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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The comp for senior associates and partners is so much greater (by orders of magnitude) than what a dual fed HHI of $350k is that it’s frankly shocking when clueless big law types talk about how they can’t afford to leave. It’s like no, you don’t want to change your lifestyle. Are you actually saying you couldn’t afford to live on GS15?[/quote]

They have no perspective. So many of these lawyers have never really had to live on anything other than a biglaw salary, so they don't understand why it is like for average white collar professionals. They either went straight to law school from undergrad, or they may have worked for some amount of time but either in a high paying field (consulting, finance) or were heavily subsidized by parents. They've always been surrounded by people who are UMC or above, and have no concept of living any other way.

I mean, even in DC where COL is very high, the idea that someone would simply not think it was possible to live on 200-300k is an indication of the level of myopia we're talking about here. I think in some cases they truly don't know how that you can, in fact, buy a perfectly nice family home close in for 800-900k, that there are good public schools in the area that plenty of smart, caring parents are enthusiastic about sending their kids to, that you can take a perfectly lovely vacation for a family of 4 on a few thousand dollars, and do that twice a year and feel pretty satisfied.

They literally just don't know. It's George P. Bush not knowing how much a gallon of milk costs vibes. They are simply out of touch.[/quote]

It's just risk-aversion. FWIW I would never buy an 800K home on a 200K salary. Again, extreme risk-aversion.[/quote]

You might if you had 300-400k to put down, which is not out of the question for someone who has been making BigLaw money for 5-6 years. But it would require you to live more frugally than most BigLaw associates want to live -- they feel like they lived like paupers in law school (even when they didn't, and instead funded a pretty nice lifestyle with loans, which will also make it harder to save because you'll have more loans to pay down) and the want the nice apartment and nice clothes and nice vacations, etc.

Choices, choices, choices.[/quote]

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