What’s the different between upper middle class and upper class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on these responses you can be upper class while earning $100k in investments, sitting on a not for profit board and living extremely modestly. But upper middle while earning $1 million.

We are borderline of UMC and UC. $3m HHI, few properties, can technically retire but cannot maintain current lifestyle without working.

Some people may say we are definitely UC. I consider ourselves UMC.

What is your net worth?

Around $15m, enough to retire but not maintain our lifestyle. We have 3 minor children.

What's your lifestyle and yearly spend? At $15m you could spend >500k/yr forever.

We have 3 kids to pay for college, grad school, weddings, down pays. Yes, we can retire but we are still in our forties and will probably work for another ten years.

The people I consider UC are ones with generational wealth where you don’t have to work. I always tell my kids they aren’t rich because they will have to get a job after college.

We live off of generational wealth but we would never label ourselves UC. Our kids will get the jobs they want without worrying about salary. Most of our families have one stay at home parent, either father or mother so I’ll bet that’s what they do. None of them will buy a home that’s way bigger than they need. None will buy a six figure car. There’s always thought about the next generation.

Of course you are uc. Be real.

PP here. I Disagree. We are very conscious about saving money for the next generations. We also have trustees who make decisions , not like families whose income is $10 million a year. We don’t fly first class, we live in a modest house in a wealthy town so the public schools are very good. We don’t go to high end restaurants, we go to middle class vacation resorts. To not worry about money is a definite plus but that bougie lifestyle is not for us.

You didn't even need to type anything after this. You are UC.

A couple of beneficiaries in the family are pure trash and would spend every dime before their kids came of age if they could. It comes down to the whole “class” definition and what it means. People here don’t all use the same definition.

We’ve seen posters here that built small fortunes out of ordinary incomes. One poster has a $200k yearly salary and has $10 million dollars saved. A healthy stock market for the most part sure helped. But it’s still very impressive.

[Anonymous]

The old UC mantra was "never touch principal"
So living on $300k dividends and interest is UC
Living on $500k earnings is UMC

It's not the cash it's the class

[Anonymous]

Most people on DCUM are most likely UMC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on these responses you can be upper class while earning $100k in investments, sitting on a not for profit board and living extremely modestly. But upper middle while earning $1 million.

We are borderline of UMC and UC. $3m HHI, few properties, can technically retire but cannot maintain current lifestyle without working.

Some people may say we are definitely UC. I consider ourselves UMC.

What is your net worth?

Around $15m, enough to retire but not maintain our lifestyle. We have 3 minor children.

What's your lifestyle and yearly spend? At $15m you could spend >500k/yr forever.

This is from a few pages back, but also about $15M net worth (no debt, no mortgage) and minor kids. We don’t feel like we’re in a place to simply not work either.

[Anonymous]

Bottom Line: The difference is far more vast than most can imagine. Imagine Succession.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on these responses you can be upper class while earning $100k in investments, sitting on a not for profit board and living extremely modestly. But upper middle while earning $1 million.

We are borderline of UMC and UC. $3m HHI, few properties, can technically retire but cannot maintain current lifestyle without working.

Some people may say we are definitely UC. I consider ourselves UMC.

What is your net worth?

Around $15m, enough to retire but not maintain our lifestyle. We have 3 minor children.

What's your lifestyle and yearly spend? At $15m you could spend >500k/yr forever.

This is from a few pages back, but also about $15M net worth (no debt, no mortgage) and minor kids. We don’t feel like we’re in a place to simply not work either.

What on earth are you talking about? What are you spending all of your money on?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on these responses you can be upper class while earning $100k in investments, sitting on a not for profit board and living extremely modestly. But upper middle while earning $1 million.

We are borderline of UMC and UC. $3m HHI, few properties, can technically retire but cannot maintain current lifestyle without working.

Some people may say we are definitely UC. I consider ourselves UMC.

What is your net worth?

Around $15m, enough to retire but not maintain our lifestyle. We have 3 minor children.

What's your lifestyle and yearly spend? At $15m you could spend >500k/yr forever.

This is from a few pages back, but also about $15M net worth (no debt, no mortgage) and minor kids. We don’t feel like we’re in a place to simply not work either.

What on earth are you talking about? What are you spending all of your money on?

Gold toilets. Birkins. A mommy makeover for me.

