interesting article - almost half would have trouble coming up with $400? (vehicle, transferring)
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That makes no sense. Burger flippers are doing the same thing today they were doing 50 years ago. 50 years ago, their wage would pay for a place for them to live and put food on the table. Now it doesn't. It has nothing to do with building skills. It has to do with everything costing more now and pay staying the same.
50 years ago they also worked their way into becoming line cooks, assistant cooks and chefs. today they dont do that, ask mcdonalds what the promotion track of their cooks are.
thats is why their pay hasnt gone up. if they want to provide for a life, they cant just stay at the same job forever if that job is the bottom job.
and no, they are not doing the same thing as 50 years ago. back then they would have actually cooked me a burger, today, they warm it up
The author tried to do the above and failed. The list is too expensive.
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Still, he was not wasting his money.
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What the author is saying is that out of those 6 markers of the "middle class," in reality most middle class people have to choose 3.
I'm sorry, but he did a few BIG things not on the list. Private school?? And as others here have said, anybody who would cash out a 401K to pay for a wedding is not making sound financial decisions, probably ever.
There are many people (my parents for example, me I hope) who could take his family finances, hit all 6 markers (without being aware of or feeling entitled to them), and retire with a decent amount of savings. These people simply don't identify with the author or his article, and are possibly even a bit offended by it.
financial discipline is difficult because it's not taught in school. Parents who don't have it can't teach their kids.
Marketers are always on the prowl to get you to spend your last dime because that's their job.
The american economy needs people to keep spending and the sheep are more than happy to keep spending.
When my wife worked for BMW, she said the majority of the cars are sold through leases presumably because most people could not afford to buy or finance a car.
My own financial situation is not great but at least my wife and I are financially well educated, unlike the majority of everyone else in the world.
People are reading the article wrong. The author is by all definitions a VERY successful person. He's doing better than the overwhelming majority of writers in America. He's had scripts bought by TV shows, film studios, gets large advances for books. He has more than enough money to take care of himself. He has more than enough money to keep his smartphone connected to 4g and his LED TV connected to cable.
The point is that our wages have stagnated and our costs have gone WAY up - especially college and health care.
It's the costs of being "middle class" that he can't afford. It looks like the big killer for the author was his daughters' college. He could "choose" not to try to send them to the best college possible.... but then his daughters will be worse off than him.
It's not reading the article wrong. You're assuming that "middle class" automatically means you should live in some of the most expensive places in the country, send your kids to private schools, completely fund their educations and weddings, etc. That is not the cost of being middle class. Many middle class families send their kids to public schools, send their kids to state colleges, etc. If you live within your means, ESPECIALLY if you are making the type of money he was making, you can make it just fine---he was just an idiot with his money.
You do not know his daughters would be worse off than he was if they went to SUNY. The CUNY I went to sends tons of kids to medical schools---heck, a friend of mine did her post-bacc at a school within CUNY that no one has ever heard of unless they live in NY and she was accepted into both Harvard and UCLA.
I do agree that wages have stagnated and it is more difficult to be "middle class" these days. But come on---this guy has probably made more money than I will ever see and he's just drowning.
Quote:
Originally Posted by reneeh63
And this is what I find disturbing - you were obviously raised well in a frugal family and are using all you know to keep building on that for your own family. And the fact is, in spite of that you predict your parents have nothing saved and will have to make do on SS alone (which many do, btw). But these are the same kinds of people we seem to be talking down...if they were doing the right things, why DIDN'T they have a few hundred thousand saved? You can do all the right things and still have to live very carefully...if you mess up a couple times or fate hands you bad health, e.g., you are totally screwed with no sympathy from anyone here. Not that they need our sympathy, but there are a lot of hard-hearted people who look at the conclusion and think they know the whole story.
I would be more sympathetic if he did have some crappy hands dealt to him, which if he did he I'm sure he would've written it here.
On a global scale, I think you can lump most Americans into #3. Worldwide, the median household income is around $10,000. The poorest of the poor in the United States do better than that.
You must remember that the costs of living in the Us are inflated compared to other countries. I pay more for a tiny room in an off-campus house then what I would pay if I stayed in a hotel in Peru for an entire month, and that's before we add in the monthly heat/water/internet costs
50 years ago they also worked their way into becoming line cooks, assistant cooks and chefs. today they dont do that, ask mcdonalds what the promotion track of their cooks are.
thats is why their pay hasnt gone up. if they want to provide for a life, they cant just stay at the same job forever if that job is the bottom job.
and no, they are not doing the same thing as 50 years ago. back then they would have actually cooked me a burger, today, they warm it up
No it's not. Minimum wage has not kept up with inflation. If it had, it would be $20/hr now.
No it's not. Minimum wage has not kept up with inflation. If it had, it would be $20/hr now.
didnt say anything about it keeping up with inflation. i said their skills havent kept up with the times. so why would their pay go up.
if inflation is a reason why prices go up, then skills are the reason people get paid more or stay employed.
there is no reason minimum wage "should" go up with inflation. that is just something you "want" to happen to make it easier on people working those jobs. my fix for it would be to tell those people to get off of minimum wage, and the quickest and simplest solution to that is for them to acquire skills that get them a job better than minimum wage.
no one is aruging that it hasnt kept up with it, that is simple to calculate. but why should it? humanitarian relief is not part of the job, companies are not non profit organizations.
No it's not. Minimum wage has not kept up with inflation. If it had, it would be $20/hr now.
That's just off a bit. It's if the minimum wage had kept up with inflation and productivity growth. Nearly all of productivity growth hasn't gone to wages, which is the root of most economic problems.
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