budgetthrowaway1209 OP t1_jdwkqo3 wrote on March 27, 2023 at 6:46 PM

Reply to comment by VikThorior in [OC] 2022 Income & expenses Sankey for family of 3.5 in SoCal by budgetthrowaway1209

I think it largely depends on how you define the classes and what segment you’re looking at.

I think (not sure) class is mostly driven by wealth, so we would likely fall in the upper-middle class range, particularly in similarly geos (LA, SF, NYC), which is what I’d use to compare. Nationally, maybe a bit higher.

On the other hand, if we’re talking about lifestyle or disposable income for LA/SF/NYC, I would say probably even middle class.

Would you agree with that?

VikThorior t1_jdwn5cl wrote on March 27, 2023 at 7:01 PM

I was asking as it has been shown again and again that most people believe they are in the middle-class, even when they are obviously not.

You are in the top 1% in the US. Which is clearly not the middle class. In LA/SF/NYC, you are in the top 2%, still not middle class at all.

budgetthrowaway1209 OP t1_jdwtt0r wrote on March 27, 2023 at 7:44 PM

Thanks - I hear you about the psychology of underreporting, but I feel like there has to be (or should be) more nuance.

And the one or two studies I’ve seen have had issues with lack of segmentation or reporting scales, or articles written that misconstrue the insights to get a good headline.

Like I mentioned, I don’t think of class as a 3-point scale solely on income (upper, middle, lower). If that were the case, I don’t think you would need surveys. IMO, it’s a mix of wealth (not just income), lifestyle & disposable spend that needs to be looked at in a segmented (geo, age, etc.) to have value. For example, maybe when we’re in our 50s, I would think of us as a higher class, but not with our high, high fixed expenses and coming out of school a few years ago. It should also be more granular than a 3 point scale, but that’s neither here nor there.

Do we have a 1% or 2% income for the US? Sure. But as /u/TriFolk mentions, it’s more complicated.

Anecdotally, I just purchased some jeans the other day and signed up for a rewards program to save $ on shipping and found a discount code, so it’s hard for me to classify us in the same group as the older folks driving Lucids around Manhattan Beach, it that makes sense.

InspectorCluesNo t1_je8vl8w wrote on March 30, 2023 at 7:13 AM

No, you aren't middle class. Not by any appreciable metric. Your gross income is 8X the average HH income. According to https://dqydj.com/average-median-top-household-income-percentiles/ and even your own admission, you are in the top 1% of earners. You saved $150K last year, which is twice the national HH income.

And I'm sure all those people 'driving Lucids around Manhattan Beach' say the same thing you did: "It's hard for me to classify myself as upper class when I only have a Gulfstream 4. It's not like I have two G800's like some of the so-and-so's I see at the private hangar."