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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No matter how many times you say it, you still need + $10M to be upper class. If you don't have that, you are middle class.

You're funny. Not.

Does not matter whether it is funny or not -- it is a fact.

[Anonymous]

I make 200k but wouldn't consider myself middle class for this area. When you take out taxes from 200k along with retirement savings. There isn't much left for mortgage etc.
Just my opinion though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How would you classify us?

We have combined HHI of $160k, both parents work. Three kids, 2 in college with limited financial aid. We live in a house with $800k value in a good school cluster, and our mortgage payments are about $3k/mo. Youngest attends public school. No club memberships, generally a trip once a year to someplace in the US, maybe the Caribbean. We have about $2 million saved, about half of this is for retirement. DH is close to retirement age; I plan to work for at least another 10 years.

I think we're upper middle class, but judging from a lot of the posts here I wonder if we're considered middle class? Does our age matter? We obviously bought our first home before the housing boom -- we're on our fourth home at this point, so we've had time to build equity. Curious what younger DCUMers think.

Yeah the generational gap is interesting- I'm not sure there is a way to quantify it, but older folks who bought houses a whe ago surely have a different perspective. We have the same HHI, mid-30s and are just starting a family. Child care costs freak me out and I'm glad we've put a lot away for retirement in the last few years because our contributions will definitely decrease. I'm not sure we'll ever get out of our 3BR starter home- sure we'll build equity but if prices overall keep rising I'm not sure where realistically we could go. But then, the previous owners managed to raise 4 kids here so I'm sure we'll manage!

I still feel pretty lucky compared to a lot of folks, my main worry being what would happen if one of us were out of work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I make 200k but wouldn't consider myself middle class for this area. When you take out taxes from 200k along with retirement savings. There isn't much left for mortgage etc.
Just my opinion though.

lol so you consider yourself lower class? Keep dreaming sunshine.

[Anonymous]

Investors are telling us that wealth isn’t just about having a certain amount of money. The majority of investors define wealth as having no financial constraints on what they do. But when asked to assign a dollar amount to being wealthy, they say it takes $5 million.
http://retireby40.org/how-much-money-feel-wealthy/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Investors are telling us that wealth isn’t just about having a certain amount of money. The majority of investors define wealth as having no financial constraints on what they do. But when asked to assign a dollar amount to being wealthy, they say it takes $5 million.
http://retireby40.org/how-much-money-feel-wealthy/

If you read the rest of the article, it says the real problem is lifestyle inflation. If you read the above posts, it's obvious to most of us reading that truly fall into the statistical numbers for middle class in this area that most of the people quoting incomes above $200K have lifestyle inflation. Sorry, but being able to afford the yearly trip to the Caribbean, plus private school and nanny clearly puts you outside the middle in this area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No matter how many times you say it, you still need + $10M to be upper class. If you don't have that, you are middle class.

You're funny. Not.

Does not matter whether it is funny or not -- it is a fact.

No, not a fact, just a very warped perspective.

[Anonymous]

I'm the recent PP who said I couldn't afford a nanny and private school at the same time.

Are you KIDDING ME with the idea that taking a cruise at all makes us wealthy? We are staying in interior rooms, i.e., no windows, and not dining at any of the restaurants with surcharges and leaving out of a local port to avoid airfare costs. And I can tell you with confidence that the people on these cruise ships are NOT in the top earners category. They are working class people. They save up to take a trip, like we go without certain things to take a trip.

You think only wealthy people take vacations? Really?

Middle class people have to make trade-offs because they can't afford things effortlessly. It's absolutely a comfortable life as long as you are careful, careful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How would you classify us?

We have combined HHI of $160k, both parents work. Three kids, 2 in college with limited financial aid. We live in a house with $800k value in a good school cluster, and our mortgage payments are about $3k/mo. Youngest attends public school. No club memberships, generally a trip once a year to someplace in the US, maybe the Caribbean. We have about $2 million saved, about half of this is for retirement. DH is close to retirement age; I plan to work for at least another 10 years.

