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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Agree. What are these jobs that make $300,000 and leave room for a comfortable way of life?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

The DCUM guide to wealth
Poor: makes less than me
Middle class: scraping by managing pennies
Upper middle: scrapes by managing dollars
Rich: dives old car, checks bank balance often. Never vacations.