Herobizkit
Adventurer
Voted lower-middle class. I'm a single-salary hotel night auditor who has negligible debt after a bankruptcy, but I also have a car loan and a cell phone contract. I live paycheck to paycheck.
What economic class do you fall into?
Aethernaut1969
First Post
With me it apparently depends on what time it is. Right now? Lower middle class. Last August? Middle class. Pre-August 2011? Poor. Pre-December 2008? Middle class. Really depends on the amount and type of work I'm getting.
Slabtown Jake
First Post
Interesting how there are still zero "Wealthy" answers on the poll. I suspect it's because everyone can think of someone with more, so nobody really considers themselves truly wealthy until they're listed in the "Top 100 Richest People in the World" or something.
I make no bones about it I am poor. I am permanently disabled and I live on less than 800 a month in disability benefits. The only reason I have access to the internet and a roof over my head is I live with my adult son and three other roommates.
Most of my friends are middle class to upper middle class. The few that are poor or lower middle class are mostly like me. They are either disabled or are in their 50s and hot hard by the economic crisis. Many went from working and making 100,000 a year to making 20,000.
Most of my friends are middle class to upper middle class. The few that are poor or lower middle class are mostly like me. They are either disabled or are in their 50s and hot hard by the economic crisis. Many went from working and making 100,000 a year to making 20,000.
Aethernaut1969
First Post
And overnight I just went from lower-middle to middle class. Sweet! Like I said, it all depends on the type and amount of work I'm getting.
I'll hazard a guess that I make more than you, but I also probably live paycheck to paycheck. If I didn't get paid, I'd have a serious problem paying the bills without dipping into retirement.
I'm not entirely sure paycheck to paycheck is a qualifier for class-level, as it also depends on your spending habits (ex. why did I eat out so much I only had $100 before the new paycheck hit?)
Though I suspect at the higher brackets, monthly expense variance (eating out a lot), is probably more absorbable.
The effect is, I make a good chunk of money, but spend it more readily than might be wise, though not so much as to be destructive (the money bucket refills fast enough that I don't need credit cards to finance my lifestyle).
tomBitonti
Adventurer
Just a nit: A house which is "owned" but for which the title is still held by the bank, is subject to considerable constraints, compared with a house which is owned free and clear.
One does have the right to sell it, and to make improvements. But, one can make improvements to certain rental properties, too.
I think the point is that many home owners are hard to distinguish from renters, and may actually be in worse financial shape, say, if the owner has a mortgage which is in an amount greater than the current value of the house.
One distinction that I've heard has to do with the source of one's income. Does one derive income from working, or from investments? Basically, does one work for income, or does one obtain income from the work done by others? I'm not sure where high income earners fit into that scheme, or where to put very highly paid business executives, or very highly paid financial workers.
I'm wondering, too, where to draw the line between middle and high middle class -- the range seems very wide, and similarly, where to draw the line between the simply wealthy, and the highly wealthy. Would a person with assets of $500,000 and an income of $100,000 be middle class, upper middle class, or upper class? Should a person with assets of $2,000,000 be put in a wholly different category than a person with assets of $20,000,000?
Thx!
TomB
One does have the right to sell it, and to make improvements. But, one can make improvements to certain rental properties, too.
I think the point is that many home owners are hard to distinguish from renters, and may actually be in worse financial shape, say, if the owner has a mortgage which is in an amount greater than the current value of the house.
One distinction that I've heard has to do with the source of one's income. Does one derive income from working, or from investments? Basically, does one work for income, or does one obtain income from the work done by others? I'm not sure where high income earners fit into that scheme, or where to put very highly paid business executives, or very highly paid financial workers.
I'm wondering, too, where to draw the line between middle and high middle class -- the range seems very wide, and similarly, where to draw the line between the simply wealthy, and the highly wealthy. Would a person with assets of $500,000 and an income of $100,000 be middle class, upper middle class, or upper class? Should a person with assets of $2,000,000 be put in a wholly different category than a person with assets of $20,000,000?
Thx!
TomB
tuxgeo
Adventurer
Minor nitpick back at you: In actual economics, there are more factors of production than merely the one you stated (i.e. Labor): Capital, Natural Resources, and Management are also factors of production. (Including Labor, that's a total of four (4) factors of production.) (Some pundits may claim the existence of more than four.)
Some investments (for example, "timberland" comes readily to mind) produce their benefits almost entirely from Capital, and very little from Labor. Other investments (for example, "gardening equipment") produce their benefits mostly from the Labor of using the tools, far in excess of the actual cost of the tools. I see many pickup trucks driving around town hauling trailers laden with gardening equipment, which leads me to believe that it's a popular way to "buy a job" -- a (relatively) small investment in useful equipment can allow the owner of the tools to reap a living income in the field of landscape maintenance.
This nitpick brought to you by the numeral 4, and by the interests of not over-simplifying.
Ahnehnois
First Post
Perhaps D&D is not a hobby of the rich?
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