When will I start to feel like actual middle class?
Hello everyone, my girlfriend (28F) and I (31M) are both doctorate-level professionals who recently joined the workforce (about 4 years ago for me and last year for her). I’ve been making around 170–190k over the past 3 years, and she’ll be making around 180k this year and going forward. On paper, we should be pretty comfortably middle class. However, we’re both first-generation immigrants from poor backgrounds, so we don’t have a house or any assets, and I have about 150k in student loans but pursuing PSLF.
We’ve been saving aggressively for a house, maxing out our 401(k)s, and investing on the side while still living pretty much the same way we did as students (renting, using coupons, only buying things on sale, etc.). The upside is that we’ve built a solid emergency fund and can afford vacation here and there, but it still doesn’t feel like we’re “middle class” at all, for example when we were on vacation we're still be like "how can this be so freaking expensive" whenever we go somewhere fancy.
My question is: when did you start to feel middle class and ease up on being so frugal? Looking ahead feels a bit discouraging, since right now we’re saving for a house, and after that we’ll probably be house-poor for years. How long did it take after you started working to actually feel and live like you were middle class?