NYC Wealth Math
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A breakdown of the true cost of living a wealthy lifestyle in NYC, specifically focused on owning a brownstone and maintaining an upper-class lifestyle.
Housing Costs (Brooklyn Brownstone Example)
- $5M purchase price
- $1.1M down payment required
- $20k monthly mortgage/interest payments
- Additional $2-3k monthly maintenance costs
Setup & Ongoing Costs
- Furnishing: $50k-150k total
- High-end furniture (Restoration Hardware): $20-25k per room
- Mid-tier options (West Elm): ~$75k total
- Staff & Services
- Nanny: $40-50k annually
- Food: ~$30k annually
Income Requirements
- Need $600-700k annual post-tax spending
- Must earn $1.2M pre-tax due to 50% tax rate
- Real examples from friends:
- Friend 1: Spends $500k annually
- Friend 2: Spends $800k annually
- Friend 3: Spends $650k annually (excluding vacation home)
Wealth Building Timeline
- At $1.5M annual income
- $25k monthly expenses
- Takes ~15 years to save $10M
Common Paths to Affording This Lifestyle
- Family wealth/inheritance
- Bought property decades ago at lower prices
- High-income professions:
- Finance
- Law
- Medicine
- Consulting
- Business owners/entrepreneurs
- Usually through large exits rather than steady income
Key Insight
- Most owners have "a story" behind their wealth
- Research showed 7/10 brownstone owners were teachers/artists/professors
- Suggests significant family wealth or other sources of support
- Very difficult to afford purely through regular income
Sam Parr
Host of MFM and fitness influencer
Sam Parr is a serial entrepreneur and business media pioneer.
In 2016, he founded The Hustle, a business news media company that started in his kitchen with just $12 and grew to eight figures in revenue.
Sam led the charge in making newsletters popular when few believed in their potential.
After four successful years, he sold The Hustle to HubSpot, a publicly traded company. Now operating as HubSpot Media, The Hustle reaches 3 million readers daily, employs a team of nearly 100, and has been the launchpad for dozens of its staff to found their own media companies and newsletters.
Sam remains the host of the popular business podcast, My First Million, and continues to start and sell companies. He also co-founded Hampton, a highly vetted community for entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs, and teaches people to write better through his platform, Copy That.