This woman made up to $110,000 a year as a nanny for the ultra-rich. Here's what she learned from the job
Stephanie Kiser came to New York City in 2014 as a new college graduate, hoping to become a screenwriter. Instead, she spent the next seven years as a nanny for wealthy families.
Kiser's new memoir, "Wanted: Toddler's Personal Assistant: How Nannying for the 1% Taught Me about the Myths of Equality, Motherhood, and Upward Mobility in America," details her unexpected career detour.
Her seven years as a nanny saw her escorting one client's daughter to $500-per-lesson literacy tutors on the Upper East Side, driving Porsches and Mercedes for everyday errands and sheltering in place at a family'shome in the Hamptons during the Covid-19 pandemic. Her clients included families with dynastic wealth as well as those with high-paying jobs such as doctors and lawyers.
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In Kiser's first nannying job, she was paid $20 an hour, far more than the $14 an hour she estimates she would have made as a production assistant under a short-term contract. Plus, she often ended up working extra hours.
"It usually ended up being like $1,000 a week with everything that I was doing," Kiser said.
That first job opened doors for higher-paid positions through nanny agencies. In Kiser's final year as a nanny during the pandemic, she estimates she took home about $110,000.
"Even though I had the least respected job of my friends, I definitely was making the most," said Kiser, who is now 32 and works at an ad-tech company in New York City.
CNBC spoke with Kiser about some of the financial lessons she learned during her time as a