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Sounds like a pretty aggressive definition of "middle class" based on the unsustainable lifestyle pre-2009.
The middle class people living in McMansions and constantly buying/leasing new cars were generally those trying to emulate an upper-class lifestyle that they couldn't actually afford - it only temporarily looked like they could thanks to all those 0%-down mortgages, HELOCs, etc. That's not "middle class"; it's just stupid and greedy. Obviously, that didn't work out so well for them.
I feel like our family (two parents, two kids) live a middle class lifestyle and we made around $170K last year. I'd feel rich if we had no kids and lived in a cheaper city, but we have a $380K mortgage (house is worth around $500k at 2100 sq. feet, so no McMansion) and twins in pre-school ($2K a month) so I don't feel any more than middle class. Of course I think the middle class "lifestyle" is something that's been inflated by television (sitcoms, movies, commercials) where "average" Americans are portrayed as living in "average" homes that are in fact, a lot bigger/nicer than average. The house the "Cleavers" lived in in the '50s sitcom, if kept up and updated, would probably be worth well over a half million today.
At some point you have to weigh your needs and wants. We just went through a very long scenario of someone in NJ making 97k struggling and her budget was ripped to shreds. I guess again it depends on your interpretation of middle class.
At some point you have to weigh your needs and wants. We just went through a very long scenario of someone in NJ making 97k struggling and her budget was ripped to shreds. I guess again it depends on your interpretation of middle class.
I feel sort of bad for all the good-will grief the posters gave her.
So,what is exactly the definition of middle class?
I have a hard time grasping what it means to be middle class.
It seems to me that the lines between poor and middle class are blurred.
The poor have: cable tv,cell phones,and cars,and the earned income credit. I'm not going to include section 8 and all the other things.
The middle class may not have the things above. We are told by the politicians to cut back.
What I'm not understanding is if a person who makes 100,000 dollars rents,drives an old car,doesn't have cable and a cell phone,and has loads of student loan debt, is he poor?
I feel sort of bad for all the good-will grief the posters gave her.
yeah - but some people need tough-love to straighten out their finances. i have family members who continue to go down the same path and make similar salaries in Pennsylvania. it is what it is. some people will be in debt no matter how much they make.
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