If you and your family are very wealthy would you marry someone not in your social class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think there are more issues in your question than just marrying within your social class:

-There is a difference between social class and wealth. Look how many titled Brits (highest social class) are not wealthy.
-Is marrying more about wealth or social class
-If it's about wealth, is there a distinction between liquid/non-liquid wealth?
-How acceptable is divorce?

I come from great wealth but low social class (father grew up in a trailer in KY. Mother grew up cash poor/land rich in the midwest). I'm less concerned with wealth/class than I am character.

lol You did not grow up wealthy if your dad lived in a trailer park. I guess it only works in the sense that every poor person in America sees themselves as an embarrassed billionaire.

[Anonymous]

LOL! My DH married downward but I was well educated thanks to scholarships. He met me post my Ivy MBA and my job was likely paying the same as his so he was clueless about my “downwardness”. By the time he figured it out it was too late and even then it was never an issue to him. He’s always really liked my parents which has helped.

[Anonymous]

I did and I have no regrets. He’s been very successful and a great husband and father. The wealthy guys I knew in college are much less successful than he is though a couple of them are clearly trust fund babies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Social class? You from Europe?

Social class exists also in the United States. But only the upper class accepts this fact.

True.
And the answer to OPs question is, no. I actively encourage my children to marry their education amd social equals. It's just easier for everyone. Now, if they fell in live with a social chameleon, I would be accepting and encouraging, so it's not a hard line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Social class is more important than economic class. Well educated and cultured newlyweds might be poor and have debt from schooling, but they’ll likely end up fairly wealthy by middle age.

This is spectacularly false. The world abounds with well educated and cultured people who are downwardly mobile.

It's only false if you're relying on your own anec-data and by "wealth" you using DCUM standards (e.g., $150K salary is "poor"). Statistically, highly educated people are far more likely to have wealth than not.

The median income for a PhD holder in the US is $100,000 – highly educated and not particularly wealthy.

Wealth does not equal income. They are different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there are more issues in your question than just marrying within your social class:

-There is a difference between social class and wealth. Look how many titled Brits (highest social class) are not wealthy.
-Is marrying more about wealth or social class
-If it's about wealth, is there a distinction between liquid/non-liquid wealth?
-How acceptable is divorce?

I come from great wealth but low social class (father grew up in a trailer in KY. Mother grew up cash poor/land rich in the midwest). I'm less concerned with wealth/class than I am character.

lol You did not grow up wealthy if your dad lived in a trailer park. I guess it only works in the sense that every poor person in America sees themselves as an embarrassed billionaire.

Not true. I'm a DP, but I can relate to this person. My dad built a successful business out of his trade - think mid-seven-figure income and eight-figure net worth in the nineties. Neither of my parents even started college and their parents were farmers. So we were wealthy in the sense that we had a lot of resources, but we didn't hang out at the golf course or wear designer clothes. I married someone who grew up poor but was ambitious, driven, and became financially successful. We both relate differently to the "upper class" - he has a chip on his shoulder and has always tried to fit in and hide his past, whereas I'm unimpressed and avoidant as my family shunned that lifestyle.

[Anonymous]

Yes, if the person met my other requirements. Intelligence, kindness, ambition….the normal list. Marrying someone with a lot of money would be nice but it’s not high on my list as there are plenty of rich jerks out there.

[Anonymous]

OP, you realize "social class" is made up, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you realize "social class" is made up, right?

Everything is “made up” even the value of the paper on which our money is printed. Social class is a well documented, well researched, well known phenomena, even if it is “made up”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you realize "social class" is made up, right?

Everything is “made up” even the value of the paper on which our money is printed. Social class is a well documented, well researched, well known phenomena, even if it is “made up”.

Um, ok...I know several self-made millionaires and one or two billionaires that could give a rats a$$ about social class but whatever honey.

[Anonymous]

I grew up middle class but my family became wealthy while I was in college. Married somebody else middle class without a second thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This only works if the lower ses person brings something to the table and carries an elite education or accomplishment of some sort.

Think of Judge Katanji Jackson who married into her husband’s wealthy family and is part of the board of trustees of some powerful institutions and on the supreme court.

The lower ses person must have exceptional accomplishments and bring something to the table.

Priscilla Chan is another example of marrying up but as she said she never thought she would marry Zuckerberg. They met at the bathroom line at Harvard. Luck as well plays a role.

Priscilla Chan is a doctor who went to Harvard. She would've been fine single or with someone else. Surely being Mark Zuckerberg's wife is a mixed bag - see the ex wives of Musk, Bezos and Gates.

[Anonymous]

I did.

I was a higher social class than my DH before and when we married. Now, he is a higher social class than I am. If we divorced, I would have more wealth than him, however. But he would be considered of higher social standing.

[Anonymous]

I don't know what's your definition of wealthy, but no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you realize "social class" is made up, right?

Everything is “made up” even the value of the paper on which our money is printed. Social class is a well documented, well researched, well known phenomena, even if it is “made up”.

Um, ok...I know several self-made millionaires and one or two billionaires that could give a rats a$$ about social class but whatever honey.

Well, dear, social class has little to do with money. Go think about that. The folks you describe are rich lower class folk. There are also upper class poor folk, as others point out - in Britian it would be the equivalent of a titled person who is broke.

You must not read much, so much classic literature hints or directly describes these situations.