Do you feel like a sucker if you grew up Middle Class and your family obeyed all of the rules...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So my parents live very well on their retirement. My father was career military and then was a government service worker. My mom never worked. My grandfather also was career military. They have unbelievable pensions and my father even more so. Whereas my husband and I who are way better educated will never retire.

x1000

Exactly. I wonder if that generation realizes how good they have it?

[Anonymous]

I feel this way too. I don’t know how me and my littles are going to survive.

[Anonymous]

I grew up poor and did all the right stuff (sensible major in college, full ride grad school, no drugs, etc) and am barely middle class at nearly 50. It makes me mad when people dismiss the boost that inherited wealth gives young people.

[Anonymous]

My rich aunt Recently told my husband:

“You’re middle class and middle class people are suckers.”

Very simple. We are suckers until we vote for people who advocate for our interests. Until then we can sit and watch the people around us struggle. Very fun!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sort of the opposite. I grew up (upper?) middle class because my blue collar parents had the good judgement to be born in the 50s in Silicon Valley. They profited off the 80s economy and the dot com real estate prices. They have made some really poor financial decisions and are still so much better off than their parents it's unbelievable. I am doing fine but not as well as them when you look at spending money, vacations, real estate, etc.

I think you mean good fortune.

I was being tongue in cheek, yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My rich aunt Recently told my husband:

“You’re middle class and middle class people are suckers.”

Very simple. We are suckers until we vote for people who advocate for our interests. Until then we can sit and watch the people around us struggle. Very fun!

I agree with this. We're not suckers as individuals for not gaming the system, we might be suckers for not trying harder to change it.

[Anonymous]

Wow you only work 40 hours a week? Sounds nice.

[Anonymous]

The current job market is so good that if you live in a high COL market (DC) and you have decent skills you can really make a nice upgrade if you are willing to relocate. Stop whining and do something about it before the next recession hits.

[Anonymous]

Totally agree with you, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up poor and did all the right stuff (sensible major in college, full ride grad school, no drugs, etc) and am barely middle class at nearly 50. It makes me mad when people dismiss the boost that inherited wealth gives young people.

I’m just curious your occupation? Salary?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up poor and did all the right stuff (sensible major in college, full ride grad school, no drugs, etc) and am barely middle class at nearly 50. It makes me mad when people dismiss the boost that inherited wealth gives young people.

I’m just curious your occupation? Salary?

Public school teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our generation is getting screwed every which way. Our parents had reasonably priced healthcare, mostly reasonable college costs, company provided pensions.

We both work and can’t afford much past the house and daycare. Since his family isn’t local, all our vacation time and funds are spent on family visits rather than proper vacations.

I think you are idealizing the past. The standard of living has risen in that people have more stuff. A middle class existence then would be considered living LMC now.

My family was solidly middle class then and we did not take "proper vacations"! We visited family or we went camping. Always driving, no flights. We hardly went out to eat -- that was a special occasion. Kids shared rooms and bathrooms. One telephone line. One tv with 3 channels.

Now homes have expanded, people think every kid must have their own room, plus a car, and screens are everywhere. Plus taking proper vacations of course.

I agree that healthcare and education costs have gotten out of hand, but a middle class life was much simpler a few decades ago.

The size of the average single-family home in 1950 was 980 square feet. It's now 2,641. People ate the vast majority of their meals at home. In fact, in the late 1980's, when I moved to DC, there weren't all that many good restaurants.

When I was a kid in the 70's, only rich people took vacations that involved flying on airplanes, much less flying overseas. Long-distance calls were incredibly expensive. When I was in college, I could only afford to call my Mom once a week, and we couldn't talk very long. Clothes were relatively expensive, compared to now. A relatively "cheap" t-shirt was $20, which would be about $110 now (adjusted for inflation).

Agree that the big ticket items (healthcare, education) are more expensive, but with regard to healthcare, we have amazing technology for diagnosis that didn't exist in the 70's, and there are treatments for diseases that used to be a death sentence.

Don't get me started on college costs -- I believe skyrocketing college costs are the direct result of policies that made borrowing money for college easy. The people who run universities are as susceptible to market forces as anyone else. If you set up a system that allows them to charge more, they will. I can't believe what my alma mater looks like these days. The construction is constant, and there's no more open space left, so they're starting to tear down older buildings to build. The focus now is on the "experience," not the education. But again, students have higher expectations -- and they're paying more as a result.

[Anonymous]

People feel like suckers because those low taxes that were supposed to trickle down haven’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My rich aunt Recently told my husband:

“You’re middle class and middle class people are suckers.”

Very simple. We are suckers until we vote for people who advocate for our interests. Until then we can sit and watch the people around us struggle. Very fun!

I agree with this. We're not suckers as individuals for not gaming the system, we might be suckers for not trying harder to change it.

I grew up poor and now have an UMC HHI (low 400k). Of all the classes, the middle class has the most suckers because you have a formulaic view of success. You think, "if I do x, y, and z I will be comfortable" which is a form of laziness. The working class and below, and the secure UMC and higher, are hustlers. We know that if you must always be on the prowl for advantages and opportunities. I don't ever met MC people with this mentality.

[Anonymous]

I could make more money by working more, or constantly looking for opportunities. I don’t want to do either. Spending energy on those things is not the lifestyle I want.

I used to own a business. I made good money, but sold it and walked away. I’m sure that makes some people happy. It made me miserable.