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  • We are in the most expensive city in America, New York City.

  • We just checked out a room here.

  • That was $10,000 a night.

  • How do these people afford this?

  • Today, we're gonna find out by going up to New Yorkers and asking them, "What do y'all do for a living?"

  • What kind of stuff do you guys do in New York?

  • What was your career?

  • Ship owning.

  • What? Really?

  • You own ships?

  • Yes.

  • Mostly tankers.

  • And you bought and sold tankers?

  • Yes.

  • Is that very lucrative of a career?

  • There are good years and very challenging years.

  • This is the only city in the world we could have started that business.

  • Very impressive.

  • It's special.

  • What kind of company do you start?

  • It's called Haifa Limestone. So I import limestone from Europe and the Middle East.

  • We do high-end homes.

  • How much does limestone cost?

  • It used to cost me $5000 container to ship it before the pandemic. Now it's $20,000.

  • When did you feel like you made it in America?

  • I wanted to make a million dollars before I turned 30 and turns out that was the easiest one to make.

  • After that, it got harder.

  • It's been a really fun ride but success is different for everybody.

  • It's like, what's success? Is it a million? Is it 50 million? Is it 500 million?

  • It's not a number, it's more what makes you happy.

  • What does finance do?

  • I take people's money and try to give them more money back, essentially.

  • What do people make in that career?

  • $100k to $300k.

  • So, if someone was just starting out, what would you recommend?

  • Work hard, keep grinding.

  • What was it like for you?

  • A lot of hours, kissing ass. You got to make a name for yourself.

  • I sell farmland at auction. We sell in 40 different states.

  • We sell quite a bit of land in Texas.

  • (I) love Texas. Texas is a great state.

  • Is that a lucrative career selling farmland?

  • It's a good career, excellent career.

  • What kind of work are you in?

  • I head up operations for North America for a English brand. We design and manufacture kitchenware products.

  • Really? Which kind of products?

  • It's a brand called Joseph Joseph. Anything chopping boards.

  • Joseph, they have like the super famous cutting board.

  • Yeah, lots of colors.

  • How did you end up getting in that work?

  • I've been with the brand like ten years. (I) started off in customer service.

  • From customer service to running all of North America. - Yes.

  • How did you do that? - Through hard work.

  • I was able to move up to three different departments and yes, and now I've hit it up.

  • If someone was starting in their career, what would you recommend for them?

  • Hard work, getting in, making sure you don't mind putting in the extra hours.

  • We thought it'd be easy to get some advice from the rich and wealthy that live in New York City.

  • Sir, do you have a few minutes?

  • But the more we tried to approach them, the more we got rejected.

  • But the people we met who weren't part of the super rich had some of the most inspiring stories.

  • How much is your rent here?

  • So I paid $1200. Literally right down here. It's small. It's 70 square feet, super small.

  • 70 square feet.

  • Yeah, I didn't want to pay too much, but I wanted to live the New York experience.

  • So started out small and then work your way out.

  • And what do you do for work? - Business development.

  • What do you all do in New York?

  • I'm in horticulture.

  • What is horticulture?

  • Gardening.

  • I work in a baseball stadium.

  • So I do all the grounds outside the stadium.

  • You do the grass like the Mets or the Yankees?

  • At City field.

  • What do horticulture make?

  • Not enough.

  • Six figures?

  • $75k.

  • What kind of work do you do in New York?

  • I do recruitment.

  • What kind of people are you recruiting?

  • So I do more in the fashion business.

  • What does someone like that make as a recruiter?

  • What's like the range of salary?

  • Well, you have a base and then you get commission.

  • What was your first New York salary? Do you remember? The first paycheck.

  • $34k.

  • Alright. So we're taking a quick break from shooting and I want to thank ramp.com for helping make this video happen.

  • A few weeks ago, we were shooting a video in Miami and it was a mess.

  • No budget, no receipts, personal expenses, and we're still trying to figure it all out.

  • So I wanted to try out ramp.com in this New York video and I am so impressed.

  • Here are my top three reasons why I am loving it.

  • Number one, I applied online and instantly got approved without a credit check for 100,000 credit line.

  • Number two, I was able to issue Jeremy a virtual card instantly so he can start booking hotels, flights and room service.

  • And number three ramp.com automatically categorizes all the expenses so I can see what Jeremy is spending the money on.

