$350,000/Year Not Enough

[luiz]

The problem isn't that he's rich (good for him) or that he wants to earn more (good for him) but that he has a sense of entitlement that impacts society as a whole. It's a pretty short step from "I earn 350k / year which is not enough" to "My success is being victimized and I deserve to pay less in taxes"

If you make it to the top 1% you are not a victim of the system.

He is just one person. I don't see how this is any more newsworthy than "man becomes poor because of drinking habits".

 

[warpus]

He is just one person. I don't see how this is any more newsworthy than "man becomes poor because of drinking habits".

The article isn't only about him - it's about people who make significant amounts of money who are having trouble managing it properly.

It's a story because.. how can you hold down a job as a banker, which involves the management of money, if you aren't able to manage your own? Not only that, we have heard of this sort of thing before, from people who make significant amounts of money. He isn't the only one.

How can they be so clueless and out of touch with reality? People want to know.

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

As you say , it's really quite stupid . "I'm gonna work 12 hour days , be on call 24/7 , lose my hair , compromise my health and in return I get money which I'm gonna spend on "stuff" so as I can ensure I have to keep doing this till I die "

 

[Dida]

The article isn't only about him - it's about people who make significant amounts of money who are having trouble managing it properly.

It's a story because.. how can you hold down a job as a banker, which involves the management of money, if you aren't able to manage your own? Not only that, we have heard of this sort of thing before, from people who make significant amounts of money. He isn't the only one.

How can they be so clueless and out of touch with reality? People want to know.

Used to work with a guy who did exactly the same things. Paid 5k for nice midtown apartment, sent kids to private schools, eat out all time and go party at expensive venues. Our starting salary was 180k or something, but I think had negative equity at the end of the year. I personally can't imagine working 60-80 hr a week only to end up with no money in the bank to show for it, but I guess he cannot imagine not spending all of his money.

 

[warpus]

Used to work with a guy who did exactly the same things. Paid 5k for nice midtown apartment, sent kids to private schools, eat out all time and go party at expensive venues. Our starting salary was 180k or something, but I think had negative equity at the end of the year. I personally can't imagine working 60-80 hr a week only to end up with no money in the bank to show for it, but I guess he cannot imagine not spending all of his money.

That's one thing, another one is not being able to cope when your income is reduced.

You don't get to complain about not being able to make ends meet when you make $350,000. It should be seen as a great public service to ridicule people who do... and if they're bankers? What the hell? What sort of twisted mentality or mindset is required for something like that to happen? It makes a great story just because it's so crazy.

 

[emzie]

He is just one person. I don't see how this is any more newsworthy than "man becomes poor because of drinking habits".

And I'm criticizing one person. If it's newsworthy is another thing all together.

 

[classical_hero]

Used to work with a guy who did exactly the same things. Paid 5k for nice midtown apartment, sent kids to private schools, eat out all time and go party at expensive venues. Our starting salary was 180k or something, but I think had negative equity at the end of the year. I personally can't imagine working 60-80 hr a week only to end up with no money in the bank to show for it, but I guess he cannot imagine not spending all of his money.

That sounds so much like my father. I just don't understand how right now he does not have any money considering how many years he made over $100,000 a year and that was often in the 80's and even recently he would earn over $200,000 and yet now he is in massive debt. He has worked in the finance industry for much of his life and yet he has no understand or concept of what money is.

That's one thing, another one is not being able to cope when your income is reduced.

You don't get to complain about not being able to make ends meet when you make $350,000. It should be seen as a great public service to ridicule people who do... and if they're bankers? What the hell? What sort of twisted mentality or mindset is required for something like that to happen? It makes a great story just because it's so crazy.

I know when my father quit his job because he did not like being stuck behind a desk all day, we almost lost the house as a result of him not stopping his spending like he did and then when he got another jo he ha to work way too many hours to make it and then the cycle continued.

 

[warpus]

I know when my father quit his job because he did not like being stuck behind a desk all day, we almost lost the house as a result of him not stopping his spending like he did and then when he got another jo he ha to work way too many hours to make it and then the cycle continued.

No offense to your dad, but people really need to learn how to budget better. This is how much money you have coming in each month, here are the expenses, the remainder goes into savings or investments.. if your income goes down, you've got to cut some expenses out, that's just.. very simple. For an average person to not realize that this has to happen can be understandable, but a banker? It's just inexcusable.

 

[luiz]

The article isn't only about him - it's about people who make significant amounts of money who are having trouble managing it properly.

It's a story because.. how can you hold down a job as a banker, which involves the management of money, if you aren't able to manage your own? Not only that, we have heard of this sort of thing before, from people who make significant amounts of money. He isn't the only one.

How can they be so clueless and out of touch with reality? People want to know.

It's not that hard to understand. People make money to spend it. If you make say 500K a year your wife is likely to expect a bunch of stuff, as will your kids. If your income drops to 350K that wil mean trouble, even if obviously it's not the same sort of trouble as when some poor guy loses his job. But you'd still have to "downgrade" your life, and nobody likes doing that. Nobody likes taking their kids out some private school because it's too expensive, or moving to a smaller place, even if that place is still very good. It's understandable that anyone facing a significant drop in income should face some stress, even if the income remains very high relative to most people.

