I guess it depends on what kind of retired you are. If you're living off of $1000 of dividends per month, or a $600 pension, then you're probably not upper class. At $4000/month like the couple in the picture ... borderline?

Maybe once you retire you just stay the class you were before you retired?

That's how I've always heard it, for what it's worth. The middle class, including the upper middle class, earns salaries; the upper class pays them.

Grey areas abound of course. Whichever definitionwe write down, someone can find an example that doesn't feel right.

Like, what if your 7 figure CEO is 8 figures in debt and all their assets are leveraged to the brim and if they lose their job it's all getting foreclosed by the bank and they're homeless in a month?

What if a 5-figure small business director/owner lives a comfy life well within their means and has 10 years of fuck you money?

Life's weird.