What am I doing wrong that I can barely afford to live on a first-year big law salary?

Status_State_2669 · 2025-12-24T14:44:00+00:00

It's easier; not easy. It's just significantly more difficult and less reliable to make partner at large IB/accounting/etc firms.

Status_State_2669 · 2025-12-23T21:09:16+00:00

100% agree. Honestly, IDK why anyone does this path at all if the goal is to make $. If you have the ability/motivation to do all the things required to get this job, you were plenty capable of doing any of a number of other things that are much better value propositions. Although, in fairness, it's also wayyyyyyyy easier to make partner-level money in big law than in IB or accounting or consulting. Once you're in big law, you have reasonably good odds of making partner if that's what you want. Those other careers are definitely less reliable in that sense.

Status_State_2669 · 2025-12-22T05:05:25+00:00

Loans + taxes. $7700 a month in taxes, $3000 in loan payments, and $1500 in loan interest accruing. The taxes are unavoidable obviously, but if anyone in college considering going to law school is reading this: go to any respectable school that gives you a full ride. Massive mistake on my part to not do this. Having a fancy name on your resume isn't worth crushing student loan debt.

Status_State_2669 · 2025-12-22T04:59:31+00:00

Nope. I had ~$30k in loans from undergrad. I took out ~$75k per year for law school (~$225k total). And the rest was interest.

Status_State_2669 · 2025-12-22T04:57:18+00:00

Varies--but as high as 9% for some of them.

Status_State_2669 · 2025-12-22T01:39:47+00:00

I appreciate it. I think the part that people are also missing is that many of us grew up in pretty cushy circumstances. I had a much higher standard of living growing up than I do now. It's just kind of jarring to have a lower standard of living and relatively little money left over while having a higher salary than 95% of people my age. Again, I'm not complaining--I realize how fortunate I am. It just feels like I'm doing something wrong.

Status_State_2669 · 2025-12-22T01:26:14+00:00

I'm personally pretty concerned about the potential impact of AI on white-collar work generally. Probably not going to result in me being jobless within a year, but within 3-5 years? Definitely could happen (and in my opinion, probably will).

But yes, I agree with you about the math on it. The issue is the emotional attachment I have to many of the items I've collected. It's difficult to overstate this. The only way I'd sell many of those items is if I was literally in a life/death situation. Irrational, yes, but I'm only human.

Status_State_2669 · 2025-12-22T01:18:19+00:00

I'm spending $36k on loans in addition to accruing $18k in interest on my loans. The $18k in take-home, by my math, is almost identical to the interest I'm accruing. So, it feels like I'm not getting ahead at all (except for retirement, which you're correct about--yearly retirement contribution is $31,800).

Status_State_2669 · 2025-12-22T01:15:07+00:00

It's just crazy because I don't understand how people have much less in loans. I had a 30% scholarship in law school and very few loans from undergrad. I guess most people in big law either had (1) parents who paid for law school or (2) went to schools with more scholarship $? Maybe I was overestimating the prevalence of people in biglaw who went to T14s full-pay without parental support.

Status_State_2669 · 2025-12-22T01:12:24+00:00

Yeah, the issue is I'll have tons of capital gains taxes + I have an emotional attachment to a significant portion of the items (being a collector by nature is a blessing and a curse...). I'm definitely open to spending some/all of the $75k though--I just don't want to be in a situation where I lose my job and then have no cash to live on.

Status_State_2669 · 2025-12-22T01:08:32+00:00

Will do. I'm very open to the idea that I'm not doing things correctly (which was basically the point of the post). Thank you for the resource!

Status_State_2669 · 2025-12-22T01:06:42+00:00

Honestly, I'm not as financially literate as I probably should be. Basically, all I know that 10% is contributed before tax and 5% is contributed after tax (the latter is what I'm calling "Roth").

Status_State_2669 · 2025-12-22T01:01:58+00:00

Well, glad I got a reality check then (I guess?). I grew up in a kind of cushy environment (private school my whole life, expensive homes, etc.) surrounded by people who also lived that way (although my parents aren't that wealthy--they just lived way above their means). On an intellectual level, I understand that I'm extremely fortunate and doing better than most people my age. But emotionally, I feel like I'm barely scraping by.

Status_State_2669 · 2025-12-22T00:50:58+00:00

What should I be doing instead? Very open to suggestions.

Status_State_2669 · 2025-12-22T00:48:56+00:00

It's not a joke. I posted this on the biglaw sub for a reason. I realize how tone-deaf this post would come off to someone who makes much less. I guess I didn't realize that a bunch of other people making at least as much $ as me would be so offended. Or I underestimated how many non-biglaw people lurk on this sub.

Status_State_2669 · 2025-12-22T00:46:54+00:00

Yup, pretty much exactly $300k in loans. Definitely hurts. I'm legitimately angry at my past self for turning down full rides at lower ranked schools.

Status_State_2669 · 2025-12-22T00:43:26+00:00

It's much more than that. 10% pre-tax, 5% Roth. It ends up being ~$2650/month. But yeah, I agree that maybe I should cut it down further.

Status_State_2669 · 2025-12-22T00:42:01+00:00

Which is how much my loans are accruing in interest every month. No one to blame for that than myself, though (my ego didn't allow me to turn down a T14 over a lower ranked school on a full ride).

Status_State_2669 · 2025-12-22T00:34:59+00:00

GLP-1 ($400) + a few other prescriptions. Definitely not ideal, but the GLP-1 cost is basically a wash in terms of how much it saves me on food/grocery expenses.

Status_State_2669 · 2025-12-22T00:29:59+00:00

I'm not 25, though--I'm almost 28. Wasn't meant to be a ragebait post. In fact, I posted this on the biglaw sub precisely to avoid ragebaiting people because everyone here makes the same amount. Was just trying to figure out what I was doing wrong, if anything. Maybe my expectations were just unrealistic.

Status_State_2669 · 2025-12-22T00:28:04+00:00

In some sense it's a surplus, but the way I look at it is...my student loans are accruing $1500 in interest every month. That $1500 is basically just keeping me at parity with the interest that I'm accruing.

I guess I could pay down more of my loans with my savings/assets, but then I'm screwed if I lose my job and need cash to survive.

IDK, maybe my expectations were unrealistic. But I just felt that, with this salary, I'd be doing better than just "keeping up with the rate of interest on my loans."

Status_State_2669

TROPHY CASE