[zackkrida]

This would be true except that there are fixed costs of living. Say Tim Cook was making three million less -- is he going to have to make lifestyle changes to spend 3 million less a year? No way.

A person making 60k a year losing 15% of their income? There's likely to be significant lifestyle changes.

[OJFord]

Whether or not it necessitates a 'lifestyle change' depends on what you spend as a proportion of your income; not your income alone.

Furthermore, I think any financial advisor would advise that your 'lifestyle' not depend on one year's bonus!

[karyon]

I'm pretty sure that there are lifestyles that burn several millions per year, and my guess would be there are people living a happy life with less than 60k.

but of course it's true that the further you go up the scale, the more absurd it becomes to talk about serious comfort losses, and there's a point on the lower end where we're talking about actual poverty.

[ChuckMcM]

You might be hard pressed to construct one without getting a bit crazy. Most of the cost is going to be salaries of staff. At the extremes you have the Royal Family of England[1] ($43M) and Warren Buffet[2] (<.5M$).

[1] http://home.bt.com/lifestyle/money/mortgages-bills/how-much-...

[2] (warning self starting video) http://www.investopedia.com/articles/financialcareers/10/buf...

[hyperpape]

The killer for entertainers and sports figures who blow through tons of money is keeping an entourage. There are probably tech figures who have one, but I don't know who they are.