Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the pp you quoted. According to my husband he made nearly a million last year. I used to be an associate at a big firm for several years and my DH is govt employee, and we saved $500k in a few years before we had kids so considering he had like 3 more years as an associate before he had kids (likely making $300 base by the end) and another 4 years as a partner at $700-950k/year I'd say the numbers add up quite nicely. I doubt they have a $3 million mortgage. I would bet he paid a huge chunk of cash.

Here's one thing that doesn't make sense to me: You say your husband was making $300 base at least 4 years ago as an associate. But current top-end associate salaries in DC (even for firms based in NY) are all less than $300 -- often far less. http://www.infirmation.com/shared/search/payscale-compare.tcl?city=Washington&usps_abbrev=DC Four years ago, those base salaries were even lower.

In my experience, a partner making close to $1 million either has a $4-5 million personal book of business herself (which is not too common), or else is working her ass off as high level point person for another partner who has a $10-20 million book of high-paying clients (also not too common). These situations definitely occur, but they're certainly not common.

Anonymous wrote:We recently moved to DC. My spouse and I are/were both in BigLaw. Where we came from, BigLaw paled in comparison to the wealth of any investment banker, hedge fund type, finance guy (or girls, but pretty much all guys). Does this sector just not exist in DC or what?? BigLaw types could've been in 1-2M homes as young, successful partners with a lot of hard work (mid-late 30s), 2+ million w/ luck on selling a previous place, lots and lots of saving and having kids later rather than earlier, and/or family. But it was the finance guys at the same age and amount of experience (VP, young directors/MDs) that were the ones always in the 2+ millions places at late 30s, early 40s.

Anonymous wrote:I am the pp you quoted. According to my husband he made nearly a million last year. I used to be an associate at a big firm for several years and my DH is govt employee, and we saved $500k in a few years before we had kids so considering he had like 3 more years as an associate before he had kids (likely making $300 base by the end) and another 4 years as a partner at $700-950k/year I'd say the numbers add up quite nicely. I doubt they have a $3 million mortgage. I would bet he paid a huge chunk of cash.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We recently bought a $3M home. No family money involved. No huge down payment from our prior home. And, we kept our beach home.

I own my own business and I invest in good opportunities, for which I am always looking. Our main objective is cash flow, not net worth. But, practically had we not bought the house we could have retired instead. But, I'm not yet 35 and don't yet know what I want to do when I grow up.

So, is it safe to assume you are highly leveraged?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I am the pp you quoted. According to my husband he made nearly a million last year. I used to be an associate at a big firm for several years and my DH is govt employee, and we saved $500k in a few years before we had kids so considering he had like 3 more years as an associate before he had kids (likely making $300 base by the end) and another 4 years as a partner at $700-950k/year I'd say the numbers add up quite nicely. I doubt they have a $3 million mortgage. I would bet he paid a huge chunk of cash.

I never said they had $3 million in debt. I said they may have mortgage debt on $3 million in real estate. If they spend money on all the other things you mentioned, it sounds like they still have a lot of debt, unless they were astute investors or had family money. We saved more than this family likely was in a position to save before buying a primary residence in the $2 M price range, but other people are comfortable going out on more of a financial limb.

Not really trying to call other's choices into question at all. Those who wonder how other people afford such homes, however, might want to understand that, in some cases, there's a fair amount of stress and uncertainty associated with this type of lifestyle. As I mentioned, I've known some former law firm partners who had to deleverage quickly.