Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes it is middle class. I standard government or military salary is middle class. If you have to live far from the city and have a long commute to work in order to comfortably afford housing, you are middle class.

The point is that people in the >400k range don’t need to make those compromises. That is the difference. Whdd we n you are rich you can have what you want.

$150 is Not middle class. You don't have to have a far commute, you just get a smaller house, like we did. And very few people need to live close to DC/city. We don't.

At under $150K we live very comfortably. Kids are in multiple activities (expensive), private weekly music lessons, almost paid off house, college savings (at this point enough to pay for a state school, room and board and extras), retirement savings, paid cash for our last vehicle and will for our next. And, we do things like carry out a few times a week. Its how you spend your money. If you choose crazy high housing costs, sure, you can be house poor but is poor financial decisions not middle class.

PP, when did you buy your home? You say it's almost paid off, so did you buy a long time ago, put down a huge downpayment, or double-up on payments? What is your PITI?

100% thus person bought 20+ years ago. That is not the reality of someone today warning 150K. There are 0 homes or condos under 400K.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is 100k and we are a family of five. We are both 32 and have 3 young kids. We live in a lower COL area but not in a middle of nowhere cheap, cheap area.

We live in a cute 3 bed home in a lovely neighborhood and it works for now but we would definitely move to a larger house. We would eat out more, we would hire a weekly house cleaner, I’d buy more new, quality stuff (furniture, clothes, etc), I wouldn’t be as concerned about price shopping when I’m at the grocery store, we’d continue saving for retirement and college but be able to save more faster, we’d go on more vacations and to nicer places…the list could really go on and on.

I think one of the biggest differences would be that we could put less time and effort towards budgeting, price shopping, and prioritizing needs over wants. We wouldn’t have to choose between getting a new water heater or going on a very modest vacation.

Oh, and I’d buy nice cheese not the orange store brand “sharp cheddar” blocks they sell at the chain grocery store.

NP Would you really consider yourself middle class or poor?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is 100k and we are a family of five. We are both 32 and have 3 young kids. We live in a lower COL area but not in a middle of nowhere cheap, cheap area.

We live in a cute 3 bed home in a lovely neighborhood and it works for now but we would definitely move to a larger house. We would eat out more, we would hire a weekly house cleaner, I’d buy more new, quality stuff (furniture, clothes, etc), I wouldn’t be as concerned about price shopping when I’m at the grocery store, we’d continue saving for retirement and college but be able to save more faster, we’d go on more vacations and to nicer places…the list could really go on and on.

I think one of the biggest differences would be that we could put less time and effort towards budgeting, price shopping, and prioritizing needs over wants. We wouldn’t have to choose between getting a new water heater or going on a very modest vacation.

Oh, and I’d buy nice cheese not the orange store brand “sharp cheddar” blocks they sell at the chain grocery store.

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is 100k and we are a family of five. We are both 32 and have 3 young kids. We live in a lower COL area but not in a middle of nowhere cheap, cheap area.

We live in a cute 3 bed home in a lovely neighborhood and it works for now but we would definitely move to a larger house. We would eat out more, we would hire a weekly house cleaner, I’d buy more new, quality stuff (furniture, clothes, etc), I wouldn’t be as concerned about price shopping when I’m at the grocery store, we’d continue saving for retirement and college but be able to save more faster, we’d go on more vacations and to nicer places…the list could really go on and on.

I think one of the biggest differences would be that we could put less time and effort towards budgeting, price shopping, and prioritizing needs over wants. We wouldn’t have to choose between getting a new water heater or going on a very modest vacation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes it is middle class. I standard government or military salary is middle class. If you have to live far from the city and have a long commute to work in order to comfortably afford housing, you are middle class.

The point is that people in the >400k range don’t need to make those compromises. That is the difference. Whdd we n you are rich you can have what you want.

$150 is Not middle class. You don't have to have a far commute, you just get a smaller house, like we did. And very few people need to live close to DC/city. We don't.

At under $150K we live very comfortably. Kids are in multiple activities (expensive), private weekly music lessons, almost paid off house, college savings (at this point enough to pay for a state school, room and board and extras), retirement savings, paid cash for our last vehicle and will for our next. And, we do things like carry out a few times a week. Its how you spend your money. If you choose crazy high housing costs, sure, you can be house poor but is poor financial decisions not middle class.

PP, when did you buy your home? You say it's almost paid off, so did you buy a long time ago, put down a huge downpayment, or double-up on payments? What is your PITI?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t conceptualize it because it doesn’t apply to me, since I make what I make. What an odd question.

If it doesn't apply to you, why answer at all?

We are under 150k HHI (one kid, live in DC), and I think the three biggest difference overall would be just less stress. But it would come in two forms. The bigger one would be less stress about the long term future, just worrying less about retirement, and being able to pay for or help our kid with college or getting started in life. Right now that's just a constant underlying stress and the biggest motivator for me to increase my income.

But at 400k we'd also have more freedom to reduce day to day stress which would be nice. We cook 95% of our meals at home, we don't have house cleaners, we don't get our car detailed, we do most of our home maintenance and upkeep ourselves, we have to be frugal about child-care, etc. We do all that because we are serious about saving and at our income we really have to pay attention to where our money goes. It would be nice to have a bit more leeway to just order in two nights in a row because we feel like it, or get a sitter for every Saturday night, or have someone come clean the house every month or so. Just things that would take the load off and make it easier to relax and enjoy our home and our time together. Though I'm also guessing many jobs that would pay enough to put us in that bracket would also inhibit relaxation and enjoyment to some degree. So it would depend a bit on the tradeoff there.

I honestly don't even know if we'd move or buy a nicer car or anything. We have a small family and a small house and a practical car, and it works for us. We'd probably take slightly nicer vacations, but it's not like suddenly we'd be flying first class or staying at luxury resorts, because that's a good way to just piss away all your money and while those things sound lovely, I'd much rather have a solid savings and be able to pay for college anywhere our kid gets in, then experience super high end air travel or eat at obscenely expensive restaurants.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes it is middle class. I standard government or military salary is middle class. If you have to live far from the city and have a long commute to work in order to comfortably afford housing, you are middle class.

The point is that people in the >400k range don’t need to make those compromises. That is the difference. Whdd we n you are rich you can have what you want.

$150 is Not middle class. You don't have to have a far commute, you just get a smaller house, like we did. And very few people need to live close to DC/city. We don't.

At under $150K we live very comfortably. Kids are in multiple activities (expensive), private weekly music lessons, almost paid off house, college savings (at this point enough to pay for a state school, room and board and extras), retirement savings, paid cash for our last vehicle and will for our next. And, we do things like carry out a few times a week. Its how you spend your money. If you choose crazy high housing costs, sure, you can be house poor but is poor financial decisions not middle class.

PP, when did you buy your home? You say it's almost paid off, so did you buy a long time ago, put down a huge downpayment, or double-up on payments? What is your PITI?