Can we stop referring to households making $200 or 300K a year as "middle class"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is $230k, and we're definitely middle class. We take most of our vacations at my FIL's lake house instead of going someplace more luxurious. I would love a BMW or Audi, but I drive a Prius to save money. The struggle is real.

Just because you don't "feel" rich, that doesn't change the fact that you're in the top 5% of households in the country. Middle of what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is $230k, and we're definitely middle class. We take most of our vacations at my FIL's lake house instead of going someplace more luxurious. I would love a BMW or Audi, but I drive a Prius to save money. The struggle is real.

Is a modicum of perspective too much to ask? This is ridiculous. I'm not saying you take tea at the Ritz, but reflect for a moment that your FIL has a lake house at which you are fortunate enough to vacation. Even if it's a musty relic from the 70's, what a gift! Start with gratitude for what you have and you might find that your "struggle" is not quite so real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is $230k, and we're definitely middle class. We take most of our vacations at my FIL's lake house instead of going someplace more luxurious. I would love a BMW or Audi, but I drive a Prius to save money. The struggle is real.

Just because you don't "feel" rich, that doesn't change the fact that you're in the top 5% of households in the country. Middle of what?

Our HHI is $170k, we go camping for vacation, and we drive reliable older cars. I don't "feel rich", but I know that, relatively speaking, I am rich. I am not Bill Gates rich (but then again, who is other than Bill Gates?), but I have enough money that I don't need to worry about unexpected bills or car/home repairs, or being able to retire. We watch our pennies, but I don't see this as a struggle. Everyone has limited resources and has to figure out how best to allocate them.

In this area especially, there will always be people who earn more than you and who spend more than you, and it's easy to get sucked up into feelings of, "how does everyone else manage to fly to Europe and drive a BMW, while we are camping and driving older cars"? One thing that has helped us with perspective is to donate generously. We earn enough that we can make a significant difference in the life of people who are truly struggling. It's not the main reason why we give, but a great side effect is that we feel much richer as a result.

[Anonymous]

We make 90k and had to move to Manassas to afford a house. We can't afford a great school district. We are not poor as the poor can't buy a house anywhere. We are middle class. If your house is in NW DC, Arlington, Potomac, Chevy Chase, Bethesda, etc and you feel like you're middle class, it's because you've lost perspective due to your neighbors. You might be poor man on the block but compared to everyone else you're basically rich. You aren't living paycheck-to-paycheck, you've got more than a couple hundred in savings, you probably have your retirement account maxed, you can afford to save for your kid's college while still supporting your family, you're in a good school district in one of the 10 most expensive counties in the country, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We make 90k and had to move to Manassas to afford a house. We can't afford a great school district. We are not poor as the poor can't buy a house anywhere. We are middle class. If your house is in NW DC, Arlington, Potomac, Chevy Chase, Bethesda, etc and you feel like you're middle class, it's because you've lost perspective due to your neighbors. You might be poor man on the block but compared to everyone else you're basically rich. You aren't living paycheck-to-paycheck, you've got more than a couple hundred in savings, you probably have your retirement account maxed, you can afford to save for your kid's college while still supporting your family, you're in a good school district in one of the 10 most expensive counties in the country, etc.

I think that's pretty much the definition of middle class. Sure, it's qualified with "in one of the 10 most expensive counties...", but such a qualification is always explicit or implied. I mean middle class in the richest nation in the world is rich compared to middle class in Mexico, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is $230k, and we're definitely middle class. We take most of our vacations at my FIL's lake house instead of going someplace more luxurious. I would love a BMW or Audi, but I drive a Prius to save money. The struggle is real.

LOL. This is a joke right? The struggle is real because you can't buy a BMW. Seriously?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is $230k, and we're definitely middle class. We take most of our vacations at my FIL's lake house instead of going someplace more luxurious. I would love a BMW or Audi, but I drive a Prius to save money. The struggle is real.

LOL. This is a joke right? The struggle is real because you can't buy a BMW. Seriously?

