Reply to Study shows that 350k/year is barely scrapping by as middle class

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Reply to "Study shows that 350k/year is barely scrapping by as middle class"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am a real example of how 350K can be Middle Class.

I was living in a paid off house with a stay at home wife and no kids in college making that much money. I would got to Turks and Caicos on vacation, buy wife a new car, had a BMW.

Well job ended, had to get new one. Same salary, much more expensive location and had to move. Now I have mortgage and my house costs me $3,700 a year. My kid started college and I have a second one starting in Fall. My college I am doing out of non-college savings as I only have enough for youngest and may be forced in early retirement. I will pay in Fall $8,000 a month for college on ten payment plan. Now I do $2,000 a month in 401k,

So I am up to $13,700 a month. Rest of bills car insurance, kids, food, you name it around $4,000 a month. So I am at $17,7000 month budget.

[b]I cant afford nothing[/b], have not been on a real vacation in three years. My car is a nine year old american car overdue for an oil change. My wife a 8 year old american car. [/quote]

Sounds like you can afford a nice house, to pay for college out of pocket, and two cars.

All those years with no mortgage and you only saved enough for one of your kids to go to college?  Again: this is a budgeting problem, not an income problem.[/quote]

Yes, you can afford a mortgage that costs you $44.4K per year.  That is already about 1/3-1/2 the annual salary of the average middle class family.

You can also afford to pay $96K out of pocket per year for college.  That's about 100% of the typical middle class income.  I posted above that I am friends with a family of two earners who earn $140K per year.  They net about $110K per year.  There is no way that they can pay for expensive private college out of pocket.  Most likely, their kids will be going to UMD with loans.  That is what a typical middle income family looks like.

You have made two very expensive choices that are not even options for true middle class families.  If you were spending $3700 per month on a vacation home on Cape Cod, would you consider that just a part of being a typical middle class American?  If you were spending $8K per month to charter a plane to spend one week a month at your vacation home in Cape Cod, would you consider that part of being a middle class American?

As has been repeated often, just because you spend all of your considerable upper class income does not make you middle class.  You have an upper class income and you spend it on luxuries that are unavailable to true middle class families.  Just because those choices are a nice home and private college without financial aid for more than one child instead of on luxuries like vacation homes and charter planes does not make it any more middle class than the other.  You still earn enough to spend more than a middle class family can afford.
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