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How would you solve this life case?

I am in my late 20s, living in London and i am making decent amount of money as a financial analyst. However, i am always in debt and not enough money. Even thoguh i dont have any major loans such a mortgage or student loan. 

How would you approach this problem?

lets say i break it into two - income and spending, but how can i go to 2nd layer of structure if i only have 1 income flow? 

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Top answer
Clara
Coach
on Feb 17, 2020
McKinsey | Awarded professor at Master in Management @ IE | MBA at MIT |+180 students coached | Integrated FIT Guide aut

Hello!

Clear profitability case, you need to break down into: 

  • Revenues: and deep dive into the different revenue streams and possibility to enhance them in the short and long run. 
  • Costs: and deep dive into the debt that was meant, other operational day-to-day costs, etc. 

Hope it helps!

Cheers, 

Clara

Deleted user
edited on Feb 16, 2020

Hello!

First you have to define the problem as precisely as you can and understand if there is an exact goal and timeframe in mind - not sure what would those be here but I would define it as increasing my financial position and becoming debt-free asap.

I like your approach much like a profitability case: either 1) increase revenues, 2) decrease costs or a combination of both:

1) In revenues, I would split in "core" job and additional streams:

   - Which present interesting opps given your skills & interests? How hard to do it? How much can they generate?

  - What are the prospects of the core job - will the total comp increase so much that the problem cures itself? Need to switch jobs/industry?

2) In costs, break them down by buckets and gauge how much can you save, being more/less creative in your recommendations

Hope it helps!

Francisco

0
Vlad
Coach
on Feb 16, 2020
McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School

Hi, 

Your income has a fixed and variable part (bonus) and one option is to become a top performer. Another is to change the job. The third is to add more income streams

Best

Ian
Coach
on Feb 17, 2020
Top US BCG / MBB Coach - 5,000 sessions |Tech, Platinion, Big 4 | 9/9 personal interviews passed | 95% candidate success

A few options:

1) This is profitability. So under Revenue, you can change your hourly rate or you can change your hours worked.

2) Existing and future income streams: I.e. max out existing and identify future ones

3) Options to increase (and evaluate based on likelihood of sucess and payout...i.e. Expected Value (EV) equations): Get promotion, get bonus, change jobs, start side hustle, leverage/refinance + earn investment income

Udayan
Coach
on Feb 17, 2020
Top rated Case & PEI coach/Multiple real offers/McKinsey EM in New York /12 years recruiting experience

Income has a few components

1. Active - job(s)

2. Passive - Intererst earnings, investment income

3. Supplemental income - parental support etc.

Costs have few components here too

1. Necessary costs - rent, groceries, bills/utilities, transportation to work etc.

2. Good to have - personal entertainment, social commitments, classes for personal growth etc.

3. Luxuries - expensive vacations, fancy restaurants etc.

  • First fill in the lines above to get detailed picture of cash flow. Then add your income and cost streams to see the difference between incoming and outgoing cash flows.
  • Then you see which ones make most sense to cut (luxuries coming out first) and think of any additional income streams you can add such as a side job

Hope this helps,

Udayan

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