Can we stop referring to households making $200 or 300K a year as "middle class"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We went from 150k to 450k, the only thing that changed was a larger new house, our disposable income is the same.

Sorry I meant 350k, to add we were hit with more taxes so our take home definitely didn't double

Your disposable income increased. Your choice to move to a larger house means you chose to dispose of your income that way.

+1

[Anonymous]

To buy an acceptable house it starts around a million preferable is 1.5 million or higher. You need a lot of income for that unless you lucked out with the housing market 10 + years a go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To buy an acceptable house it starts around a million preferable is 1.5 million or higher. You need a lot of income for that unless you lucked out with the housing market 10 + years a go.

There seems to be a wide range of disagreement about what is "acceptable"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To buy an acceptable house it starts around a million preferable is 1.5 million or higher. You need a lot of income for that unless you lucked out with the housing market 10 + years a go.

+1 , if you look around that's the rate for good schools, location and decent size meaning larger than the shoe boxes you see around here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To buy an acceptable house it starts around a million preferable is 1.5 million or higher. You need a lot of income for that unless you lucked out with the housing market 10 + years a go.

laughing my ass off. this is a joke right? please please tell me its a joke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To buy an acceptable house it starts around a million preferable is 1.5 million or higher. You need a lot of income for that unless you lucked out with the housing market 10 + years a go.

so let me ask you this. If you purchase a home for a million or a million and a half - does that make you middle class??

[Anonymous]

The facts demonstrate that you are very close to/actually in the 1 percent. Read the NYT OpEd on this very issues and 529s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The facts demonstrate that you are very close to/actually in the 1 percent. Read the NYT OpEd on this very issues and 529s.

So you think that 300K is the same in all areas

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The facts demonstrate that you are very close to/actually in the 1 percent. Read the NYT OpEd on this very issues and 529s.

any chance for a link?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I realize that "middle class" is a concept made up by polititians in order to appeal to broader bases. Heck, everybody wants to be middle class! The poors get to say they made it, and the rich get to say they deserve lower taxes. Win-win for the polititians, lose-lose for the sheeple.

This is a gross mis-characterization of the concept of the middle class.

The middle class is not an artificial label, it is a real and observable phenomenon that arises naturally out of healthy societies.

At a basic level, the middle class includes people with similar day to day concerns, struggles, interests, and goals. People within this range identify with each other. For this reason, a large middle class naturally leads to a stable and prosperous society. The reverse of that, which would be a society divided with two large pools of very poor and very rich, is unstable and ripe for revolution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We went from 150k to 450k, the only thing that changed was a larger new house, our disposable income is the same.

Sounds like a silly choice to me but YMMV

Sounds ok to me, would it be better to buy a new car

If I were in a similar situation is choose to use the additional income to improve multiple facets of our life rather than dump it all into a house and higher mortgage payment. Unless you choose to buy a very expensive car, there would presumably be plenty leftover from that purchase to contribute to other things as well. But hey, different folks, different strokes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To buy an acceptable house it starts around a million preferable is 1.5 million or higher. You need a lot of income for that unless you lucked out with the housing market 10 + years a go.

+1 , if you look around that's the rate for good schools, location and decent size meaning larger than the shoe boxes you see around here.

So who lives in all the shoeboxes that predominate the area then- are you under the illusion they are only occupied by poor people or something?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To buy an acceptable house it starts around a million preferable is 1.5 million or higher. You need a lot of income for that unless you lucked out with the housing market 10 + years a go.

so let me ask you this. If you purchase a home for a million or a million and a half - does that make you middle class??

??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I realize that "middle class" is a concept made up by polititians in order to appeal to broader bases. Heck, everybody wants to be middle class! The poors get to say they made it, and the rich get to say they deserve lower taxes. Win-win for the polititians, lose-lose for the sheeple.

This is a gross mis-characterization of the concept of the middle class.

The middle class is not an artificial label, it is a real and observable phenomenon that arises naturally out of healthy societies.

At a basic level, the middle class includes people with similar day to day concerns, struggles, interests, and goals. People within this range identify with each other. For this reason, a large middle class naturally leads to a stable and prosperous society. The reverse of that, which would be a society divided with two large pools of very poor and very rich, is unstable and ripe for revolution.

Idealist much?

On what planet do those with $50K and $300K HHI have similar day to day concerns, struggles, interests, and goals? (Although I agree that these people may want to identify with each other for reasons stated above.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We went from 150k to 450k, the only thing that changed was a larger new house, our disposable income is the same.

Sounds like a silly choice to me but YMMV

Sounds ok to me, would it be better to buy a new car

Assuming that they were spending some money on housing before, their housing expenses are now more than 1/2 their take home pay. That seems like a very bad decision.

A good decision might be to increase the mortgage by a couple thousand a month, and use the rest for increased savings towards retirement, college etc . . . , and maybe treat oneself to something like a vacation once in a while. That's very possible on $350K.