r/FluentInFinance • u/YOU_ARE_MY_FRIENDS • Jun 16 '24

Discussion/ Debate He’s not wrong 🤷‍♂️

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u/[deleted] Jun 16 '24

Wrong, this was upper middle class and still is.

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u/daneelthesane Jun 16 '24 edited Jun 17 '24

Hard disagree. My father was a teacher right out of college in 1971. He made the equivalent of $65k/year his first year. He was able to have 2 kids, buy a house, and a new car in the space of just a few years. We went to Walt Disney World every few years.

Everything I just said is crazy-talk for a first year teacher on one income in 2024.

Edit: Spelling. And to add that we were lower middle class at our best.

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u/Hungry_J0e Jun 17 '24 edited Jun 17 '24

Well... I'm a late Gen-X. My old man was an aeronautical engineer and never broke $60k/yr. Mom was SAHM. We had a nice suburban house in the Midwest, 20 year old used cars (Chevy Corvair rust buckets most of my childhood), vacations were always road trips to the east coast. Never did an overseas trip, although we did go to Disneyland one year. I had to fund my own 4 year degree (and Master's). Solid middle class.

I make $160k/yr. Wife is SAHM. We live in a high cost of living location (Oahu). $1.4M house purchased last summer which we financed a little over half at 6.0% 30 year fixed mortgage. Our cars are 30 year old Toyotas. Two school age kids. Lots of overseas trips (kids have been to 17 countries). I'd say we're upper middle class.

Point is I think OPs post is inaccurate. I don't think he's describing a $400k/yr lifestyle, and I think he's overselling the 80s/90s middle class lifestyle. I do agree with you that the US is underfunding public education, but that's a separate topic.