Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:300K is rich in the sense that at that level you can reasonably pay a mortgage, save for retirement, save for college, pay for daycare, and go on decent vacations. You are building wealth and buying your kids some breathing space, which is more than the vast majority of Americans can do.

It’s kind of crazy that these things are now for the “rich.” I feel like owning a home and being able to save and occasionally take a vacation or 2 should be a very middle class thing that everyone can do. It’s weird to me that with all the resources we have and technology that makes life better, we haven’t figured out a way to improve human life more. Like unless you’re born to rich parents you have to take out massive loans to get an education and may never make it on the property ladder.

No, no, no. Please stop it. It’s not just for the “rich”. Many middle class Americans own homes, send kids to college and occasionally go on vacation.
They own average homes, have modest vacations and send kids to average colleges.

It was never, never and never a time when the middle class could afford to live in the best neighborhood in town, send kids to the best schools in town, and go to the best vacation spots. This was always reversed to the “rich”.

The median home price in the DC area is now about 550k. Higher than it used to be, but a middle class family can manage to afford it.
It won’t allow you to buy a SFH in NW DC or Arlington. It won’t allow you to send your kids to a 10/10 school. But that’s not what middle class means in the first place. That’s for the upper class.

It won’t allow tou to save for college enough to afford private ivy league colleges. But that’s not for the middle class. That’s for the rich elite.
The middle class sends kids to community colleges or public in-state colleges.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:300K is rich in the sense that at that level you can reasonably pay a mortgage, save for retirement, save for college, pay for daycare, and go on decent vacations. You are building wealth and buying your kids some breathing space, which is more than the vast majority of Americans can do.

It’s kind of crazy that these things are now for the “rich.” I feel like owning a home and being able to save and occasionally take a vacation or 2 should be a very middle class thing that everyone can do. It’s weird to me that with all the resources we have and technology that makes life better, we haven’t figured out a way to improve human life more. Like unless you’re born to rich parents you have to take out massive loans to get an education and may never make it on the property ladder.

No, no, no. Please stop it. It’s not just for the “rich”. Many middle class Americans own homes, send kids to college and occasionally go on vacation.
They own average homes, have modest vacations and send kids to average colleges.

It was never, never and never a time when the middle class could afford to live in the best neighborhood in town, send kids to the best schools in town, and go to the best vacation spots. This was always reversed to the “rich”.

The median home price in the DC area is now about 550k. Higher than it used to be, but a middle class family can manage to afford it.
It won’t allow you to buy a SFH in NW DC or Arlington. It won’t allow you to send your kids to a 10/10 school. But that’s not what middle class means in the first place. That’s for the upper class.

It won’t allow tou to save for college enough to afford private ivy league colleges. But that’s not for the middle class. That’s for the rich elite.
The middle class sends kids to community colleges or public in-state colleges.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:300K is rich in the sense that at that level you can reasonably pay a mortgage, save for retirement, save for college, pay for daycare, and go on decent vacations. You are building wealth and buying your kids some breathing space, which is more than the vast majority of Americans can do.

It’s kind of crazy that these things are now for the “rich.” I feel like owning a home and being able to save and occasionally take a vacation or 2 should be a very middle class thing that everyone can do. It’s weird to me that with all the resources we have and technology that makes life better, we haven’t figured out a way to improve human life more. Like unless you’re born to rich parents you have to take out massive loans to get an education and may never make it on the property ladder.

No, no, no. Please stop it. It’s not just for the “rich”. Many middle class Americans own homes, send kids to college and occasionally go on vacation.
They own average homes, have modest vacations and send kids to average colleges.

It was never, never and never a time when the middle class could afford to live in the best neighborhood in town, send kids to the best schools in town, and go to the best vacation spots. This was always reversed to the “rich”.

The median home price in the DC area is now about 550k. Higher than it used to be, but a middle class family can manage to afford it.
It won’t allow you to buy a SFH in NW DC or Arlington. It won’t allow you to send your kids to a 10/10 school. But that’s not what middle class means in the first place. That’s for the upper class.

It won’t allow tou to save for college enough to afford private ivy league colleges. But that’s not for the middle class. That’s for the rich elite.
The middle class sends kids to community colleges or public in-state colleges.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:300K is rich in the sense that at that level you can reasonably pay a mortgage, save for retirement, save for college, pay for daycare, and go on decent vacations. You are building wealth and buying your kids some breathing space, which is more than the vast majority of Americans can do.

It’s kind of crazy that these things are now for the “rich.” I feel like owning a home and being able to save and occasionally take a vacation or 2 should be a very middle class thing that everyone can do. It’s weird to me that with all the resources we have and technology that makes life better, we haven’t figured out a way to improve human life more. Like unless you’re born to rich parents you have to take out massive loans to get an education and may never make it on the property ladder.

