poor: below $25,000 (below an E-4 in the military)
lower middle: that $50,000
middle: around $70,000
upper middle: $150,000 to $500,000
rich or wealthy: doesn't matter, could be $0 because assets, but probably over $1,000,000
The poor are way worse off than the 40th percentile family earning $50,000 per year, and the rich are way better off than the 95th percentile family earning $250,000 per year.
None of those people in the 40th to 95th percentile range are either rich or poor. There are not many poor people in America, and there are very few rich people in America. Most people are in the middle, where they can get by just fine if they spend wisely and don't hit an abnormal disaster.
It takes about $450,000 to be a 1%er, up at the 99th percentile. Even that isn't "rich" or "wealthy". It's just the high end of upper middle class. It is almost certain that the author was at the lower end of upper middle class. At the low end of the class we find senior engineering talent (like the author), family doctors, lousy lawyers, experienced actuaries, senior 747 pilots, and In-N-Out restaurant managers. At the high end of the class we find specialist doctors, competent lawyers, and many business owners. Nobody in this class is buying a Gulfstream private jet.
Yes I did change from 12 kids to 4 kids, because 12 would be a little bit nuts on a lower-middle income. I think that 12 actually can be done. It gets tight. Skip the child care, add the $10,872 in SNAP food benefits, and I think it works. This includes home ownership. With that lower-middle income, fancy colleges are free. The kids can go to Ivy League schools.
You argue that $50,000/yr is above the poverty line and therefore "not poor" and yet you also argue that $150,000 to $250,000 is not wealthy. You also go from estimating for 12 kids down to 3 kids. That is moving the goalposts. The author is wealthy, full stop. I think the biggest place where we do not see eye to eye is that for most of the world, including America, a salary of $150,000 to $250,000 per year is considered extremely wealthy.