Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If you aren't born into wealth and social status, you'll never really be upper class. I say this as someone who went to Phillips Academy Andover for high school and met a lot of kids from that world. My parents could afford to pay full freight, but I quickly realized I would never be part of the world some of those kids occupied, no matter how much money my parents make. That's fine--it doesn't bother me--but it's the reality.
Truly upper class people don't make their money from paychecks. They make their money through dividends. They have trust funds. They have dorms named after their families. Their families have been going to Ivy League schools since the early 1900s. They have legacy at prep schools like Andover, Brearley, and Collegiate.
It's not about vacations, nannies, etc. It's about whether you have generations of participation in the halls of power in this country.
If you haven't been born into that world, you will never be truly accepted into it, no matter how much money you make.
But isn’t this the beauty of America? You can make it in one generation and you dgaf who accepts you or not, actually plenty of UC people stand in line to greet truly successful entrepreneurs.
Also, Bezos wasn’t born in that world. Do you think he has any issues fitting in or he even cares?
I think having parents who come from a lower social class who rose up is a benefit. Talking about grit and determination and the things they didn't have growing up helps a child to appreciate his UMC or even UC privilege and gives them a different perspective.
Anonymous wrote:
I think having parents who come from a lower social class who rose up is a benefit. Talking about grit and determination and the things they didn't have growing up helps a child to appreciate his UMC or even UC privilege and gives them a different perspective.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If you aren't born into wealth and social status, you'll never really be upper class. I say this as someone who went to Phillips Academy Andover for high school and met a lot of kids from that world. My parents could afford to pay full freight, but I quickly realized I would never be part of the world some of those kids occupied, no matter how much money my parents make. That's fine--it doesn't bother me--but it's the reality.
Truly upper class people don't make their money from paychecks. They make their money through dividends. They have trust funds. They have dorms named after their families. Their families have been going to Ivy League schools since the early 1900s. They have legacy at prep schools like Andover, Brearley, and Collegiate.
It's not about vacations, nannies, etc. It's about whether you have generations of participation in the halls of power in this country.
If you haven't been born into that world, you will never be truly accepted into it, no matter how much money you make.
But isn’t this the beauty of America? You can make it in one generation and you dgaf who accepts you or not, actually plenty of UC people stand in line to greet truly successful entrepreneurs.
Also, Bezos wasn’t born in that world. Do you think he has any issues fitting in or he even cares?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe multiple people in this thread claim to have a 7 figure income and believe themselves to be UMC. Who are you people? JFC step outside and talk to a normal human
Agree. I grew up UMC (in terms of finances). Dad WOHM, mom SAH. Private school for elementary, public after that, Ivy League for college with parents paying full freight. We had a nice home (nicer than I have now). Sleep away camp, music lessons, other activities, exposure to the arts (eg symphony, museums), a (used) car at 16, some nice vacations. More than that and you're definitely in UC territory.
Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe multiple people in this thread claim to have a 7 figure income and believe themselves to be UMC. Who are you people? JFC step outside and talk to a normal human
Anonymous wrote:If you aren't born into wealth and social status, you'll never really be upper class. I say this as someone who went to Phillips Academy Andover for high school and met a lot of kids from that world. My parents could afford to pay full freight, but I quickly realized I would never be part of the world some of those kids occupied, no matter how much money my parents make. That's fine--it doesn't bother me--but it's the reality.
Truly upper class people don't make their money from paychecks. They make their money through dividends. They have trust funds. They have dorms named after their families. Their families have been going to Ivy League schools since the early 1900s. They have legacy at prep schools like Andover, Brearley, and Collegiate.
It's not about vacations, nannies, etc. It's about whether you have generations of participation in the halls of power in this country.
If you haven't been born into that world, you will never be truly accepted into it, no matter how much money you make.
Anonymous wrote:
This sounds more like “new” money. People with upper middle class values tend to avoid this kind of extravagance.
Anonymous wrote:11:56 - One more thing.
Cleaning people every week or 2 weeks.
Landscaper to mow / mulch / weed
Hire help for household projects like painting or changing a light fixture.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I think one of the hallmarks of UC/UMC is exposure to the arts at a young age. Your first time to the theater or opera or art museum is not on a high school field trip. As a tween you might have family outings to the orchestra, or season tickets to a local theater company.
Np. Yes I was going to add something like this. Grew up UMC (500k) in a low cost of living area and had everything.
My family really focused on the arts and music. We discussed Renoirs, different housing styles (Georgian and such) and built vacations around museums. I remember loving the unicorn tapestries and we made a trip to Paris just to see them. We had discussions on current events, novels and history. We went on international vacations 4x a year and a new place every time. We focused a lot on learning new things. By 25 I’d been to all 50 states and every country in Central America (not sure why, we just enjoyed those countries a lot and I spoke Spanish). My parents were home at 6pm nightly for dinner.
Also, cars aren’t modest at 16. I had the car of my dreams and I got to pick out the color. My mom remembered her MG midget and my dad spoke often of the car he got too. I see a lot of kids getting 50k Jeeps.
My parents gave me a car at 16, 13 years of private school (nothing like the costs here though), paid full price to the college I wanted to go to (which was a state college), 2nd new car for college graduation, put 20% down on my first house at 22 in DC and paid for my wedding. I don’t get any other help but all of that really set me up well. I do have friends who get the max from their parents yearly (30k?).
Anonymous wrote:I'm going to go on a limb and add a mildly controversial thing. In addition to all the "things" in this thread, in my humble opinion, you cannot really comfortably belong to the UMC unless your family, ideally in two generations before you (so your parents and grandparents) were also UMC. It's great having UMC-level money and UMC-level jobs. But growing up with these things also gives you habits and assumptions and mannerisms that are frankly very hard to teach. They are hard to articulate even for people who grew up with them, that's how unspoken/DNA-level they are.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I think one of the hallmarks of UC/UMC is exposure to the arts at a young age. Your first time to the theater or opera or art museum is not on a high school field trip. As a tween you might have family outings to the orchestra, or season tickets to a local theater company.
Np. Yes I was going to add something like this. Grew up UMC (500k) in a low cost of living area and had everything.
My family really focused on the arts and music. We discussed Renoirs, different housing styles (Georgian and such) and built vacations around museums. I remember loving the unicorn tapestries and we made a trip to Paris just to see them. We had discussions on current events, novels and history. We went on international vacations 4x a year and a new place every time. We focused a lot on learning new things. By 25 I’d been to all 50 states and every country in Central America (not sure why, we just enjoyed those countries a lot and I spoke Spanish). My parents were home at 6pm nightly for dinner.
Also, cars aren’t modest at 16. I had the car of my dreams and I got to pick out the color. My mom remembered her MG midget and my dad spoke often of the car he got too. I see a lot of kids getting 50k Jeeps.
My parents gave me a car at 16, 13 years of private school (nothing like the costs here though), paid full price to the college I wanted to go to (which was a state college), 2nd new car for college graduation, put 20% down on my first house at 22 in DC and paid for my wedding. I don’t get any other help but all of that really set me up well. I do have friends who get the max from their parents yearly (30k?).
This exactly sums up how I grew up. Consequently, I was taught museum etiquette and proper table manners at a very young age. Being the only child of an only child certainly heightened familial expectations. Grandparents favorite discussions with me were history and the stock market as an elementary schooler. Definitely an interesting lifestyle!