Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Trips to Disneyworld
Meals out
Health insurance
Starbucks / Caribou / Dunn Bros. coffee
Networking for jobs with decent pay
Summer camps
Being able to hike or walk long distances without pain at age 40
Business casual dress / casual Fridays
Office parties
Your children going to college
Trips to Disneyworld or similar family vacations, paying for kids college, and eating out with families (paying for kids), attending professional sporting events (again paying for kids), and being able to do it all without going into debt, are solidly Upper Middle Class "luxuries".
First of all... YES, a low 6 figure salary for a cities of a high COL is MIDDLE CLASS (for the Bay area or NYC I would even say LOWER middle class). Forget food, fuel, etc.. I think it's mostly in the cost of housing. When we moved from MI to Seattle my husband's income doubled and yet we still wouldn't have been able to afford the same kind of home we had in MI. Impossible.
Secondly, I also agree that trips to Disney, paying for college, attending professional sporting events, etc. WITHOUT debt are Upper Middle Class luxuries.
I really must be poor, I don't have airconditioning, and my kids wore hand-me-downs. No sidewalks where I live.
How many poor people actually don't have running water, refrigerators, air conditioning, sidewalks and use coal heat and outhouses?
I would guess well under 1% of the population lives like that.
You probably either live in an older home or live in a very temperate climate - probably not a lot of air conditioning in San Diego.
Housing is typically built for the middle class and is built to middle class standards. Newer homes typically come with central air unless they're in one of those very temperate areas. They've also been coming for some decades with running hot and cold water, refrigerators, and indoor plumbing.
While my grandmother grew up with a "backhouse", she had indoor plumbing most of her life.
Spending a lot of time in country's such as Venezuela, Panama, Costa Rica and marrying a girl from Medellin Colombia gives a reality of many things we take for granted being middle class here in the US.
Such as:
Having air conditioning and being able to have it fixed when it goes up.
Having hot water.
Full size refrigerators with freezers.
A car newer then a 90's or older beater and perhaps a car or two bought new.
Possible boat, camper or motorcycle to use as a "toy".
Being able to use said "toy" periodically.
More then one TV in the house.
Going grocery shopping for a week.
Credit cards, even if they may not be the best ideas.
Bank account.
Being able to put gas in the car.
Having a reserve amount of money in the bank and/or a retirement account, even if not very big.
Having health insurance.
Being able to take a vacation when one comes up or being able to take a long weekend away periodically.
If home is owned, being able to maintain it. If rented, being able to put some money aside for a down payment on a home later if that's what is wanted or setting some aside for new furniture.
High speed internet.
Washer and dryer in the house.
Being able to eat out at times.
Being able to go out to club/discoteque occasionally and just let loose.
Being able to buy furniture such as beds or a sofa new.
What's even more interesting is the hierachy of "needs" and the trade offs made in choices:
Latest iPhone is more important than retirement savings.
Fancy rims on the car is more important than (saving for) a home down payment
300 cable channels is more important than auto insurance
$45/week at Starbucks is more important than paying off 18% credit card debt
The pathetic thing is the entitlement funds we make available for retirement when people decided to buy that I-phone and to contribute nothing to their retirement account. I have no I phone, no fancy rims, no cable tv, and no star bucks. I max out IRAs for myself and my wife. We found the money, why can't other people? (In our twenties)
The pathetic thing is the entitlement funds we make available forretirement when people decided to buy that I-phone and to contribute nothing to their retirement account. I have no I phone, no fancy rims, no cable tv, and no star bucks. I max out IRAs for myself and my wife. We found the money, why can't other people? (In our twenties)
I am not aware of any entitlement funds made available for retirement. Please enlighten me.
I see people wearing what looks like rags and having a cell phone tied to their body. I see people sitting at the same table texting each other. Is that middle class? I don't think I know what middle class is? Is it a lifestyle or is it how much money you have or how much income you get?
We have one TV but when our stove just gave out we went to Lowe's and could have paid cash for another one. We got an extra 5% off for charging it though. I got exactly what I wanted. It was just like the one I had already, plain and simple with the new tops. I hated the old stoves with the burners that let spills go through. When the bill comes we will finish paying for it.
We know people that have less money than we do and some that have much more money than we do. Is that middle class? I just consider myself to be first class.
We have a cell phone we never use and a car phone that we need to learn to use. LOL I am ready for a new lap top. Right now I am typing on a keyboard on the computer that we bought in 2002. Husband who repaired computers for a living has had to modify it to fit the new technology several times.
It is a matter of being safe for us now. The car telephone comes with onstar, I think?? If we get lost we just push a button and tell the onstar person where we want to go. Since I am the one that is usually reading the map, that is luxury for me.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
