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Last year I made low 100s while living in one of the highest cost of living areas in the country and I consider myself 'upper middle class'. I currently rent a pretty nice apartment (I could purchase a nice place), I drive and pay to keep a fairly new nice car in the city, eat lunch out, go out a few times a week, throw some money away at the casino, all while putting money into savings and retirement. My compensation can fluctuate quite a bit, so I dont blow it all, but currently I'm doing better then avg IMO
its not about the income. u could get 300k a year and starve. a bag of money is pretty easy to fill up just need a quick hand and a work ethic.
its those gaping holes in the bottom of the bag that need to be sewed up. that is the great american issue.
I have to lot of so called middle class in American really can't afford that lifestyle. I think you need make over $100k+, even in an cheaper place like Dallas. For expensive areas, like NYC, you might need like $500k a year! Most people in middle class would should be called the "working class" instead. The middle class lifestyle has many expenses (listed below) and it can get expensive.
Here is what I think most people consider a middle class lifestyle:
-Retire with same lifestyle as pre-retirement
-1-2 years worth of spending money in cash
-Enough money to buy a nice single family house (McMansion)
-Be able afford to put kids through university
-Money to buy new cars every 3-5 years
-Afford nice vacations each year (probably $10k+)
-Money to buy latest smartphone every 2 years,computers, and other electronics
A lot of people living this lifestyle on has no retirement saving and/or tons of debts. These people are really working class can't / shouldn't try to go for this lifestyle. Of course people making less than $100K (like me) can save for retirement by living more frugal lifestyle. However, you will definitely miss many middle class niceties like brand new cars every few years!
I know this OP, of which I quoted part, goes back to April of 2011, but I wasn't about to read through 367 posts. When we read the specifics in the middle of the quote, they describe a very upper class life style. Why the original poster calls it middle class is a great mystery to me. For that to be considered middle class, one would have to adopt the point of view of Donald Trump or Bill Gates or Warren Buffet. And such a rarified view just skews the argument. Think for a moment what the word "middle" means. It means in between two other things, one higher and one lower. The description is of the top, not the middle, if we consider what percentage of Americans can afford to live like that. A very small percentage.
Here is what I think most people consider a middle class lifestyle:
-Retire with same lifestyle as pre-retirement
-1-2 years worth of spending money in cash
-Enough money to buy a nice single family house (McMansion)
-Be able afford to put kids through university
-Money to buy new cars every 3-5 years
-Afford nice vacations each year (probably $10k+)
-Money to buy latest smartphone every 2 years,computers, and other electronics
How could someone prepare for a comfortable retirement and have a good 1 or 2 years of emergency savings while trying to accomplish every other item on that list?
A $10K vacation every year? That's 10% of your income before taxes, so that makes the percentage of your take home pay even more. NOT realistic. People that take retirement planning seriously and keep short term savings for a rainy day aren't likely to do that.
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