This guy is an idiot for giving an interview posing as a victim, as anyone with half brain should know that he'd be ridiculed and a lot of people would take offense at a rich guy complaining about a 350K income. Compared to most people he is still doing extremely well, so he should keep his mouth shut. So he is an idiot (and only one person), yes, but the story is not surprising in the least.

 

[emzie]

I think Luiz is spot on. Screenshotting this post so I can confirm it happened.

 

[Dida]

Having personally worked with many high-income spendthrifts I can kind of understand what they were going through. It is hard for people to get up every morning (some mornings you don't need to get up since you'd have worked all night) only to face another long grueling day in the office. It can quickly wear you down. Constantly indulging in expensive stuff is one way for many to scope. I knew one girl in Hong Kong, she had a nice lake side villa in Suzhou, China but had never spent a night there because of her ultra-insane work schedule! Money in the bank is hard to visualize, nice Rolex on the wrist is something anyone can touch and feel. I went in with the mindset of working my butt off for a few years, saving as much as I can and get out. What sustained me was never these luxury items but something quite different.

 

[mangxema]

"People who don't have money don't understand the stress," said Alan Dlugash, a partner at accounting firm Marks Paneth & Shron LLP in New York who specializes in financial planning for the wealthy. "Could you imagine what it's like to say I got three kids in private school, I have to think about pulling them out? How do you do that?"

I'm playing the world's smallest Stradivarius, just for you.

 

[Quintillus]

Oh, boo hoo. Not able to get by on a third of a million dollars...

I think this line is telling:

Richard Scheiner, 58, a real-estate investor and hedge-fund manager, said most people on Wall Street don't save.

$350K is well more than enough to save a considerable amount. Save a bit, and they could probably get by pretty easily in the "off" years. Maybe one fewer vacation to Whistler a year, but no worries about moving to a cheaper home or changing their kids' schools.

Not saying that it would be easy to have an income drop of $500K to $350K, just that it's really bad money management to overcommit yourself and not save such that it's a problem. And it is ironic and troubling when the people getting themselves in that fix are the same ones who manage large amounts of money for other people.

 

[warpus]

It's not that hard to understand. People make money to spend it. If you make say 500K a year your wife is likely to expect a bunch of stuff, as will your kids. If your income drops to 350K that wil mean trouble, even if obviously it's not the same sort of trouble as when some poor guy loses his job. But you'd still have to "downgrade" your life, and nobody likes doing that.

I don't like going to the toilet to poo either, but I have to do it when nature calls. Do I complain about it? No cause I'm not an idiot

Life is life, things change. If you can't adapt, then you're an idiot, simple as that.

 

[GoodGame]

From same article:

"People who don't have money don't understand the stress," said Alan Dlugash, a partner at accounting firm Marks Paneth & Shron LLP in New York who specializes in financial planning for the wealthy. "Could you imagine what it's like to say I got three kids in private school, I have to think about pulling them out? How do you do that?"

 

[Dida]

People do have to pay tax so when someone makes $350k he will pocket significantly less than $350, I would think he will end up with less than $200k. Now $200k is still a whole lot more than the average in this country but it is a whole lot less than $350k.
This guy doesn't have 350k to spend, he maybe has 200k. I do disapprove of his summer home in Connecticut, but sending his kids to private school is quite the right thing to do. Sending ones kids to NYC public school when one could have sent them to private school is nothing less than borderline child abuse.

 

[Synobun]

People do have to pay tax so when someone makes $350k he will pocket significantly less than $350, I would think he will end up with less than $200k. Now $200k is still a whole lot more than the average in this country but it is a whole lot less than $350k.
This guy doesn't have 350k to spend, he maybe has 200k. I do disapprove of his summer home in Connecticut, but sending his kids to private school is quite the right thing to do. Sending ones kids to NYC public school when one could have sent them to private school is nothing less than borderline child abuse.

If he didn't live such an elitist life style 200k would still be more than enough. His fault for getting stuck in money problems. No sympathy.

 

[Cutlass]

People do have to pay tax so when someone makes $350k he will pocket significantly less than $350, I would think he will end up with less than $200k. Now $200k is still a whole lot more than the average in this country but it is a whole lot less than $350k.
This guy doesn't have 350k to spend, he maybe has 200k. I do disapprove of his summer home in Connecticut, but sending his kids to private school is quite the right thing to do. Sending ones kids to NYC public school when one could have sent them to private school is nothing less than borderline child abuse.

His taxes probably are not near that high. But the point remains that his gross income is 7 times the average gross income for a family. If he can't get by on that, then he's a fool.

 

[Commodore]

...What damage? I haven't seen any crowds taking to the streets about it, no factories occupied in fury, no bankers dragged out into the street and guillotined. What I've seen is a lot of people go "tsk, bloody typically", and get on with their lives.

I'm sure someone as smart as you should know that the things you mentioned aren't the only indicators of damage caused. What it does is further polarize the people against each other. This prevents meaningful dialog in our society so none of the problems ever really get fixed.

Given some of the things you have posted on this site, I'm sure you already knew everything I just said. I'm starting to think you are just arguing with me for the sake of arguing.

 

[aelf]

I'm sure someone as smart as you should know that the things you mentioned aren't the only indicators of damage caused. What it does is further polarize the people against each other. This prevents meaningful dialog in our society so none of the problems ever really get fixed.

Dialogue? Whoever said that the wealthy want to have a dialogue with their inferiors?

But I'm happy that this guy is a fool. Like some have said, please spend it all. His loss is other people's gain.