First of all the two cities are nothing alike, in fact almost opposite. Downtown LA is almost non existent in someones travel plans, and I virtually never go there unless I have to for some medical reason. I’m sure there is some local culture there, but it is not world or even local renowned.
NY city on the other hand is the spot to live and visit, with that world renowned culture is so many different areas, that it would take years to explore it all. And real life, most NY’ers live in high rises and crowded areas, and they seem to love it. You and I dont understand that lifestyle, and would never choose it. But they do, they brag about how high up in a building you can live, and love that they dont have to own a car. That is their real life, and it was fun for me to experience it with them the many times I have visited. Kind of a new perspective, like when I hang with folks from other countries and experience their day to day lives.
LA is more of an area to visit, and a very large and diverse one. Of course the beaches are the star attraction, and then for families you have the whole theme park culture. Then of course the big thing on top of all that is just the weather. You and I just take it for granted living here, but most folks come from some much more harsh environment and just getting out of that to this is quite pleasurable for them.
So I guess we can put you down in the did want to go to NY, went several times, and been there and done that category. Like I said, most are in that category and that is why it is so popular.
Like it or not, NYC is far more enjoyable with a really big wallet. Not saying you don’t have one, but if you want to stay in luxe hotels, enjoy pricey Broadway shows or opera or other-world-class entertainment, top restaurants, etc., NY is amongst the tops.
I guarantee that almost all ‘real life country people’ you refer to, if they had endless financial resources and were ‘forced’ to sample the high life of NYC, zero of them would go back to the farm after seeing what a luxe life they could live in NYC in comparison. Even if they’re not into luxe things originally.
I don’t even like urban living but having tasted the higher-end fruits of NYC, I can fully understand why so many billionaires and high-end folks have houses of pied-a-terres there and spend a lot of time there. They are actively looking to spend their money (they earn way more money than they’ll ever spend in a lifetime) and NYC is amongst tops for amazing things and experiences.
LA is a completely different situation, nowhere near as metropolitan (not even close). But you’d love the Santa Monica mountains part of LA, where the road biking is amongst the world’s most epic as you ride overlooking the Pacific in Malibu - it’s nuts. And free.
For sure. NYC is an amazing place to live when you are young and single or rich. I was glad to spend my twenties there, but ain’t no way I was raising my kids there.
I have friends and family raising their kids in NYC. They are hellaciously rich, and for the rich, it’s a wonderful place to raise kids. But I mean rich, like $20 million+ rich for a few of them. At the single-million range, it’s probably more challenging but still pretty good. It would likely be very tough with a significantly lower income - you pay for all the conveniences of the good life, be it taxis, chauffers, assistants, proximity to choice private schools, and prime home location.
A friend of mine is living there. When he is not working 80 hours per week he enjoys it a lot. Has a lot of disposable income. But he talks of it like being a pro in a league. You do your years to get set up and then you can go back to normal. He won’t stay there he will come back to aus.
I don’t think making top of end of town is open to foreigners in some of the firms. Preference given to a home grown and well known product instead (those that golf, Hampton house etc)
Yes, that seems to be the play of making megabucks when you can and then retiring/quitting the moment it’s feasible to do so with a big payout. In NYC, someone hardworking and talented with ample luck and connections, can make 10+ million per year (almost invariably in finance-related investment fields). That same person in any other normal large city would be a 350-500k/yr paid professional for the same work and effort.
The thing I learned through a relative of mine who’s in it right now, is that the firms might pay you a ton (in actually you are earning the firm 10x+ of what they are paying you, though), but there are tons of financial handcuffs preventing you from leaving once you ‘hit your number’. That and the everpresent rat-race of someone earning more than your millions keeps you in the game wayyyyy longer than you ever planned, if if you’re worth ON PAPER $100million+. You definitely can’t just cash out most or even a big part of that $100 million immediately, you reliquinsh most of it to the firm if you leave early.
what do you mean by this? interestd can you expand? do you mean like you have private school stuff if you have kids, you have shit loads of debt if you go for a big lux domicile? or something else?
No, if you’re higher than single million range, you stay in NYC and benefit from all the conveniences. Only the not-rich-low-millionaires move to the suburbs. The truly rich stay.
These people don’t have debts. My cousin is 8-figure rich and he’s not even 50. But you can have a very similar life to his if you have $20million+ in assets, which a surprisingly decent number of upscale NYC residents do have. But a lot of those assets are tied up in legality and you just can’t leave. If my cousin wanted to leave his firm abruptly, he’d be forfeiting well over 50% of what his paper wealth is at the current moment, AND it would abruptly tank the entire 50+ person division that he heads, so it’s just not his money on the line. He wanted to quit over a decade ago since he had a very high-special-needs young kid, but he was unable to. So he bought 3 adjacent apartments in a luxe NYC building replete with private elevator, and hired a bunch of nannies, educators, and household help and moved in his inlaws to keep him sane. He’s still working. I never get to see him even though we were close when we were younger.
All the NYC-hater comments are from the ‘small folks’, who arent in the upper 1% of wealth, which admittedly is the large majority of NYC and America. But with a city that big, you’d be surprised how many decently wealthy as well as superwealthy individuals there are. A truly median-range income of Wall Street people in their 40s-50s would put you in the top 1% of earners in America on average, and possibly a lot higher than that. But that’s just considered totally normal in NYC and your Wall street peers would all find you not wealthy at all.
What we know is you also don’t live there either. I however do know many of the types you’re talking about. I also know many people that are scraping by making less than I do. So it’s a dichotomy.
