6 signs that youve made it to the middle class

[mdmc]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/6-Signs-That-Youve-Made-It-To-investopedia-4243472351.html?x=0
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I have a car..

[azmouse]

1. 4.5 signs for me.

I don't have children so the college education for them isn't an issue.
I don't take vacations... not because I can't afford them but because I chose not to. I'd rather save the money or spend it on my house. Besides, I live in a resort area already. The vacation is all around me, every day! :)

[bluethruandthru]

2. Isn't it great how it tells you that to get to "middle class"

most people have to not only become two-income households...but you should also get two jobs! Remember when it only took one income to be middle class?

[bluestateguy]

3. I've got three

But one is NA for me since I am not likely to have kids, thus sparing of of the costs of college tuition in the 2030's.

[hedgehog]

4. Does staying with the relatives 3 days at Christmas count as a vacation?

[bobbolink]

5. LOL.... Hey, I got to stay in my tent for a few days.

Since I live in my car, that was like a 5-star hotel for me!

You laugh... pretty soon that *will* be considered middleclass!

[FreeJoe]

6. Good here

*Home owner since 1998
*One car (mine) and one minivan (wife's)
*529 plans on track for kid's college
*401K, IRA, Roth IRA, Roth 401K, Pension plan, savings on track for retirement
*Good company supplied health insurance + substantial HSA
*Two or Three vacations each year of 1 or 2 weeks plus several weekend trips

[ejpoeta]

8. that's great! good for you.

[mdmc]

24. I used to be good to go until I got sick..

now I cannot afford medical treatment and the rest of the stuff really doesn't matter..

[Warpy]

7. I retired involuntarily

when I went blind, but I haven't had a vacation since 1986.

So I have a car, a house, and a reasonably secure retirement if the bottom doesn't fall completely out of the economy.

Forget kids and education, couldn't afford them. Forget health care, disqualified in 1987 which explains the lack of vacations.

To say that I am furious at the Democrats for allowing Republicans to rip the guts out of health insurance reform is an understatement.

[Hello_Kitty]

9. WTF. How about 6 signs that you're no longer middle class. eom

[Taitertots]

14. 1. You have to sell your car when you don't want to

2. You have to leave your house and you don't want to
3. You expect to work beyond 65, or you are working and over 65
4. You own money for health care
5. Your children owe money for college
6. You can't take a vacation because you can't afford it, can't take time off work, or you don't think your job will be there when you get back

[Hello_Kitty]

15. 7. You don't have a job and are over or underqualified everywhere you apply. eom

[bigwillq]

10. 2 for me (nt)

[Broken_Hero]

22. Ditto, nt

[FirstLight]

11. crikey!

ya, all I have is a car,( and that one is used and bought by my folks in a hurry cuz my other car died and I had to get to work, but i ain't complainin')

I can't even read thru the whole thing because the goals are there, but so far from being in hand i wonder if 'someday' will ever come.
At 40, got no savings (do pennies in a jar count?), got a vacation (called unemployment), got my health (barely, mostly a patchwork of medicare and herbal/natural self-help), and i just hope the kids make it to graduation wiothout being drafted or something collectively hitting the fan. Really, the American Dream? Maybe a farm in the hills, self sustainable and grid-free, educated children coming back to the homestead to engineer better lives for the commune/tribe, having the property be a retreat for others to learn how to do it... :D (my dreams are a bit out there.)

You can't take it with you, but it is nice to have resources and money to feel the security of a good life right here.
Wonder if we will ever see that possibility again in our lifetime...

[Taitertots]

12. I've got two jobs and I've only got 2, maybe 2.5 depending on how you cut it

1. I rent, sharing a house with two other people
2. I have a blew out van from the 80's and a motorcycle
3. I'm going to college myself, and racking up tens of thousands in student loans
4. I've got nothing for saved for retirement
5. No health care coverage
6. I go on frequent vacations.

[Odin2005]

13. There is no "middle class", just the Investor Class and the Wage Slave Class.

[quaker bill]

21. I guess I am the only one then

I do not have significant investments, but I pass all six elements stated in this supposed test. It would seem that I am not the investor class. However I do have two paid off cars, a house, one kid with a PhD and the other a junior in college, no significant debt, a fully vested defined benefit pension, modestly good health insurance, and take one or two vacations a year.

[Odin2005]

23. You missed my point. I meant that the notion of "middle class" is meaningless.

It originally meant wealthy non-aristocrat merchants and professionals. It has dengenerated into a term used to divide the better-off members of the Working Class from the less well-off.

