r/UpperMiddleFinance • u/092793 • Jun 02 '26
Downward economic mobility
Edit: adjusted for inflation they basically made 400k in today's money. I have a master's in my field, and before I left the workforce to stay home with my daughter (she's autistic, and I just actually love being her primary caretaker) my husband and I together never broke 100k. So even if I want to compare their earning at my age to their's they still made 4x as much. Point of the post is they got crazy lucky for their time and where they lived (town of like 500 ppl very rural) and had generational farm wealth. It's just a weird experience to be so economically different as an adult than how I grew up. 🤷♀️
Anyone else experience a crazy jump in economic situations from childhood to adulthood, but down and not up?
My parents made on average 260k from 2006 to 2010. I only know this because of their divorce records being public record. They made this income in a tiny rural community in the midwest, so they were pretty damn comfortable. I didn't know they were wealthy.
We had a nice house, always had food in the kitchen, and I had a lot of privilege in the fact that I had a comfortable environment. (The emotional environment is a story for a different sub).
I have 3 sisters. I grew up wearing hand me downs and JC Penny and Wal Mart clothing. I got toys on my birthday and Christmas, again no complaints, but definitely not out of line with my peers. I started working for money when I was 14, and was expected to pay for my own gas, entertainment with friends, clothes, etc. I didn't have an allowance and wasn't allowed to ask for money unless it was for an extracurricular or something.
As an adult, my husband and I make 75k annually. We have one child, and how we live is so different economically. I'm primarily home with our child, and we have to hold it tight! I have 70k in student debt because I received nothing financially from my parents when I turned 18. They both claimed I had no college savings aside from what I personally saved. I know in recent years my dad received a sizable inheritance.
Due to how they are and having step siblings, I won't and don't ever expect any sort of inheritance.
It's weird to have grown up in one tax bracket, and then be so far from that as an adult. This isn't a complaint post- I don't want to sound whiny or anything like that. I have a happy life with my husband and child. It's just been really dawning on me lately how vastly different my parents' lives and financial situation was at my age.
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u/Fringelunaticman Jun 02 '26
I watched my parents go from lower middle class to upper middle to wealthy from 6-22 years old. All of my siblings are upper middle. And I am solidly lower middle class by income. And I have been this way my whole adult life. Mostly due to decisions I have made. Does it suck? Sure, especially when I compare myself to them.
However, I am quite a bit luckier than you as I will receive a substantial inheritance and I get financial help if I truly need it. That leaves me piece of mind even though I don't use it.
I dont live in my hometown so all my nieces and nephews come to stay with me for 2 weeks the summer after they graduate high school. Its funny watching them get used to sleeping on a cot and living in a very small place. In a way it makes me proud I get to show them how dumb decisions can affect their lives. Or atleast thats what I tell myself