Naive Question about Student Debt Forum

[AllTheLawz]

I'll help you out (b/c Im crazy bored). This is what a borderline reasonable "cheap" monthly budget for a NYC professional looks like off the top of my head:

Rent: $1,200
Cell Phone (who doesn't have a data plan?) $50.00
Internet $25.00
Power/Utilities $35.00
Trash $25.00 (maybe not a thing in NYC)
Eat Out $200.00
Groceries $100.00
Metro: $112
Entertainment $150.00
Misc (clothes and other crap) $150.00
Health Insurance $250
Total: $2272/mo ($27264/yr)

Add in the need to save at least 10% ($16k/yr) of your gross annual salary in some form as an adult.

I think you might be shocked at what $1,200 buys you in NYC, even in Brooklyn or Queens. $25 for internet also seems low--you'll want a connection fast and reliable enough where you can comfortably use Citrix to log in on evenings and weekends. $200 is comical. I used to eat breakfast/lunch at the subsidized firm cafeteria every day (which is half the price of eating lunch in Manhattan), and it was still ~$200 per month. If you're one of those types that can cook a pot of beans and rice over the weekend and eat it all day that's great, but otherwise $100 per month on groceries is questionable.

Yeah this is why I said "borderline reasonable." My own monthly budget for a much cheaper city (think Atlanta/Dallas/Houston COL) comes in at about $3,300/mo.

For OP:

You can't just assume you dump every single leftover dollar into student loans. You also need to build savings both in the form of both a tax-preferred retirement account and also a reserve equal to at least 4-6 months expenses.

On biglaw salary in a medium COL city I budget for ~$35k/yr in loans (~150k total debt) to pay off in 5 years with ~25k/yr saved of my own money.

[eljefe1]

Oh, I assumed that people meant they were earning a net income of 160k.

No, it's totally possible, I can break it down for you.
8, 000 for rent and metrocard
2, 000 for food (c-town or trader joe's)
400 on quality clothes for events
300 on beauty supplies
300 on phone
200 for gas, electricity, internet
150 on cheap day-to-day tops, jeans, etc...

Whatever is left on drinks, movie tickets, b-day gifts for friends, etc...

what is this a budget for manhattan, kansas?

[jbagelboy]

yea, this is a pretty naive question. you know how sometimes a prof might say, "you can ask anything" and "there are no stupid questions," but really there are?

OP does not actually spent $12-15K/year, maybe they spend that much of what they make and use a credit card & get help with rent for the rest. It happens all the time; my SO's sister went on about how a comparably priced city (think DC, SF) is expensive but "you can live cheap there if you know how," claimed she only spent <$20K of her salary a year when in reality her parents confessed they paid several months of her rent, all her plane tickets, and all her clothes.

I think AllTheLawz came close to an accurate student budget - I probably spent in the $27-30K vicinity my 1L year living in morningside heights. Of course, people who live in $3,300 lionsgate 1BDR's are spending well over $60K on CoL alone each year. as students.

I think it's realistic to pay off $30-40K of your student loans in NYC per year though. So with $150K debt, assuming cravath scale pay increases, that will take you four years.

[jbagelboy]

Oh, I assumed that people meant they were earning a net income of 160k.

No, it's totally possible, I can break it down for you.
8, 000 for rent and metrocard
2, 000 for food (c-town or trader joe's)
400 on quality clothes for events
300 on beauty supplies
300 on phone
200 for gas, electricity, internet
150 on cheap day-to-day tops, jeans, etc...

Whatever is left on drinks, movie tickets, b-day gifts for friends, etc...

what is this a budget for manhattan, kansas?

looking at it again, was OP referring to a monthly budget?

[DELG]

I also originally assumed monthly budget

[dsamuels]

Yes, I believe it is monthly.

[dresden doll]

Yes, I believe it is monthly.

In that case, holy fuck @ $8,000 in rent and metrocard per month.

[dsamuels]

Yes, I believe it is monthly.

In that case, holy fuck @ $8,000 in rent and metrocard per month.

Just re-read the thread. It might not be monthly. But it does not really matter because I agree with the other posters, there is no way in hell this budget is accurate.

[09042014]

Yes, I believe it is monthly.

In that case, holy fuck @ $8,000 in rent and metrocard per month.

No that is yearly.

[09042014]

OP has got to be a student living on Daddies dime. I'd bet anything they have a credit card that dad pays.

[dresden doll]

Yes, I believe it is monthly.

In that case, holy fuck @ $8,000 in rent and metrocard per month.

No that is yearly.

I thought it was yearly as well until people speculated otherwise. Either way, it's egregiously unrealistic.

