Seeing some of my peers buying homes (how?!
Welcome back to Gen Z Journals.
I am the lead analyst for a start-up hedge fund on Wall Street.
“Analyst” is a pretty catch-all term, but generally is associated with entry-level roles.
My work-related earnings come in three parts.
The final is a “stock option,” better described as a revenue share of the investment fund.
Post-tax, my new monthly income is about $6,760.
The credit card bill comes out to around $2,100 a month.
Any leftovers get invested in the roth IRA or a non-retirement account.
As for how I feel about my financial situation, I feel really weirdly stuck.
Where I live, the average rent in Manhattan for a one-bedroom is about $4-4.5k.
Most studios still go for over $3k, and some don’t have actual kitchens in them.
When shelter costs eat up over half of your paycheck, getting them month-to-month feels really tough.
Inflation since COVID has been the real killer; basic food staples leaped in price.
Right now, I’m in the middle of moving in with my girlfriend.
The $800 would be my half of the costs while she pays her own half.
Renting this apartment in its area would cost roughly $810k per month.
I want to and will marry my girlfriend that is an absolute.
I understand the break I have lucked into.
I wake up around 7 a.m., then get dressed and ready for work.
I grab the breakfast and lunch I prepped the previous night.
Walk/take the subway to work, depending on the weather.
(It’s about a 15-minute walk.)
I eat lunch whenever I get hungry about 122 p.m.
I do have to stay longer sometimes; the latest I have ever left was 11 p.m.
This is actually pretty good by industry standards for Wall Street finance and investment banking.
Time permitting, I go to the gym three or four times a week.
My girlfriend and I split time between our places but are always together at night.
Decompress with my girlfriend: We share stories about our day and catch up on stuff.
Get ready and go to bed around 11 p.m. ## I am a big data nerd, so I actually track my sleep pretty religiously.
On average, I get about six and a half hours.
I wouldnt say theres a specific reason; I just cant fall asleep.
I am in a very serious and loving relationship with my girlfriend.
For the first one, the promotion came with new responsibilities, which I had to adapt to.
I was making about $90k a year, and as a result, I couldnt save any money.
The really huge change in my life has been meeting and dating my current girlfriend.
I see them occasionally on weekends and take a stab at host them in the city when I can.
My friends from college almost exclusively live on the West Coast.
Almost all of them now live and work in Los Angeles, San Francisco, or San Diego.
Combine that with a pretty tight work schedule, and it makes it hard to meet new people.
After moving in with my girlfriend and settling in, I’ll probably try a little harder.
26 is a really weird age, and social media highlights it.
Everyone thinks more money equals more free time, and that’s just not reality.
I am fully aware that I got a better head start at life than most.
That said, you judge yourself compared to those closest to you, which can be a struggle.
No one should feel like they can’t talk about feeling stuck/trapped where they are.
The notion that $100k or any specific salary will completely erase someone’s problems isn’t true.
The “perfect” social media life you see, for the most part, doesn’t exist.
All people have their problems, and they can be solved through a mix of effort and luck.
Find what and who makes you happy in your own way at your own speed.
Listen to what advice others have to say, but be able to sniff out the BS.
Note: This submission has been edited for length and/or clarity.
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