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

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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][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]

How much did you spend on your housing, cars and other things?

We lived very comfortably on $140K and saved for college.  We had two old cars (till we had to buy a new one), got the cheapest house we could find and DIY or saved and paid cash for repairs (and it needed everything), and didn't take vacations except a weekend or so once a year.  We never worried about money and saved for college and retirement.  We weren't living lavishly but if we needed something we could do it.

Saying a modest house means nothing as you can spend a million for what you consider a modest house or a real modest house as in 1000 square feet under $350-400K.

[/quote]

You “lived” very comfortably on 140k… when you were growing up? My family was comfortably middle class on an HHI of 50k. In the 1980s. If you are talking about 15 or more years ago, then yes: 140k was definitely not middle class then.

My public college education in the 90s cost about 10k. Total. I paid for most of it myself by working full time in the summer. The same school now costs 24k/yr for an in state student. My parents bought a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom home for about 80k in 1982. They sold it for 350k in 1999. It’s now worth over 600k. Same house, same neighborhood, a few updates, same schools. And this is out in a large town in flyover country, far from a major city.

Times have changed.

Times [/quote]

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