brewer12345
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2003
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- 18,085
Not having children in the first place would be even smarter.
Different strokes.
Let's not get into that one, eh?
Not having children in the first place would be even smarter.
True, until you become dependent. Then you are on your own or paying for care unless you have kids to help you.
True, until you become dependent. Then you are on your own or paying for care unless you have kids to help you.
No, it's not really a subjective issue. From a purely financial perspective, having children is almost always the worst decision any person can make.Different strokes.
From a purely financial perspective, having children is almost always the worst decision any person can make.
No, it's not really a subjective issue. From a purely financial perspective, having children is almost always the worst decision any person can make.
Lower limits for:
Second quintile (Lower Middle Classs) $18,500/yr = $1,542/mo
Third quintile (Middle Class) $34,738/yr = $2,895/mo
Fourth quintile (Upper Middle Class) $55,331/yr = $4,611/mo
Fifith quintile (Upper Class) $88,030/yr = $7,336/mo
These may well represent the numeric quintiles, but the labels are manure. A family or even an individual earning $90K is in NO WAY upper class. Some clueless prole uploaded this to Wiki.
One needs to read Class by Paul Fussell before they can even begin to comment on the class structure of Western society.
These may well represent the numeric quintiles, but the labels are manure. A family or even an individual earning $90K is in NO WAY upper class. Some clueless prole uploaded this to Wiki.
One needs to read Class by Paul Fussell before they can even begin to comment on the class structure of Western society.
Profile: Paul Fussell | By genre | guardian.co.uk BooksOn the other hand, he says he gets "very sick and annoyed at certain proletarian performances", and he doesn't like "social life in which the man who comes to repair the refrigerator calls you by your first name". With its Nancy Mitfordish lists of the tastes that define Americans as "upper", "middle" or "prole", Class (1983) saw its author elevated to the status of "world-class curmudgeon" by the Washington Post. The only escape from such classifications, Fussell suggested, was by joining what he called category "X" - a self-selecting aristocracy of the talented and clever. Today he says the book was a bit of fun and not meant to be taken seriously, but he remains an unashamed elitist.
The book came at the end of a difficult period in Fussell's personal life, and he regrets that he didn't handle the break-up of his first marriage better. Keegan, who describes Fussell as a "very complicated", unusual person
Well, obviously I'm unqualified to comment on the class structure of Western society, since I haven't read the book you deem essential...These may well represent the numeric quintiles, but the labels are manure. A family or even an individual earning $90K is in NO WAY upper class. Some clueless prole uploaded this to Wiki.
One needs to read Class by Paul Fussell before they can even begin to comment on the class structure of Western society.
Apparently your parents did not make a very good financial decision in having children.No, it's not really a subjective issue. From a purely financial perspective, having children is almost always the worst decision any person can make.
Agreed, but even if my house was paid for, and you eliminated that $2,100 from the budget, that would still leave $6,000/month in expenses.
I guess maybe it's related to geography? Our property taxes are pretty high, living in the city limits. Is $350/person/month for groceries too much? We try to eat pretty healthy, most of that cost is probably milk and meat. Veggies, pasta, and rice are cheap.
Our car is paid for, we simply redirect the old car payment into a special fund for vehicle repairs, or a down payment when it comes time to replace it. (I don't want to get too used to having that money back in our pockets, it would just make it painful when we had to buy a car again).
Insurance is mandatory, cars need gas to run, we have to pay for heat and electricity... what's "too much" in our budget?
What other definitions would folks recommend?
Back to Wiki.
American upper class - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a much better look at the type of people who would never associate with us.
They would have servants blog for them.
In this biography of the Paul Fussell it claims that Paul wrote the book as a bit of fun and that it was not to be taken seriously?
Profile: Paul Fussell | By genre | guardian.co.uk Books
You mean: American society. As the book's subtitle ("A Guide Through the American Status System") implies, Fussell does not purport to comment on other Western countries.One needs to read Class by Paul Fussell before they can even begin to comment on the class structure of Western society.
Well, obviously I'm unqualified to comment on the class structure of Western society, since I haven't read the book you deem essential...
... still, that's a good topic. I think dividing by quintiles is a reasonable approach - if you make more than 80% of the rest of the population, you are upper class by definition.
What other definitions would folks recommend?
Being a millionaire ain't what it used to be. Back in the day when a dollar was worth something, yeah, "millionaire" meant something. Now, it's just run-of-the-mill.
We also live in a large city and hope to retire in a year or so with monthly costs of 4-5k. But right now we rarely eat out, cook our food, mainly very healthy, and often organic which does raise the price. But we spend $1000 a month almost on food. Compared to everything I've read and what you say you'd think we were eating like kings! This probably includes $50 for wine each month and maybe $100 for cat food. But I'm still shocked when I see what we spend compared to most people............
Apparently your parents did not make a very good financial decision in having children.
Milton is correct of course. Raising kids is expensive. Strangely though, none of our militantly child-free friends openly express a desire that, for the sake of their parents, they had not been born!
We also live in a large city and hope to retire in a year or so with monthly costs of 4-5k. But right now we rarely eat out, cook our food, mainly very healthy, and often organic which does raise the price. But we spend $1000 a month almost on food. Compared to everything I've read and what you say you'd think we were eating like kings! This probably includes $50 for wine each month and maybe $100 for cat food. But I'm still shocked when I see what we spend compared to most people............