  • Damn it, Jeremy. It's a lot.

  • If you've been thinking about getting a credit card, I've been using cheats for years and this is so much better.

  • If you're a small or medium sized business, I would definitely recommend you checking out ramp.com.

  • You can get a $500 sign up bonus just for y'all at ramp.com/exclusive/noahkagan link below in description.

  • So what do you do in New York?

  • So I do tech sales for a company called Okta.

  • I'm a product manager and a property tech company as well.

  • What are the range of salaries for these kind of tech companies?

  • Upwards of like $300k - $400k in a year.

  • But I know some people make around like $120k.

  • Dude, it's all over the place.

  • Depending on the job. As a product manager, I'd say the low end is probably around $100k.

  • Guys at Google would probably make like $400k all in.

  • I'm a graphic designer. I now work at Google.

  • Generally, how much do you make? Range?

  • When I first moved, I think I made like $80k a year or something like that and she was in school and making no money.

  • What would be your advice for someone that's new, coming to New York?

  • Come with friends; be willing to live in totally shit situations, and take whatever job you can.

  • Take riskes; try new things; push yourself.

  • I think playing it safe in New York doesn't get you very far.

  • Are you in tech or what do you do for work? I was trying to guess.

  • Designer? Architect?

  • No, I work in finance.

  • Oh, do you? Do you wear this to work?

  • I've worn this to work, but I usually wear black pants.

  • What kind of stuff do you do in finance?

  • Asset management.

  • What are the ranges of salaries that someone could be?

  • Starting out, I think the average wage is $95K.

  • What do you do for work?

  • Finance for Department of Education.

  • The government? So I help pay for you a little bit.

  • Bascially, this is all of your taxpayer dollars.

  • What does the Department of Education do with finance?

  • So I oversee special ed finance; budgets and finance when it relates to special needs kids.

  • And how much money is that in the budget that you guys manage?

  • I manage about $6 billion.

  • That is wild. Is that wild to you?

  • How much would you be making if you're in private, you think?

  • I want to say like $180k-$200k.

  • What kind of stuff do you do in New York? What do you do for work?

  • I'm a lawyer.

  • I don't know if I want to be sued by you or have you as my defense? What kind of law?

  • None of the above. Yeah, I'm a corporate lawyer.

  • What's the range of what a lawyer can make in New York?

  • Maybe between $50k to maybe $100k.

  • But if you're in the corporate space, you probably make six figures.

  • What do you do in New York?

  • I'm a composer.

  • That is so cool. What do you compose?

  • I compose music for TV.

  • Is there anything that we've heard or...?

  • The opening sequence on Shameless, the TV show.

  • What's a top composer make? I have no idea.

  • There's Hans Zimmer. He makes billions but then it goes down to pennies per stream on Spotify or whatever, like .0008 cents.

  • What do you do in New York?

  • I'm a consultant for a healthcare company.

  • I work with getting legalized medical marijuana.

  • Really?

  • How did you get into that career?

  • Former client in the pharmaceutical industry sought me out.

  • I worked for CBS television for 21 years, running their health division.

  • What's the salary of someone like this is, someone inspired to be a consultant?

  • It's an IPO, so pay isn't great, but there's the equity when it goes public.

  • What kind of work are you in?

  • I work in finance but there's opportunities in every industry.

  • How do you think you made it?

  • Just hard work. If you like to work, come to New York.

  • How much work is hard work?

  • I'm a workaholic.

  • But I think in any field, whether you're a lawyer, a banker, New York City is a place, a magnet for people who like to work hard.

  • Do you love what you do?

  • I love what I do.

  • That was great. Thank you guys so much for taking the time.

  • What's been different and interesting about the story that we're not expecting is that just because someone's dressed well, doesn't mean they're rich, but they're definitely indicates more than that.

  • And there's also a lot of people who are very wealthy that don't dress well, kind of made me think about how we judge each other.

  • Definitely a lot of interesting people in New York.

  • And I think one of the common themes from the variety of people that we got to chat with today, was that all of them really said you just got to keep going.

  • Ladies and gentlemen, if you love this video, you are gonna love this video right up here where we go talk to Supercar owners and find out what they do for a living.

  • Make sure you subscribe to the channel if you're not already. Uncle Noah loves you and I'll see you out there.

We are in the most expensive city in America, New York City.

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