Week Financial Diaries of 5 New Yorkers

jeffrey · #1 (**permalink**) 10-30-2006, 12:31 PM

Take a look at the daily financial diaries of 5 New Yorkers of different income levels:

The Subsidized Grad Student ($20K)
The Junior Professional ($50K)
The Mid-Career Fund-raiser ($150K)
The Expense-Account I-Banker ($700K)
The Trader and His Wife (Over $1M)

http://nymag.com/guides/money/2006/23490/index.html

vsjhoc · #2 (**permalink**) 10-30-2006, 01:04 PM

Nature abhors a vacuum ... work expands to fill the time available ... what would you say about money ...?

fairy74 · #3 (**permalink**) 10-30-2006, 03:11 PM

I nearly choked on my coffee when I read someone was spending over 4k in a week, what the ......

tinapbeana · #4 (**permalink**) 10-30-2006, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vsjhoc

Nature abhors a vacuum ... work expands to fill the time available ... what would you say about money ...?

hehe, depends on if it's my money, your money, or the money of the folks in this article making a cool mil a year.

me: my husband abhors a budget? *grin* how about "my savings account abhors a leak"
your money: hopefully your savings account abhors a leak, too!
their money: their money abhors their savings account! or maybe their spending expanded to fill their income. or, maybe they just don't know any better.

let's see: 1,000,000 per year = $19230 pre-tax per week, say an even 10k per week after tax. that's 40k per month *choke, gasp!* - 16k in weekly spending - 9k for rent *almost passing out!* = 15k left over for utilities, savings, etc. let's say they save 10k per month * 12 months = 120k. i'm assuming they've gotta be at least in their 40s to be making this much, so 120k per year at 10% compounded daily for 20 years is 7,666,538.66 when they retire.

boy, are they in for a rude awaking!!!

debtfreeme · #5 (**permalink**) 10-30-2006, 03:33 PM

wow. that is bizarre. i can go for days without spending anything. they could not it seems!

and that one entry, 14 dollars for mayo and oil??

safari · #6 (**permalink**) 10-30-2006, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinapbeana

let's see: 1,000,000 per year = $19230 pre-tax per week, say an even 10k per week after tax. that's 40k per month *choke, gasp!* - 16k in weekly spending - 9k for rent *almost passing out!* = 15k left over for utilities, savings, etc. let's say they save 10k per month * 12 months = 120k. i'm assuming they've gotta be at least in their 40s to be making this much, so 120k per year at 10% compounded daily for 20 years is 7,666,538.66 when they retire.

boy, are they in for a rude awaking!!!

I wouldn't worry about them, I think they will be allright. The husband is only 41, and I am sure they have been saving money for a while.

Ima saver · #7 (**permalink**) 10-30-2006, 04:00 PM

I don't think any of us would spend money like that. $270 on a haircut with tips?

LuxLiving · #8 (**permalink**) 10-30-2006, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vsjhoc

Nature abhors a vacuum ... work expands to fill the time available ... what would you say about money ...?

I'd say there is all kinds of vacuum here....sooooo SEND SOME OF THAT MONEY over here!!

scfr · #9 (**permalink**) 10-30-2006, 05:07 PM

Amazing to see someone that spends more on clothes in a day than I spend in a year!

Raise your hand if you're feeling smug after reading these.

disneysteve · #10 (**permalink**) 10-30-2006, 07:37 PM

I just read the mid-career guy making 150K since that's closest to my situation. Even though is income is similar to mine, his spending habits bear no resemblance to mine at all.

I realize he's in NYC, but his rent is $700 more than my home with PITI included.
He eats out every day of the week. I rarely eat out during the week, Usually just a casual meal or two on the weekend with my family.
He spent more on liquor in a week than I spend in 6 months.
He spent next to nothing on groceries - no wonder since he eats out so much.

Very interesting series. Off to read the rest.

disneysteve · #11 (**permalink**) 10-30-2006, 07:45 PM

Here's an interesting point of view:

Weekly spending as a % of income.

$1 million: 0.46%
$700,000: 0.28%
$150,000: 0.35%
$54,000: 1.19%

I'm not including the student because his income figure is meaningless since his parents provide a large amount of his support.

pearlieq · #12 (**permalink**) 10-30-2006, 08:57 PM

Interesting reading, but I don't quite have the frame of reference to completely grasp that lifestyle.

I think I'm a bit too much of a suburban, Mid-Westen girl!

lgslgs · #13 (**permalink**) 10-31-2006, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by disneysteve

I'm not including the student because his income figure is meaningless since his parents provide a large amount of his support.

You should have included his as well. Did you notice that even with his parents coughing up the cash, he's still spending himself into hock?

Hope Mommy & Daddy have deep pockets because he's going to have his hand in them for a long, long time if his current spending is any indication.

Lynda

disneysteve · #14 (**permalink**) 10-31-2006, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lgslgs

You should have included his as well. Did you notice that even with his parents coughing up the cash, he's still spending himself into hock?

I agree, I just didn't think doing the same calculation was accurate since his true "income" is way more than 20K when you add in parental support.

If you base it on the 20K, he is spending 2.27% of income, way more than the others.

dossin1 · #15 (**permalink**) 10-31-2006, 11:54 AM

I found the article on that same site "Living on $10 an hour" much more compelling. So many mistakes, digging such a deep hole.

Broken Arrow · #16 (**permalink**) 10-31-2006, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dossin1

I found the article on that same site "Living on $10 an hour" much more compelling. So many mistakes, digging such a deep hole.

I just finished reading that article, and I have to agree that I think it was far more compelling.

It makes me want to work that much harder because I don't want to end up like that....