Do you consider yourself middle class? I do. I mean, I’m definitely not rich, nor am I poor. I’d bet that the vast majority of the readers of this blog consider themselves part of the middle class. So how can you make the leap out of the middle class?
Simple. Just ask the right person. In someone’s eyes you are not middle class, you are rich. To other’s you might be poor. Without narrowing the scope, the term “middle class” cannot be strictly defined. Therefore, it’s meaning is relative to the person you are asking.
Since it’s an election year, let’s take this example: According to this ABC News article, presidential hopeful Barrack Hussein Obama defines the middle class as people earning less than $97,500, while Mitt Romney defines the group as earning up to $200,000. That’s a big difference. The writer goes on to state:
“In reality, a broad but reasonable definition of middle-class family income ranges from $30,000 to $100,000 a year.”
While the debate goes on, I think it’s important to focus less on what class you are IN and more on WHERE YOU ARE HEADED. I can tell you that prior to getting my financial act together, I had “middle class” financial habits. I wasn’t putting savings first, nor was I handling debt properly. Two things I believe will keep you in the middle class forever. Check out my ten things for more on how to have “upper class” personal finance success.
So, what is middle class to you? Leave your comment below.
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Actually I have a post on that coming up on my site tomorrow or Saturday (I forget) complete with fancy diagrams
Roughly speaking, the poor to me are people who have to work to pay for their expenses. The middle class I define as people who can get credit, mortgage, etc. and have to work to pay off their debt and work to pay their expenses. The investor class are people who can cover all their expenses with investment income. I am an investor. A small timer, but an investor no less. This way of dividing things does not look at how much money one makes and spends, but rather where the money comes from. So some middle class people can earn up to $200,000. Fact is though, they still have to show up for work to get it. If they don’t they’ll have creditors calling them up within a couple of months. This is how I define middle class.
If you live in Silicon Valley the middle class can be around $200,000 a year. If you live Iowa, it might be $50,000 (not really sure). It’s all about location, location, location.
@ EarlyRetirementExtreme – Wow, you nailed it. I like your definition. Thanks for the thoughtful comment.
@ Lazy Man and Money – Good point. It’s not only who you ask, but where you are asking.
So, the content of the article named “How I Quickly Got Out of the Middle Class” has nothing to do with how you got out of the middle class at all… that’s kind of a letdown. If you want to keep readers who stumble into your site you may want to write some relevant content to the headlines. I’m not really excited about the idea of following the link to your ten things and giving you another page hit to use in some statistics that make you feel like a success. Better luck next time.
@Jack – Sorry if it rubbed you the wrong way. Not intended. You missed out by not checking out my 10 Things, man. …some of my best stuff in there. All free.