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I think sans the 10K vacations, he shacked it dead center. And that is the point. The self-identified middle classers are not middle class ANYMORE, they're working class. Their parents USED to be middle class. They're working class now. One quarter's worth of paychecks away from the WIC and food stamp line and the payday loans.
How does the "middle class" compensate for this deficit? Credit and no savings. It's the way it has been for the last 20 years at least. And it will create a bad little situation for the Gen X/Y as they reach their 50s. Insolvent won't begin to describe this gaggle. And in that respect, they are "middle class" in thinking. The thought process of insisting on retaining the living standard of their parents while economically no longer able to do so (outside credit and no savings) could very well be a bona fide NEW definition to the moniker "middle class" in this country. Working class KNOWS they're poor, the middle class simply refuses to acknowledge their working stiff condition. Dual income household is a funny little joke the "free market" played on the "middle" class, all they did was dilute their labor value down to working stiff who can afford the chicken OR lasagna, but never both without sweating the mortgage.
Increasingly, there will only come to be the people who to varying degrees (250K+ crowd to the passive income kings and dukes that truly run this land) don't have to worry about cost of living...and then the rest of us snarling at each other on the bottom floor for varying degrees of dispossession. Welcome to Brazil. Ain't globalization and a sense of entitlement great for a civilization?
I'm in agreement with you. Except, I don't know why upper middle class would want McMansions. They could afford regular large homes on normal yards.
McMansions are kinda crappy, don't you think? There's a reason why they're called McMansions... they're the fast food of the housing market. It turns out that no one really wants oversized homes on undersized lots that are all prefabricated to look the same and have inferior build quality. Owners of them are having trouble selling them now.
There are many McMansions in this area. Some are crappy looking-all the same, no character. I don't want a 3000 square foot house on a tiny lawn. I much prefer a smaller house and larger yard.
WIC, 99 weeks of unemployent, new house downpayment, new car downpayment, subsidized home upgrades, finacial aid for college, free government aid, free government grants, subsidies for not farming.
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!
To a point, I agree that many people described as middle class really are working class. Of course, in my book, if you can't pay all your basic living expenses with investment income, you're working class no matter how high your income.
As far as buying a new car every 3 - 5 years goes....that stuff doesn't really add anything to your happiness. Psychologists and economists who study the relationship between income and happiness have found out once you hit 40K to 50K a year, your happiness has to come from other things besides money and the things money can buy.
money does not buy happiness but it sure does make being miserable alot more palletable. rich or poor its nice to have money.
in all seriousness having money doesnt mean you have to spend it. having a nice income and saving part of it makes many of lifes problems not problems.
remember any problem that goes away by throwing money at it ,if you have the dough isnt a problem.
People with high income who want to preserve it are "concerned" about money. They don't take it for granted and generally would not waste their money on car upgrades every 3 years or 10k annual vacations. More of their time would be spent looking for an established home in a great neighborhood that they could buy at a below market price. They also would look to invest 15% or more of their income wisely. They probably wouldn't be so concerned about the latest smartphone, 3D TV or other electronic gadget.
Most people living what appears to be the described middle class lifestyle have little to no savings and are in debt up to their eyeballs even with over a 100k in annual household income.
I understand what you're saying. It appears to me that you're bumping up each level of lifestyle.
In NJ (high cost of living), making $120,000, you can easily have $4 million to $8 million net worth (does not take into consideration raises, and increasing cost of living) upon retirement. So someone making $250k-$500k would certainly have a net worth well (and I mean very well) above $10 million.
Those are nice nest eggs and well above middle class.
On a side note, I calculated a very healthy retirement for myself at having a net worth of $4 million (includes estimated inflation), which will afford me a monthly income of $60,000/month. $60,000 sounds insanely nice today, but by the time I retire, I'd imagine it's just a little above nice.
60 K a MONTH off 4 million? Tell me who you get that figure? Bernie Matoff??? I have about 4 million and cant see anyway that kind of money off 4 million.
We can all define anything any way we want, and the OP's definition of middle class is ludicrous. One way to attempt to look at a more rational, objective and dispassionate definition of middle class is to look at national family income statistics - not just now in early 2011 but also over the past 10 to 20 years. The lifestyle described by the OP as middle class has never been attainable by the "middle" segment of American society. Rather, it is at the very least upper middle class, as already stated by others. The OP's skewed viewpoint is a good example of one of the root causes of our economic meltdown; too many people took on insane levels of personal debt in an attempt to keep up with each other in a lifestyle which they had allowed advertising and their personal insecurity to define as something to which they should aspire as "normal" and to which they are therefore "entitled".
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Spoiled child talking
