Reply to 31% of millionaires think they're middle class

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Honestly. I feel rich, haha. And I'm sure there are people who have WAY more scoffing at me, but whatever. I do. I feel rich.

It's probably because I've gone through quite a large HHI income change in my lifetime. As a kid, I remember lay-away, seeing my mom cry about money, and knowing the exact date of my her next paycheck. But we still had more than a lot of other families. And, like many posters, I also grew up on the 80s-90s Midwest: it was a unique cultural place, haha. Most of my high school classmates never took a vacation out of the state, and even the "rich families" still drove a Chrysler mini-van and went to Disney World twice in fifteen years.

I was unmarried in DC for most of my 20s, working in nonprofit jobs that didn't pay more than $65K. I had roommates, carefully budgeted, and definitely felt like it was a splurge to get a massage or a pedicure. But it was still okay.

Fast forward to my late 30s: our HHI is $650K. We're not Logan Roy on "Succession"-rich, but so what? We have a house that has almost doubled in worth since we bought it. Retirement accounts look great. We can comfortably save for kids' college and retirement.

Every day, I think about all the stress I don't have because of the money. When things break, I don't panic the way my parents did. I'm annoyed, but I don't worry. I don't think twice about buying a "dry clean only" piece of clothing. I buy the groceries I want (yes, even the fancy blue tortilla chips) and I even go to Whole Foods, haha (THAT is my Nebraska talking: feeling rich for going to Whole Foods). When my neck has been hurting for a couple weeks, I schedule a massage. If I really want red lipstick the holiday party season, I go to Sephora and not CVS. I get to look like a "good person" because I can pony up for charity now in ways I never could in the first decades of my life.

It's amazing. So yeah, I feel rich. I know I'm so damn lucky. [/quote]It's great to read a post in which someone who has done well for themselves is able to feel pleasure and gratitude for what they have. [/quote]

NP and I agree. And I’ll share a similar story. I grew up working in my family’s small retail business in a highly desirable resort town, where the disparity between the haves and the have nots is striking. I was always astounded by the amount of wealthy people that walked through our doors and the amount of money they dropped. Our business was back breaking work and the margins very narrow. We couldn’t always pay the bills, or the rent. I will never forget the nigh right before we were about to close after a really slow day of very few sales that a wealthy couple walked in and bought two wine glasses for $38. My parent and I exchanged glances of relief that we could take that cash straight to the store and buy groceries.

I came to the DC area years ago for my education and never left. I worked hard, as did my husband, and we now make a little over $450k. I feel rich. I don’t get to buy everything I want, but I remember what it was like to not be able to make ends meet for many years.

I think the people that earn a similar amount and still feel middle class don’t always have that perspective of what it’s like to hustle to buy groceries. They see everyone around them, their neighbors and friends and collegues who are more or less in a similar financial boat, and lump themselves into the “middle class” because they conflate it with “typical for those in my immediate environment.”[/quote]

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