I actually detect a little snobbery in the article. This, in particular, I have a problem with:
“A lot of people in the top 5 or 10 percent would define themselves as upper-middle class, because people don’t like to define themselves as upper class,” Sherman explained.
She later added, “There’s a lot of ambivalence about being rich, and wealthy people resolve that by thinking of themselves as hard-working and implicitly middle class.”
Now, going by that income calculator, it only puts me in the top 20%, but I've done those wealth calculators before, and recall they'd put me somewhere in the top 4-5%. Maybe things have changed, but I seem to recall a net worth of $1M would put you more or less in the top 10%, and $2M would get you into roughly the top 5%.
I don't know how accurate those wealth calculators really are, but I've always considered wealth a more important indicator of how well off you are than income, especially in your later years.
The calculator came to the conclusion that "Your household’s income is too high to be considered middle class, and you have financial security. " To me, that's a contradiction right there, as one of the very foundations of "middle class" in my opinion at least, is having financial security. If the difference between your lifestyle and the homeless shelter is missing a couple of paychecks, then that's not middle class. That's frontin'. Or, posing. Or whatever they call it these days.
Anyway, I'd consider myself upper middle class. However, I don't really feel "wealthy". And it's not that I'm trying to resolve any guilt issues with having money, and saying I'm down with the working man, and stuff like that. It's just that, I'm still the same me that I always was. Just me, with more money.
Plus, I imagine most people live among their financial peers, so they tend to just feel like nothing extravagant. For example, I have a swimming pool, which many people might think of as a sign of wealth. And, according to the company that maintains it, it's the largest residential pool they service. But, it's also old, and it came with the house. Swimming pools usually don't add much value to a house when you sell, so I look at it as, I bought the house and they threw in the pool for free. Anyway, the neighbors across the street have a pool. It's tiny compared to mine. But it's newer, and really fancy looking with a stone diving board, waterfall, some kind of pebble-grain texture, etc. Neighbors behind me have a pool as well, and it's heated.
The people across the street also have a lawn service. For $225 a week, they come out and cut the yard, and do all the trimming, edging, and so on, so the place looks like it's ready to put on the market at a moment's notice. Meanwhile, I'm out with my 2016 Cub Cadet, every few weeks. I'll cut one side of the driveway one day, the other side on another, and it takes about 90-105 minutes for each side. They have a fairly new Benz, and a GMC crew cab with lots of chrome on it. I have an '03 Buick Regal and a Ram with an 8-foot bed (i.e., basically a work truck).
So, it's not like I'm really living in the lap of luxury, while my neighbors are in squalor. And when I drive around, I see a good deal of Teslas (the expensive ones), Benzes, BMWs, 3/4-ton and up pickups, and so on.
In an odd sort of way, I actually felt "wealthier" when I lived in my old house, when I compared it to the rest of the neighborhood. I had 4+ acres in an area where multi-family housing, McMansions built out almost to the property line, etc were becoming the norm. My modest 1500 square foot, c1916 house was in need of a lot of repairs, and had its issues, but it was paid for. Meanwhile, most of the people in that neighborhood WERE the "frontin'" types, a few paychecks away from the poor house. And it showed, during the Great Recession, when a wave of foreclosures swept the county, those fancy cars got repopped, etc.
Anyway, I guess I look at "middle class" as a combination of things. There can be middle class income, middle class wealth, and a middle class lifestyle. Depending on how you can combine them, someone can look middle class, but not be it. Or, vice versa.
Anyway, I'm not sure what level of income/wealth it would take for me to feel "wealthy." It's probably more of a psychological thing, rather than any physical number I could put down. For instance, I could afford to buy an upscale new car if I wanted. I could afford a lawn service. And a lot of other hedonistic type stuff. I just don't want it.
I dunno...maybe if my investible assets swelled up to $5M, I'd feel wealthy. At that point, with my current mindset at least, I couldn't imagine what I'd do with the kind of withdrawal rate that would throw off.
