being upper middle class is the worst

Society's view?

People can view their lives as they wish.

I'm probably lumped in that upper middles class category.

I have a nice house and nice cars, bought new. Go on vacation every year with my family.

I don't stress much on money.

I do have AMT hit me at tax time so I am more of a tax contributor than most.

I work less than 40 hrs a week and get to run during lunch and post here while I'm at the office.

On the other hand, I have a sister who is seriously poor, lives of of disability and whatever welfare is available. She has no car. Always has to rely on our father or others for anything.

Her life sucks.

X-Runner wrote:

Society's view?

People can view their lives as they wish.

I think you have an unrealistic view of how people are impacted by the culture in which they grow up.

Also yeah I think being disabled is probably worse than any class status sucks for your sis.

Ranking Roger wrote:

that lost it's sheen two years later.

lost *its* sheen. Like this post, after the first sickening paragraph. Dude, really.

Going to be even worse if Trump's tax cuts go through. The proposed big tax cuts are going to the millionaires and billionaires. The middle class and upper middle class are going to get screwed. The lower class doesn't pay income tax on the Federal Level. That's why I voted for McMullin.

Nobody in the US is of any class really - irrespective of socio economic status, they're all out selling their butts for $ so they can buy more junk and eat at fast food restaurants.

Yah, there are some downsides to being part of the upper middle class, you do pay more taxes and don’t get the loop holes of the super wealthy. BUT it’s not that bad, it’s quite comfortable actually. It’s an ABSOLUTELY OBSERD notion that living in the upper middle class is super horrible and that we have it so much worse than everybody else. We have it great. And being below the poverty line or in lower middle class is NOT a free ride. Do you have any idea what those people have to deal with? For the most part they are not in the lower class because they are not working hard. They are in the lower class because when you’re in the lower class moving up is EXTREMELY difficult. What people don’t understand is that often hard work is not enough to get out of the lower class. In reality you’re COMPLETELY misrepresenting the problems that come along with upper middle class living. And most of all, right now YOUR CONTRIBUTING to those problems. I’ll get the obvious out of the way first. It’s not nearly as bad as your making it out to be. As you might expect it is often even a little bit better than being in a lower socioeconomic class. The real downside is it’s not that much better that much better than being in the average middle class (though a good bit better than being in the lower middle class or below the poverty line, you guys have it a good bit rougher than us and I give you the utmost respect. I understand that you are hard working people like every one else, and that having less money makes it hard to move up. Unlike a lot of people think just working hard to achieve your dreams often isn’t enough to move up in the world from your position. Unlike the comment starting the thread, you’re defenetly not just on a free ride. I respect you so much.) (since I’ve gone on such a long tangent I’ll repeat the sentence leading up to this: The real downside is it’s not that much better than being in the average middle class.) While it is a often a bit more comfortable, we don’t have it as good as people think we do. The biggest problem that comes along with upper middle class living is people resenting you for your upper middle class status. Most upper middle class people are averagely good people. Like in any income class, some are more saintly than others. Though like in every socioeconomic class, there are assholes, we’re not meaner than people in lower socioeconomic classes. But again we do not have it horribly. And people in low socioeconomic classes are NOT free loaders. And you’re (the person who posted the original comment) part of the reason people think that people in the upper middle class are bad people.

What some in the lower classes don't get is that networking will get you far and not just hard work. A lot of wealthy people got to where they are by networking, not just hard work. That is why even when executives are fired they always land good jobs b/c of their network.

Even if you are poor but work hard at a job, if you don't have the right connections you won't go anywhere.

Ranking Roger wrote:

- I can't imagine owning a home with my wife that is more than $400K...as our home is currently worth $380K. We live in affluent area of the state so we are not considered wealthy by any stretch of the imagination. I did renovation work so our house looks just as good as anyone's on the block.

I wish I could find a house in my area that was 400K! I'd sell my condo and with the equity in it I could pay cash.

You are smart--both you and your wife have good jobs (95k and 100k, etc., plus bonuses) so you can have kids.

Poor people sometimes don't realize that to have a comfy, good lifestyle with kids they need to make good choices, get lucky, and/or learn how to network better to get the jobs. A lot of jobs on monster.com are already filled and are there for EEOC purposes.

I go into Wal-Mart and see tons of poor families and tons of kids in tow and lots of stress in their body language--too many kids and too many mouths to feed.

I make 45k in Ohio; not great, but not bad. I was a journalist making 25k in 2006 and made 30k when I left in 2014, and only now am I making decent $. No kids for me now, even if I get married. But for a single guy 45k will go a long way if you can keep your net expenses to 15-17k and live in a studio (which I've done for 4 years). For me, I am waiting to get married until I hit a certain income bracket and I know my wife and I can provide a good life for our kids if we have them.

Your problem is you are saving too much money. Stop saving money and live life and you will be happy.

I suspect you are maxing your 401k, maxing other retirement accounts, and ending up with very little disposable income.

Stop saving for retirement (you might die before you get there) and live life today.

It is about money but that's truth wrote:

Poor people sometimes don't realize that to have a comfy, good lifestyle with kids they need to make good choices, get lucky, and/or learn how to network better to get the jobs. A lot of jobs on monster.com are already filled and are there for EEOC purposes.

I'm not really old enough to truly participate in this discussion, but I'm willing to bet the many people who are poor (not as a proportion necessarily) are people who have historically not made good choices, and therefore, are unlikely to start making good choices to live a comfortable life.

breaking free wrote:

I agree with all this except for hiring a financial advisor. They are snakes. All of them. I work in finance. Just buy Investing for Dummies that's about all you need.

Financial advisor=mutual fund/insurance salesman

Wowzers wrote:

A popular study a few years ago showed that happiness increased as income increased but only up to about $75K. After that there was no further increase in happiness even as incomes went up. Studies since then have often concluded higher amounts, but not much more. Those happy, carefree rich people you mention are not happier on average than folks with a $100K income.

That's a myth:

Remember when kyoto used to post as east coast?

West Coast wrote:

east coast wrote:

being upper middle class is the worst

1) Give away 100% of your money to charity.

2) Give away hour house and car to charity.

3) Quit your job.

4) Live on the streets for a month or two.

5) Try getting odd jobs by standing on the side of the road.

Problem solved.

Don't give the money away, go out with one huge bender involving vegas, hookers, and blow. Then, enjoy your freedom!

The key to happiness is leading an upper middle class life but existing as if you are poor. People pity you while they dig themselves into debt. Meanwhile you are debt and mortgage free and have generous college savings accounts for your kids.

In addition, the elite colleges like to charge 70k per year to the upper middle class so the very smart children have to go to a state school or other non prestigious school and basically forced to get an upper middle class job because Wall Street and investment banks only hire people from elite schools. The cycle continues!

Those rare individuals born poor then go to upper-middle class as adults would strongly disagree with you. They would all tell you upper-middle class is far better.

I guess i',m just lucky. I started out pretty low and am now quite wealthy. I have a professional middle-management job and have never worked more than 40 hrs/week. Work is okay though i don't have to work anymore, but can't seem to retire/quit.

Anyway, I think the OP if full of sh!t if he thinks being on the lower income levels is anything but miserable. Shame on you.

All i can tell you good people is this: money is not the important thing (unless you don't have much). It makes life fairly simple and it gives you a purpose just to work for it and not get bogged down in deeper questions about purpose. When you finally get it, if you do, you come to realize that it's not what it's cracked up to be.

The fortunate thing was working one's way up, sharing those times with family and friends, and appreciating the free time as much as you can, which you can do since you only get so much.

I wouldn't trade that for anything.