No, no, no. Please stop it. It’s not just for the “rich”. Many middle class Americans own homes, send kids to college and occasionally go on vacation.
They own average homes, have modest vacations and send kids to average colleges.

It was never, never and never a time when the middle class could afford to live in the best neighborhood in town, send kids to the best schools in town, and go to the best vacation spots. This was always reversed to the “rich”.

The median home price in the DC area is now about 550k. Higher than it used to be, but a middle class family can manage to afford it.
It won’t allow you to buy a SFH in NW DC or Arlington. It won’t allow you to send your kids to a 10/10 school. But that’s not what middle class means in the first place. That’s for the upper class.

It won’t allow tou to save for college enough to afford private ivy league colleges. But that’s not for the middle class. That’s for the rich elite.
The middle class sends kids to community colleges or public in-state colleges.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:300K is rich in the sense that at that level you can reasonably pay a mortgage, save for retirement, save for college, pay for daycare, and go on decent vacations. You are building wealth and buying your kids some breathing space, which is more than the vast majority of Americans can do.

It’s kind of crazy that these things are now for the “rich.” I feel like owning a home and being able to save and occasionally take a vacation or 2 should be a very middle class thing that everyone can do. It’s weird to me that with all the resources we have and technology that makes life better, we haven’t figured out a way to improve human life more. Like unless you’re born to rich parents you have to take out massive loans to get an education and may never make it on the property ladder.

Anonymous wrote:Overall quality of life is decreasing for everyone, from the lower class to the upper class. Even though percentage wise this income puts you in the 97-99th, it doesn't feel that great because a top 3% lifestyle now is different from a top 3% lifestyle 50 years ago. Going down to the 90th percentile which is under 200k/yr, most families who make that are barely getting by. To really be comfortable nowadays you need to be in the top 0.5%, not even a 1% income feels that rich.

Anonymous wrote:I have a 300k HHI and I agree with OP … sort of, but with a different perspective.

Basically our income at 300k doesn’t cover everything I would have dreamt 300k can afford. I’m constantly surprised by how much stuff costs and that even with a fairly good income, things like childcare, saving for college, saving for retirement, owning a home, and taking a few vacations per year adds up quickly. Growing up, these were all the things that seemed like normal parts of a regular UMC life, but they were attainable on a much lower income.

But my key takeaway isn’t to feel bad for myself. I realize my family is so lucky. I mostly have sympathy for families trying to make it on less, often a lot less. Daycare, groceries, housing etc. must take up such a huge portion of their budget. I have no idea how regular middle class people are even doing it right now.

Anonymous wrote:200k income, DH works full time, I work part time. Early 50s with two kids in middle school. Our house is worth 1.1M and we owe about 325k on our mortgage (monthly payment $2700 but we pay extra to pay it off faster - $3200). We have 2 older cars and a boat that are paid off. We have $2M in retirement savings at this point and $300k in college savings, in addition to the 700k+ home equity. We're super savers outside of the boat splurge and wouldn't have gone there if we couldn't pay it off. We're uninterested in most consumer crap like cars and clothes other than being comfortable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:300K is rich in the sense that at that level you can reasonably pay a mortgage, save for retirement, save for college, pay for daycare, and go on decent vacations. You are building wealth and buying your kids some breathing space, which is more than the vast majority of Americans can do.

It’s kind of crazy that these things are now for the “rich.” I feel like owning a home and being able to save and occasionally take a vacation or 2 should be a very middle class thing that everyone can do. It’s weird to me that with all the resources we have and technology that makes life better, we haven’t figured out a way to improve human life more. Like unless you’re born to rich parents you have to take out massive loans to get an education and may never make it on the property ladder.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:300K is rich in the sense that at that level you can reasonably pay a mortgage, save for retirement, save for college, pay for daycare, and go on decent vacations. You are building wealth and buying your kids some breathing space, which is more than the vast majority of Americans can do.

It’s kind of crazy that these things are now for the “rich.” I feel like owning a home and being able to save and occasionally take a vacation or 2 should be a very middle class thing that everyone can do. It’s weird to me that with all the resources we have and technology that makes life better, we haven’t figured out a way to improve human life more. Like unless you’re born to rich parents you have to take out massive loans to get an education and may never make it on the property ladder.

Anonymous wrote:300K is rich in the sense that at that level you can reasonably pay a mortgage, save for retirement, save for college, pay for daycare, and go on decent vacations. You are building wealth and buying your kids some breathing space, which is more than the vast majority of Americans can do.