Nick Maggiulli is juggling more than spreadsheets these days. He’s chief operating officer at Ritholtz Wealth Management, but he’s also a blogger, and now a two-time author thanks to his latest book, The Wealth Ladder, which quickly shot to New York Times bestseller status. Through his many efforts, Maggiulli has found himself at the forefront of a conversation increasingly relevant to Americans: what it means to have wealth, and how that meaning is rapidly evolving. “Something weird’s going on,” he told Fortune in an interview.
Maggiulli’s insights are rooted in data and everyday observation, but he believes the upper middle class is going through an “existential crisis,” as he noted on his blog Of Dollars and Data. He talked to Fortune about what he thinks is going on: “The economy wasn’t built to handle this many people with this much money,” he said, hinting at his research on what he calls the new economic classes of the United States.
