“ Something weird happens ” in the economy while 6 new economic classes are taking shape, explains the successful author of the New York Times

Maggiulli’s ideas are rooted in data and daily observation, but he thinks that the upper middle class goes through an “existential crisis”, as he noted on his blog “dollars and data”. He spoke to Fortune About what thinks is to happen: “The economy has not been built to manage so many people with so much money,” he said, referring to his research on what he calls the new economic classes of the United States.

In “The Wealth Ladder”, Maggiulli offers a new framework supported by data to think about wealth. This is a much larger subject than level 4. It divides American households into six levels of wealth, ranging from less than $ 10,000 (level 1) to 10 million dollars and more (level 5 and beyond). The most populous segment is level 3 – those with $ 100,000 at $ 1 million in richness, but it says that level 4, the so -called “upper middle class”, is remarkable for its rapid growth and unique challenges.

Maggiulli’s analysis shows that the level of anxiety and existential 4 was only 7% of the country in 1989, but in 2022/23, which had drawn up to 18%. Admittedly, inflation means that a millionaire at the end of the 1990s would have a net value of around $ 2 million, also in 2022/23. But again, he says, this economy class is much greater than before, especially from the pandemic, and he thinks that he “begins to have all these impacts in the rest of the economy”.

The existential crisis of the middle class greater than the 21st century

This demographic expansion, known as Maggiulli, sparked unexpected economic side effects, airport salons crowded at the tender wars for housing and luxury equipment. “” The economy was not built to manage so many people with so much money, “he observes, connecting the frustrations of” rare resources “to the booming population of wealthy Americans.” They are all in competition for a small pool of resources, “he said.

The strangest thing, says Maggiulli is that these people are objectively very successful. “They have done well in life … But on a basis relating to the United States, competition for these high-end goods is very high, so now we have all lived with all these additional wealth.” Level 4-rich Americans could still move elsewhere, where their money would go much further, but they remain mainly in the United States, where they do not feel like the millionaires they have become.

It is really different from the late 90s to now, says Maggiulli, adding that in terms of purchasing power, an American with a net value of $ 1 million at the time would be classified in 5% of wealth, while this status in the 2020s belongs to someone with a value of $ 4 million. “There is so much wealth that the upper end see this competition as never before,” he adds.

UBS Global Wealth Management noticed a similar trend in its edition in 2025 of the World Richness Report, seeing a spectacular increase in “Millionaire of everyday” or Emili. At the dawn of the millennium, there were just over 13 million Emillis worldwide, UBS noted, but this number had climbed up to almost 52 million, an increase of more than four times in less than 25 years. Even after adjustment of inflation, the number of Emillis has more than doubled in real terms since 2000. “There is a good part of (these levels of level 4, every day) which have the impression of having enough,” said Maggiulli Fortune“And they feel like they are getting out, even if statistically, they are in 20% of American households.”

The remarks of Maggiulli remember those of Charlie Munger, the long -standing man of Warren Buffett in Berkshire Hathaway, died in 2024. The previous year, during his last appearance during the annual meeting for his portfolio company, Daily Journal, Munger, sounded a similar melody on things, but people never feel worse. “People are less satisfied with the situation they were only when things were much more difficult,” said Munger, then made a striking comparison. “It’s weird for someone my age, because I was in the middle of the great depression when the difficulties were incredible.” Munger said it was helpless to change how unhappy people felt “after everything was improved by around 600% because there is still someone else who has more.”

The importance of assets

Maggiulli’s analysis extends to the composition of wealth between classes: “The poor cars, the clean houses of the middle class and rich companies.” He stresses that “rich” in America tends to have assets such as companies and actions, not just real estate or products. To really move the levels, the type of active ingredient you really have.

Nick

Tell Maggle Fortune Regarding the “great transfer of wealth” long expected, when the baby boomers transmit their fortunes of 124 billions of dollars to genetics and millennials which are now in the forties. As baby boomers are aging, their assets should flock in generation X and ultimately millennials, a process which he considers “very normal”. But he warns that a large part of this wealth is linked to illiquid assets such as real estate, potentially distorting the perception of Americans of their own wealth.

He is also frank on what he calls the “broken housing market”. Even wealthy adults are forced to rent most often: in fact, Maggiulli’s research shows that there have never been so many millionaire tenants before. Maggiulli says that if it seems that economic conditions have prompted many Americans to postpone ownership to property, he would know, because he is one of them. “What it means for me personally is that I’m just going to rent longer,” said Maggiulli Fortune“Because it doesn’t make sense to buy, especially where the prices are, prices, everything.” The housing market as it is currently built “does not add up” for its situation.

For Maggiulli, the key to remember is adaptability. It analoges personal finances in physical form: “You can imagine a fitness instructor giving different advice to someone who is obese obese against someone who is a well -trained athlete.” Likewise, financial strategies must change as individuals are progressing in “the wealth scale”. This particular scale is not the one you are supposed to continue climbing forever, but a very large scale with a lot of plateaus on it, some where you stay forever. He says you have to step back and reassess: “Should I continue to climb? Is that suitable for me?”

Alex Bryson, professor of quantitative social sciences at the College University of London, said Fortune Something similar in an interview on his research on the 21st century labor markets, social mobility and young workers. “People at that time of their lives, when they seek to build careers and move on and acquire goods and, you know, all of the scale type … We have the impression, perhaps, for some of them, someone has deleted some of the ladder of this scale.” Bryson added that “we don’t necessarily have the same career structures and models” in the current economy as in the past.

Maggiulli says that he does not defend his book so that people choose a special or another path, but to be aware of their wealth and their trajectory. “I think a lot of people get there, and they say,” Wait, do I want to continue to follow this path? Or maybe I can remove my foot from the gas and choose a different path where money is not the only thing on which I focus. “”

For this story, Fortune Used a generative AI to help an initial project. An editor checked the accuracy of the information before the publication.