Great aticle on how middle class is struggling and not saving enough

[Anonymous]

I agree with all the PPs who think this guy is a pompous and entitled jackass.

[Anonymous]

Nothing new here. Same shit that happens in DC. Overbuying on house/area, keeping up with the Joneses and giving special snowflakes everything their heart's desire. That will get anybody in the poor house. We see the same stuff on DCUM!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I honestly don't think I know anyone personally who couldn't pay $400 or even 2k for an emergency like the writer. And DH and I come from middle class families with blue collar or middle class jobs. Maybe our younger, early 20s sisters couldn't cope with emergencies, but they're just starting out and graduating.

The recipe for success in America isn't that hard. Graduate, get married and don't have kids until you're married with dual incomes.

oh yea, it is that simple. just 1, 2,3. Shit never happens.

Are you young and inexperienced or just a simpleton? Life does not go along a straight line.

I went to college, graduate school, got laid off from a Fortune 500, unemployed for over a year. Found a job and got laid off after less than a year and did contract jobs in the past year for 6 months. I've been living off my savings in between the long-term unemployment, so I cannot move-up from a townhouse to a single family house, because I'm spending my down payment.

That was the recipe for staying out of poverty. Obviously you still have a house and are not in poverty. They did a long term study and it worked for 90% of people.

[Anonymous]

I think this article illustrates what is wrong with the economy. Basically every rich person I've ever met works in Finance or Tech. Why shouldn't a writer live a nice life in NYC with a house in the Hamptons? Why should all that stuff go to horrible Wall Street people? It's a crime what has happened to NY.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why his wife never went back to work. Even if in a different field or part time. I know he said he kept her in the dark about their finances but I have a hard time believing she was totally unaware. Especially since he also mentioned how they didn't go on vacations like ever or really buy anything.

Why should she have to work if she doesn't want to? The crime here is that he was paid a stagnating wage his whole career to write magazine articles. He should have been paid more money so that he could live a nice life. Someone like him SHOULD be living in a brownstone with a SAH wife, two kids at Ivies, and a house in the Hamptons. Not all those horrible Wall Street people who ROBBED the American public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think this article illustrates what is wrong with the economy. Basically every rich person I've ever met works in Finance or Tech. Why shouldn't a writer live a nice life in NYC with a house in the Hamptons? Why should all that stuff go to horrible Wall Street people? It's a crime what has happened to NY.

What's wrong with the economy is that the majority of the country doesn't think a mediocre journalist should live lavishly?

The portrait of the starving artist is not a particularly new or American thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why did he chose to live in Brooklyn and have to pay for private schools when he could have lived in Staten Island, Queens - or the suburbs of Nassau or Suffolk county. Same thing with paying for his kid's wedding. Its keeping up with the Joneses. DH's family and my parents were poor and through our own savings we paid for a beautiful "UMC" wedding. Whatever that meant. Weddings are optional.

The first daughter went to medical school. Stanford is an extraordinarily good school but here's a dirty little secret, medical school is a different beast. You don't have to go to ivy to be a successful doctor. They care what more about your MCATs and which medical school/residency you get into. I know very successful doctors in high paying specialties that went to state schools. If you go to Stanford to do a start up that's a total different story.

They paid an inordinate amount of money for the second daughter to be a social worker. Poor choice.

Its poor choice after poor choice for this family. basically, they live as "rich people" only without the money. Writing biographies is a rich person career, as is living in the Hamptons, private school, fancy weddings, to some extent SAHMs, private colleges to become social workers ... Is this person for real?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with all the PPs who think this guy is a pompous and entitled jackass.

+1 And whiny as all get out.

Financially "impotent" my foot. This guy was willfully shooting himself in the foot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why did he chose to live in Brooklyn and have to pay for private schools when he could have lived in Staten Island, Queens - or the suburbs of Nassau or Suffolk county. Same thing with paying for his kid's wedding. Its keeping up with the Joneses. DH's family and my parents were poor and through our own savings we paid for a beautiful "UMC" wedding. Whatever that meant. Weddings are optional.

The first daughter went to medical school. Stanford is an extraordinarily good school but here's a dirty little secret, medical school is a different beast. You don't have to go to ivy to be a successful doctor. They care what more about your MCATs and which medical school/residency you get into. I know very successful doctors in high paying specialties that went to state schools. If you go to Stanford to do a start up that's a total different story.

They paid an inordinate amount of money for the second daughter to be a social worker. Poor choice.

Its poor choice after poor choice for this family. basically, they live as "rich people" only without the money. Writing biographies is a rich person career, as is living in the Hamptons, private school, fancy weddings, to some extent SAHMs, private colleges to become social workers ... Is this person for real?

