How much money to "feel rich" in nyc?
How much would you need to make and what kind of lifestyle (type of house, vacations, level of savings etc). And single vs married ?
Im 9 years into my career and feel like I'd need 2.5x if not 3x my income and I'm single with no debt
Funny thing is I’m in MF / UMM PE and even the junior partners don’t feel rich in the city. It’s only when you start hitting your stride into your 40s where you can start getting significant cash flow. So until you get to that point, you’ll need to live off $500K-$1.5M a year which is obviously a lot by any normal measure, but when you have a family / kids in NY, it’s actually not that much. Most VP / Principal level folks at that make in that range don’t own their homes and if they do, it’s usually a 1-2 bedroom as anything more than that in a desirable part of the city is $2-3M at least with $15k+ per month of mortgage payments.
Yes exactly. Seems like outside of some super differentiated early stage liquidity event the only solution if that's your priority is to just delay family till late 30s? I.e. don't incur that cost until you can comfortably absorb it? That's not without a significant personal cost obviously (depending on the person)
What a sad excuse not to have kids. “I make a million a year but I can’t afford them”. Just admit you don’t want a family…
Are you assuming stay at home wife or duel income household for your income figures?
Obviously equation changes if both parents work high compensation jobs, but that’s frequently not the case.
$1.5 MILLION US DOLLARS A YEAR is not that much for a young family?
Some of you here really need to get a reality fucking check lol.
Yeah damn if 1.5mil isn't enough what the hell is.
Ha! The CEO, whose presumably got way too much experiencing trying to temper rapidly rising comp expectations, is gonna have a heart attack. Gave me a laugh +1.
Why would anyone live in NY under those conditions? If you’ve saved up $2-3m as a principal in PE just leave and live like a king anywhere else
As someone who has never lived in NYC (and also doesn’t work in banking), my understanding is that it’s almost impossible to have the same career path as one would in NYC elsewhere. Chicago and LA are large cities where you could move up, but someone in say Dallas wouldn’t rise as much compared to being in NYC.
My plan is to do an MBA soon and move to banking in NYC, but I still have a few more years before that.
Impossible’s probably a stretch, but NYC definitely accelerates your career, and there’s a huge cachet to people in smaller cities who came up in NYC (even though people in those offices don’t like to admit it)
Source: started my career in a Dallas/Atlanta type of city, moved to NYC a couple years ago and have seen my career take off, both in terms of compensation (I live way better here than I ever did before and still save way more) as well as things like the types of roles headhunters reach out for (global brand names, whereas before it was usually regional stuff).
When I go back and meet with friends / contacts from my old city, they usually publicly say things like “crazy, enjoy the taxes” and then privately say things like “super impressive” or “I’m jealous, seems like an amazing opportunity”. Tied into all of this is the fact that I moved to a much higher profile firm / role, but that’s kind of the point - jobs like this didn’t really exist where I was before, even in 2023
There is obviously a lot of opportunity in NYC, but there are other places with similar opportunities, you just need to know where to look.
My wife and I have had no problem keeping up with peers in NYC from a career standpoint, and we make the same amount of money they do. The difference is how much further our money goes and that we can hit major life goals much faster.
Except for Cali
Totally. Move to Laos or Ohio and live in a straw hut. You have any idea how much cow dung you can buy with $1 million dollars?!
If you’re married and have kids, give in to the dark side and come to the suburbs. Places like Bronxville and Scarsdale on the NY side, or Summit and Chatham on the NJ side. Top notch public schools if you want to forego the $40k/yr expense of private, land, space, no homeless around your house, no needles on the ground, functional local governments, an actual sense of community.
I know nothing about New York other than what I’ve read online.
Looks like that’s around a 80-90 minute train ride from Scarsdale to around midtown Manhattan. At the VP level in banking/PE, assume it’s around 3-4 days a week in office with 3 hours of commuting every day.
I’m trying to learn as much as I can in general about the banking lifestyle in NYC. Plan on doing an MBA and moving to banking as that’s the easiest / lowest risk way for me to make more money imo. Looks like I’ll graduate from an MBA program around 28/29 years old, and I’d like to think I’d be thinking about starting a family around that time, but the hours would put a lot of strain on that.
You can live on LI dix hills and Syosset are like 30 min commutes to NYC
Scarsdale or similar is a somewhat common move at the partner level, close to zero at the VP/Principal level. Personally, I refuse to ever commute like that, but I’ve done dinners at some of those partners’ houses (10-15k sf kind of places), and I get why they do it
Pretty common for Principal/Junior Partner level folks to move to quieter neighborhoods though - Upper West Side, Williamsburg, etc. Long Island City is the not-so-hidden gem that’s becoming popular with younger team members who want quiet without a commute (older ones still have a huge stigma against living in Queens)
80-90 minutes? Did you ask a crackhead or check the MTA site? It’s 35-50 depending on express or local.
