Few points, on the hcol vs income I did a spreadsheet when I was considering moving from NV to either the bay area or Seattle area. Bay Area it wasn't worth the move due to taxes and housing cost, Seattle area it was a net gain. But the true power was the availability to advance higher. I was 100k in NV and there are next to no techie jobs much higher than that. Up here my total comp started at 135k and now 175ish with several pay grades above my current! :-0
This is the reality in my industry, it's difficult to hit the upper echelon of jobs (real Sr. engineers, enterprise architects, etc.) if you don't live near one of the main HQs of the big businesses. You can live in an outlying area that is lower but you'll be commuting in and the commute is a BITCH. In my case I choke every month writing the rent check but riding my bike to the office, the $9k 401k match, 10% off stock and throwing more than ever into savings every month removes a lot of the sting.
And yes, I'd say we're certainly middle class but at the high end of that. Maybe if I made the same and still lived in NV we'd be on the low end of rich. ;)
In terms of the original article, I see some of this daily. Loads of 6 figure salaries and a lot of people driving bmw's, tesla, designer clothes, rolex and so on. But when I talk to coworkers a lot of them are financing said lifestyle, not contributing or undercontrinuting to 401k and leaving free money on the table is so common it's not even shocking. However like 1 in 10 have leveraged the big bonuses, stock options and so on to pay off houses and build FU money. That doesn't mean they are MMM frugal, they might still have some displays of wealth but they're far from "All hat, no cattle."
And I think that's the main point of the OP. I wouldn't expect everyone to be MMM but we are way out of balance as a country with or spending habits. That's not news to anyone here I hope. :)
