In 280 comments, the users of middle class finance defined middle class as per their upbringing. This is a compilation of their findings

[dadofthreeboys]

@wheatpenny You could be a blue collar in a union and make yourself what two working teacher make.

It’s really more about money, or some white collar jobs sucking balls.

 

[wheatpenny]

@dadofthreeboys I was replying to someone who said that my lifestyle growing up was "working class," but my family isn't working class. Working class refers to jobs that require little education (less than trade school), are physical, and labor intensive, such as factory work. Some trades could fall under working class, such as landscaper, and some jobs are trades but might not due to more education involved, such as electrician/plumber/etc.

Poor and white collar workers might be lower or lower middle class. You can in contrast be blue collar and be upper middle or even upper class. Blue and white collar work only refers to the sort of labor you perform, not the wages you take home.

Class is partly about money, but working class is a term taken from Marxist theory, and is also known as the proletariat. It is a separate term from the socioeconomic division of society between lower, middle, and upper classes.

 

[rushamania]

@wheatpenny If you are dependent on working for a living you are working class. Blue or white collar.

 

[wheatpenny]

@rushamania If you Google working class, then you'd find out that there is a definition that says otherwise.

 

[searchingforsomething]

@colada Yeah, I agree. This is working class. Everyone thinks middle income is middle class, but that hasn’t been true since the top tax bracket stopped being effectively punitive. Obsession with consumption is a working class thing. Obsession with looking and acting more like the upper class is middle class.

 

[sophieseekerofwisdom]

@chris239 Exactly, the trade off is a huge part of it

 

[khathutshelo]

@chris239 But why. Middle class is the class between the working class and the rich. Surely it should be more comfortable than this

 

[chris239]

@khathutshelo Because if you can have everything you want, you're...rich?

 

[dadofthreeboys]

@chris239 How rich? $400,000/year rich? $4,000,000 year rich? $40M, $400M , $4B rich?

“Everything you want” is a pretty damn high bar.

I want a private jet, few excellent cars, a house not build with ice cream sticks and mud, some land around to don’t have to see my neighbor, a top of the line HVAC system… clean air and clean water…

As bare minimum I want a 7’ Fazioli and it’s shy of $200,000…. Maybe before I die.

Everything I need is a much much lower bar.

 

[acl777]

@chris239 Define “everything you want”.

If it includes yachts, several houses in desirable places, etc. That’s rich.

If it means “our family owns a house and a car, decent savings, and they can afford decent vacations plus college funds for their kids”, that’s middle class.

 

[chris239]

@acl777 Yes, I mean it's a matter of degree. If a family, say, has four children and can completely cover college (incl. room and board) and cars for all of them, that's edging upward. Is a decent vacation Disney World or Courchevel?

 

[pfaffenhofen]

@khathutshelo This sub is a circle jerk of people trying to convince themselves they aren't working class. What they call rich is middle class. They probably can't even fathom rich.

 

[searchingforsomething]

@pfaffenhofen Exactly. It’s hilarious.

 

[seeker1999]

@khathutshelo This is a bunch of very lucky people who have more than most others in human history. It's just less than people now seem to feel entitled to.

 

[cfb107]

@khathutshelo If you are middle class, chances are you can get generally anything you want.

But you cannot have everything you want.

What your post is implying is, if I have to make economic financial choices, then I am not middle class.

 

[sandy2357]

@khathutshelo It is comfortable. You are always fed, and don’t even consider going hungry as a possibility. You’re not homeless, and can save up money for later. This sis comfortable

 

[aprilowen69]

@sophieseekerofwisdom This is why I agree with defining “middle class” as simply the 40th to 60th percentile income band.

It’s not based on anecdotal, or completely arbitrary evidence, and can easily be applied to a specific zip code or other locality.

 

[dezerango]

@sophieseekerofwisdom I think people are focused on the idea of international travel being expensive rather than the reality. We spent less on a two week trip to Spain than we did on a one week trip at Disney.

 

[oskar29]

@dezerango A big difference is that you can drive to Disney. When I was a kid, domestic flights would be about $400 (adjusted).

 

[mec1963]

@dezerango I remember a comment made by a guy complaining about a friend who took a "trip of a lifetime" to Europe. He then described his trip to Disney. He dropped more in a week on himself than my wife and I spent on a 2 week trip to the Greek islands and Athens. His hotel was more (not that shocking), his food costs were more (because he ate in the parks every day), and the amount he dropped on a replica lightsaber paid for bus tours and a catamaran day cruise for two.

In this day, international travel can be extremely cheap. Going some place designed to extract as much as possible from your wallet is expensive.