income and perception (part 1) - see question in description

drid

I would say H and I are solidly middle class, and most of our friends are as well (they all generally work in the same industry). We do live a bit more modestly than our friends though. We have a great house for us, but its not as giant and modern as their homes. We also spent a LOT less than they did. H is very smart with his money (I am not) and has an incredible work ethic and has a TON saved in his retirement and stocks for a 30 yr old with a highschool education and coming from a working poor family. I think I would almost consider him near-upper middle and myself working poor if I considered us separate. We drive "luxury" vehicles but they were bought used and have been well maintained so they look nicer than they are. They're also all paid off, because we try not to carry much for debt. We have a couple of toys (also paid off), go on plenty of vacations and had a fairly pricy wedding (for what our family/friends are accustomed to).

kwiksilver

Late to the party, but our friends likely perceive us as upper middle class, because we have nice things. I bought H a pickup truck (it was pre-owned) one year for Christmas, but I'm still making payments on it. We have a bit of debt and we don't own a home, so I feel like we are really more middle class. Most of our friends are middle to lower income though, so we probably seem rather fancy comparatively. The ones that own homes are house-poor so I guess it's all a trade off.  We are able to rent a place that is way beyond what we could afford to purchase so for us it makes more sense to rent.

WinstonsGirl

I'm sure my friends see us as upper middle class, which is where is our us (though according to The charts were above that).  I've had a close coworker even comment that we're rich, solely cos we don't have kids. All of our friends have kids, or got started on faulting later in life, though I'd say all of them are a solid middle class.  Everyone has a uni degree and is working some professional job

I have my Masters, DH did the coursework but never finished his thesis. We both came into the relationship with our own properties and some equity. I'm paid very well for being a teacher and DH is part owner of an engineering company, so he gets a great salary as well as yearly dividends, giving us a lot of room to work with.  

This all just happened within the last couple of years (becoming an owner), so while we were very comfortable before, his dividends have added a lot of extra unexpected cash to our budget. We still work as if the dividends don't exist, in case we don't get them one year (oil and gas industry). But we're now debt free and we travel each summer. We also don't do expensive cars, designer clothes/bags/etc. We spend on travel. And we very much avoid talking about all of this around our friends. They know we travel, but only our parents know we paid off the mortgage this year, for example.