Champagne Problems Require Champagne Solutions

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    *Everything You Want to Know About: Weekend Houses Early Middle Age Inheritance Tennis Dogs Career Pivots L.L. Bean Certified Pre-Owned BMWs College Emissions   Infidelity Hiking Not Hiking Putting Self-Medication Divorce Sleeplessness Charity Write-Offs Little League Houseplants Connecticut (as a Concept) Nespresso Pod Disposal Grocery Market Chees Parenting Kidding Suburban Ennui European Travel...

    Who is Upper Middle?




    $135,000+




    Semi-rich Americans – those pulling in north of six figures and south of seven – have tons in common: long work hours, constant comms, debt, subscription fatigue, flexible travel plans, some sort of mental health diagnosis, and all those fucking tote bags. Roughly 85% are college educated and most cluster around cities, paying *oof* marginal tax rates and making ends meet on salaries that ould have made their (probably richer) parents salivate twenty years ago.

    49%
    Roughly half of the statistical upper middle self-identifies as middle class. It’s proof many are sure the other Birkenstock is about to drop.
    50 Milligrams

    Higher earners take more psych meds than low earners. Insurance skews data, but Zoloft is a lifestyle brand for people raking in $200,000.
    13%
    The Great Recession wiped out 13% of Millennials' expected earnings. That’s a lot of money that didn’t make money.
    $84,400,000,000



     The “Great Wealth Transfer” will see Boomers pass down fortunes, but only if they die, which would require them to stop talking about themselves.

    Total49,586,437 Americans (Give or Take 5,000,000)




    F.A.Q.s


    Who is writing and editing this thing?
    As it stands, Andrew Burmon is doing the bulk of the writing and editing, including this sentence (and this parenthetical). 

    Andrew is the former Editor-in-Chief of SPY, Fatherly, and Inverse and a former editor at Men’s Journal. For better and worse, this was his idea.
    What’s with the dog?
    That’s Rose. She’s a Sussex Spaniel, which means she was bred to hunt waterfowl and roll around on oriental rugs. She does only one of those things with any regularity, but remains deeply anxious about the state of the world. As such, she seems like an apt avatar for the Upper Middle audience. Also, she snores.
    This feels like it's pretty specifically for Millennials. Is that accurate?
    More or less. Our goal here isn't just to appeal to Millennials, but that's likely to be the bulk of the audience for both demographic and cultural reasons. Also, Millennials are fun readers. They have the sense of humor that comes with disappointment as well as the moral courage to take harder drugs. 
    This all sound pretty... snobby. Is this fair?

    Yep. America has a calcifying class system and Upper Middle is designed to cater to a particular stratum defined by access to capital and opportunity. As such, our work will feel ainsensitive or un-empathetic at times because inequality isn’t our focus. That said, we acknowledge it.
    If I subscribe am I going to keep getting this thing forever? 

    No. If you don’t read it you’ll stop getting it. Also, you can unsub. 

    Also, not loving your tone.          If this thing is free, how do you make money?
    As of now, we don't. But going forward we plan to scale our readership and sell newsletter sponsorships on a "Cost Per Mille" (thousand readers) basis. Once we bulk up, we may introduce a more intensely reported subscription product or an events series, but that's a ways away.
    How focused are you on providing financial advice?

    Frankly, we're not rich enough to give anyone advice. We're more focused on helping readers contextualize their experience and wrestle with the dark angel of anxiety. Still, we’ll get some experts in the mix and maybe share some alpha (or w/e).

    A ton of personal and financial stressors are associated with kids. Do you talk about that?

    Absolutely. Having kids is great, but also exhausting, expensive, and, at times, unrewarding. We will never tell people how to raise kids (our kids are deeply mediocre), but we’re all about bringing down the temp at home.

    On some level, isn't all media aimed at the upper middle? Why is this different?
    While it's definitely true that the Times and The Atlantic and plenty of other publications default to writing for the upper middle, they tend to avoid coverage of the day-to-day experience of their readers. We want to help our friends and neighbors or make them laugh. It doesn’t need to be more complicated than that.

    I'd like to share some feedback or contribute. How do I get in touch?
    Pretty simple. Just email Andrew. 

    Are y'all just totally insufferable in person?
    Depends on who you ask. Rose doesn’t think so.




    What We Believe


    ➼ It’s possible to acknowledge and enjoy privilege.
    ➼ It’s fun to compete... right up until it isn’t.
    ➼ It’s all gucci even when it isn’t Gucci. 
    ➼ It’s not a joke, but you’ve got to laugh. 
    ➼ It’s a fugazi. It’s a whoozy. It’s a whazy.
    Snippets
    Just some upper middling stuff. Subscribe for whole issues.
    Eddie Final Breakdown The Afterlife of the First Athleisure Vehicle
    Managed Down and Out
    The Middle Manager Labor Movement is Coming
    The Quick and 
    the Demure    One Word. Two Centuries of Social Anxiety.
    The Beetlejuice EffectWhat Tim Burton Found in Connecticut
    Revenge of the Petit BourgeoisieThe Dems Wild Stab at Class Reunification

    Totes McGOATsWhy the L.L. Bean Bag Persists Decades Later.
    Hung to SellBad Art for Tennis Fans








    Explore the Upper Middle Extended Universe
    Like Marvel, but with more boat shoes.