I definitely think she’s over her head and needs to downsize…But I think this article is slightly misleading. I’m pretty sure her yearly income is more than $275k/year.

[quote]
As a vice president at MasterCard’s corporate office in Purchase, N.Y., she earns a base pay of $150,000 plus a bonus. This year she’ll take home 10 percent less because of a smaller bonus. She receives $75,000 a year in child support from her ex-husband. She figures she will pull an additional $50,000 from a personal investment account to “pick up the slack.
[/quote]

$150k base salary but the bonus is unspecified. VP at a big financial institution, I’m pretty sure her bonus is at LEAST her base salary even on a bad year, if not more. And Mastercard isn’t exactly doing terrible (yet)…
Some of these exec bonuses in financials are 1.5-3 times base. I think there’s meets the eye. So I doubt you she really needs most people’s sympathy here. Still, she should have downsized though. And her issue is living up to the “image”. Common problem of americans.

It’s interesting though that this area has the “appearance” of affluence. Hardly what I call afluent if one is a slave to debt.