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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Most big law associates I know get very comfortable with their cushy salaries and live their lives accordingly.  They aren't scrimping and saving by living in dumpy apartments in the suburbs; they are living in luxury apartments in the city or the close in suburbs.  They blow off steam by going out to expensive dinners and exclusive bars and clubs.  They travel internationally and go on extravagant weekend trips because that is what their peers all do.  When they get engaged they splurge for a fancy 1.5 carat + engagement ring.

The fancy lifestyle coupled with student loans adds up quickly.  [/quote]

Most biglaw associate I know are in between the two extremes you've presented.  They're not scrimping and saving living in dumpy apartments in the suburbs, but they aren't blowing all their money on travel and diamond rings either.

I saved up a $300k "nest egg", and bought a condo (downtown) during my 5 years in biglaw.  I also traveled internationally and ate at fancy restaurants, sure.[/quote]

This was my experience in biglaw too. Sure there were lots of meals at nice restaurants and a good number of vacations, but it's not like there was a $5000 spending spree every weekend - the way people assume on this board re biglaw associates. And yeah almost everyone I knew lived close to work. Frankly there didn't used to be THAT much time to spend bc you're working a lot -- typically 6 days a week at least when I was an associate in NYC a few years ago. Though workflow ebbs and flows based on department, economy and the firm's business generation.

The people in my class that lived large -- crazy luxury apartments, keeping a Mercedes in Manhattan that rarely got driven, constant travel (more than 2-3 vacations/yr) -- were people who already came from money and in some cases were only doing biglaw for a few yrs to get it on the resume and then were moving over to daddy's company as a Senior VP or whatever. For them biglaw was going to be the least amount of $ they made in their lives so saving wasn't vital.[/quote]

SO many people from law school came from at least enough family money that they didn't have to take out loans. That makes a huge difference. A few more I know used family money to buy a condo. Now you really have disposable income. [/quote]

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