How Can Charlie Harper of Two and a Half Men Afford to Be So Generous?

Currently in its sixth season, CBS's hit comedy Two and a Half Men is the story of a well-to-do bachelor named Charlie Harper who allows his brother and nephew to live with him after a nasty divorce. Charlie is a jingle/children's song writer, living in Malibu, California.

Charlie leads what can only be described as a charmed existence. He owns a gorgeous, enormous house on the beach, works no more than an hour or two a day, has a daily housekeeper, drives expensive cars, drinks expensive liquor, dates expensive women, and never seems to run out of money. He is regularly seen tipping the pizza delivery guy $50 or more. In addition, he allows his brother and nephew to live with him rent-free (free meals, too!).

How does Charlie afford this luxurious lifestyle? A quick look at the MLS in Malibu reveals that even after the recent housing downturn, Malibu beach houses cost anywhere from $1 million to $6 million or more. A million dollar mortgage at 6% for 30 years equals a $6000 monthly payment, give or take. Charlie's sports cars set him back a pretty penny, too - $200,000 is a conservative estimate. Daily housekeeping services probably run $500 a week. As for the liquor and ladies, who knows? Though Charlie always has cash on hand, I bet credit cards (and credit card debt) come into play somewhere along the line.

Charlie has had quite a bit of success as a freelance jingle writer, and when he "ran out of money" in one episode, he began writing children's songs, which was supposedly a very lucrative venture. However, even successful jingle writers don't make that kind of money - for instance, JinglePeople (a freelance jingle company) is offering $45 an hour for jingle writers - not chump change, but not enough to buy a sports car and a Malibu beach home, either. Charlie must be racking up credit card debt in a big way!

Although Charlie hasn't worked a 40 hour week in his life, let's give him the benefit of the doubt: a 40 hour week at $45 an hour is about $93,000 a year, or $7800 a month. After taxes, that's about $5000 a month. That means that Charlie's home alone costs him more than he's bringing in. Add a $4000 monthly car payment, and Charlie is $5000 underwater every month. He better have an excellent rewards credit card with an extremely high limit!

Unfortunately, credit cards alone would never support Charlie's lifestyle. Here's hoping the children's songwriting business pays a LOT better than the jingle company!