You Try Living On $500K a Year

Filed in National by on February 9, 2009

New York City by Nick Bowers

The New York Times has an article about how difficult it is for top executives to survive in New York City on only $500,000 per year. With yearly expenses such as  private school at $32K , mortgage at $96K, co-op maintenance fee at $96K, nanny at $45K, and a driver at $75K;  all of a sudden, you find yourself  talking about real money.

Candace Bushnell, author of “Sex and the City”, says in the article:

People inherently understand that if they are going to get ahead in whatever corporate culture they are involved in, they need to take on the appurtenances of what defines that culture. So if you are in a culture where spending a lot of money is a sign of success, it’s like the same thing that goes back to high school peer pressure. It’s about fitting in.

Please, won’t anyone think of the rich people?

Tags:

About the Author ()

A Dad, a husband and a data guru

Comments (8)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. anon says:

    As business owners and various wingnuts have told me over the years – “If you don’t like it, go find another job.”

    Now we are the owners.

    If they need more than $500K to live on why don’t they just borrow it like the rest of us? Put it on a credit card already and quitchyerbitching.

    Or sell some investments at fire-sale prices, like everyone else who is cashing in their 401(k) to keep their house and buy groceries.

  2. Two Sentz says:

    Yes, I will think of them…next time I take a dump.

  3. Susan Regis Collins says:

    Warren Buffet seems to have survived w/o a lot of that ‘fluff’….still lives in the same house he’s lived in for year (and years) in Omaha. How does he do it?????

  4. Another Mike says:

    I would have commented earlier, but I had to go see my therapist after reading how hard these folks really have it. I mean, the thought of having to cancel either of the vacations or selling the house in the Hamptons — what is Obama thinking?

    I’m too distraught to go on.

  5. cassandra_m says:

    3 ideas for the New Yorkers struggling on 500K a year:

    1. Move to New Jersey
    2. Metrocards!
    3. Public school

  6. Dana says:

    I have absolutely no problem with the government setting a maximum wage for the companies it bails out. But government ought not to be in the business of setting maximum — or minimum — wages for private companies it isn’t bailing out.

  7. liz says:

    The filthy rich in NYC wanted all the working people and those with families to move out of NYC. This was pushed by the Midtown Realtors Association back in the 80’s. They even fought to get rid of rent control for the elderly on fixed incomes. My old boss George Kaufman was President of the Midtown Realtors Association, and he and I actually had a argument about it. He said, “we want the wealthy europeans to come here, the working class can move to Queens, Brooklyn, NJ and take advantage of our great subway system”. This guy owned McGraw Hill Building and several skyscrapers on Wall Street. He was born with a silver spoon in his fat mouth, and never understood nor cared to understand how his workers were surviving in a city where food costs double, rents are l/2 of your salary for a 4th floor walkup. They don’t care about anyone except their filthy dirty rich class….the rest of us are garbage under their Gucci shoes.

  8. anon2700 says:

    So the titans of power are basically high schoolers. Oooh, look at her shoes; damn, they hooked up last weekend; he’s got a rockin’ iPod.

    Give me a break.