Changing "Classes"

[KMyer]

Changing "Classes"

I have always viewed myself as being part of the "working-class". It is probably because of my upbringing. Maybe that is why I have been able to save a relatively high percentage of my income over the last 30 years. I have been very fortunate and blessed.



I just looked at a Quicken report and realized that the return from my investments (including appreciation) was twice the amount I earned during the last 12 months working full-time. Does this automatically make me part of the "investor-class"? I hope not. In my warped mind I am still more comfortable with being self-identified as being part of the "working-class".



Have any of you had a moment when you suddenly realized that you may have changed "classes"? Are you comfortable with this change? Did it impact your motivation to work?

 

[Just_Steve]

Never thought about it, sounds a little pretentious.

 

[Amethyst]

I think of myself as high class. Always did, even when I was poor as heck, and didn't have a dime to invest or even know what investing was.

 

[Ronstar]

I always thought I was middle class, but I never considered class as an important measurement.

 

[travelover]

I've always been no class, so no need to change with different assets.

 

[socca]

The area where I live is pretty funny: developers must have decided that happiness is maximized when people associate only with members of their own 'class', because it's pretty easy to label each subdivision as low, middle, upper middle, or upper class based on the quality of the housing. As long as all of my external signaling screams 'middle class' (quality of my house & car, for example), it's hard to think of myself as anything but middle class. That's fine - I'm comfortable where I am.

P.S. I occasionally drive through a lower class subdivision and glimpse a very expensive car in the garage of a very modest house. What's up with that? Big hat / no cattle? Or, someone as cheap as I am who likes fancy cars?

 

[brewer12345]

I always felt kind of uncomfortable in my career rubbing elbows with the sons of privilege and the power elite professionally when here I was the first of my family to graduate college and Dad was a blue collar guy with a GED who got ahead by being an entrepreneur. Now that I no longer do that stuff, I have dropped back to my Appalachian-American roots (pickup truck, hound dogs, etc.) and feel much more comfortable, like I no longer have to keep up appearances. When I bump into my peers at the local fishing hole or public hunting land it is very obvious that I have a lot more education and money than the average dude there, but it really does not matter when you are trading fishing tips or admiring someone's goose. Now that some of the shine is off the pickup and it has a few dents, I fit in a little better.

 

[COcheesehead]

Never thought about it, sounds a little pretentious.

I thought about it as my income rose. I came from a very working class, at best, family. As my assets and income got bigger, I appreciated it more and counted my blessings. Nothing pretentious, more about realization and appreciation.

 

[Nemo2]

I once thought one of my bosses had submitted a report about me having class, but when I deciphered the handwriting I realized he'd actually written crass.

 

[euro]

I always thought I was middle class, but I never considered class as an important measurement.

That. Never paid much attention to social status

 

[Katsmeow]

I think this is an interesting question. In the US, famously, most people no matter their income think they are middle class. FWIW, I don't think it is just income that defines these things but it is a factor.

I grew up in a working class family. No one had gone to college. My parents expected me, though, to go to college. When I decided to go on to law school I think my mother was a little doubtful. I think she honestly thought I was trying for "too much."

When I went to law school, there were other people like me and then there were students from a very different background that seemed very foreign to me. And, over time, as I associated more and more with other lawyers and my income rose I became more like them in many ways than I was like my parents and other family.

I thought of myself as living an upper middle class life. And, yet, there were ways I was still from a not so upper middle class background. For example, there were restaurants I liked going to that some people I knew wouldn't be caught dead at. But, I liked them.

Anyway - two points.

It is interesting now. I don't make that big salary any more. DH and I are now definitely in the middle class territory in terms of income. And, I mostly wear T shirts and jeans and such. But, in a lot of ways I still feel like I felt when I was making the money I made working full time.

The other thing is my kids. I've never thought of myself as pretentious and I didn't really make a big deal about class. But, we lived in a nice neighborhood, went on nice vacations, ate out frequently, etc. My son made the comment once that, even so, we didn't spend as much money as some of his friend's families spent even though we made more money.

Anyway, once when we sold a house a few years ago we rented for awhile in a true middle class neighborhood. We did this while we were looking for a new house to buy. My kids complained that it wasn't a nice neighborhood and they thought it was basically a poor neighborhood. It wasn't. It was just a standard middle class neighborhood. I thought it was fine and felt it was fine to live in (houses weren't big enough for us at the time but they were fine). It was eye opening to me. I see myself as middle class and I can fit comfortably into that world. Even though I never talked to my kids about class they were nonetheless raised in an upper middle class environment and see that as the norm.

 

[prose3589]

Very timely post. My SO and I were just discussing how "much" we have. How our families were of lesser means and both built significant family businesses. I thought of myself as middle class growing up. I now consider myself wealthy. We have so much more than so many.

We also discussed the fact that our happiness was never dependent on our wealth or our class designation. There were good times and bad at every stage.

