How much do you need to make to live an "upper middle class" lifestyle in a major city? India: ₹1.9-4.1cr/yr ($210k-$450k/yr) US: $670k-$1.4M/yr The bar has never been higher. Assumes: –Household income –Own a 4bed house –2 kids + private school + US college –1 intl trip/yr

These were generated oneshot with Claude Opus 4.6 extended thinking w/ the Excel skill. Pretty neat for quick back of the envelope financial planning.

Of course, most people don't actually make this much in real life and if they have this lifestyle, it's because they own assets: family business or inherited real estate. You can endlessly poke holes and I would love it people did! If you do, it's most useful to say specifically which line item you disagree with or constraint that you break to come to a different conclusion instead.

Prompt: "Calculate the minimum annual household income for a metropolitan city in India and the US to afford the best private schooling and resources for two kids, live in a 4 bhk in the center of town, afford one international trip a year and pay for both kids to go to college in the US and any other reasonable assumptions of living cost for this lifestyle"

Clarifying that I'm not defining upper middle class to be a percentile income, but by a lifestyle. What an upper middle class lifestyle entails is up for debate, for sure. It also assumes that you have to earn your way up to this level, with no inheritance (real estate, assets). This is in fact, not bait. I was trying to demonstrate how difficult it is to achieve social mobility purely with a professional income.