Scarsdale is under an hour by train - 45 min if you catch the (somewhat elusive) express one. Did you map it out on a weekend? And Scarsdale is a tiny town surrounded by other train towns, so you're 10 min drive from the station at most... 80-90 min is way up like Bedford (and a sprawling area so door to door is longer too, but you get a ton of land for the money)
Most people who live in Westchester leave around 4-5, go home and have dinner with the kids, and then log on for a few hours after dinner
It's very doable esp if only 3 days/week
Check google maps
The Scarsdale and Westchester crowds are insufferable. I’ve never met more pompous people in my life.
All depends on what you define as “rich”. Family? How many kids? Schooling? Vacations? Things you enjoy doing?
You’ll get lots of inflated answers here. People think private jet, multiple homes, etc.
I started feeling very well off at $500k when single.
I think it really depends on what you consider well off. At $500K a year and being single, you never feel like eating at nice restaurants is a reach, but you certainly can’t afford to live in a super luxurious apartment or fly business / first class. For example, if you make $500K per year in finance, you probably get half or 60% of that through base salary which ends up being $12-15K per month on an after tax basis. You probably shouldn’t spend more than $5-6K on rent which ends up being a 1 bedroom / 700-800 square ft apartment in West Village or Soho in a decent building. You certainly wouldn’t be able to afford a second bedroom or a car so I don’t think that’s considered well off especially when your counterparts making $500K a year in any city outside of NYC / SF probably has a 2,000-3,000+ sq ft new apartment with a BMW / Mercedes so everything is relativez
That’s the thing, it’s all relative as you note. $500k a year I could afford business class etc. So I would eat basically wherever I wanted, travel many times a year, and lived in a nice place. Sure $500k in Charlotte would have been a more luxurious life, but I also had all of nyc to explore.
Again, all depends on your definition of well off. I’ve lived in nyc at all income levels (well ok up to high 7 figures) and I always have people around me complaining that they aren’t actually well off. Now it’s the “well I don’t fly private” crew or similar. Everyone always finds a reason why they aren’t rich enough.
How long ago ? If 10+ years for eg or even 5 years inflation has been nuts so your number would be in the 700 range single today
I legit don’t get it my parents raised me and my sister with 40k yearly income in nyc, obv in the hood but stil
Yea these answers are crazy lmfao. My family had a 45k salary to support 3 kids in NYC. Getting paid $100k straight out of college still feels like a luxury to me.
This site in general has pretty shit financial advice for NYC. Prob bc full of transplants.
These answers are absurd lmao. These are definitely the kids who come from rich parents and are now realizing how much it takes to actually continue the lifestyle they grew up on. Sometimes I think maybe growing up lower middle class is a blessing because even as a first year analyst I felt pretty damn well off. For the first time in my life I could buy whatever I wanted and not have to worry about burning through my whole bank account. All about perspective
My household income is ~1mm a year and if I didn’t have parental help on top of that I would feel squeezed living in the city with 3 kids.
I think for a family, you need 2.5mm pre tax to coast in nyc/San Fran.
You make $1M per year and you still need help from your parents? That’s actually crazy
In nyc if you make decent money as a W-2 employee, you basically pay 50% tax.
So how far can 500k really take you in nyc if you want to “feel rich” and have kids?
Mortgage, childcare, car, max retirement accounts and 529 plan is basic life stuff. To feel rich, I’d like to send my kids to private school, fly business and eat fancy dinners.
Ofc I live better than most people. But with great parents and in-laws I wouldn’t feel like a 1% in nyc on just 1mm pre tax.
What I never understand is all my colleague who marry losers when they are living in a tier 1 city. So many friends marry chicks who only bring hotness to the table. It’s nyc man, there’s plenty of hot AND rich chicks to grab.
So by your definition, the only working professionals who are able to "coast" in NYC/SF are MDs/partners
I think it comes down to how you define rich or coasting or the easy life.
But yes if you wanna feel rich in the most expensive city in the world, you gotta bring home serious cash in my opinion.
At $1M HHI already, what sort of parental help do your parents even provide you?
When you’re young you think seven figures is this mythical amount that means your life is set.
But taxes, especially in a liberal state like nyc, really hurt people like me. Upper middle class trying to scratch their way into the 1% get owned by taxes. Basically 50% I pay.
So my dad and father in law has helped me out. They paid for b school and helped with a down payment on my second apartment and when we go on vacation I make them subsidize airfare and hotels.
Look, do I really need their help? Probably not.
But I told them you can help me now, or I inherit it later and probably pay some sort of silly estate tax. And they aren’t stupid. They make sure they see where their money goes. If I was blowing it on entertainment, they would tell me to f*ck off. But they see it goes to stuff that makes their grandkids lives more comfortable, so they basically do it without me even asking.
And in turn, I will safeguard the family money and hopefully grow it, so my kids and their kids get help.
The same way some families marry young and have kids young and stay poor, I hope my family keeps having smart kids who grow the money and we never have to struggle. Although I’ve noticed that money and loving parents doesn’t always equal a smart and ethical kid.
