Reply to If you are middle class (<150k HHI), how would things be different if you were rich (>400k HHI)

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Some of you on DCUM are out of touch with the reality.
Middle class does not mean:
- Not having to worry about money
- Having a house in the most attractive neighborhood.
- Sending kids to the best schools in the state
- Having college fully funded
- Multiple vacations

If that's what you think you should have to be middle class, you are wrong. That's what makes you upper middle class or rich.[/quote]

No one has argued that. You literally can't have any of that on an HHI of 150k in the DMV, except "multiple vacations" (which is insanely broad -- even poor people go on vacations, often more than one a year, they just aren't expensive vacations).

My DH and I make about 140k. We have one kid. We live in the DMV. We worry about money ALL THE TIME. We own a townhouse in a neighborhood with lots of challenges, including objectively struggling schools. Not only is college not "fully funded", but we stress about how we will pay for college for our ONE child regularly. We do take multiple vacations a year, they are stuff like driving to Virginia Beach and staying in an AirBnB for a few days in the off season or flying to visit family (so limited accommodations cost). We eat at home most of the time and we clip coupons. We do not have cable. Housing and student loans are a biggest line items on our budget, by a lot. We are middle class.

In the DMV, a family of 3-4 on 80k (what others are saying is "middle class") is scratching the bottom of the middle class. Less than that you are likely working poor, unless you have other advantages (like inheriting a house in a good school district you could never have afforded otherwise).  But yes, 150k is middle class here, and you are not living extravagantly by most measures (unless you are talking about global standards, which we are not). The ability to buy a very modest home, take a couple modest vacations, and save a little bit (but by no means "enough") for college does not magically make you upper class. [/quote]

Did you grow up middle class? I did, and multiple vacations a year is not middle class.

Middle class means you are on a grocery budget and you buy almost everything on sale so you go to three different grocery stores to hit the sales. It means Christmas gifts for kids are bought throughout the year (on sale) and mostly consist of practical things like clothes. It means vacations typically involve driving, packing your own breakfasts or lunches and staying somewhere like the holiday inn us considered fancy. Some years we didn’t have vacations depending on other expenses. I almost never (like maybe 3 times in my childhood) went to the movie theatre to see a movie. We didn’t have a college fund, and we all took out loans and got financial aid. We got “take out” once every coupe of weeks to once a month and it was either pizza or KFC (just the chicken and my mom would make some sides). We weren’t poor - my parents always managed to save a bit and bought a house in a nice neighborhood (in a small city) but money was always something we thought about.

My DH grew up UMC and he would describe middle class like you have. But it’s not.

To answer the question, more $$ meant we could have the number of kids we wanted because we could afford a house with another bedroom and childcare expenses.[/quote]

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