In all seriousness - about a third is in our house and the rest is liquid. Our goal is to generally let that nest egg continue to build until we’re ready to retire in say 15 years. Our salaries (about $550k) cover our daily costs - tuition, food, clothes, vacation, etc. We go into that nest egg for big expenses like renovations or property taxes.

It’s a lot easier to say you’ll stop working and start spending down your nest egg than it is to really do it. Plus, it’s not like our kids will never have to work, so we want them to see us getting up everyday to be good role models.

We’re also 40 and 41.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on these responses you can be upper class while earning $100k in investments, sitting on a not for profit board and living extremely modestly. But upper middle while earning $1 million.

We are borderline of UMC and UC. $3m HHI, few properties, can technically retire but cannot maintain current lifestyle without working.

Some people may say we are definitely UC. I consider ourselves UMC.

What is your net worth?

Around $15m, enough to retire but not maintain our lifestyle. We have 3 minor children.

What's your lifestyle and yearly spend? At $15m you could spend >500k/yr forever.

This is from a few pages back, but also about $15M net worth (no debt, no mortgage) and minor kids. We don’t feel like we’re in a place to simply not work either.

What on earth are you talking about? What are you spending all of your money on?

Gold toilets. Birkins. A mommy makeover for me.

In all seriousness - about a third is in our house and the rest is liquid. Our goal is to generally let that nest egg continue to build until we’re ready to retire in say 15 years. Our salaries (about $550k) cover our daily costs - tuition, food, clothes, vacation, etc. We go into that nest egg for big expenses like renovations or property taxes.

It’s a lot easier to say you’ll stop working and start spending down your nest egg than it is to really do it. Plus, it’s not like our kids will never have to work, so we want them to see us getting up everyday to be good role models.

We’re also 40 and 41.

PP. I thought about it some more and admit that 3+ kids or something in privates would take a lot of that spend. I get it. Well, and the ~$5m house. lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on these responses you can be upper class while earning $100k in investments, sitting on a not for profit board and living extremely modestly. But upper middle while earning $1 million.

We are borderline of UMC and UC. $3m HHI, few properties, can technically retire but cannot maintain current lifestyle without working.

Some people may say we are definitely UC. I consider ourselves UMC.

What is your net worth?

Around $15m, enough to retire but not maintain our lifestyle. We have 3 minor children.

What's your lifestyle and yearly spend? At $15m you could spend >500k/yr forever.

This is from a few pages back, but also about $15M net worth (no debt, no mortgage) and minor kids. We don’t feel like we’re in a place to simply not work either.

What on earth are you talking about? What are you spending all of your money on?

Gold toilets. Birkins. A mommy makeover for me.

In all seriousness - about a third is in our house and the rest is liquid. Our goal is to generally let that nest egg continue to build until we’re ready to retire in say 15 years. Our salaries (about $550k) cover our daily costs - tuition, food, clothes, vacation, etc. We go into that nest egg for big expenses like renovations or property taxes.

It’s a lot easier to say you’ll stop working and start spending down your nest egg than it is to really do it. Plus, it’s not like our kids will never have to work, so we want them to see us getting up everyday to be good role models.

We’re also 40 and 41.

$5M house? On $550K? With $15M saved at 40/41. What?? None of that makes sense. Saying that as someone w over double your HHI in a house that is worth 1/5 what yours is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on these responses you can be upper class while earning $100k in investments, sitting on a not for profit board and living extremely modestly. But upper middle while earning $1 million.

We are borderline of UMC and UC. $3m HHI, few properties, can technically retire but cannot maintain current lifestyle without working.

Some people may say we are definitely UC. I consider ourselves UMC.

What is your net worth?

Around $15m, enough to retire but not maintain our lifestyle. We have 3 minor children.

What's your lifestyle and yearly spend? At $15m you could spend >500k/yr forever.

This is from a few pages back, but also about $15M net worth (no debt, no mortgage) and minor kids. We don’t feel like we’re in a place to simply not work either.

What on earth are you talking about? What are you spending all of your money on?

Gold toilets. Birkins. A mommy makeover for me.

In all seriousness - about a third is in our house and the rest is liquid. Our goal is to generally let that nest egg continue to build until we’re ready to retire in say 15 years. Our salaries (about $550k) cover our daily costs - tuition, food, clothes, vacation, etc. We go into that nest egg for big expenses like renovations or property taxes.

