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Those with a million in a brokerage account, i.e. the solid middle class Found the SV bubble resident. :-) One can do a quick search and select from any number
by mikestew 6y ago
Those with a million in a brokerage account, i.e. the solid middle class
Found the SV bubble resident. :-) One can do a quick search and select from any number of sources that basically say, "a million bucks in a brokerage account means you're not middle-class anymore". Tone I read most often is that not only is the middle-class shrinking, it is burdened by debt, not capital gains taxes.
- dagw 6y agoSo what do you call it? A million bucks in a brokerage account no doubt means you probably lead a far more comfortable life in the US than most, but it is still very far from 'rich' in the private jet to St Moritz and your kids never having to worry about money sense.
- mikestew 6y agoI'd call that "rich", a category that spans a lot. There's private jet rich, and then there's "don't worry about money much, if it all" rich. This, with the caveat that I assume there's a job backing that accumulation of $1MM, which pays better than most. Another way to put it is that 7% of U. S. households hold millionaire status (meaning $1MM in investable assets, excluding house and retirement plans)[0]. If that ain't rich, then I don't know what qualifies as such. One could call it "upper middle-class", and I'd accept that. But "solid middle-class" it ain't by any stretch of the imagination. [0] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/millionaires-america-2020-50-states-201203665.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/millionaires-america-2020-50-...
- akomtu 6y agoThose 7% are likely retired old people who have enough money to not work as a greeter at a Walmart. 1M when you're 65 means you probably (subject to healthcare costs) won't end up on the streets during your remaining lifetime.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- akomtu 6y agoThe fact that a million dollars isn't attainable to 75% of the nation doesn't make that million an enormous amount of money one can live off the rest of his life. This fact only says that 75% will never become that middle class. And the SV bubble is one of few last places where one can climb to the middle class level. I prefer to call things the way they are: Americans have been sliding into poverty. Doing clever stats and percentiles doesn't work around this fact.
- AnimalMuppet 6y agoIf 75% of people aren't there now, and never will be, it isn't "middle class". "Middle class" does not mean "the top 25%".
- akomtu 6y agoSo if in 50 years the top 1% owns 99% of the economy, will we call folks with zero debt and zero assets the middle class or will it be more fair to say that the middle class is gone? My definition of middle class is it "those who have to work, but are financially secure and can afford their own place, cars, kids and some vacation", while the rich are those who live off capital gains and don't need to work at all, and underclass are the paycheck to paycheck crowd (half the nation).
- AnimalMuppet 6y agoSo anyone who has a million dollars, but still has to work because a million isn't enough to retire on, is middle class by your definition. Let's just call that a minority view of the definition of middle class... (I can accept the definition of "rich" as "able to live off of capital, and therefore not needing to work". But there might be another layer between that and "middle class". You might call it "wealthy rather than rich" or something. Having a million in capital puts you a long way past "able to take a vacation".)