Anonymous wrote:We are in the top 1% of earners in the USA (HHI at 390K)

You live in DC. You aren't even close to top 1%. You aren't even top 5%. You are top 6-7%. If you subset to married families with kids, you are like 15%. If you look at Fairfax county with the same subsets, you fall to like 25/30%. (Using IPUMS extracts of the ACS) You are doing better than average. But there is a big difference between a 1%er and a 10%er. You are the mass affluent and your lifestyle reflects that.

We’ll make more than a million this year, and I’m positive our friends and neighbors have no idea. I think it’s mort common than people think.

Our run up in income has been very fast (we were at 250 in 2020) and so our net worth is lower than it probably should be, but we also love to travel and spend a bunch on it.
We bought an expensive house when our income was only 150, and have never regretted it. But we knew our income had huge potential at that time so it was an educated gamble. I don’t consider it an investment, but it is sort of a forced savings plan. Our interest is 3% so we will likely never pay down our mortgage.

We have been extraordinarily lucky, by not having college loans, and having parents who could have helped us (at least with a place to stay) if things went really sideways. That allowed us to take on more risk.

As a kid I was middle class in the dc area- no vacations that didn’t involve staying with family, eating out 2-3 times a year and inexpensive cars. We did only rec sports, and occasional music lessons. But my parents paid for college, and saved a ton themselves for retirement.

I think what families want is now out of reach for middle incomes. Everyone wants expensive tech, expensive kids’ activities, yearly vacations etc. I don’t blame anyone for wanting those things, but it is much more expensive than the way I was brought up

Anonymous wrote:A $1.5m house is not “modest”.

Travelling internationally every year as a family of four is not something middle class families do.

Being able to fund retirement and college and maintain an emergency fund is beyond the reach of most middle class families.

Your view is distorted because we live in one of the wealthiest metro areas in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. You are surrounded by people who either have incomes even higher than yours or have significant generational wealth. Your perception of what are the markers of the middle class is waaaaaaay off.

Plus a million. Jeez OP.

Anonymous wrote:We know a few families who have HHI of $1 million +. There are a few households in the DMV making much more than you.

Also - family money and age play a role. We've been in our house for 25 years, and our net worth has vastly increased during that time. The 50s were our decade of biggest growth so far.

Good to hear since I’m not seeing it in my early 40s…