How Wall Street Rising Stars Spent Their First Big Paychecks

What makes those first internships and analyst years — spending long hours poring over financial models and spreadsheets, drafting investment memos, or staying at your desk well past dinner time — worth it? The first real payday.

Business Insider asked its Rising Stars of Wall Street to remember that moment and share what they did with their first big check. For some of these successful financiers, the funds went straight to family or savings, while others chose a little indulgence or a big experience.

Here’s how 10 of them spent it.

Sharing with the family

Nikunj Jain, head of Asia research at Bridgewater Associates

“I actually sent it all back to my grandparents, my family back in India. They’ve been a huge source of support and guidance.”

Christian Woo, Bank of America managing director and quantitative strategist

“I bought a ticket back home to Hawaii, and I spent a couple of weeks with my family. My whole family and extended family are still based there, and I hadn’t been home in a while.”

Catherine Kress, the chief of staff to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink

“I’m quite frugal from a spending perspective. So I never really spend much on myself. But after I got my first big bonus at BlackRock, I took my parents and my husband to dinner at Blue Hill.”

Little luxuries

Jessica Shill, a portfolio manager on the securitised credit team at Janus Henderson

“It was at Wells Fargo. I was sitting next to one of the more senior analysts on the team, and she encouraged me, ‘You’ve got to get yourself a bonus gift, a treat yourself gift.’ I love skiing, so I went out and bought myself a new pair of skis.”

Mohini Chakravorty, a principal in Blackstone’s infrastructure group

“My mom has always encouraged my brother and me to make one exciting purchase for ourselves post-bonus, especially in the early years. It’s important to reward yourself for hard work. I remember buying an expensive purse with my first bonus and bringing it to work every day.”

Knut Kirchoff, a Blackstone principal in its credit and insurance unit

“I grew up racing, so getting my first pair of skis here in the States was what I did.”

The savers

Sarah Naylor, a credit salesperson at Citadel Securities

“I just got very excited and put it all in a savings account — and was excited to finally see some zeros in a bank account.”

Mary-Grace Papatheodorou, a Morgan Stanley managing director

“I saved a lot of that money and bought my first apartment by the time I was an associate. I took a bit more of a long-term perspective, and I decided I wanted to buy my own place rather than rent.

“It was a small one-bedroom in Murray Hill, in a convenient location for me.”

Time to travel

Lamar Cardinez, a Principal at Blue Owl Capital

“We got married my second week into my summer internship…. we actually had to go on a delayed honeymoon, and my wife was so gracious, never had a negative word to speak during that kind of delayed honeymoon period.”

“I used that money to book a trip to Maui, which to this day was maybe the most amazing experience in a place that I’ve ever visited with my wife.”

Florian Plath, an executive director in mergers and acquisitions at JPMorgan Chase

“I actually treated myself to a new adventure in Mexico. I started in Mexico City, I saw the pyramids, I saw the ruins, I swam in the Senotes, which was an incredible experience.”