Paycuts felt everywhere

[sam_gordon]

Part of me wants to laugh, part wants to cry when reading this article. It did make me think of those who hang out on the budget board though (what they'd think of it)...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-29/wall-street-bonus-withdrawal-means-trading-aspen-for-cheap-chex.html

 

[SaraJayne]

Part of me wants to laugh, part wants to cry when reading this article. It did make me think of those who hang out on the budget board though (what they'd think of it)...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-...rawal-means-trading-aspen-for-cheap-chex.html

Gee, let me reach deep down and try to muster up some sympathy.

Nope, can't do it.

Every instance listed in that story is a personal choice they've made to spend money.

 

[usnuzuloose]

Well, I guess this guy will really learn what it means to budget.

 

[Eeyore98]

Richard Scheiner, 58, a real-estate investor and hedge-fund manager, said most people on Wall Street don’t save.

'When their means are cut, they’re stuck,' said Scheiner, whose New York-based hedge fund, Lane Gate Partners LLC, was down about 15 percent last year. 'Not so much an issue for me and my wife because we’ve always saved.'

Scheiner said he spends about $500 a month to park one of his two Audis in a garage and at least $7,500 a year each for memberships at the Trump National Golf Club in Westchester and a gun club in upstate New York. A labradoodle named Zelda and a rescued bichon frise, Duke, cost $17,000 a year, including food, health care, boarding and a daily dog-walker who charges $17 each per outing, he said."

17 GRAND on two dogs? I can't even imagine how that's possible.

 

[patsal]

So far from my realm of reality I cannot even attempt to grasp it.

 

[ers26]

That article is pathetic. When I first read it, I thought is was some sort of joke!

 

[Marionnette]

You know what? We could all get some kind of smug satisfaction from reading about a 1%-er who can't live the lifestyle that he was accustomed to, but try to look at the total picture.

The guy in the article will not be able to make the additions or improvements on his home this year. That means that some contractor and his crew are not going to have work this summer. Maybe not all summer, but certainly for a few weeks.

And if this same guy decides to send his kids to public school instead of that private day school? Well, some teacher is going to lose her job. And another public classroom is going to become that much more crowded.

That landlord who is only going to get 1/4 the number of weeks rented out at his summer house is still going to have to pay his taxes and mortgage. Guess how he decides to make ends meet? He lets the landscaper go. And somewhere a waitress, shopkeeper and restaurant owner in that little town is going to have a rotten summer because tourism is down 75%.

That $17,000 a year that was spent on the dogs partially paid the salary of a dog walker, groomer and vet tech.

We can all be jealous of that 1%-er who feels like he's missing out on the American dream he worked so hard for. Or we can be worried about how salary cuts and job losses anywhere have an affect on our economy.

 

[pumpkinfish]

“People who don’t have money don’t understand the stress,” said Alan Dlugash, a partner at accounting firm Marks Paneth & Shron LLP in New York who specializes in financial planning for the wealthy. “Could you imagine what it’s like to say I got three kids in private school, I have to think about pulling them out? How do you do that?”

Seriously? I know how not having money can STILL cause stress! Living in NYC is expensive...which is why DH and I moved back to VA. This article is a crock of .

 

[SaraJayne]

Seriously? I know how not having money can STILL cause stress! Living in NYC is expensive...which is why DH and I moved back to VA. This article is a crock of .

Yep, all choices.

 

[sherry7]

Wow, I'm at a loss for words.

 

[MrsPete]

Sorry, dude. No sympathy for you.

He lost me completely with the comment about how people who don't have money don't understand the stress. Speaking as one of the little people -- you know, the worthless people -- I just can't muster any sorrow for his plight. I'm sure it feels like misfortune to him, but that just shows how out of touch with reality he is.

 

[StephMK]

I'm pretty sure that if my 2 rescue dogs could read, they'd be pretty ticked that they were adopted by the wrong family. Luckily, we couldn't afford to teach them so they are quite happy all stretched out on their sale priced dog beds after eating a meal of dry dog food from the regular ole grocery store (*gasp*) Oh the horrors.

I do get that people of all income levels are affected by reducing incomes but I really hope the guy talking about the stress was taken out of context. That is pretty ridiculous, compared to the stress of having no money.

 

[englishteacha]

I agree that it's sad how this person's loss of income will affect others-the owner of the vacation home, the dog walker, etc., but it's hard to feel much sympathy for the "wealthy" person. The tuition to that day school they mentioned? More than my yearly take home pay. That's nuts!

 

[Free4Life11]

What a freaking joke. Cry me a river! They get a big fat from me!

 

[dvcgirl]

Well, I'm not surprised. I know a fair amount of people in this income bracket, and for the most part.....they're not savers. A lot of them end up in serious debt.

As for the figure on spending on the dogs for the one guy.....yup, they do spend that way. That's my business, and I have several clients that spend over $7000 a year, just for dog walking.

 

[punkin]

Marionette, you are right. Since we now live in a consumer driven economy, if people like this cut spending, everyone will be affected.

As far as spending on dog boarding and walking...these people are almost never home. They work ALL THE TIME. Someone has to take care of the dogs.

BTW, as an aside of the people I know at this income level who have children, the very last luxury to go is the private school.

 

[POOHsie]

I know people here who take half-doses of medicine or skip it altogether, eat the cheapest, lousy canned food, and are one emergency away from complete disaster. These people's car is iffy, and I have been lending them mine for twice-monthly trips to a medical specialist in another town. (The wife has a degenerating spine condition and is in chronic pain.) Now I learned their transmission is going. I can't offer my car more than I am already doing, and I can't pay their repairs. I wish I could help them more. These are people I truly have sympathy for, not Wall St jokers who blow their way thru hundreds of thousands and cry when their very-undeserved high pay gets reduced.

 

[usnuzuloose]

Yes, we have relatives in that bracket. They just bought a 10 acre ranch. They seem to think we can just up and come out to visit. That wont happen. Our car is older and we baby it. We take a vacation close to home. But I dont worry about 2 house payments, plus making rent payment while the husband is now going to go live out of state on the ranch and she will travel back and forth states to visit her husband.

Someday some people will wake up to reality. And it will hit hard. I dont even own a home. But I am thankful I have a roof over our head, we eat, and the animals are loved and cared for.

 

[NokOnHarts]

The disconnect from reality here is amazing. It's like the Hollywood elite.. I have always said they live on another planet. Simply to mean the life they lead is so far disconnected from the "average" individual and family that they honestly don't even know how crazy they sound when they say they are "struggling to live off of $350,000." For them it really IS a tragedy and to the rest of America it sounds like an April Fool's joke. But if we're really being honest here, most all Americans are disconnected from the reality of much of the rest of the world. Whether we make $30,000 a year or $300,000 a year, most of us have no idea what it feels like to have to live in true poverty. We have come to expect luxury as the "norm" in our country and take way too much for granted... to have drinking water that has no color and food in a cupboard for tomorrow, I'm already more rich than some. And of course I take that for granted every day.

 

[Planogirl]

I can feel a bit of sympathy for anyone who loses income that they are used to getting. However, I think that it will be a lot easier for people like this guy to adjust than most.