And he could have had all of that and more if he had only been in the finance or tech field. Ha.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The author is a typical Boomer who thought that everything was going to continue to work out for eternity. He spoiled his children and made stupid decisions (wife SAH when his income was inconsistent? not paying the IRS the.very.first., buying a house in the Hamptons BEFORE selling his co-op, dumping his 401k for his kid's wedding).

Now, apparently, it's America's fault. (*sarcasm to follow*) You see, it couldn't have possibly been all his fault. Yes, he lived above his means, but, but he DESERVED to.

Idiot. He drained his fortune, his parents' fortune, and now he's going after his kids.

+1 Comparing himself to an actual struggling middle class person is offensive. A story about someone who did everything 'right" -- job, school, work, housing, then slid slowly down would be more accurate and a much truer story. This just sounds like whining after digging his own grave with aspirations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why his wife never went back to work. Even if in a different field or part time. I know he said he kept her in the dark about their finances but I have a hard time believing she was totally unaware. Especially since he also mentioned how they didn't go on vacations like ever or really buy anything.

Why should she have to work if she doesn't want to? The crime here is that he was paid a stagnating wage his whole career to write magazine articles. He should have been paid more money so that he could live a nice life. Someone like him SHOULD be living in a brownstone with a SAH wife, two kids at Ivies, and a house in the Hamptons. Not all those horrible Wall Street people who ROBBED the American public.

Are you a child? I get this from my 7 yo - "I don't want to do Z, so I shouldn't have to." That's not how the world works for a 7 yo, and it's certainly not how the world works for an adult with kids, bills, and a declining HHI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh. I'm really not surprised that a seemingly rational and sane person puts himself in a precarious financial state keeping up with the Joneses. This is very similar to my family's story. My dad was a high ranking government official and because of whom we grew up and mingled with the world elite. The government perks made it so we were able to keep up with the Joneses and the prestige his title afforded us more than made up for our lack of actual funds. We wined and dined like the rich and lived like rich even though we had no savings no college funds no home. Ultimately dad retired and his pension isn't enough to keep us afloat. My younger siblings work part time in retail and attend NOVA. I have developed very elite tastes and find it hard to live a "normal" MC life. My parents have no retirement savings and no home. Its awful.

+ 1 I struggle with the same. It's a form of child abuse in my opinion to grow up with pictures that just don't represent the real world in any way.
Good luck to you, don't let the anger eat you up. Jump over your pride. I dug myself out slowly but still feel like a fish out of water.

But what are you all doing as adults? OK, there are reasons to resent parents, but you, yourselves what are you doing to achieve the lifestyle that you want to have?

Well, I do not resent my parents. My parents went broke trying to provide for us the best of everything they had access to-at their own expense. Today they don't even have a home. I am forever grateful to them for introducing me to that world. Even now, people mistake me for an upper class person due to how I naturally carry myself and dress myself. I like to joke about how I am a kind of a white elephant. I relate more to the rich but cannot afford their life. I had to majorly downgrade my lifestyle upon my dad's retirement 5 years ago.

Part of being from that world was...I didn't go to college to earn a living. I studied Literature and am today a very poorly paid admin at a non profit in the area. My parents encouraged me to study what I wanted and to cultivate my mind and tastes and I had no idea that the rug would be pulled out of my feet upon graduation. I have tried to hold on to my old life by attempting to marry rich. HAHA. That did not pan out as my dh, although raised in a similar UC life growing up, also now has to fend for himself because his MC parents went broke financing his very expensive private education and vacations in France. We are both kind of confused, earning a MC living but living among and around the truly rich. I'd go back to school and earn a profitable degree but I have no money and do not want to get into debt. Its really quite a sick joke.

How are you living around the truly rich? surely you can't afford rent/mortgage in an UC neighborhood from what you described about yourself and your spouse. You can do a doctorate in literature as PhD programs offer assistanships and research scholarships for some well qualified doctoral students. With that you could teach or do something else other than non-profit admin.

To be honest, what you describe sounds a bit imaginary. How do you think people mistake you for UC? I can't imagine a conversation amongst a group of educated professionals in DC going something like "Wow, you certainly do seem and sound like you belong to the upper class". "you're an admin assistant, why, I never! I was sure you're from the upper crust, not like the rest of us". It just doesn't happen.

HAHAHA. No no. It doesn't quite go like that. It goes more along the lines of, me having never taken the DC metro or any public transportation until 5 years ago, complaining about how god awful the metro is and everyone else chastising me for thinking its not a safe or clean mode of transportation. Or how I apparently do not have a sense of prices or how expensive something is. Or how I hate going to dingy dive bars. I'm known as the "classy" friend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh. I'm really not surprised that a seemingly rational and sane person puts himself in a precarious financial state keeping up with the Joneses. This is very similar to my family's story. My dad was a high ranking government official and because of whom we grew up and mingled with the world elite. The government perks made it so we were able to keep up with the Joneses and the prestige his title afforded us more than made up for our lack of actual funds. We wined and dined like the rich and lived like rich even though we had no savings no college funds no home. Ultimately dad retired and his pension isn't enough to keep us afloat. My younger siblings work part time in retail and attend NOVA. I have developed very elite tastes and find it hard to live a "normal" MC life. My parents have no retirement savings and no home. Its awful.

Where do your parent's live?
It's said that one shouldn't wander over to the luxurious side of life or it's hard to go back!!
Good luck to you.

Don't want to say for privacy reasons. It is really quite miserable. We all feel pretty shell shocked. I'm grateful I still managed to get my college paid for. My younger siblings are working retail and going to NOVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh. I'm really not surprised that a seemingly rational and sane person puts himself in a precarious financial state keeping up with the Joneses. This is very similar to my family's story. My dad was a high ranking government official and because of whom we grew up and mingled with the world elite. The government perks made it so we were able to keep up with the Joneses and the prestige his title afforded us more than made up for our lack of actual funds. We wined and dined like the rich and lived like rich even though we had no savings no college funds no home. Ultimately dad retired and his pension isn't enough to keep us afloat. My younger siblings work part time in retail and attend NOVA. I have developed very elite tastes and find it hard to live a "normal" MC life. My parents have no retirement savings and no home. Its awful.

+ 1 I struggle with the same. It's a form of child abuse in my opinion to grow up with pictures that just don't represent the real world in any way.
Good luck to you, don't let the anger eat you up. Jump over your pride. I dug myself out slowly but still feel like a fish out of water.

But what are you all doing as adults? OK, there are reasons to resent parents, but you, yourselves what are you doing to achieve the lifestyle that you want to have?

Well, I do not resent my parents. My parents went broke trying to provide for us the best of everything they had access to-at their own expense. Today they don't even have a home. I am forever grateful to them for introducing me to that world. Even now, people mistake me for an upper class person due to how I naturally carry myself and dress myself. I like to joke about how I am a kind of a white elephant. I relate more to the rich but cannot afford their life. I had to majorly downgrade my lifestyle upon my dad's retirement 5 years ago.

Part of being from that world was...I didn't go to college to earn a living. I studied Literature and am today a very poorly paid admin at a non profit in the area. My parents encouraged me to study what I wanted and to cultivate my mind and tastes and I had no idea that the rug would be pulled out of my feet upon graduation. I have tried to hold on to my old life by attempting to marry rich. HAHA. That did not pan out as my dh, although raised in a similar UC life growing up, also now has to fend for himself because his MC parents went broke financing his very expensive private education and vacations in France. We are both kind of confused, earning a MC living but living among and around the truly rich. I'd go back to school and earn a profitable degree but I have no money and do not want to get into debt. Its really quite a sick joke.

How are you living around the truly rich? surely you can't afford rent/mortgage in an UC neighborhood from what you described about yourself and your spouse. You can do a doctorate in literature as PhD programs offer assistanships and research scholarships for some well qualified doctoral students. With that you could teach or do something else other than non-profit admin.

To be honest, what you describe sounds a bit imaginary. How do you think people mistake you for UC? I can't imagine a conversation amongst a group of educated professionals in DC going something like "Wow, you certainly do seem and sound like you belong to the upper class". "you're an admin assistant, why, I never! I was sure you're from the upper crust, not like the rest of us". It just doesn't happen.

+1

I'm tickled by the idea that these spoiled kids think it's "like child abuse" that they were exposed to some of the nicer things in life but no one ever sat them down and dropped the bomb that getting those things would take money and money doesn't fall out of the sky. There's not a single middle class, lower middle class, or poor person who wouldn't like to "come from money." You're not a special snowflake, you're just an idiot.

Piece of advice: next time you get the bright idea to compare being raised by parents who exposed you to too nice of a lifestyle to child abuse, consider jumping off a cliff instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why his wife never went back to work. Even if in a different field or part time. I know he said he kept her in the dark about their finances but I have a hard time believing she was totally unaware. Especially since he also mentioned how they didn't go on vacations like ever or really buy anything.

Why should she have to work if she doesn't want to? The crime here is that he was paid a stagnating wage his whole career to write magazine articles. He should have been paid more money so that he could live a nice life. Someone like him SHOULD be living in a brownstone with a SAH wife, two kids at Ivies, and a house in the Hamptons. Not all those horrible Wall Street people who ROBBED the American public.

Because the family needed more income and she is (presumably) a competent adult.