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>what world are these people living in that you can't give up a job that you hate because you can't afford to live on 500-600k. The one where you lock into a m
by naravara 8y ago
>what world are these people living in that you can't give up a job that you hate because you can't afford to live on 500-600k.
The one where you lock into a mortgage and a car that assumes a $1.2M salary to keep ahead of.
It's really easy to let your lifestyle expenses balloon, especially in a high-COL city where minor increases in living space/amenities can end up costing large amounts of money.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- Alex3917 8y ago> where minor increases in living space/amenities can end up costing large amounts of money. It is pretty crazy how little extra money buys you. E.g. in NYC, the only differences between a $2,000 month apartment and a $20,000 a month apartment are going to be things like location, granite countertops, a well-designed bathroom, and better windows. But in most cases the actual floor space and layout is going to be almost identical. Clearly those things are worth something, but it's easy to see how the work and stress of paying for those accents is to result in a net negative happiness for many if not most people.
- umanwizard 8y agoThis is not true. $20,000/mo rent in NYC will get you a gigantic apartment (thousands of square feet), as you can verify on any housing listings website.
- Alex3917 8y agoIt can get you that, but not if you want to be in SoHo on the 30th floor of a luxury building or whatever.
- ameister14 8y agoYou are wrong. You'll pay $60-70 a square foot, but 20k will get you a lot. https://streeteasy.com/building/chelsea-modern/rental/2657434 https://streeteasy.com/building/chelsea-modern/rental/265743... https://streeteasy.com/building/336-west-23-street-manhattan/2 https://streeteasy.com/building/336-west-23-street-manhattan...
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- maps 8y agoTo consume $100k a month we need a $10-20 million dollar mortgage (50-100k/mo depending on years and rate). I have to assume a few cars, dining, etc would probably end up being $10-20k/mo so the mortgage is probably around $15 mil. So in NY or SF you are looking at something like a 1-2k sq/ft 2 bed 1 bathroom shithole apartment. Not so luxurious after all really.
- alehul 8y agoLess than $15m could buy a 5 bedroom mansion of a single-family home in San Francisco, and in New York, a ridiculously stunning 5 bedroom apartment. Where did you get 1-2k sq/ft 2 bed 1 bath shithole from?
- eclipxe 8y agoAnd that's not even taking into account taxes...
- kurthr 8y agoI assume you're being sarcastic... a $15M shithole apartment! X^D
- adamredwoods 8y agoPutting kids through school, paying for parent's mortgage, vacation properties, country club dues.
- rglover 8y agoYup. The golden rule: don't ratchet up your lifestyle when your income rises and you'll be far happier in the long run. Also don't give a damn what people think about you. Typically people get trapped in that mouse wheel because "look what they have."
- 3pt14159 8y agoYep. And if you get windfall and are really itching to spend it do yourself a favour and research what stuff is expensive but lasts. In NPV terms you'll be saving money, but you won't be pulling on hard-to-escape expenses. Source: I sold a company and quadrupled my spend on housing. Something stupid that I regret. But I also spent money on high quality stuff that is still lasting almost a decade later.
- naravara 8y agoThis isn't really germane to the $500k+ set the article is talking about. Everything you're buying at that tier is going to last. What eats up their incomes is housing, transportation, and stuff like private school tuition and childcare. The challenge there is it's hard to ramp those down once you lock in. Downsizing on housing means having to move and possibly sacrificing social life and opportunities along the way. Pulling your kids out of private school has consequences for their long term prospects and their socialization. And so on.
- 3pt14159 8y ago> Everything you're buying at that tier is going to last. I respectfully disagree. Luxury goods are often flimsy or expensive to maintain (e.g., Toyotas vs Porches) so research is still required. As for private school and housing, these are exactly the expenses I'm talking about not getting wound up in. I went to private school almost my whole life, and I understand what it is to not want to be pulled away from a community, but the reality is that $500k—let alone $1m—is more than enough to afford a good private school and a good home in any city. The struggle to live on $500k / year is an artificial, self-sabotaging one.
- kurthr 8y agoYeah... I literally don't buy it. High Cost of Living city has nothing to do with needing $500k/yr in earnings (post tax). What kind of mortgage and car do you have that? Simple answer... that's a $10M house or a $2M car or half of each of those. Besides the fact that if you're earning $1.2M salary, you're taking home other bonus/stock that are comparable. Getting locked into this sort of lifestyle is a choice not driven by need. A drug dealer in "low cost" Detroit or Sinaloa might make the same claims...
- dclusin 8y agoThe median annual earnings of palo altans is about $400k/year. That's probably workable for cheaper areas like south palo alto where a house built in the 80s will run you $2.5 mil. Move closer to downtown and you could easily double or triple your necessary annual take.
- zhobbs 8y ago"According to Census data, the median household income in Palo Alto is $137,000 a year, while the US average is $57,600" from: https://www.cnet.com/news/silicon-valley-middle-class-earns-seven-times-the-us-average/ https://www.cnet.com/news/silicon-valley-middle-class-earns-...
- vasilipupkin 8y agoI think this type of Census data understates household incomes. I am not exactly sure why, but Atherton comes in at about 400k a year per household. That is a lot, but doesn't seem like a lot for Atherton.
- glitchc 8y agoNo, this seems right. The typical distribution of income across the pop., even in a distorted environment like the valley, looks far more like a Poisson distribution with a long tail than a typical Gaussian
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- jseliger 8y agoI'm surprised no one here has yet name-checked Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities. There is a famous comedic passage in which Sherman McCoy discusses his expenditures relative to his (vast) income. EDIT: One breath of scandal— —his spirits plunged even lower. One breath of scandal, and not only would the Giscard scheme collapse but his very career would be finished! And what would he do then? I'm already going broke on a million dollars a year! The appalling figures came popping up into his brain. Last year his income had been $980,000. But he had to pay $21,000 a month for the $1.8 million loan he had taken out to buy the apartment. What was $21,000 a month to someone making a million a year? That was the way he had thought of it at the same—and in fact, it was merely a crushing, grinding burden—that was all! It came to $252,000 a year, none of it deductible, because it was a personal loan, not a mortgage. (The cooperative boards in Good Park Avenue Buildings like his didn't allow you to take out a mortgage on your apartment.) So, considering the taxes, it required $420,000 in income to pay the $252,000. Of the $560,000 remaining of his income last year, $44,400 was required for the apartment's monthly maintenance fees; $116,000 for the house on Old Drover's Mooring Lane in Southampton ($84,000 for mortgage payment and interest, $18,000 for heat, utilities, insurance, and repairs, $6,000 for lawn and hedge cutting, $8,000 for taxes). Entertaining at home and in restaurants had come to $18,000. ------------- It goes on. The guy needs Mr. Money Mustache.
- zaccus 8y agoSo... sell your expensive shit and buy less expensive shit. That's what us plebs are expected to do. No one's locked into anything.