Expenses for New York's upper echelons can add up

NEW YORK -- Wall Street executives have long been living the good life: $35,000 monthly mortgage payments for Park Avenue penthouses, $40,000 a year for a live-in housekeeper and country club memberships in the Hamptons that can cost more than a half-million.

But with public outrage growing over outsized pay packages and compensation dropping along with the economy, the businesses that cater to the finance world's elite are bracing for a slowdown.

For New York's upper echelons, there's nothing basic about necessities such as housing. A mortgage on a $10 million co-op apartment, with half covered by the down payment, can run $35,000 a month, plus $7,000 and up for maintenance payments.

Full-time help starts at $40,000 a year -- with more employees necessary for large or multiple homes, said Jonathan Frye, president of The Lindquist Group, which has been providing household staff in New York since 1890.

Add to that private school tuition, which can easily run $33,000 per child. A nanny costs at least $40,000 in salary.

Elite country club memberships routinely cost tens of thousands of dollars.