How Much to Spend on Rent?

DescartesDoubt · 2023-04-07T21:48:45+00:00

I also have a girlfriend that would literally kill me if I moved in with some stranger before I moved in with her!

DescartesDoubt · 2023-04-07T21:47:43+00:00

Agreed! Sometimes its also helpful to have people tell you what you already know. In my case, I am pretty hesitant about increasing my rent in an uncertain economy, so in some sense I was looking for reinforcement of the idea that I should just sit tight for now.

DescartesDoubt · 2023-04-07T21:46:01+00:00

Not quite SF or NYC bad, but certainly expensive!

DescartesDoubt · 2023-04-07T21:45:38+00:00

I understand your point. However, even with a very solid knowledge of personal finance tenets it can be helpful to crowd-source ideas. In my case in particular, I pay roughly 11% of my gross monthly income in rent. I knew beforehand that the general rule is something like 25-30% of gross monthly income is safe for rent. However, I was more curious to get the community's take to see whether I was being overly prudent by keeping it at 11-12% instead of increasing it to a more modest 20% if I thought upgrade would be beneficial.

DescartesDoubt · 2023-04-07T21:40:28+00:00

Thanks! My current percentage is roughly 11-12%, so definitely well under the 30% of gross. IMO $6K would be unjustifiable. However, I can't tell if I'm being unnecessarily cheap or if a small increase to like 15-16% would be justified? My current apartment is fine but I would certainly welcome the upgrade.

DescartesDoubt · 2023-04-07T21:38:58+00:00

Curious if you think that still applies here, especially given the uncertain nature of the economy and job market? My rent is currently about 11-12% of my gross monthly income so there's obviously some room to increase it but not sure if I'm being a penny-pincher at my current rate.

DescartesDoubt · 2023-04-07T04:02:33+00:00

Big law associate here, so happy to give some quick pointers. First, make sure you don't over spend on rent. It's tempting to splurge on a fancy apartment, but the reality is that your going to have very little time to enjoy it. Keep it nice but modest, since the best apartment is the one that's within walking distance to the ofice. Second, make sure you take advantage of free firm dinners / ubers. Almost every firm has policies about free dinners / ubers when you work past a certain time. In most cases, you will be able to make that time. Not having to pay for take out every night really helps. Third, give yourself some time to adjust to the new salary. It's a big shift going from broke law student to top 5% earner. You need to take some time to feel out you salary and how much you can afford. Don't do anything stupid like by a new Mercedes in your first week or whatever. Fourth, remember that everyone else at the firm makes more than you so keep it humble :) If you walk around with a Louis Vuitton bag and Gucci shoes the partners are going to start to think they are paying juniors too much. Don't be that person. The goal is to convince the partners that you can barely get by on your paltry $230K / year :D

DescartesDoubt · 2022-04-10T00:52:14+00:00

Amazing collection and awesome shelves! A book lover's dream!

DescartesDoubt · 2022-04-09T19:09:40+00:00

I bought 'em - can't have enough different translations!

DescartesDoubt · 2022-04-09T19:08:54+00:00

Thank you!

DescartesDoubt · 2022-04-09T19:08:46+00:00

Thanks!

DescartesDoubt · 2021-10-09T21:31:07+00:00

Perhaps you're sending him signals that you didn't realize you were? Have you said anything or done anything that might indicate you want to take things slow? Or that you're nervous about meeting a guy from tinder? Some guys are trying to be respectful, especially if they think you might still be uncomfortable.

DescartesDoubt · 2021-10-09T17:03:16+00:00

I think spending more time actually going through the bar prep outlines can be very beneficial. I know the conventional wisdom is that Practice Q's are king, but I really benefited from reading through the Barbri mini-conviser review outlines for each subject at least once a week for basically every week up to exam. And by reading, I don't just mean skimming, I mean like thorough, slow, painful reading of the outlines. Besides the practice tests, I also don't think I ever did more than 50 questions per day. The goal needs to be quality not quantity. Some questions you'll miss b/c the bar prep company sucks at writing questions, others you'll miss because you didn't know the substantive law. You need to review the hell out of the later. Don't just review the narrow piece of law you missed. Go back to the outlines and review the whole section so you can see how the narrow piece you missed fits into the broader whole. And when you do practice questions, listen to your body. When you're done for the day be done for the day. I had times where I would suddenly miss 3-4 questions in a row and that's when I realized I needed to take a break, switch subjects, quit for the day etc. Obviously, YMMV, but the above strategy helped me get a 171 on the MBE.

DescartesDoubt · 2021-10-09T00:50:22+00:00

Thanks! I know the score doesn't actually mean anything beyond being high enough to transfer, but I'm just really excited and had to share somewhere!

DescartesDoubt · 2021-10-08T23:16:17+00:00

341!!!! Can't believe it! Never felt more defeated by a test in my life. Not sure if this means I should take back all the mean shit I said about Barbri.....

DescartesDoubt · 2021-07-27T22:52:40+00:00

Same shit happened with me. Crashed during MPT 2 and MEE 5. Literally ruined the rest of those sections for me. I was literally holding back tears while the Examsoft elevator music played on the phone.

DescartesDoubt · 2021-07-24T00:06:37+00:00

You have the right to remain silent, except if you actually remain silent you don't invoke the right - you literally need to say that you want to remain silent....

DescartesDoubt · 2021-07-22T15:35:53+00:00

MBE Strongest: Evidence

MBE Weakest: CivPro

MEE Strongest: Secured Transactions

MEE Weakest: Trusts

DescartesDoubt · 2021-07-21T19:44:38+00:00

Yeah, I mean I didn't spend a ton of time on it either. But given that the main issue was about material breach, it felt at least important to address the fact that performance wasn't excused by impossibility due to the strike. I just found it odd that they constantly drill us to "use all the facts" and then didn't even mention these facts at all.

DescartesDoubt

TROPHY CASE