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Am I Upper-Middle Class? :|

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by Techno Kid, Feb 5, 2014.

  1. Techno Kid

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    This is not something that has ever really been talked about by my parents (to me at least), but thinking about my life makes me wonder...

    Note: the following is not me bragging, I'm just trying to get some perspective. I realize I am pretty privileged.

    Here are some points for or against that idea... not 100% sure what goes where so I will put them all together:

    -Both parents are university educated.

    -Before retiring my dad was a civil servant with the province and my mom was a nurse at our city's regional hospital (I believe both of those are considered white collar jobs).

    -Now that they are not working full-time jobs (they sometimes do part-time work) we are mostly living on their pensions. So less money than before.

    -We live in a low income county where the median household income is around $34,000 (in Canada I think poverty is under $20,000). So we make more than most folks in the county, but not sure if living in a place where most people don't have much inflates things out of perspective.

    -We own two properties. A house in town at $150,000 when we bought it in the late 90s. Now it might be worth $250,000-$300,000 (not sure), it is 1,200 square feet plus basement. The other property is a lakefront cottage worth $90,000 in 2001 and now is worth about $150,000 (I think), it is 800 square feet plus porch.

    -I have never owned shoes costing less than $80-$110 and mom makes me get new shoes every year, if it if it were up to me I would wear them longer. All my boxer-briefs cost $15, I have a few $40 skinny jeans, and several pairs of $7 socks. I shop at places like American Eagle.

    -I don't think our family income has ever been more than $80,000-$90,000.

    -We go out to the movies a few times a month. We also order food a few times a month.

    -We have two vehicles in the $25,000-$30,000 range that we bought used a few years ago.

    -My parents never forced me to get a job and I did not have my first until I was 19. Now I wish they had because it's hard to get a job with so little experience and volunteer work does not seem to mean much. I am not blaiming them btw, I know it is my own fault for not getting a job during high school.

    -My mom clips coupons and looks for the best deals. This did not really happen before they retired.

    -I don't have much money (personally) as most of it was spent on school and such. Though my parents paid for most of my college, along with student grants and loans and I don't think I have any student debt at this point.

    -We have been to several US states and Canadian provinces. When we are travelling or on holidays we usually stay at 3-star hotels (sometimes 2-star motels).

    -I am no longer covered by my parents medical insurance (drug or dental) so we seeing if I qualify for a supplemental disability income, that includes medical insurance. I have general learning disabilities plus ADD. My medications have become really expensive without insurance for my parents.

    So what do you guys think?... sorry for long post...
     
  2. Kasey

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    Well my parents worked hard all their lives, have two kids through college (and one through grad school *hint hint*), they own 3 houses and 4 cars. Neither are college educated. We go on family trips to like... Mexico or the Caribbean or Vegas or NYC fairly often.

    I've always had new clothes, toys and junk, food never didn't have the heat on in winter, could go out to eat at medium priced restaurants fairly often. Steak instead of hamburger.

    So yea you sound like me, I'd say upper middle class.

    Which in comparison to the rest of the world is like the 1% in the US. Let's just say we both grew up very comfortably in terms of possessions and such.
     
  3. ArcticPixie

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    My family hasn't always been middle class and it's because my parents worked extremely hard that we live the way we do.

    My family owns an estate, but I don't think we are exactly upper class at all. We have 7 cars and 1 house (which my parents are planning to rebuild). I've always had new clothes, eaten well (steak etc), both my parents are Univesity educated and still work. We dont go on holidays and go out very often because of my parents jobs (my dads on a plane, off somewhere, every week).

    I can't thank my parents enough for the lifestyle they've built for me and my siblings.
     
  4. Harve

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    I wouldn't be so focussed on putting a label on whether you're upper-middle class, working class, or whatever. You don't need to ask anyone else to know that you're fairly well-off, so just go with that - it's not as if there's a clear dividing line between different classes.
     
  5. Rakkaus

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    Well yeah I guess I'd say you are upper middle class. Or at least, you family background is upper middle-class.

    But you are no longer covered by your parents health insurance and you are unable to get health insurance coverage up there in 'commie' Canada? I thought Canada was much more advanced in terms of universal healthcare.

    Here in the USA at least thanks to ObamaCare I can stay on my parents' health insurance until age 26.

    My family background is also middle-class/upper middle-class, although it's been up and down over the years, as a child money was really tight when my parents were married and my father always unemployed taking out loans for failed business ventures and then after they divorced the purse strings drew even tighter when I was being raised by a single mother. My mother later remarried and I guess we moved up a little in class, but we're still far from rich.

    But today I personally don't have much money either- and I have a TON of college loan debt. I finally found a job after many months struggling being unemployed (also having basically no job experience from high school years), but my income is still really low. If my parents kicked me out and I was on my own, I would barely be above poverty level.

    So I guess this kinda question depends on whether you are asking about you personally or your family background.
     
  6. Aussie792

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    It's usually relative to the wealth in your city/area. My family have education and assets more than what you described, but we're still middle-middle class by Canberra standards. You already mentioned that you live in a relatively lower-income area, so I'd say your family have a higher social class where you live than if you lived somewhere more expensive.

    Class is also related to an attitude and one's upbringing, sometimes not related to wealth. The background of one's family tends to be really important in defining class, and that's sometimes very much unrelated to wealth. If I move out for university and have fewer assets than most working-class people, I will still be middle-class and I will still have the same roots as I have now that define that, regardless of my income.

    I'm not saying that social class as it is is a good thing, but it is important. I advise you to identify as your social class only to recognise how it influences your perception, friends, and experiences. That's the only intellectual use it serves for your identity; the purpose of self-reflection.
     
  7. Rakkaus

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    I don't think that's entirely true. I might be able to say I have a middle-class background, but if my parents kicked me out and severed all ties with me, as they are on the verge of doing, and I was out on my own I absolutely would be among the working poor. I would probably have to live in low-income housing projects, apply for food stamps and Medicaid and other government programs, just to survive and have food and healthcare. The fact that I have a college degree might mean I have a middle-class background, but if I were kicked out and left on my own all it would mean is that I have a very very large monthly loan debt bill to pay on top of all of my other expenses. (And having a college degree did not unlock some high-paying career, I was unemployed for over a year after college and only recently found a job that pays barely above the poverty-level)

    And people's class backgrounds are not always so clear-cut. Growing up basically with a single working mother and having to be raised by my grandparents, my family was pretty freaking poor, we had pretty much no expendable income. I remember vividly my mother buying me a Wishbone computer game I had begged her to buy me, maybe $20, at around age 7 or 8, and it triggered a big fight with my father and mother yelling with him angry that any money was spent on a $20 computer game for me.

    Then later on after they divorced, my mother remarried to a man with a steady income, and all of a sudden we had expendable income and suddenly became "upper middle-class".

    If moved out of their house now, I would be pretty freaking low-class.

    Class mobility is a real thing, and sadly more often than not, it means you move down in class rather than up.
     
  8. BryanM

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    That sounds pretty nice by US standards, and you'd probably be upper class if you lived in the area I live (54% below poverty line, and voted 55% Romney in 2012).

    My family is pretty well off. My dad is a self employed home renovator and also does part time rural mail carrying. My mom is a shipping director at a glass making facility. Neither of them are college educated, but probably combined make about $70,000-$80,000 a year.

    To add on to a point Rakkaus made, even with the ACA making our insurance premiums go down, my mom still thinks it is a very horrible bill, even though she is very democratic. Any time I try to tell her the only people being negatively affected amount to about 2% of the population making $100,000+ a year, she still doesn't believe me. Guess it goes to show how much republicans have blinded the American people about this bill. We are 33rd in the world in health care coverage, the rest of the countries above us have universal health care. The ACA will exponentially help lower and middle class families.
     
  9. DrkRayne

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    I don't know. I stopped trying to figure out class a while ago. I mean...I know I was born and raised at the poverty line until my dad came back into our lives.
    I know I eat better and wear nice clothes now and pay too much in taxes.

    I feel as long as you are secure...no need to ask and worry.
     
