. Personally, I value living on my own too much to give it up, but if you're okay with it there's no problem at all. I just think your concerns are overblown.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:How does having to pay 2,500 a month in rent mean not being able to make a real dent in loans? You're getting paid 180k (probably closer to 190 with bonus), so take-home is going to be around 120k. At that rent you'll be paying 30k towards rent, probably around 20k on food and other living expenses, and you'll have about 70k left over to do whatever the fuck you want with. If you put most of that towards loans, that's a pretty hefty dent.

Am I missing something?

You misread the post. My worry about NY prices was about post-biglaw. i.e. getting pushed out pretty quickly, and being stuck w/a large amount of student loans left.

Wouldn't you have your loans payed off, or mostly payed off, by that point anyways? If you can drop 60k on your loans each year, and you last a couple years you'll be golden.

Realistically, NY first and second year associates can't pay $60k a year on loans. $4k/month is very aggressive, and that will get you almost to $50k payments in a year.

If you can withstand the commute, living with parents sounds very reasonable and its not really that embarassing for coworkers; it's more problematic for your social/sex life. I would not want to be single and twenty-something working biglaw hours and commuting to parents house while trying to functionally date and form relationships. That aside, though, its an envious financial position, I know several people doing it in other cities, and your coworkers shouldn't care.

First of all there's no reason you have to leave big law debt free. Your 100k debt load is not crippling and even if you only make it 2-3 years, if you leave with 40k or whatever you will be in fine shape. One of the reasons people sign up for big law is that what you do after usually continues to pay at least an upper middle class salary.

That being said, I think living with family is totally feasible if you can figure out the social aspects. I don't think the stigma is even a huge deal for friends, you don't necessarily even need to be up front about it just say you live out on Long Island. You can still travel to Manhattan to hang out with friends. Dating may be a struggle but again that comes down to your individual situation.

I'd be far more concerned about commuting from long island with biglaw hours than having to tell people you live with your parents. 102K is definitely not enough debt to justify that, you'll be able to make a serious dent in it while working biglaw even if you do get pushed out...and if you're afraid of being pushed out commuting from long island is a sure way to burn out quicker.

mhd501 wrote:I'd be far more concerned about commuting from long island with biglaw hours than having to tell people you live with your parents.

This is exactly what I was thinking. Getting a roommate and spending ~$1800/month to split a cheap apartment if you're that worried about paying down debt aggressively isn't a bad plan. If I were you I'd try the commute at first but be open to the idea of moving into the city after a few months if the hours/social life are too soul crushing.

Mlk&Ckies wrote:

mhd501 wrote:I'd be far more concerned about commuting from long island with biglaw hours than having to tell people you live with your parents.

This is exactly what I was thinking. Getting a roommate and spending ~$1800/month to split a cheap apartment if you're that worried about paying down debt aggressively isn't a bad plan. If I were you I'd try the commute at first but be open to the idea of moving into the city after a few months if the hours/social life are too soul crushing.

Yeah, the big issue here is the commute from LI. I know partners from my summer firm that did made it work, but their schedules are a lot more flexible than yours will be.

I agree with the advice above. Get some roommates in manhattan and paying less than $2k is doable. Live frugally and max out the 401k and pay down debt and you should be fine with managing your debt load even if you get canned.