Anonymous wrote:Per the bureau of labor statistics inflation calculator, $1m in September 2023 has the same buying power as $531K in 1998, 25 year ago. That explains a lot I think. $1M today is worth about half of what it was 25 years ago. This is why millionaires don’t feel they are rich. It doesn’t provide what they thought it would. Also, lots of big expenses have more than doubled in the last 25 years, housing and tuitio come to mind.

My house in FCC is valued at about a million at this point (the one next to us is identical and sold for like 950k two years ago). It is what I would consider a "starter" house. It's on a postage stamp lot and has 3 bedrooms but one of them is one of those tiny "crib rooms." Most of the appliances and the carpet have been here since it was built in 1996. So where I live -- "a million dollars" won't get my starter house and the renovations anyone would want at this point. So, yeah, "millionaire" doesn't get you much around here. It'll get you a house in a middle class lifestyle, at best.

Anonymous wrote:These questions are so fact-specific. We earn a lot of money but my spouse insists on providing for extended family members, so we never feel rich, even though most of you would balk at that because our income is so high.

People “balk” because you ARE rich. You’re just making the choice to overspend.

Per the bureau of labor statistics inflation calculator, $1m in September 2023 has the same buying power as $531K in 1998, 25 year ago. That explains a lot I think. $1M today is worth about half of what it was 25 years ago. This is why millionaires don’t feel they are rich. It doesn’t provide what they thought it would. Also, lots of big expenses have more than doubled in the last 25 years, housing and tuitio come to mind.

Anonymous wrote:We have a HHI of about $250K. Two kids in private school. We are saving well for retirement and college. We take vacations… a couple a year. We don’t really worry much about money. No inheritance or family money. Living in the DMV.

We feel very UMC. We know we have options and advantages that many people don’t have.

I would love to have this mindset. My income is 350K with 100K bonus potential. Spouse makes another 170K. We have 2M in the bank and the house is paid off. We live in a SFH in Arlington which will be torn down when we sell it. I do not feel rich or UMC. I know, intellectually, that we are. We have fancy degrees, wealth, and the in-laws might support some of the kids' college yet I do not feel it except when I travel. I do feel rich when I travel. It's probably the only time I enjoy money.

Anonymous wrote:We have a HHI of about $250K. Two kids in private school. We are saving well for retirement and college. We take vacations… a couple a year. We don’t really worry much about money. No inheritance or family money. Living in the DMV.

We feel very UMC. We know we have options and advantages that many people don’t have.

Thank you. It's nice to know there is one sane person on DCUM.

- Also aware I have a whole lot more than the vast majority of the people living on this planet, and grateful.

We have a HHI of about $250K. Two kids in private school. We are saving well for retirement and college. We take vacations… a couple a year. We don’t really worry much about money. No inheritance or family money. Living in the DMV.

We feel very UMC. We know we have options and advantages that many people don’t have.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's all relative but many of you are correct- you can't afford the things that you think you are entitled to. I grew up in the 80s and my parents were upper middle class but they encouraged us to go in-state or go where we got the most merit aid. All 3 of us did that and got undergrad degrees with no debt. My parents had a mortgage and needed to save for retirement. Nothing wrong with it.

This is the problem though--the 5k my parents paid a semester for tuition for an in-state school in the 1990s, isn't 5k anymore. So a state school doesn't make it affordable necessarily.

I mean it’s about $12-17 now, 30 years on. Inflation. But pay is higher too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's all relative but many of you are correct- you can't afford the things that you think you are entitled to. I grew up in the 80s and my parents were upper middle class but they encouraged us to go in-state or go where we got the most merit aid. All 3 of us did that and got undergrad degrees with no debt. My parents had a mortgage and needed to save for retirement. Nothing wrong with it.

This is the problem though--the 5k my parents paid a semester for tuition for an in-state school in the 1990s, isn't 5k anymore. So a state school doesn't make it affordable necessarily.

In state tuition for UMD College Park is about 5800 per semester.

https://billpay.umd.edu/UndergraduateTuition

Anonymous wrote:It's all relative but many of you are correct- you can't afford the things that you think you are entitled to. I grew up in the 80s and my parents were upper middle class but they encouraged us to go in-state or go where we got the most merit aid. All 3 of us did that and got undergrad degrees with no debt. My parents had a mortgage and needed to save for retirement. Nothing wrong with it.

This is the problem though--the 5k my parents paid a semester for tuition for an in-state school in the 1990s, isn't 5k anymore. So a state school doesn't make it affordable necessarily.

It's all relative but many of you are correct- you can't afford the things that you think you are entitled to. I grew up in the 80s and my parents were upper middle class but they encouraged us to go in-state or go where we got the most merit aid. All 3 of us did that and got undergrad degrees with no debt. My parents had a mortgage and needed to save for retirement. Nothing wrong with it.

Anonymous wrote:Rich is being able to buy winter clothes for your kids without worrying you won’t make rent.

Rich is not having to forgo doctor visit if you get a parking ticket.

Most of the things listed here are crazy luxuries people feel entitled to because their neighbors have them. It’s all about expectations. I too can feel poor driving around mansions in McLean. But then l visit the real poor when volunteering and l realize l live like a king.

Those are all UMC and rich things. Poor and MC are having to worry about buying clothing and deciding whether to go to the doctor or not.

Anonymous wrote:Each kid's undergrad tuition and living costs $250K, if they go to grad or professional schools, another $250k per head. K-12 cost is also $250k. Overall, each kid costs a million to UMC parents. There are no freebies or subsidies.

Undergrad doesn’t have to cost that much. It’s a choice not to go state school.

Anonymous wrote:If you are UMC, you pay more tax, more charity, mire mortgage, send kids to good schools and colleges and end up middle class for retirement.

Charity is a choice. Mortgage is a choice. If your kids went to good schools they should be able to get scholarships or go to community college and transfer just like you tell all the poors to do. All of these are choices. And I have a feeling your definition of MC retirement is skewed just like your current perception.

I am a single parent who lives in a 4th floor walk up (condo that I own), and drive a 13 year old car.

I am not rich but had enough to take my kid to Europe growing up and get him through college loan free. I will start retirement with more than a million in savings, so I think I did fine.

I am “ poorer” than most of my friends and colleagues though, since they had spouses who made good money.

Thank goodness my goal in life was never to keep up with, or impress, those around me. That could have robbed me of a lot of happiness.

Each kid's undergrad tuition and living costs $250K, if they go to grad or professional schools, another $250k per head. K-12 cost is also $250k. Overall, each kid costs a million to UMC parents. There are no freebies or subsidies.