[madmom]

16. Let's see....

I have a home
I have a car, if you want to call a 1998 Jeep with over 150,000 miles a "car"
Both kids in college now, they are paying their own way.
Retirement security, maybe, living on hubbies pension, savings all gone due to helping kids.
Health care coverage, well they say we have it, but you couldn't prove it by me.
Haven't had a vacation since 2003.

I guess I don't qualify:shrug:

[Brooklyns_Finest]

27. Kids College

I respect that your kids are paying their own way through college. My parents were poor immigrants when I began college back in 95. There is no way they could have afforded to pay for my education. I decided to attend a relatively cheap big state college. I used loans and grants to get me through school. I am so happy that I did not have to burden my parents with paying for school.

I have a BA and an MA with about $17k of student loans that I am paying off. This is very manageable although I have decided to use the extended repayment plan.

[conspirator]

17. Unless good IT jobs come back home ownership will never materialize for me n/t

[KillCapitalism]

18. Those 6 standards are going to change drastically.

If this recession/depression is still going strong in 20 years, the 6 signs that you're middle class will be:

1. You own a pair of shoes & more than one outfit.
2. You own a tent that sleeps 4 people instead of 2.
3. You eat at least one meal a day.
4. You can read.
5. You own a bicycle.
6. You have a slave-wage job instead of being "retired" due to being permanently unemployed.

[NNN0LHI]

19. From the article: What Happened on the Way to the Dream?

What Happened on the Way to the Dream?

Globalization and technological advances began to reverse the growth of the middle class. The manufacturing base in the United States changed, as good-paying jobs in factories and heavy industries went overseas to lower-paying markets and labor unions lost much of their ability to bargain for high wages and good benefits. Later, white-collar jobs from accounting and data entry to reading medical images and answering telephones in call centers were also sent offshore. Many jobs that remained in the U.S. were eliminated by computers and other technological advancements that increased productivity.

To achieve or maintain a middle-class lifestyle, many households became two-income families. Achieving middle class goals became more difficult as employers eliminated their pension plans and defined-benefit plans, the cost of a college education continued to rise and the cost of healthcare jumped. For most of the 20-year period following 1990, the Commerce Department reports that real median income grew at a rate of about 20%, while the cost of a college education grew between 43% and 60%, the cost of housing rose 56% and healthcare costs jumped by 155%.

[Silent3]

20. We don't have kids...

...so #3 doesn't apply to us.

#4, retirement security: I guess I'm headed in the right direction as best as I can, but who can tell what will happen with a 401(k) in 17 years (if I retire at 65)? My significant other hasn't saved anywhere near as much as I have, but as long as we're still together I'll have her covered.

#6, family vacation: Our family of two has gone on a few nice vacations together, but we don't make it a mandatory ritual to go on some big vacation every year. That's more a matter of choice than finances, however. We just took a one-week "staycation", and I was quite happy to just have a week with nothing much at all to do but sleep late, relax, and take care of a few projects at a very leisurely pace. For little more than the cost of economy airfare, sleeping at my sister's house and not a fancy hotel, I'll visit my family for a long weekend just before Thanksgiving.

The rest of the items in the list (house, cars, health care): We've got those covered, and I consider us fortunate for that.

[MorningGlow]

25. House and car

Everything else...well... :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: Yeahhhh right.

[mdmc]

26. ..

[Curmudgeoness]

28. This is bullshit. I have 4 to 5 (retirement savings is iffy), and no kids

so can't have that number 6. But I am still absolutely working class. Middle class, in my eyes, does not have to pinch pennies the way I do, does not own a small affordable home in a mediocre neighborhood, and can go to Hawaii or Europe for vacations. They own more than one car. Sorry, but if you must work every day, punch a clock, worry about the one disaster that will bankrupt you, then you are not middle class, I don't care what this says.

[mdmc]

30. I grew up working class / middle class

now I am in the working poor class..

[Kat45]

29. I guess I was there 10 years ago, until my job got outsourced.

For the past 5-6 years, I've been lucky to get part time jobs here and there. I used to have some retirement savings (though not enough), health insurance benefits, and the time and ability to take a vacation. Lose a job and you lose it all. Being in my mid-fifties, I don't have a lot of hope for getting it back.

[superduperfarleft]

31. I've got 1: health insurance.

As far as retirement security goes, that's what the cigarettes are for.