Reply to Make 350k-400k, feel middle class

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]$350-400K in this area *is* middle class.

Call it "upper middle class" if you like.  It's not upper class.

We have doubled our income in the past 5 years.  From just under $200K to just under $400K. How has life changed for us?
 - regular expenses are covered as a matter of course (don't have to be constantly checking the bank balance to make sure there's enough to cover)
 - we are now saving for college (on track to cover in-state tuition for our 2 kids)
 - our cleaner comes every week instead of every other week
 - we are taking more vacations (long weekends here and there in addition to longer August vacation)
 - unexpected expenses can be handled fairly easily (the new roof gets paid for out of savings and we don't feel the pinch)

Seriously, that's about it.  We are still driving the same cars.  Kids still in public school. We are endlessly debating whether to move up from our 2200sq ft house but afraid to double the size of our mortgage (that's what it would take to stay inbounds for our current schools).  We pay mega amounts of taxes (federal and state).  We do NOT anticipate retiring at 55 with $5m in the bank.  Definitely not on track for that.[/quote]

+1.  It's not enough to send your kids to private school, it's not to fully fund retirement and college (perhaps in-state), it's not enough for luxury cars or other high-end items, it's not enough for lavish vacations.  It's middle class, albeit, on the upper end of middle class.[/quote]

I agree with this.  We have been in the 350-400 range for a few years and with child care, private pre-school, mortgage, 401k, 529 savings, etc., definitely felt like we had to budget and watch expenses.  To me, that is upper middle class.  We are now in the 500-600 range and feeling like we can splurge more on trips and not have to watch expenses so closely.  Also, we have one kid in public now and our child care costs are decreasing.  So I think the line between middle (albeit upper middle) and upper is around the $500k mark.[/quote]

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