31% of millionaires think they're middle class
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Anonymous
+1 I grew up middle class in the 80s/90s and the UMC and rich kids at my school had the following: - multiple vacations a year to places like San Diego, NYC, Florida. Sometimes a splurge to Mexico or Jamaica (not yearly). Then when kids were MS/HS age, a couple big trips to Europe. Probably London/Paris once and then maybe a trip to Italy or Germany with some traveling around in HS. - nice used car at 16, usually a used Saab or Volkswagen - did not worry about paying for college, whether state flagship or out of state, just not discussed, college was covered - new clothes and electronics. Stuff like their own en suite bathroom - public school but the best ones in town, tutoring when they needed it, expensive extra-curriculars if they wanted them The problem, of course, is that these kids grew up thinking they were middle class because no one explained otherwise, and now they are adults who are millionaires and can give their kids even better than the above but, because they can't take multiple foreign trips a year or front the cost of private college for four kids simultaneously, they STILL think they are "middle class." It's just a total lack of self-awareness or understanding of what the word is actually like for the average person. |
Anonymous
HHI of $270k, but we live in an area where the median is $60k (military, so not by choice). We feel positively wealthy. In reality we're probably just comfortable. |
Anonymous
More so because it was before social media and people just didn’t know all the options, not because of the money. Back then, people would go every year to France or Italy without realizing there were other great places to go. |
Anonymous
Yup! I grew up MC in the Midwest. MC vacation: piling into the family big ass station wagon, towing a popup camper and you camped at sites with communal bathrooms. A luxury vacation was one where you got to stay in a motel (not Hotel) for a few days, bonus if it had a decent pool. I didn't fly until I went to college. My parents only flew when Dad went on job interviews or they were house searching for a big move. If you couldn't drive to it within 8-10 hours, we didn't see it. |
Anonymous
+1 This was us too--growing up in the 1980s/early 90s. Dad an engineer and mom a preschool teacher. Only my dad was insane and would drive us places 25hrs away in our station wagon with pop-up camper. In addition to not ever flying, I also never once ate in a nice sit-down restaurant until after college--a local 'pizza parlor' once or twice a year was the big deal. Any food out at all--fast food/take out etc. was also a couple times a year. On vacation, we made most of our food in camp. Our family was lucky in our neighborhood because we had "central air conditioning" because my sister had asthma. My parents had double digit interest rates when they bought their first home. The thought of "researching the schools" was never a question--they just thought good schools were in any suburb, bad schools were in the city, if you are Catholic you might go to Catholic school but otherwise you just go to the local school. In fact, we were zoned for a choice of two high schools and they let me choose the one that was on the poorer side of town bc a friend went there--it never occurred to them that I might get a better education at the clearly 'richer' school. The structural issues--esp. housing and college are definitely more challenging now. But the lifestyle inflation and the things perceived as "necessities" in a middle class life have also dramatically gone up. We might have been living in a 4 bedroom suburban house, but we weren't doing the things that families that live in those houses do now. |
Anonymous
Grew up pretty similarly to the previous PPs and agree with this (the way our parents generation evaluated schools is spot-on!). College and buying a house are definitely pretty challenging right now, particularly in certain metro areas. I read an article the other day about how boomers trying to downsize and first time home buyers are competing for the same houses and the boomers are winning because they can pay all cash. Meanwhile my parents bought a house when all the farmers were selling off their land and subdivisions were popping up all over the place, the demand-supply balance was just different. But I also agree that the lifestyle creep is real, we may have a smaller house but live a lot differently than I did growing up. |
Anonymous
Alright, I am not being sarcastic, you just described me to a tee. |
Anonymous
The average person is working class but insists on calling themselves middle class. |
Anonymous
|
HHI 280k. Our home is worth 1m and we owe 300k on it. 600k in our 401ks and 400k in other investments.
We feel extremely comfortable and we are millionaires, but we're not upper class. |
Anonymous
You don't understand the word "middle" and "average" are equivalent? |
Anonymous
I knew so many kids in college like the above. All thought they were middle class yet paid full price for college. I felt so poor compared to them. |
Anonymous
Exactly! Went to what is now an 80k+ school. I got FA and loans for about 80%. But for me to pay my part (after what my parents could actually pay) meant I was dirt poor. While others are deciding which restaurant and club/movie to go to and I’m like”I can spend $4 so I can join for movie but not both” and I can only do it one night a weekend While over 60% were full pay, drove new luxury cars, spring break to Europe, etc |
Anonymous
| A millionaire is not what is used to be. You kinda are upper middle class. Everything has gone up. A million will not buy what it used to, especially in the DC area. |
Anonymous
It's their parents' fault. The doctors' kids are the worst. They will have heard stories about how broke their doctor parents were during residency and though these kids either weren't around for that time in their parents' lives, or if they were around, they were small children, it's this family lore that convinces them that they are "average" or "middle class" when they are demonstratively not. All the rich kid fixings listed above, from the nice clothes to the trips to Europe and college paid for, but they are convinced this is typical because, after all, dad once had to work 80 hr weeks while paying student loans for 4 years back in his 20s. Then those doctors' kids go on to work in law or finance (very few of them go into medicine -- too much work, and god forbid they earn that residents' salary like dad did back in the day), get college and grad school paid for by their parents plus an extra 100k for a downpayment on a home, vacations paid for by mom and dad well into their 30s, huge and showy weddings, etc. But they'll look you square in the eye and tell you they are middle class, grew up middle class. It's really something. There's some kind of collective neurological disorder with the kids of doctors, I don't get it. |
Anonymous
They are not equivalent. In fact, the word “average” has various definitions depending on context (mean vs median for example). The middle class means the “class” in the “middle”. So let’s say you have wealthy, upper, middle, working, and poor classes. Nowhere is it written that the “average” person must necessarily fall into that “middle” class. That’s a ridiculous assumption. Let’s say there are monarchs, nobles, and serfs. Which class is in the “middle”? And in which class do you think you would find the “average” person? |