We both agree we should be more thankful.

 

[Marita40]

I've always thought the phrase "working class" was funny. Does it imply that all others don't have to work? Guess I'm solidly in the working class then. Next stop: retired from working class.

 

[cooch96]

This topic fascinates me more than I can openly discuss elsewhere.

My grandparents were professionals but my parents never had steady employment. my mother raised a family of four on about $10k a year in the 80's. That may qualify as poverty, but it didn't feel that way.

I was raised to respect and aspire to be part of the bildungburgeratum, middle class folk who value education, hard work, service and society more than wealth.

But I have discriminating taste and am lazy. So I'm trying to get my assets up to a certain level so I can retire early and enjoy my leisure. I see this goal as getting to the landed gentry class. I will be thrilled when I attain it. I've been working at it for three decades, just one more to go.

 

[Mdlerth]

In the US, famously, most people no matter their income think they are middle class.

I think those people are right. We don't have titled aristocracy or constrained serfs. And ever since the arrival of the Industrial Revolution, hereditary fortunes have been wildly outstripped by entrepreneurial ones.

Not that money is an indicator of class anyway. Pick a music/film/sports celebrity at random and you're likely to find a wealthy person you would not trust to borrow your lawnmower.

 

[Souschef]

I thought about it as my income rose. I came from a very working class, at best, family. As my assets and income got bigger, I appreciated it more and counted my blessings. Nothing pretentious, more about realization and appreciation.

Amen! We live in an over 55 mobile home park, and nobody has a clue about what we have. We are down to earth people, and do not even think about class.

 

[Texas Proud]

Maybe this should go to another thread if it is talked about.....


But, I got an email talking about Donald Trump.... he is going down in class!!!

According to the email, he is going from 30,000 sf penthouse apt that has very high amenities to a 20,000 sf house...

Talk about slumming it...

 

[calmloki]

President Obama was to land here in Palm springs with his family this afternoon (didn't happen - bad weather). All kinds of rumors that he was shopping for or had bought a place in Rancho Mirage. It was noted that his net worth and annual income might have made it a stretch for him to buy in that area.. When I think class he and his family are pretty close to as high as it gets. Don't think his net worth has all that much to do with it.

 

[easysurfer]

I've always thought of class as how someone acts and not a certain status of wealth or accomplishment attached to a person. Take pro athletes for example. Some make tons of money and are accomplished but not every athlete has class.

 

[FUEGO]

I'm pretty sure I'm one of the richest, most educated members of the lower middle class out there.

 

[FUEGO]

Maybe this should go to another thread if it is talked about.....


But, I got an email talking about Donald Trump.... he is going down in class!!!

According to the email, he is going from 30,000 sf penthouse apt that has very high amenities to a 20,000 sf house...

Talk about slumming it...

And it's public housing, at that. Location isn't great - over a mile to the center of town. Virtually slumming it in the 'burbs if you ask me.

 

[AnIntentionalRoad]

I was born into a working class military family. I didn't realize how little we had growing up until I started meeting middle and upper-class people in my post-college career on the futures trading industry. There I met plenty of other working class guys but many trust fund babies who had a much more privileged background.

Through education, though, I've definitely outgrown those working class roots but still hold many of those values I learned, such as respect for others, hard work, value of money.

I've been in social situations with groups of working class guys who didn't know me well and been a bit singled out as "college boy" or "blue blood." They assume because of my education, vocabulary, previous vocations as a CEO, etc and judged me harshly for it.

Sent from my SM-T377P using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

 

[Dash man]

Personally I dislike labels. They just cause divisions that lead to someone being disgruntled. We're all people that at some point in our lives can help others or need help from others in varying degrees.

 

[W2R]

I've always thought of class as how someone acts and not a certain status of wealth or accomplishment attached to a person. Take pro athletes for example. Some make tons of money and are accomplished but not every athlete has class.

+1
I think that in America, class has more to do with attitudes, tastes, values, and mannerisms and doesn't have much to do with income or income sources.

I know some very well-to-do people who will always be working class because those are the attitudes, tastes, values, and mannerisms that they have acquired through the years. A term that is sometimes used for them is "nouveau riche", but that term is a little disparaging so I don't use it.

I also know some people who are not well off, but will always be upper class because they absorbed upper class attitudes, tastes, values, and mannerisms during their lives.

Personally I don't feel that I have changed at all when my financial situation has changed at various times in life.

 

[marko]

I've always thought of class as how someone acts and not a certain status of wealth or accomplishment attached to a person. Take pro athletes for example. Some make tons of money and are accomplished but not every athlete has class.

To add another data point, around my neck of the woods, for those that pay attention to these things it's not so much about income.

It's a matter of "old money" and "new money" with the term 'new money' often used to denigrate those who might behave too loud, too showy or overly flashy often leading to slow acceptance to certain circles.

Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack was new money.