[09042014]

Yes, I believe it is monthly.

In that case, holy fuck @ $8,000 in rent and metrocard per month.

No that is yearly.

I thought it was yearly as well until people speculated otherwise. Either way, it's egregiously unrealistic.

It's definitely yearly because he's saying he can live on 12-15k a year. That budget is 13.6k+. Definitely a yearly budget.

[NYSprague]

My sister did a live on a food stamp budget thing for a political thing protesting how little people get and her budget for food was more than OPs.

[DELG]

No budget for trips, weddings, gifts, charity, medical bill copays. Seems pretty feasible.

[dresden doll]

My sister did a live on a food stamp budget thing and her budget for food was more than OPs.

Maybe OP will cultivate anorexia.

[ManoftheHour]

200 for gas, electricity, internet

LOL

[NYSprague]

Wait, OPs budget is only for the school year. So a 9 month budget. Still too low but another way it is misleading

[ManoftheHour]

Oh, I assumed that people meant they were earning a net income of 160k.

No, it's totally possible, I can break it down for you.
8, 000 for rent and metrocard
2, 000 for food (c-town or trader joe's)
400 on quality clothes for events
300 on beauty supplies
300 on phone
200 for gas, electricity, internet
150 on cheap day-to-day tops, jeans, etc...

Whatever is left on drinks, movie tickets, b-day gifts for friends, etc...

what is this a budget for manhattan, kansas?

[Fiero85]

1) I suspect the OP is a girl (vocab included "beauty products" and "tops").

2) I suspect the OP is highly delusional. 12k a year is a pretty tight budget in St. Louis or Cincinnati IME (or Manhattan KS ), even without a car. Certainly doable, but pretty darn strict. 12k a year is, for all practical purposes, impossible for Manhattan. If you're getting your nice clothes and emergencies covered by family, that doesn't count.

Thinking a 160k starting out is net income is also a sign of said delusion

Edit: even if the proposed budget was for 9 months, adjusting the same 12k to yearly would be 16k a year (proabably still delusional in Manhattan).

[NYSprague]

I'll help you out (b/c Im crazy bored). This is what a borderline reasonable "cheap" monthly budget for a NYC professional looks like off the top of my head:

Rent: $1,200
Cell Phone (who doesn't have a data plan?) $50.00
Internet $25.00
Power/Utilities $35.00
Trash $25.00 (maybe not a thing in NYC)
Eat Out $200.00
Groceries $100.00
Metro: $112
Entertainment $150.00
Misc (clothes and other crap) $150.00
Health Insurance $250
Total: $2272/mo ($27264/yr)

Add in the need to save at least 10% ($16k/yr) of your gross annual salary in some form as an adult.

All of this is too low.
My health insurance is over $500 a month but includes dental and vision. I don't know how people spend less than food stamps allowance on groceries a month.

[gk101]

Wait, OPs budget is only for the school year.

It's still ridiculous for New York without his parents significantly subsidizing his COL.

As for aggressively paying down debt on a biglaw salary in NYC/SF/DC, I think anything more than 3500/month would require a lot of compromise on standard of living and its probably not worth it. I understand Texas biglaw might be an exception and fuck them

[NYSprague]

Wait, OPs budget is only for the school year.

It's still ridiculous for New York without his parents significantly subsidizing his COL.

As for aggressively paying down debt on a biglaw salary, I think anything more than 3500/month would require a lot of compromise on standard of living and its probably not worth it. I understand Texas biglaw might be an exception and fuck them

Yeah, but OP didn't bother to mention that part, which shows she is clueless.
I'm sure there are other subsidies she doesn't even think about.

[dresden doll]

I guess you might get away with slightly under $1000 in rent if you did law school-subsidized housing, but it's still a tall fucking order.

[DELG]

TBF people whose parent subsidize school probably don't cut them off immediately at grad. Hell I'm married w a kid and I still don't pay my cell phone bill

[jingosaur]

OP has got to be a student living on Daddies dime. I'd bet anything they have a credit card that dad pays.

I'm under the impression that about 50% of people in their 20s in NYC have this setup. I have a roommate who got by on $2k per month in Manhattan and it didn't look that horrible.

When you're working crazy hours and living in one of the best cities on the planet and you're getting older and trying to settle down and get some sort of family together, the last thing you want to do is live like a monk. Between keeping up with the high income earners you have to work and socialize with and doing occasional fun things so you don't think about killing yourself, personal expenses in a major metro are can add up pretty fast.

And sub-$1000 rent is possible in Manhattan, but only in Harlem and only in a 3 or 4 bedroom apartment.