Reply to AEI says Dual-income 1-kid $133k/yr is "upper middle class"

Forum Index » Money and Finances

Reply to "AEI says Dual-income 1-kid $133k/yr is "upper middle class""

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We are at 180k, dual income two kids, and I feel like we're middle class but definitely not UMC.

Middle class: own our home, have health insurance and keep up on preventative care, some ability to save for college and max out retirement accounts (but can't pay full fare for private school or retire early); some discretionary income so we are able to do social stuff and some fun activities.

Not UMC: we live in a townhome with our kids sharing a room, had planned to buy an SFH around now but are simply priced out, even in one of the less expensive DMV exurbs. I am sure some if you will say that we could if we made better spending choices, but most of our clothes are secondhand, we share one car, and we are careful about limiting expenses for kids' activities and entertainment like eating out or babysitters; houses really are just that expensive right now. [/quote]

I would argue that maxing 401ks (which btw is saving like $40K per year) is UMC.  I would say middle class is more like saving 5-10%.[/quote]

DP (I'm the PP with the 160k HHI from above) and I disagree. They are maxing out their 401ks by saving money other places -- just one car, limited activities for kids, buying secondhand clothes, limited entertainment and babysitters.

Even a working class person can make choices like this if they budget really, really tightly. It's how people facilitate their kids' upward mobility, because saving for education and your own retirement helps to unburden the next generation with the same financial stressors you had/have (like education debt and elder care). This is a classic middle class choice.

UMC people don't have to choose. They can max their 401k and still buy their kids new clothes for school and hire a sitter for a date night.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics