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If the middle class really has it bad, I must be exceptionally disconnected from reality in my middle class neighborhood, surrounded by middle class families, living middle class lives.
The luxury and excess to which the majority of people live overall seems to be at an increasingly all time high.
The median household income is a bit more than $50K. It's tough to live "excess and luxury" on $50K.
I have to agree with most of these speaking personally. The only thing I don't have to worry about is insurance as my company has a decent plan I partake in.
I've always enjoyed my vacation but can't afford to lately. I can accumulate the vacation hours but just don't have the extra money to take one the way I like to. My idea of vacation is traveling to foreign countries.
a vacation to europe isn't that much either. using credit card rewards for flights and hotel nights. only things you pay for are food, taxes/fees and whatever else you want to buy.
not any different than learning to use scholarships/grants to help pay for college, or using insurance to help pay for medical bills.
even for homes, they have programs to help people buy them
there are things you can do to reduce costs of life, not taking advantage of them and crying over it makes no sense to me.
Too much whining. Not worth my effort to go item by item.
I don't think it's whining per se. Median income is 53K or thereabouts which is stagnant in inflation-adjusted dollars going on more than 2 decades now. Things like health care and college costs go up 5-10% per year, every year, with no sign of slowing down.
I make about $55K myself. At my age and in my chosen career field, I could not hope to do much better; I'm about as successful as I can be...to make more money I would have to go back to school and completey re-tool which would take years.
It was fine for myself, but to support a family AND save for retirement at the recommended levels AND save for kids' college AND try to do something like take a vacation it is utterly inadequate. I can do 1 of those things easily, 2 of those things with great difficulty, 3 of them impossible.
There was once a day when a single income could provide a middle class existence. That is no longer the case.
Queue the comments from someone saying my cell phone bill the problem. It's always the phones with people here.
This is total nonsense. The middle class can afford middle class things.
Vacations: For most boomers as kids, a vacation involved tents, a camper trailer, or extremely modest motels. Food was equally modest. The photo in the article shows a Caribbean Island beach at an exclusive resort. If you move the bar to define a vacation as a 1000+ mile flight and a high end resort, the middle class has never been able to afford that.
New vehicles: You can buy a Hyundia Accent with a 100,000 mile factory warranty for $17,000. You can reasonably expect to drive it for 10 years/150,000 miles without the car imploding on you. Compare that to a 1965 automobile that was unreliable garbage after the 3/36K factory warranty expired. It was worth a bottle of champagne if the car actually did 100,000 miles. In terms of cost per mile, inflation-adjusted, cars are cheaper and more affordable than years ago. Once again, the photo in the article shows a row of shiny new BMWs. Those are luxury cars. The middle class never was able to afford luxury cars.
Student loans: This one is an issue since college costs have radically out-paced the inflation rate. If you look at the reason for this, it's not because college profs make more or because college profs teach less students for their dollars. It's because today's generation demands all the expensive non-teaching stuff that doubles the cost. If we went back to the model that college is about classrooms and not about football teams and non-academic student activities and non-academic student support systems, college would cost what it used to cost.
Emergency savings: This one is covered ad nauseum in personal finance. 5% savings rate instead of 10% to 15% savings rate. It's all about burning discretionary income instead of saving it.
Retirement savings: The rules of the game today are that you need to save steadily for your retirement. People fling the money at discretionary spending instead.
Medical care: This is a national problem. Some of the middle class has excellent corporate health insurance. The rest are caught in the gap where they're too affluent to qualify for Medicaid but they're paying big premiums for not-so-great coverage.
Dental work: If you get fluoride treatment as a young adult and get to the dental hygienist a couple times per year, most people don't have huge dental restoration bills. The same nuts who are anti-vaxxers also walk around telling everyone fluoride is poison. There's no magic to this.
Living paycheck-to-paycheck: Well duh. If you live in too much house, drive too much car, and squander your disposable income instead of saving it, you live paycheck-to-paycheck and it's a dire emergency if you lose your job. Maybe if you lived in a 1,200 square foot house on a small lot instead of a 3,000 square foot house on a large lot; and maybe if you drove a base model economy car instead of a fancier brand; and maybe if you prepared your own food at home instead of spending your cash at Starbucks, going out to lunch at work, and at restaurants and doing takeout or buying processed food, you could save some money. ....like the middle class used to do it.
Not a good post.... it is a great post.
Yea, people, IMO, are not reasonable these days... having a great time does not mean you need to stay at some 9 star hotel.
i can tell you no one took better care then me with my teeth . but genetics and eventually being prediabetic wins in the end . our dental bills have been insane as implants are the only thing i can use at this point on the bottom and not have a miserable quality of life .
25k seven years ago for 6 implants , i rejected 3 of the 6 over 7 years and now that the diabetes is identified and controlled just had 4 more put in for 17k .
that does not include my wife's work which was extensive also after decades of being trouble free .
dental work can be pretty brutal once the days of simple cavity's and root canal's are no longer the issues as you age . the deteriorating sheaths are the biggest issue .
The median household income is a bit more than $50K. It's tough to live "excess and luxury" on $50K.
Yes, it is the median income level for all households, not the median for the middle class. That would be somewhat higher, considering many consider $50K in income to just be breaching the middle class these days.
Yes, it is the median income level for all households, not the median for the middle class. That would be somewhat higher, considering many consider $50K in income to just be breaching the middle class these days.
You do understand what the term median means correct?
I agree and disagree with some of these. I would consider us more below middle class income but we have never gone a year without vacations. Last year took 4(usually just 2). For new vehicles, I wouldn't buy one regardless. We have a very good emergency savings (retirement is more tough) I do agree with the medical/dental, this is a high cost even with insurance, unless you have outstanding coverage. Agree with the student loans also, another high cost for even middle class earners.
I don't think it's whining per se. Median income is 53K or thereabouts which is stagnant in inflation-adjusted dollars going on more than 2 decades now. Things like health care and college costs go up 5-10% per year, every year, with no sign of slowing down.
I make about $55K myself. At my age and in my chosen career field, I could not hope to do much better; I'm about as successful as I can be...to make more money I would have to go back to school and completey re-tool which would take years.
It was fine for myself, but to support a family AND save for retirement at the recommended levels AND save for kids' college AND try to do something like take a vacation it is utterly inadequate. I can do 1 of those things easily, 2 of those things with great difficulty, 3 of them impossible.
There was once a day when a single income could provide a middle class existence. That is no longer the case.
Queue the comments from someone saying my cell phone bill the problem. It's always the phones with people here.
Aren't you living a middle class life?
I am single and live a middle class life, making about the same income. You do have to choose your priorities. That has always been the case.
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