There are plenty of positives that have come out of the coronavirus pandemic: better health, less pollution, more time with family, an acceleration in the work from home trend, and the chance to buy stocks at large discounts, to name a few.

However, perhaps one of the biggest positives from losing our freedom is the surge in the U.S. personal saving rate to an incredible 33%!

The personal saving rate is defined as savings as a share of personal disposable income. Personal disposable income is defined as income less taxes.

If your income stays the same, the higher your personal saving rate, the stronger your household balance sheet. The stronger your household balance sheet, the more financially secure you will feel. The more you save, the quicker you will achieve financial independence. Love it!

Our household plan has been to cut our spending by 32% to match the 32% decline in the stock market from peak to trough. If the stock market and our income rebounds, we will have increased our cash flow and our wealth. If the stock market and our income stay depressed, then we will have continued to protect our financial freedom.

As evidenced by the latest personal saving rate data, I’m pleased to see tens of millions of Americans do the same.

Let me tell you a sad story.

In order to comfortably raise a family in an expensive coastal city like San Francisco or New York, you’ve got to make at least $300,000 a year. You can certainly raise a family earning less as many do, but it won’t be easy if your goal is to save for retirement, save for your child’s education, own your own home instead of rent, and actually retire by a reasonable age.

Although $300,000 is a lot compared to the median household income in the United States of ~$64,000, it’s not an outrageous sum of money once you look at the realistic income statement I’ve put together for this article.

All expenses in my example use current prices. I’ve also cross checked the expenses with my family’s monthly expenses now that we have a son to make sure they are within reason.

I use $300,000 in this post because I also believe it is close to the ideal income for up to a family of four to experience maximum happiness.

At $300,000, you aren’t paying an egregious amount in taxes, you probably aren’t killing yourself at work if both parents are working, but you’re still earning enough to live a comfortable lifestyle anywhere in the world.

Half the US population lives on the coasts, therefore, this post is directly targeted at folks who need to live on the coasts because of their jobs, schools, or families.

Finally, this post should also provide insights to non-coastal city residents on how good you’ve got it if you enjoy living where you are. $100,000 – $150,000 is a rough non-coastal city household income equivalent.

The Rise of Stealth Wealth is here to stay as long as there’s an ever growing government and widening income inequality. This article provides a stealth wealth compendium of useful phrases to help you get through life easier.

It’s only a matter of time before enormous social unrest wipes the country clean of the wealthy like a tsunami. “Be rich, act poor,” is a mantra to protect our families and our finances.

The people who are ruining it for the rest of us with their “look at me” attitudes all have one thing in common: insecurity.

Psychiatrists point to the need for people to overcompensate in order to prove they are not failures based on educational or socioeconomic “deficiencies.” There’s always a story behind each target-basking person. We should reach out to help, which in turn helps others survive.

I’ve provided specific reasons for why you want to join the Stealth Wealth movement along with 15 suggestions on how to blend in better. Now I’d like to propose some common phrases we can use in every day conversation to help deflect attention away from the curious and envious.

There’s a fine line between being modest, and being obsequiously modest. If people can tell your false modesty, you’re no better off than telling them you are the bomb shit.