We’re Upper Middle Class?

Guess we need to start hanging out in a place like this – because stereotypes.

My partner brought up American classes the other day and discovered something shocking: within these weird and seemingly arbitrary classifications a household income over $200,000 OR a net worth of over $200,000 is the baseline for Upper Middle Class.

…We’re Upper Middle Class?!?! Even without my partner I’m Upper Middle Class?! That’s just baffling to me. Yes I know the bias that everyone thinks they’re Middle Class whether they make $5 million or $50,000 based on a recent NY Times article, but I still didn’t consider this. I think of Upper Middle Class people as Manhattanites that own a condo and have a club membership: not mega-spenders like the stereotypes of Upper Class, but definitely very different from what I consider my simple life.

My next thought was “well at least we won’t have to be Upper Class and deal with those mental associations,” which is a weird thought. Upper Class is determined by assets over $10 million or a household income over $400,000. My partner and I will never have that kind of household income since we’re planning to retire in a few years…and I’m not sure my career even ever reaches half that. But then I realized…we could be considered Upper Class by the time we die. WHAT?! If we retire soon and live off our investments my average ending balance for just me is around $16 million inflation adjusted dollars. If the market does well I could die with close to $50 million inflation adjusted dollars..WTF?! That’s insane. Both of those amounts seem like monopoly money. I guess me quickly dismissing never being upper class was a little pre-mature.

Life is weird. Classifications are weird. Putting my partner and I in arbitrary brackets shouldn’t create this much upheaval in my mind…but it does. And I think that’s a good thing. People are usually biased with how they see themselves and think of other people as the “lucky” and “rich” ones without taking a proper look at themselves – everything is placed on an “other.” Classifications may be arbitrary, but I’m glad it let me do this thought experiment. “Other” and “Me” can be closer than we think.