It’s a lot easier to say you’ll stop working and start spending down your nest egg than it is to really do it. Plus, it’s not like our kids will never have to work, so we want them to see us getting up everyday to be good role models.

We’re also 40 and 41.

$5M house? On $550K? With $15M saved at 40/41. What?? None of that makes sense. Saying that as someone w over double your HHI in a house that is worth 1/5 what yours is.

People have different priorities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on these responses you can be upper class while earning $100k in investments, sitting on a not for profit board and living extremely modestly. But upper middle while earning $1 million.

We are borderline of UMC and UC. $3m HHI, few properties, can technically retire but cannot maintain current lifestyle without working.

Some people may say we are definitely UC. I consider ourselves UMC.

What is your net worth?

Around $15m, enough to retire but not maintain our lifestyle. We have 3 minor children.

What's your lifestyle and yearly spend? At $15m you could spend >500k/yr forever.

This is from a few pages back, but also about $15M net worth (no debt, no mortgage) and minor kids. We don’t feel like we’re in a place to simply not work either.

What on earth are you talking about? What are you spending all of your money on?

Gold toilets. Birkins. A mommy makeover for me.

In all seriousness - about a third is in our house and the rest is liquid. Our goal is to generally let that nest egg continue to build until we’re ready to retire in say 15 years. Our salaries (about $550k) cover our daily costs - tuition, food, clothes, vacation, etc. We go into that nest egg for big expenses like renovations or property taxes.

It’s a lot easier to say you’ll stop working and start spending down your nest egg than it is to really do it. Plus, it’s not like our kids will never have to work, so we want them to see us getting up everyday to be good role models.

We’re also 40 and 41.

$5M house? On $550K? With $15M saved at 40/41. What?? None of that makes sense. Saying that as someone w over double your HHI in a house that is worth 1/5 what yours is.

People have different priorities.

Of course but the math doesn’t math. No biggie - anyone can be anyone on the internet - but at least make it believable and don’t omit your trust fund or whatever. Similar story to the PP a few pages back who also conveniently left off that their parents fully paid for their $3M house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on these responses you can be upper class while earning $100k in investments, sitting on a not for profit board and living extremely modestly. But upper middle while earning $1 million.

We are borderline of UMC and UC. $3m HHI, few properties, can technically retire but cannot maintain current lifestyle without working.

Some people may say we are definitely UC. I consider ourselves UMC.

What is your net worth?

Around $15m, enough to retire but not maintain our lifestyle. We have 3 minor children.

What's your lifestyle and yearly spend? At $15m you could spend >500k/yr forever.

This is from a few pages back, but also about $15M net worth (no debt, no mortgage) and minor kids. We don’t feel like we’re in a place to simply not work either.

What on earth are you talking about? What are you spending all of your money on?

Gold toilets. Birkins. A mommy makeover for me.

In all seriousness - about a third is in our house and the rest is liquid. Our goal is to generally let that nest egg continue to build until we’re ready to retire in say 15 years. Our salaries (about $550k) cover our daily costs - tuition, food, clothes, vacation, etc. We go into that nest egg for big expenses like renovations or property taxes.

It’s a lot easier to say you’ll stop working and start spending down your nest egg than it is to really do it. Plus, it’s not like our kids will never have to work, so we want them to see us getting up everyday to be good role models.

We’re also 40 and 41.

$5M house? On $550K? With $15M saved at 40/41. What?? None of that makes sense. Saying that as someone w over double your HHI in a house that is worth 1/5 what yours is.

NP. Over $30mm NW and a $1mm house? Sounds like you're depriving yourself for some reason ($1 million doesn't get much in a HC or VHC locale), but as that prior poster noted, everyone has different priorities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on these responses you can be upper class while earning $100k in investments, sitting on a not for profit board and living extremely modestly. But upper middle while earning $1 million.

We are borderline of UMC and UC. $3m HHI, few properties, can technically retire but cannot maintain current lifestyle without working.

Some people may say we are definitely UC. I consider ourselves UMC.

What is your net worth?

Around $15m, enough to retire but not maintain our lifestyle. We have 3 minor children.

What's your lifestyle and yearly spend? At $15m you could spend >500k/yr forever.

This is from a few pages back, but also about $15M net worth (no debt, no mortgage) and minor kids. We don’t feel like we’re in a place to simply not work either.