If 21:37 is not middle class, what are they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We make 90k and had to move to Manassas to afford a house. We can't afford a great school district. We are not poor as the poor can't buy a house anywhere. We are middle class. If your house is in NW DC, Arlington, Potomac, Chevy Chase, Bethesda, etc and you feel like you're middle class, it's because you've lost perspective due to your neighbors. You might be poor man on the block but compared to everyone else you're basically rich. You aren't living paycheck-to-paycheck, you've got more than a couple hundred in savings, you probably have your retirement account maxed, you can afford to save for your kid's college while still supporting your family, you're in a good school district in one of the 10 most expensive counties in the country, etc.

I think that's pretty much the definition of middle class. Sure, it's qualified with "in one of the 10 most expensive counties...", but such a qualification is always explicit or implied. I mean middle class in the richest nation in the world is rich compared to middle class in Mexico, right?

'

You stop being middle class when you have all those things and an extra half million to pay the difference in mortgage to live in Bethesda, Arlington, or much of NW.

I'll also add that people here seem to think that the middle class thing to do is to save enough that their kids don't have to pay a dime towards private colleges, even if they earn no aid. Middle class "saving for college" means you put aside enough that when you add something from your monthly paycheck while they're there, and your kid works during the school year and summer, they can go to an instate school without needing to borrow more than Federally Guaranteed Student Loans. It doesn't mean saving for some $60K no work, no loan college experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is $230k, and we're definitely middle class. We take most of our vacations at my FIL's lake house instead of going someplace more luxurious. I would love a BMW or Audi, but I drive a Prius to save money. The struggle is real.

LOL. This is a joke right? The struggle is real because you can't buy a BMW. Seriously?

If 21:37 is not middle class, what are they?

I don't really care what they are - but I can't believe "the struggle is real". They aren't low income for God's sake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is $230k, and we're definitely middle class. We take most of our vacations at my FIL's lake house instead of going someplace more luxurious. I would love a BMW or Audi, but I drive a Prius to save money. The struggle is real.

LOL. This is a joke right? The struggle is real because you can't buy a BMW. Seriously?

If 21:37 is not middle class, what are they?

I don't really care what they are - but I can't believe "the struggle is real". They aren't low income for God's sake.

The first quoted post *has* to be a troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is $230k, and we're definitely middle class. We take most of our vacations at my FIL's lake house instead of going someplace more luxurious. I would love a BMW or Audi, but I drive a Prius to save money. The struggle is real.

LOL. This is a joke right? The struggle is real because you can't buy a BMW. Seriously?

If 21:37 is not middle class, what are they?

I don't really care what they are - but I can't believe "the struggle is real". They aren't low income for God's sake.

The first quoted post *has* to be a troll.

I sure hope so!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is $230k, and we're definitely middle class. We take most of our vacations at my FIL's lake house instead of going someplace more luxurious. I would love a BMW or Audi, but I drive a Prius to save money. The struggle is real.

LOL. This is a joke right? The struggle is real because you can't buy a BMW. Seriously?

If 21:37 is not middle class, what are they?

I don't really care what they are - but I can't believe "the struggle is real". They aren't low income for God's sake.

The first quoted post *has* to be a troll.

I don't think it was.

[Anonymous]

I don't think troll at all. Same mentality of people making upper six figures who live in Bethesda but not the sought after McClean, so of course this means that they're "poor" or just getting by. Struggling or whatever they want to call it.

Just because you can't have the absolute best and most high end and most expensive doesn't put you in the middle class bracket, sorry to say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think troll at all. Same mentality of people making upper six figures who live in Bethesda but not the sought after McClean, so of course this means that they're "poor" or just getting by. Struggling or whatever they want to call it.

Just because you can't have the absolute best and most high end and most expensive doesn't put you in the middle class bracket, sorry to say.

Yeah, my boss has that mentality. He makes over $1.5M a year, and constantly complains about how "broke" he is. I find it pretty laughable (an insulting considering I only make like $60,000/year, which is not much in DC). I can't even begin to fathom how you could make that much money and still be struggling to make ends meet.

[Anonymous]

I just read all 14 pages. (Isn't that pathetic?) Majority of DCUM has lost touch with reality even in DC. Take a drive down Benning Rd NE or Minnesota Ave (if you know where they are) both in DC. Then come back and tell us that your 200K income is middle class in Washington DC.