I'm not really sure what you mean by this but also your numbers aren't even accurate to what I was saying?
I did what I was "supposed to" until about 3.5 years into college. Then I dropped out, bumbled around trying to find meaning in what jobs I managed to sporadically have, and spent time in my marriage. In my early 30s now, newly divorced, realized I fell into doing what I was supposed to again, and I'm done with it
I'm moving to another country, I'm liquidating retirement to pay for college. In some ways it feels like I've lost so much but in other ways it feels like I get a second shot at the life I want and this time I'm a lot wiser
I consider $100k to be minimum wage in Seattle. It was just enough to not be constantly money stressed as long as I was living modestly. I could see doctors, invest in hobbies, have choices in food, build savings/retirement. Could not eat out every day, buy a house any time soon, or impulse buy particularly expensive stuff. Any time I made less than $100k here I felt like I was always two steps behind, at about that salary my life stopped focusing on scraping by. I make more now and I feel like I'm actually thriving here. Still quite a difference in what I'd consider to be middle class though like there's no way I can get a house here and I'd for sure be much worse off if I had kids