A Week In Washington, DC, On A Joint $655,000 Income - Money Diary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whatever, we have almost this HHI and live in a very different fashion. Yes, we pay full tuition for two kids in private school, but we definitely walk our own dog.

And yes, we have a "family fund" but it is essentially just a tax shelter and funds are matched by my husband's employer. It's a very easy and safe way to give to charities.

People, please take this woman's post with a grain of salt, it's just immature grand-standing. She's just a kid.

Our family income is similar and we have a DAF. That in no way makes our financial situation comparable to hers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had no idea there was such a thing as a family office. I actually think this level of wealth is revolting.

Why? It sounds like Op and her siblings are all productive members of society. Op is a surgeon for Pete’s sake. With the amount of wealth she has, she could have chosen a much less stressful career and one that did not involve so many years of grueling training. Also, there are different types of family offices. They may not have an entire firm like some very well known wealthy families. Based on this article, we do not know how large the family office is or their level of wealth.

Yep, or do drugs like Getty family

Plenty of poor families do drugs too. Drug addiction seems to be the great unifier across socio-economic levels. At least the Gettys did drugs AND created some amazing museums.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The fact that they spend only $485 a month on insurance tells me the surgeon is woefully underinsured. DW makes 1/3 of what she makes and her disability insurance costs that much per month.

Some hospitals' foundations are picking up the tab for the liability. She doesn't need disability insurance, she's self-insured at that wealth.

But they are paying for pet insurance...

I agree it's absurd but there must be a story behind it. Maybe doing a favor for someone in sales? I also appreciated the honesty about not being a top student in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Woke up at 10am and read this article and no wonder we are poor... We definitely have no such discipline

What discipline? I'm not hating on the diarist because they can apparently afford it and don't really need to worry about retirement savings, but I'm not seeing any particular financial discipline. I mean, in one week she's (1) splurged on $1,500 in La Perla for her vacation, (2) bought a $2,000 dress for a holiday party, (3) bought $3,000 tickets to take her niece and nephew to Utah flying first class, and (4) given AmEx concierge carte blanche to book whatever they want in Japan.

NP but assumed PP was talking about her waking up at 4:30 to go to the freaking gym. That is impressive. Although to be fair I had a lot more energy pre-kids. I’m the same age (33) and go to bed at midnight (mostly working after kids go to sleep) and 6 am is as much as I can manage. I work out at least 1-2x a week but one of those is normally a short 15-20 min HIIT run on treadmill in my basement. Certainly not dragging ass out of bed at 4:30 to run in the cold.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"K. and L. bro out about big law life"...

Pretty sure DH's assistant makes more than $120k at a big law firm...

Also is her paycheck AFTER taxes? $12,178 biweekly comes out to $292k....

515 + 120 = 635K, not 655K.

Yeah I don’t understand the 120k in biglaw thing unless he quit biglaw for another job

[Anonymous]

I get a gut feeling she's not white. Maybe Asian?

[Anonymous]

I’m impressed. It takes a lot of discipline to become a surgeon and she clearly didn’t have to do it given her family money.

I’m also so jealous of her spending. Dropping $1500 at La Perla on a whim? Giving AMEX concierge carte blanche range to plan their 5 year anniversary trip? I’m here for it.

I wish I could find her Instagram!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I get a gut feeling she's not white. Maybe Asian?

I don’t know - old money I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s white. If not, my guess is Indian. Does it matter?

[Anonymous]

Some pet insurance basically covers the cost of regular visits

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get a gut feeling she's not white. Maybe Asian?

I don’t know - old money I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s white. If not, my guess is Indian. Does it matter?

My guess is black

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get a gut feeling she's not white. Maybe Asian?

I don’t know - old money I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s white. If not, my guess is Indian. Does it matter?

The subject could be my cousin-surgeon, family wealth, married to lower earning lawyer—who is Asian. But my cousin is in San Francisco with the other wealthy Asians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"K. and L. bro out about big law life"...

Pretty sure DH's assistant makes more than $120k at a big law firm...

Also is her paycheck AFTER taxes? $12,178 biweekly comes out to $292k....

515 + 120 = 635K, not 655K.

Taxes, maxing out 401k, insurance...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had no idea there was such a thing as a family office. I actually think this level of wealth is revolting.

Why? It sounds like Op and her siblings are all productive members of society. Op is a surgeon for Pete’s sake. With the amount of wealth she has, she could have chosen a much less stressful career and one that did not involve so many years of grueling training. Also, there are different types of family offices. They may not have an entire firm like some very well known wealthy families. Based on this article, we do not know how large the family office is or their level of wealth.

So tired of this. Yet again, its mostly ONLY wealthy people who go to medical school. You cant take an unpaid internship or even a partially paid internship if you arent supported by mommy and daddy. Medical school prep, applications, interviews are all cost prohibitive. FULL STOP. Failing biochem- get a tutor. Dont have time to get groceries- pay for delivery. Dont have time to clean your clothes because you are studying- pay for laundry. Need to be close to the hospital- get an apartment so that you dont waste precious time commuting and can sleep/study more.

https://www.idealmedicalcare.org/is-medical-school-just-for-rich-kids-this-native-american-woman-says-yes/

Exactly!!!
Why is it so difficult for Americans to accept that social mobility doesn’t happen for he VAST majority of Americans!?!? Very few children born into poverty make it out.

[Anonymous]

I can't be the only one who thinks this isn't a lot of money. This is very standard UMC in this area...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get a gut feeling she's not white. Maybe Asian?

I don’t know - old money I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s white. If not, my guess is Indian. Does it matter?

My guess is black

I thought Indian, based on the food descriptions.