Bro if you make $1mm per year and still feel poor that sounds like a personal problem lmao. Can’t say I really feel and for you
I don’t understand why I upset so many of you when I simply answer honestly.
The question was how much do you need to feel rich in nyc. And I said I make a mil but only feel rich cause I also have rich parents and 1 mil isn’t nyc rich.
Why did you think I want you to feel sorry for me when I make more than 99% of people on earth?
Comfortable with kids and a normal suburban life with all the benefits of living in Manhattan? $1.5+mm/year easily
40-50% goes to taxes, that leaves you with $800k. That's $67k/month
If you have two kids who are not toddlers and need their own rooms, your rent or mortgage will be $10-15k/month at least. You need a car, that's $1000/mo for lease/auto payment/gas/parking. Day care/private school for 2 kids is 40k per year each, that's 3k per month.
General living expenses (groceries + restaurants + general household items) for a household of 4 is another 5-10k/month. So far we're at ~30k in spending per month.
College is expensive, you need to save a couple g's a month for each of the kids. Call that $2-5k/month
Don't forget your savings for a rainy day (keep in mind that someone making 1+mm in finance is easily on the chopping block every time layoffs come up, so you need to save up. Call that $10k/month for the family's savings/investments.
We're easily at 40-50k of spending + saving per month, and that's not even living a particularly glorious lifestyle. Just living as someone in the suburbs would but in Manhattan. It's not easy...
Agree
Agree. I make 650-700k cash single and I totally get you (not counting the carry since it's all paper money and who knows when / if you get it). I do not feel wealthy. For me that level is when you're renting Hamptons houses, yachts, never taking public transport again etc and still saving 30%+ pre tax and unachievable until I'm making 1.5-2m+ single or 3-4m+ with wife kids. And that's still below the tier of people who own the things I mentioned
How old are you of of curiosity? Late 20s?
Cars are $1K+. If you get a $60-80K car, it’s $1k on just the monthly payments. Add another $500-1K on covered parking and insurance especially in New York.
I’m from NY and moved to Texas years ago to avoid this. To each their own.
Ha, I moved from TX to NYC because it was worth it to me. Agreed, to each their own I guess
Can’t go wrong with either! I was also tired of the cold
One million gazillion fafillion dollars
Woah don’t slip up or get caught
why not man?
I make $500k and live with my girlfriend who makes $250k. Neither of us has debt. I would say we feel, maybe not "rich", but extremely comfortable with no budget, living a life that 99% of people would consider rich.
We spend $5k on rent, split 67/33. I spend probably $100-150 a day average on eating / drinking (weighted toward weekends) with occasional Michelin Star meals, drop $1000 here and there on clothes, travel somewhere small (like a weekend trip) maybe once a month and go to Europe for 1-2 weeks every summer and winter with first class flights and upscale hotels. I still save $125k+ per year (should be more north of $150k this year). If I needed to tone the lifestyle down I could eat at home / in the office, stop buying trendy shit, and travel more reasonably and probably save an extra $25k+ a year, but I'm very much enjoying my late 20s.
The big differentiator is kids - I neither have them nor want them, so I'm able to live a pretty upscale lifestyle while still saving for retirement (and all of this excludes carry, which I value at zero but which would supercharge that retirement account).
If you're talking about truly wealthy, jet setting, yachts, etc. - I would say that starts in the mid-upper 8-figure net worth space, but that varies a lot less with location and is a lot less dependent on "income" vs assets
Agree that’s a comfortable life, but you basically are renting and that’s very literally the definition of not being rich. At $500K a year, you can barely afford a $1.5M home in NYC which is basically a 1 bedroom apartment in West Village lol
Renting is an asset allocation decision, same as anything else. I have partners with 9 figure net worths who rent their primary residence. I could buy a place in one of the outer boroughs today, in cash for some of them, but I like my current setup
As the other post said, not everyone wants to buy and in many cases it doesn’t make sense to. I eventually bought a place in nyc but it’s because we were having a kid and wanted stability and our own home. Most of the time renting beats out buying in nyc, you should just run the numbers. There is this weird notion in peoples head that you must buy a place to say you’ve “made it”.
Corrected
Why are you too old to take advantage ?
Late 30s checking in.
The city is just as much fun - if not more - than it was in my 20s or teenage years.
Only for a very skewed definition of middle class
Says who? There's an abundance of things to do here at any age. It kind of comes with having the most people in the country
This thread confirmed how badly people on this site budget.
What do you mean?
Think $250-300mm net worth to be upper middle class in NYC
at $100mm you are making like $4-5m a year in treasury yields which barely pays for more than one house and three kids schools. At $150mm now and feel scrimped
You’re an idiot
Wtf is this thread even. Some of you definitely live way above your means and expectations 😂.
In what world is kid tuition is in millions ??? Lol
The fact no one realized this is sarcasm is hilarious
I wanna know what you are smoking