I think we're upper middle class, but judging from a lot of the posts here I wonder if we're considered middle class? Does our age matter? We obviously bought our first home before the housing boom -- we're on our fourth home at this point, so we've had time to build equity. Curious what younger DCUMers think.

Its income plus nest egg. Your income alone would be squarely middle class, but your savings pushes you up to lower upper class. Above upper middle. Good job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the recent PP who said I couldn't afford a nanny and private school at the same time.

Are you KIDDING ME with the idea that taking a cruise at all makes us wealthy? We are staying in interior rooms, i.e., no windows, and not dining at any of the restaurants with surcharges and leaving out of a local port to avoid airfare costs. And I can tell you with confidence that the people on these cruise ships are NOT in the top earners category. They are working class people. They save up to take a trip, like we go without certain things to take a trip.

You think only wealthy people take vacations? Really?

Middle class people have to make trade-offs because they can't afford things effortlessly. It's absolutely a comfortable life as long as you are careful, careful.

Middle class people definitely take vacations. Cruises do not make you upper class.

[Anonymous]

300K HHI. Single income family. 2 mil net worth. 3 kids. 1 in college, 1 HS and 1 MS.

Extremely low mortgage on a huge SFH that was bought at the bottom of the market 18 years ago, for less than 300K. House is now worth 600K.

Kids were always in magnet programs in public schools - no private school cost.

SAHM, so no childcare cost. No student debt. Living frugally for the amount we earn.

Retirement on track. Colleges fully funded. 1 kid won a substantial merit scholarship (full tuition) for undergrad - so no cost for college for him.

We have had some lucky breaks in life ( house, kids getting into magnet schools, no student debt, no medical issues, good secure job, and some solid inheritance down the road etc.), however, we have also lived pretty frugally in many ways - low cost vacations, cooking at home (even when we use organic foods, cooking at home cuts costs), buying stuff on sale etc. No designer clothes, handbags, spa etc.

We would be considered RICH in other parts of the country. We are middle class in DCUM. We are happy because we have a comfortable living. A good everyday life, without the grind and soul sucking work-hours that many high earners in DCUM have.

We have the luxury of time and a very unhurried pace of life. So, I think we are luckier than most. We are very, very comfortable life. And we also have weekly maid-service - our one luxury!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:300K HHI. Single income family. 2 mil net worth. 3 kids. 1 in college, 1 HS and 1 MS.

Extremely low mortgage on a huge SFH that was bought at the bottom of the market 18 years ago, for less than 300K. House is now worth 600K.

Kids were always in magnet programs in public schools - no private school cost.

SAHM, so no childcare cost. No student debt. Living frugally for the amount we earn.

Retirement on track. Colleges fully funded. 1 kid won a substantial merit scholarship (full tuition) for undergrad - so no cost for college for him.

We have had some lucky breaks in life ( house, kids getting into magnet schools, no student debt, no medical issues, good secure job, and some solid inheritance down the road etc.), however, we have also lived pretty frugally in many ways - low cost vacations, cooking at home (even when we use organic foods, cooking at home cuts costs), buying stuff on sale etc. No designer clothes, handbags, spa etc.

We would be considered RICH in other parts of the country. We are middle class in DCUM. We are happy because we have a comfortable living. A good everyday life, without the grind and soul sucking work-hours that many high earners in DCUM have.

We have the luxury of time and a very unhurried pace of life. So, I think we are luckier than most. We are very, very comfortable life. And we also have weekly maid-service - our one luxury!

B---, please. You are not middle class with a net worth of $2mm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:300K HHI. Single income family. 2 mil net worth. 3 kids. 1 in college, 1 HS and 1 MS.

Extremely low mortgage on a huge SFH that was bought at the bottom of the market 18 years ago, for less than 300K. House is now worth 600K.

