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Today's "middle class lifestyle" with 2 SUV's, 2,000 square foot house, big screen TVs, cell phone costing $700 in the hands of every adult and child...is not yesterday's "middle class lifestyle".
Oh does that mean I'm poor? Because I'm definitely not "middle class" by the above.
1 economy car for family of four
1,200 s.f. house
No TV or cable plan. We have a computer monitor and netflix.
Wife and I have $100 phones. Kids have $50 secondhand tablets.
My vacation home's garage is bigger than your house. And I wish it were another 600 to 800 sf.
So is this the new definition of middle class?
Quote:
Originally Posted by bad debt
I'm not going to tell you how you should feel, but you're not living a middle class lifestyle. I can tell you that.
This completely depends. Where does he live? A 1.2k sq ft home in the northeast could easily be considered middle class. About the only thing that they mentioned that isn't typical middle class of today is 1 car.
I bet many people would consider my families lifestyle barely middle class, because we don't have a 2.6k sq ft home, or brand new cars every 3-5 years, or new iphones/tablets, eat out 2-3x a week, or buy expensive jewelry or clothes monthly, etc. ..but we do save over $100k/yr. So you can take your middle class "lifestyle" I'll take my investment portfolio.
This completely depends. Where does he live? A 1.2k sq ft home in the northeast could easily be considered middle class. About the only thing that they mentioned that isn't typical middle class of today is 1 car.
I bet many people would consider my families lifestyle barely middle class, because we don't have a 2.6k sq ft home, or brand new cars every 3-5 years, or new iphones/tablets, eat out 2-3x a week, or buy expensive jewelry or clothes monthly, etc. ..but we do save over $100k/yr. So you can take your middle class "lifestyle" I'll take my investment portfolio.
You can take whatever lifestyle you want, however, your N of 1 is not what defines a middle class lifestyle. $100 phones, no TV, 1200 SF house for a family, and 1 car is not a middle class lifestyle.
Also, I noticed you have a 2300 SF house in another thread. Do you have a television? What type of phones do you and your wife have for $100? It's OK to not live a middle class lifestyle if that's your choice, just don't try and call it a middle class lifestyle if it isn't.
You can take whatever lifestyle you want, however, your N of 1 is not what defines a middle class lifestyle. $100 phones, no TV, 1200 SF house for a family, and 1 car is not a middle class lifestyle.
Also, I noticed you have a 2300 SF house in another thread. Do you have a television? What type of phones do you and your wife have for $100? It's OK to not live a middle class lifestyle if that's your choice, just don't try and call it a middle class lifestyle if it isn't.
I have a 2.2k sq ft home, which is 400 sq ft below the average home size today. We do have 2 tvs, but I know plenty of people that don't watch tv. One of our tvs is from 2010 and the other is a $400 tv purchased about 1.5 years ago. Easy to get used phones in the $1-$200 range. I buy my phones off of Swappa. Here's the exact phone I purchased off of Swappa for $125.
Plenty of reasons why a family of 4 might have only 1 car. Hell if I didn't already have my truck we'd likely only have one car as I work from home and am within biking distance of my gym. The only real reason I use my truck is to get to the mountain biking trails on days my wife works. I've put less than 2k miles on it over the past year.
I'm fine with not being considered middle-class...because the middle-class is broke. My point was you can't just take a few things about a person's lifestyle and decide whether or not they are middle class or not. What if they spend upper middle class money on other hobbies?
Are they not living at least a middle-class lifestyle because they don't have two somewhat new cars, a 2.6k sq ft home, $700+ phones, a tv for every room, and cable/internet + netflix + amazon prime?
I'm not going to tell you how you should feel, but you're not living a middle class lifestyle. I can tell you that.
What constitutes a "middle class lifestyle?" Spending oneself into penury just because one can? For me, a middle class lifestyle means having enough money to save, live comfortably, and sometimes spend while working one job per person in a given household.
Being middle class in terms of lifestyle is meaningless as I've worked with people who barely have the proverbial pot with a window nearby for tossing its contents yet have many of the trappings of those who have more income. I saw with my own eyes just how close to the bone even seemingly well-off people live when the recession hit a decade ago in the upscale exurban community in which I once lived. I see it with people in my circle who have declared bankruptcy (not due to medical debt or divorce) only to begin the spending cycle once more as soon as they can on crap and "experiences" because, "YOLO!" It's their life to live, of course, but if that's how the middle class "Joneses" live, it's not for me. Having some measure of security and not having to Marie Kondo my house because I have too much stuff that I don't use or need isn't what I want in my own life.
By most measures,I live a nice middle class life not too dissimilar to that lived of people when my own 1,350 square foot house was built. I'm college educated (no debt), have two paid off cars (kept the older one as a beater), one television, one low-cost smart phone, laptop, etc. Traveled a decent bit on the cheap when I was younger and had a bit more time, if not money to burn.
I can easily afford to take vacations, but don't do so often because my work is rather demanding (plenty of us in that boat regardless of income, I'm afraid). I can afford unwelcome surprises like home and car repairs. I can afford to go out to eat, but don't do so too often as I like to cook; going out to eat is a form of occasional entertainment for me--not because I don't feel like spending time in the kitchen. Not being felled by a thousand dollar expense and being as debt free as possible *is* middle class in my world view.
In short, barring a medical crisis (my worst and only fear), the reason that I live rather frugally is because I want to remain in the middle class and not die the "death of a thousand cuts" when life happens.
Last edited by Formerly Known As Twenty; 08-12-2019 at 04:11 PM..
That's the average size of a newly constructed home in the US today. Lots of people are living in smaller older homes.
point taken,but my home is only 15 years old, so my guess is even at that point it was constructed as slightly below avg. size. I have 2 kids and seems like I have plenty of room, but we also spend most of our time in the family room or outside on the back patio. I guess I just don't get the infatuation people have with size, but I think that's becoming more of a trend with my generation (millennials) as well.
I have a 2.2k sq ft home, which is 400 sq ft below the average home size today. We do have 2 tvs, but I know plenty of people that don't watch tv. One of our tvs is from 2010 and the other is a $400 tv purchased about 1.5 years ago. Easy to get used phones in the $1-$200 range. I buy my phones off of Swappa. Here's the exact phone I purchased off of Swappa for $125.
Plenty of reasons why a family of 4 might have only 1 car. Hell if I didn't already have my truck we'd likely only have one car as I work from home and am within biking distance of my gym. The only real reason I use my truck is to get to the mountain biking trails on days my wife works. I've put less than 2k miles on it over the past year.
I'm fine with not being considered middle-class...because the middle-class is broke. My point was you can't just take a few things about a person's lifestyle and decide whether or not they are middle class or not. What if they spend upper middle class money on other hobbies?
Are they not living at least a middle-class lifestyle because they don't have two somewhat new cars, a 2.6k sq ft home, $700+ phones, a tv for every room, and cable/internet + netflix + amazon prime?
People living the middle class lifestyle aren't broke if they actually have the income to support the middle class lifestyle. I.e. earning the median income is not a guarantee of living a middle class lifestyle. In a HCOL area for a family of four trying to buy a house right now, it would probably need to be earning around $300K/yr.
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