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DC Biglawyers- What is your monthly expenditure?

Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2018 5:58 pm
by Anonymous User
Same topic as the NYC one but for DC. Interested in:

- rent (especially helpful if you list say either neighborhood or at least whether you live within the District, VA, or MD)
- Commute
- Loan payments
- Savings
- Expenditures
- Class year

Of course some people might not want to list certain things, but as much info would be helpful to us 3Ls planning. Thanks!

Re: DC Biglawyers- What is your monthly expenditure?

Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2018 6:12 pm
by Anonymous User
Anonymous User wrote:Same topic as the NYC one but for DC. Interested in:

- rent (especially helpful if you list say either neighborhood or at least whether you live within the District, VA, or MD)
- Commute
- Loan payments
- Savings
- Expenditures
- Class year

Of course some people might not want to list certain things, but as much info would be helpful to us 3Ls planning. Thanks!
- rent: $600/monthly (I live with a sibling)
- commute: 30 minutes, whether metro or car
- Loan payments: $1500 montly
- Savings: $10,000 currently
- Expenditures: food ($10-25 a day); car payment ($529 a month); credit cards ($200 a month); cell phone bill ($105 a month); vacations ($400 monthly for domestic and about $1100 every three months for international trips).
- Class year: first year associate
- Salary: I currently make $180K a year.

Re: DC Biglawyers- What is your monthly expenditure?

Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2018 2:27 am
by Anonymous User
- rent: $3000/monthly (I live with spouse, courthouse and then ballston)
- commute: 30-40 minutes, metro (courthouse-ballston)
- Loan payments: n/a. paid off $75k in debt in first 2 years.
- Savings: ~$350k with spouse, plus another ~$100k in 401k
- Expenditures: we don't break this down by category, but it's roughly a bit over $4k a month for all non-rent/non-utilities expenditures. food, entertainment, clothing, pet expenditures, travel, gifts, etc. i would say the biggest category there is easily food.
- Class year: fifth year associate
- Salary: just started making 260 a year.

Re: DC Biglawyers- What is your monthly expenditure?

Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2018 7:10 am
by Anonymous User
- rent: $2100/month in Arlington (Rosslyn-Ballston corridor). I live with my girlfriend and pay for 2/3 of our two bedroom apt. Don’t forget about state income tax when deciding between DC/VA/MD. First years will pay roughly $250 per month less in Virginia vs. DC and that difference goes up with salary.
- commute: 30-35 minutes by Metro
- Loan payments: None. Paid off in first year.
- Savings: $100k in retirement. $120k in savings/taxable investment accounts. Counting retirement accounts, I saved $79k in 2017. My goal for 2018 is $100k.
- Expenditures: $63k total for 2017 (about $5200 a month on average). But the overall number is a little inflated, as I moved mid-year and had to pay rent on two apartments for six weeks (plus moving costs). Also, $18k of that was for travel (three international trips, flights home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and a half dozen out of town weddings). I typically spend about $1500 a month on non-rent, non-travel stuff.
- Class year: third year associate
- Salary: $210k