[jgalt212]

> 2. $5,000/mo mortgage is pretty high, even for a family of four in a high CoL area.

I'll take you task on this one, as a crummy 3 BR apartment in Manhattan is north of $2MM. Interest alone on that is $6700/mo. And I've personally seen number of dispiriting 3 BR's listed for $3MM.

[throwawayjava]

You don't have to live in Manhattan to work in Manhattan. Or at the very least, if you value your walkable commute that much, then why the hell do you need $10K/yr in luxury car expenses?

Also, you can recoup up to $3K of that $5K mortgage by cutting the other luxury goods in the budget.

I guess the point is: any one item on this list might be justifiable. At the very least, each on its own is a totally reasonable luxury to indulge in after decades of not just hard but also smart and stressful work. But the budget, taken as a whole, is hard to describe with any word other than "luxurious".

[jgalt212]

> Or at the very least, if you value your walkable commute that much, then why the hell do you need $10K/yr in luxury car expenses?

Have you ever tried to carry one or more toddler car seats to a rental agent? Even The Rock would balk at that task.

In any event, I appreciate all your counterpoints, but I'd prefer to hear counterpoints from current/former Manhattan parents than a logician without on the ground experience.

[danaris]

But Manhattan is not, I would say, what one should take as an example of "a high CoL area." As I understand things, it, along with Silicon Valley, are the highest-cost-of-living areas in the country, by a significant margin.