  10. Doorway

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    Class is all relative. Stuff like "upper class", "middle class", "working class", and "poor" are definite classes, but once you get into "upper-middle" or "working poor" or "upper-lower", it kinda falls in on itself. What some see as upper class is someone else's upper middle, etc. It's really a silly concept since there are no longer any "official" classes (aristocrats, soldiers, craftsmen, peasants, etc) in most Western countries.

    Your upbringing sounds pretty close to mine. I kinda consider myself somewhere between upper-middle and upper class. I live in a large (~6000 sq. ft.) house in NoVA, my parents also have a beach-house in NC, my parents buy new cars every couple years (my dad consistently flip flopped between BMWs and Acuras for almost 20 years, breaking the mold this year with a Honda Accord LX that is pretty much an Acura), my brothers and I all have cars (hand me-down Hondas), my dad's got some high-level job at a financial company and my mom works as a sp-ed teacher at my old middle school, yadayadayada. My dad grew up in a similarly upper/upper middle class area not far from here, and my mom comes from "old money" but her parents were in the military. He's pretty lenient about money, but my mom is incredibly strict about saving money. My mom was cautious to not spoil us, and frequently argued with my grandparents that. Both are private-school+college+bachelors educated, and all that jazz. But I mean, I'm not playing polo while smoking cigars rolled in $100 bills on a palatial estate or any of that. My cousins on the other hand :rolle:

    Honestly, who cares anymore? Class implies that you are only to socialize with people in that group. If you are middle, you may not talk to the lower or upper classes, and vice versa. While that was more or less true with the WASPs and The Social Register and aristocracies, it's not really relevant anymore. Why can't we call them groups or clubs or teams (!)? It's really just more trouble than it's worth, and it's only gonna drag you down. If you're poor, you're rich, if you're in the middle, you're reminded that you're not as important as the rich or the poor, and if you're rich, you're reminded that you're not as rich as he other guy. Then you try to compensate, and it becomes a vicious cycle that inevitably ends in a raise or bankruptcy.

    Tl;dr I grew up between two classes, classes imply socioeconomic hierachy, and really aren't worth worrying about
     
  11. Projectfabulous

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    To be honest, I never really understood or knew how much money my family has/how privileged I am until almost very recently. When I was younger, my family didn't have as much money as they do now, but as time went on, my dad got more and more promotions and eventually became a VP at his business. My mom quit her job a while ago and we live off of my dad's income. Yet, we still have plenty of money to travel, stay in very nice hotels, eat at nice restaurants, etc. However, having had my father grow up in a low income area of a major city and my mother being frugal, we don't/didn't enjoy all these luxuries too often and much often would/will eat cheaper things because my parents don't really see the need to spend the extra money. Yet I really realized that we were in he upper class when I would casually mention something to my friends and they'd be shocked and confused as to how much that cost etc and I always thought everyone lived this way.

    (ALSO! im not trying to brag). Another thing that really REALLY shocked me was when I was filling out applications to set accounts up and such for college, it would ask my family's combined income. I went to my dad and casually asked, and he answered with "What is the highest one?" and I said "$200,000+." and he said "Pick that one" And I then asked "Well what is it?" to which he replied "Just choose the $200,000+ option." So I do not know my family's income, but I do know that I was very wrong with what I thought it was (much lower than that).

    TL;DR :

    However, as many people above said, it really doesn't matter. I can see if you want to know for the sake of knowing, but it really doesn't hurt/harm you. In my area, the upper class, middle class, and lower class all mix into groups of friends and often don't very much so affect people. When focusing on this stuff, people often get caught up in trivial things and ruining their lives over a superfluous detail about their life.
     
  12. apostrophied

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    I think it probably depends on where you live. I live in a nice middle-class neighborhood (kind of place where people have two nice Hondas and wear Canada Goose jackets, to skiing every weekend, etc and you routinely see BMWs on the streets), and I doubt one could buy a house on your parents' combined income. So that would put you on the lower side of middle class by our standards.

    But... You seem to live a middle-class lifestyle based on what you wrote, so I'm thinking that you just live in a place where the cost of living is relatively low (a house for 300k is completely unheard of here), so you are pretty lucky.