Reply to NYC law partner w/ kids: "$850K gross is not enough to live on"

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Reply to "NYC law partner w/ kids: "$850K gross is not enough to live on""

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Main Line and Westchester are not much comparison. Philadelphia is a very poor city. It has so much history and good food but the people are so provincial and often don't leave the state ever. The politics of the state are ridiculous and stuck in the 1800s. [/quote]

yep. Not at all the density of high-powered legal jobs as NYC. so it’s not really a comparison for most NYC partners, except in that if they believe they are “poor” in NYC then yes, maybe they need to trade some of the prestige and money of NYC for something slower paced. I went to law school in NYC and practiced in Philly at the beginning of my career and the cool thing is that most of my cohort went on to do a broad variety of interesting stuff in/around Philly (small firms, legal aid, DA, AG, opened own non-law businesses) specifically because Philly is so much more affordable and you are not locked into the law firm track the way you are in NYC. [/quote]

Exactly. No one is arguing Philly is more exciting or even overall better. [b]But it is better not to live in a shoebox and shoehorning three kids into a tiny space so you can brag about being a New Yorker[/b]. Go look at Rittenhouse if you want an urban neighborhood in Philly. [/quote]

+10000. The people who insist on doing this are insufferable.

They also are typically lifelong renters. [/quote]

Yep. You need to have family money, be in finance, or be an entrepreneur to live the life the redditor wants. Being a non-rainmaker partner doesn’t cut it and their NW will be a fraction of what it would be if they lived in the suburbs or a lower cost of living metro. [/quote]

Again - the density of law and finance jobs cannot be paralleled in other cities. People move to NYC because they want the NYC lifestyle- which yes, includes less square footage [b]but much much more to do outside of the home [/b]and higher power work. If you don’t want that then don’t move there, but don’t delude yourself into thinking New Yorkers are crying themselves to sleep over your McMansion. [/quote]

This is debatable, especially when you have kids. Whenever I’m in NYC visiting family/friends I’m struck by how the only thing to do is go out to eat or to a playground.  If you’re actually wealthy with multiple nannies then maybe you’re living a fabulous NY lifestyle. But the average $800k lawyer is hardly living it up. They aren’t doing anything you can’t do in any metro area in the US. They are just doing it with less square footage and less disposable income.

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Just because your idea of “doing something” is driving to an exurban trampoline park doesn’t mean that’s everyone. NYC has everything and if you don’t want that then yeah, don’t live there.[/quote]

Most people here don't live in the exurbs. There is a wide gulf between trampoline park and living in HCOL Brooklyn on 800k. The Redditor could make 400k in DC or Chicago and live a far better life with all of the urban amenities she thinks she needs to be fulfilled. [/quote]

She can literally by a 4 bedroom house right now on Metro North. She doesn’t want to. She thinks she is entitled to 4 bedrooms in the fully gentrified part of Brooklyn for $1 mil. [/quote]

Agree there are lots of options that would work but they involve trade offs that the Reddit poster doesn’t want TJ make. You can’t live the perfect life in nyc (bedroom for each kid, super short commute, great schools) for $850K. But you can’t make some trade offs and have it all work out just fine.[/quote]

Hence she is a whiner if she believes that being a law partner entitled her from having to ever make any financial tradeoffs … because of course living in McLean and having a more boring and less lucrative practice is also a tradeoff [/quote]

If you can afford McLean you can buy a townhouse in Georgetown without a garage or a nice condo in Foggy Bottom. There’s more in life than sterile DC suburbs or living in a ghetto NYC area on 800k because you need four bedrooms. Many examples have been given. [/quote]

For the kajillionth time, no other city has the density of finance-related work as NYC. It’s not the same. That is why she is there. Yes she can take a pay/prestige cut and move to a condo in Foggy Bottom but honestly that sounds like the worst of all possible solutions … [/quote]

If you can get a job at Sullivan and Cromwell or Goldman Sachs you can make it in Boston or Philly or Peoria in a significant way. You have to be somewhat intelligent and hard working to get where Reddit woman is today. What she lacked was foresight and the social knowledge that 850k is nothing special in NYC. Not many people have to live in NYC and optimize lifestyle and finances by doing so. Keep in mind, redditor is not a rainmaker by any stretch. [/quote]

Exactly. There are plenty of professional jobs in Philly. And plenty of rich people living a great life. Redditor could be a big fish in a small pond in a different city. Ridiculous to imply there are no jobs but in nyc. [/quote]

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