[dmwallin]

I think you need to adjust your internal model as to what constitutes solidly middle class. To quote some more realistic numbers:

>> Here, we define the middle class as the middle 60 percent of the income distribution in terms of what a family usually makes in a given year—ranging from $25,300 to $111,400 in 2016 (the latest year for which data is available). The median middle-class family has total liquid assets, defined as checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, call accounts, and prepaid cards, of just $4,000. Unsurprisingly, the top quintile is more secure with a median of $31,300 and the bottom quintile is even less secure, with just $600.[1]

[1] https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/03/26/the-middl...

[akomtu]

$4K in "assets" is poverty, it's the underclass or the bottom 50%. A one basic car worth of assets is nowhere near middle class either. The truth is that the middle class is rapidly shrinking.

[dmwallin]

We are talking about liquid assets though, not net worth. As other commenters have pointed out, the middle class has most of their net worth tied up in non-liquid assets such as cars, houses, or retirement funds.