What on earth are you talking about? What are you spending all of your money on?

Gold toilets. Birkins. A mommy makeover for me.

In all seriousness - about a third is in our house and the rest is liquid. Our goal is to generally let that nest egg continue to build until we’re ready to retire in say 15 years. Our salaries (about $550k) cover our daily costs - tuition, food, clothes, vacation, etc. We go into that nest egg for big expenses like renovations or property taxes.

It’s a lot easier to say you’ll stop working and start spending down your nest egg than it is to really do it. Plus, it’s not like our kids will never have to work, so we want them to see us getting up everyday to be good role models.

We’re also 40 and 41.

$5M house? On $550K? With $15M saved at 40/41. What?? None of that makes sense. Saying that as someone w over double your HHI in a house that is worth 1/5 what yours is.

People have different priorities.

Of course but the math doesn’t math. No biggie - anyone can be anyone on the internet - but at least make it believable and don’t omit your trust fund or whatever. Similar story to the PP a few pages back who also conveniently left off that their parents fully paid for their $3M house.

Why doesn’t the math math? They could have had a business exit, and dropped $5m on a house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on these responses you can be upper class while earning $100k in investments, sitting on a not for profit board and living extremely modestly. But upper middle while earning $1 million.

We are borderline of UMC and UC. $3m HHI, few properties, can technically retire but cannot maintain current lifestyle without working.

Some people may say we are definitely UC. I consider ourselves UMC.

What is your net worth?

Around $15m, enough to retire but not maintain our lifestyle. We have 3 minor children.

What's your lifestyle and yearly spend? At $15m you could spend >500k/yr forever.

This is from a few pages back, but also about $15M net worth (no debt, no mortgage) and minor kids. We don’t feel like we’re in a place to simply not work either.

What on earth are you talking about? What are you spending all of your money on?

Gold toilets. Birkins. A mommy makeover for me.

In all seriousness - about a third is in our house and the rest is liquid. Our goal is to generally let that nest egg continue to build until we’re ready to retire in say 15 years. Our salaries (about $550k) cover our daily costs - tuition, food, clothes, vacation, etc. We go into that nest egg for big expenses like renovations or property taxes.

It’s a lot easier to say you’ll stop working and start spending down your nest egg than it is to really do it. Plus, it’s not like our kids will never have to work, so we want them to see us getting up everyday to be good role models.

We’re also 40 and 41.

$5M house? On $550K? With $15M saved at 40/41. What?? None of that makes sense. Saying that as someone w over double your HHI in a house that is worth 1/5 what yours is.

People have different priorities.

Of course but the math doesn’t math. No biggie - anyone can be anyone on the internet - but at least make it believable and don’t omit your trust fund or whatever. Similar story to the PP a few pages back who also conveniently left off that their parents fully paid for their $3M house.

Why doesn’t the math math? They could have had a business exit, and dropped $5m on a house.

Gold toilets PP. Yes, that’s what happened. We had several windfalls and paid cash for our house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on these responses you can be upper class while earning $100k in investments, sitting on a not for profit board and living extremely modestly. But upper middle while earning $1 million.

We are borderline of UMC and UC. $3m HHI, few properties, can technically retire but cannot maintain current lifestyle without working.

Some people may say we are definitely UC. I consider ourselves UMC.

What is your net worth?

Around $15m, enough to retire but not maintain our lifestyle. We have 3 minor children.

What's your lifestyle and yearly spend? At $15m you could spend >500k/yr forever.

This is from a few pages back, but also about $15M net worth (no debt, no mortgage) and minor kids. We don’t feel like we’re in a place to simply not work either.

What on earth are you talking about? What are you spending all of your money on?

Gold toilets. Birkins. A mommy makeover for me.

In all seriousness - about a third is in our house and the rest is liquid. Our goal is to generally let that nest egg continue to build until we’re ready to retire in say 15 years. Our salaries (about $550k) cover our daily costs - tuition, food, clothes, vacation, etc. We go into that nest egg for big expenses like renovations or property taxes.

It’s a lot easier to say you’ll stop working and start spending down your nest egg than it is to really do it. Plus, it’s not like our kids will never have to work, so we want them to see us getting up everyday to be good role models.

We’re also 40 and 41.

You live in a $5m house on a $550k? And then saved up $10M while paying private school?! Mmkay.