This is really an argument of semantics of "upper-middle-class" vs. "upper-class." Maybe there's standard definition I don't know about. My personal definition is that upper class is "don't need to work ever again."
You're right that upper middle class people have the same lifestyles as upper class. The difference isn't in material goods, it's in freedom.
Re:10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You
by JoelSutherland on Saturday August 30, 2008 @12:54AM
(#290700)
But not having to work again is tied directly to consumption along with income.
The interesting component of the article was that the average income of somebody with $1 million of net worth was approaching $400,000. This implies a poor savings rate and not very much savings at all.
If freedom is the goal, it seems the key component is a modest lifestyle.
Upper class is second-generation. To be truly upper class you'd have had to have gone to an elite boarding school, for example, and bonded socially with the rest of the upper class. Self-made people can never be more than upper-middle regardless of how much cash they have.
10 Million households have $1 million+. There are an estimated 111,162,259 households in the US...
This is upper class wealth...just not completely elite levels of wealth. I think the point of the article is that people with upper class levels of wealth tend to have upper-middle class lifestyles.