This week, the judge ruling on how much child support Linda Evangelista should receive from her 4-year-old son's father François-Henri Pinault seemed sympathetic to her demands for armed chauffeurs and full-time nannies for the boy. You know, the reasonable things — not the $7,500 she wanted each month for the child's vacation expenses. $46,000 is more than many American's make in a year, and, at this monthly rate, young Augustin James would receive $552,000 a year from his father, if the settlement goes Evangelista's way. If you can't even fathom having that much money, let alone spending it, the Wall Street Journal called in Natasha Pearl, the president of a New York-based lifestyle-management firm for wealthy families called Aston-Pearl, to explain just what it's like to be so wealthy.

The bulk of the expenses, she figures, will be in childcare. He'll probably need three nannies — two rotating, one backup — at a cost of at least $23,000 a month. His preschool, which is surely ritzy, is probably around $2,500 a month. His clothing bills — for his Gucci and whatnot from Bergdorf — should be around $3,000. And then there's his French lessons, Space camps, child charity benefits, and other extracurriculars to culturally stimulate his brain (up to $5,000 a month). And drivers to take him there! He's probably too busy to share them with his mom so he'll need his own, for around $8,000 a month.

“At first glance, $46,000 seems like an extraordinary amount and it is,” Ms. Pearl said. “But for a fortunate child in New York, it is actually absolutely conceivable that his expenses could approach $50,000 a month.”

Right. How could he NOT be fabulous? That's what would be inconceivable.

How Does a Four-Year-Old Spend $46,000 a Month? [WSJ]