Am I DCUM poor or DCUM middle class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think DCUM middle class. I'm kind of surprised by all of the hate given that these numbers aren't extremely high for DCUM. Very comfortable, yes, so middle class.

Agreed. Mid-40s here with $1.9mm spread between the accounts. Given 6% return we will have around $5mm at OPs age.

Unlikely unless you are 100% equities which I’d be surprised at your age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can’t retire with 3M, you only get 120k (4% rule) which is 28% of your current 420k HHI
Don’t they recommend 80 percent of your pre-retirement income to maintain your lifestyle?

Right we plan to work at least another ten years if we can. I want to have a secure retirement income and to give DC a leg up.

[Anonymous]

You are UMC, DCUM middle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can’t retire with 3M, you only get 120k (4% rule) which is 28% of your current 420k HHI
Don’t they recommend 80 percent of your pre-retirement income to maintain your lifestyle?

No, it’s 80% of your pre retirement spending. Lots of people don’t spend what they are making. We make similar to OP and spend $120-150k a year.

[Anonymous]

If you don’t even have the luxury to decide that you are retiring early, then you are poor in my view.

[Anonymous]

I need to stop reading these kinds of threads. Waste of time and brain cells.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are incredibly wealthy.

There are people who post here with twice this much at this age. I’m not sure op is “incredibly wealthy,” although surely comfortable.

Just because some people (probably the same ones over and over) post that does not mean it’s common or that it makes another wealthy person well above average.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really hope you realize how obnoxious you come off, even if you're joking.

+1

How about this question - Do you think I can afford to take my kids on a trip to Disney or have a little luxury? - I have a billion dollars in investments but I still drive a 10 year old Toyota and shop for my clothes at Costco. My family only eats rice to save money because we feel so poor.

OP. I guess you’re joking but I’m not far off this actually. I have never taken my kids on a big family vacation, they have never been overseas (or to Disney), we drive a 7 year old economy car, I only buy on sale, only eat out with company, no childcare afterschool since first grade (one of us WFH), no gym memberships, no cable, no fancy home renovations, kids will not receive their own cars.

Assuming you are as wealthy as OP this is a lifestyle choice. Depriving yourself unnecessarily to build wealth doesn’t make you poor or even middle class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are incredibly wealthy.

There are people who post here with twice this much at this age. I’m not sure op is “incredibly wealthy,” although surely comfortable.

Anyone who does not see $3m in liquid assets as incredibly wealthy is incredibly dumb.

Wealthy means you don’t have to work for a living. OP clearly does have to continue working to sustain that income.

No it doesn’t. You don’t get to redefine a term to meet your own, strange, unrealistic standards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think DCUM middle class. I'm kind of surprised by all of the hate given that these numbers aren't extremely high for DCUM. Very comfortable, yes, so middle class.

Posts about wealth and numbers screw high. Posters with high numbers post over and over and over again in those posts. And once they trickle into a post, people with lower incomes/numbers stop posting.

Read the totality of all posts on this site. It makes it very clear those numbers posts are not representative of the site. And there are a lot of really stupid posts/responses on this page, indicating the wealth posted on this site isn’t an indicator of the average wealth of all posters.

[Anonymous]

Middle class

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think DCUM middle class. I'm kind of surprised by all of the hate given that these numbers aren't extremely high for DCUM. Very comfortable, yes, so middle class.

Posts about wealth and numbers screw high. Posters with high numbers post over and over and over again in those posts. And once they trickle into a post, people with lower incomes/numbers stop posting.

Read the totality of all posts on this site. It makes it very clear those numbers posts are not representative of the site. And there are a lot of really stupid posts/responses on this page, indicating the wealth posted on this site isn’t an indicator of the average wealth of all posters.

Does that mean you think these numbers are high? I think I've been reading DCUM for too long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think DCUM middle class. I'm kind of surprised by all of the hate given that these numbers aren't extremely high for DCUM. Very comfortable, yes, so middle class.

Posts about wealth and numbers screw high. Posters with high numbers post over and over and over again in those posts. And once they trickle into a post, people with lower incomes/numbers stop posting.

Read the totality of all posts on this site. It makes it very clear those numbers posts are not representative of the site. And there are a lot of really stupid posts/responses on this page, indicating the wealth posted on this site isn’t an indicator of the average wealth of all posters.

Does that mean you think these numbers are high? I think I've been reading DCUM for too long.

I think OP is UMC.

I think you need to look carefully at how posts asking for wealth indicators go - they start with some normal posts but quickly end up with a series of posts with very high incomes/investments. I think, as others indicated in other threads, those posts attract a certain type of response. People with good answers tend to be proud of those figures (no shame in that) and like to respond to those posts. Once others see those responses, they bow out of posting.

But look at the other posts on this site. There are so many about debt, struggling to make ends meet, pay off daycare, buy a home or save for college. And then there are posts looking for personal finance/investment advice that are filled with ignorant or stupid responses or downright financially dangerous advice.

I think people respond to posts that they are personally attracted to and I think posts about income/investment figures attract posters who are ahead of the game. So I would not take those posts as a representative sample of DCUM as a whole, though I do think the site skews wealthier than the DMV (partially because it naturally attracts white collar workers who have more time to post).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are incredibly wealthy.

There are people who post here with twice this much at this age. I’m not sure op is “incredibly wealthy,” although surely comfortable.

Anyone who does not see $3m in liquid assets as incredibly wealthy is incredibly dumb.

Wealthy means you don’t have to work for a living. OP clearly does have to continue working to sustain that income.

People don’t like to hear this, but it’s true. No wealthy person truly “has” to work. This includes 99% of the population. You can be comfortable, sure, by working. But at the end of the day you’re no different than a working bee.

OP is DCUM middle class, which is real life’s upper middle class. Nothing less, nothing more

[Anonymous]

You’re poor. I’m much younger but worth more than double. Are you happy now?