Neuron Culture

YOU try to live on $500K in this town …

Posted by David Dobbs on February 8, 2009
(1)
More »

You can’t make this stuff up. Unfortunately, you don’t have to:

“As hard as it is to believe, bankers who are living on the Upper East Side making $2 or $3 million a year have set up a life for themselves in which they are also at zero at the end of the year with credit cards and mortgage bills that are inescapable,” said Holly Peterson, the author of an Upper East Side novel of manners, “The Manny,” and the daughter of Peter G. Peterson, a founder of the equity firm the Blackstone Group. “Five hundred thousand dollars means taking their kids out of private school and selling their home in a fire sale.”

It’s the place in the Hamptons that really hurts.

I know: You can’t stand it, but you can’t resist it. So to read more.

(1)
More »

Comments

  1. #1 Who Cares
    February 9, 2009

    OMG, the poor bastards have to drive on their own, work out on their own, pay attention to their kids on their own, stop going on multiple (or all) vacations, use clothing more then once, actually pay attention to the grocery bill.
    /sarcasm

    About the only thing in that piece that are inescapable costs are mortgages and kids. If you strip out all the other ‘essentials’. The down side is that it drives up unemployment.

    Lets see
    -45k, no nanny
    -16k, no vacations
    -240k, handing the summerhouse to the bank instead of paying the mortgage.
    -75k to -125k, no driver
    -12k, no personal trainer
    -35k, no charity gowns for the missus

    Add in taxes and you drop the must have salary to under 700k
    Or they could use their savings (they do have savings, right?).