Kids were always in magnet programs in public schools - no private school cost.

SAHM, so no childcare cost. No student debt. Living frugally for the amount we earn.

Retirement on track. Colleges fully funded. 1 kid won a substantial merit scholarship (full tuition) for undergrad - so no cost for college for him.

We have had some lucky breaks in life ( house, kids getting into magnet schools, no student debt, no medical issues, good secure job, and some solid inheritance down the road etc.), however, we have also lived pretty frugally in many ways - low cost vacations, cooking at home (even when we use organic foods, cooking at home cuts costs), buying stuff on sale etc. No designer clothes, handbags, spa etc.

We would be considered RICH in other parts of the country. We are middle class in DCUM. We are happy because we have a comfortable living. A good everyday life, without the grind and soul sucking work-hours that many high earners in DCUM have.

We have the luxury of time and a very unhurried pace of life. So, I think we are luckier than most. We are very, very comfortable life. And we also have weekly maid-service - our one luxury!

just one luxury? really? I count several, SAHP, unhurried pace to life, magnet schools available, being able to fund retirement AND college. . .for 3 kids. you were sure to point out that you worked for it/made good choices, and I'm sure you did/still do, but you have to know you aren't truly middle class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:300K HHI. Single income family. 2 mil net worth. 3 kids. 1 in college, 1 HS and 1 MS.

Extremely low mortgage on a huge SFH that was bought at the bottom of the market 18 years ago, for less than 300K. House is now worth 600K.

Kids were always in magnet programs in public schools - no private school cost.

SAHM, so no childcare cost. No student debt. Living frugally for the amount we earn.

Retirement on track. Colleges fully funded. 1 kid won a substantial merit scholarship (full tuition) for undergrad - so no cost for college for him.

We have had some lucky breaks in life ( house, kids getting into magnet schools, no student debt, no medical issues, good secure job, and some solid inheritance down the road etc.), however, we have also lived pretty frugally in many ways - low cost vacations, cooking at home (even when we use organic foods, cooking at home cuts costs), buying stuff on sale etc. No designer clothes, handbags, spa etc.

We would be considered RICH in other parts of the country. We are middle class in DCUM. We are happy because we have a comfortable living. A good everyday life, without the grind and soul sucking work-hours that many high earners in DCUM have.

We have the luxury of time and a very unhurried pace of life. So, I think we are luckier than most. We are very, very comfortable life. And we also have weekly maid-service - our one luxury!

PP, are you a physician? I cannot imagine many other unhurried work paces at this income level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the recent PP who said I couldn't afford a nanny and private school at the same time.

Are you KIDDING ME with the idea that taking a cruise at all makes us wealthy? We are staying in interior rooms, i.e., no windows, and not dining at any of the restaurants with surcharges and leaving out of a local port to avoid airfare costs. And I can tell you with confidence that the people on these cruise ships are NOT in the top earners category. They are working class people. They save up to take a trip, like we go without certain things to take a trip.

You think only wealthy people take vacations? Really?

Middle class people have to make trade-offs because they can't afford things effortlessly. It's absolutely a comfortable life as long as you are careful, careful.

Middle class people definitely take vacations. Cruises do not make you upper class.

Yep. Cruises with the big name carriers are definitely a middle class vacation. We've cruised quite a few times but have not been on a 5/6 star ship yet. It's very rare for us to book exterior rooms and we also keep extra costs to a minimum. In comparison, our middle class friends book upper level balcony rooms, fly out to the port city, and don't hold back on the shore activities.

We just finished a family vacation in January out in California. While we didn't blink at the $20 hamburger + fries in Napa, it was eyebrow raising just how normal these prices were based on reactions from everyone else. We were at one of the more affordable restaurants in the area.

There are *NICE* cruises for the wealthy on smaller ships where there is a 1:1 or higher staff to guest ratio. Those cruises cost $$$$.