Middle, Upper Middle Class Distinction for Retirees

Gumby said:
My mother, a born and bred English prole, made a very sharp distinction between a "Toff" and a "Proper Gentleman", and made me promise to be the latter should I ever come into money.
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Mine too. She thought anyone who di not speak "The Queens English" was lower "C$#@@" ;). Cockney etc. As per the UK Explanation link above. She sent me to "Public School" until I went to College in England, so what does that make me? PS. "Public School in the UK is like Private Schools in the USA.
 
Red Badger said:
A large study conducted in the 40's determined that soldiers who would jump off the 34' tower would jump from any height (there are occasional "passengers" who refuse to exit the bird, but it's rare).
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Interesting study. As a pilot, I have always found that once I get above a certain height (500 ft?) I no long have a fear of height. Climbing to the top of a 24 ft extension ladder this weekend to try and fix a loose piece of siding, however, was terrifying.
 
Winemaker said:
https://lifehacker.com/the-perfect-salary-for-happiness-by-state-1605278164

I think this link from 2014 pretty much says it all, but it will need 4 years of inflation adjustment. Here in Grapetown in 2014, I needed $76,200 per household a year to be happy. That should take care of all needs except for material things.

I wonder if wine is considered material? Upper Middle Affluent? Classy even? Beverage of lumpen slums of cyberspace champions?
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I assume this is based on the Berkeley study that said at $70K the amount of "happiness" one gets from more money greatly diminishes. So I've always seen that as the "cut off" of middle and upper middle... you can be perfectly happy with less, you have all the things you need, but likely have to say no to things you'd like. In HCOL cities, I'd just use a COL calculator to adjust it accordingly.

Now to generate that type of income in early retirement, you are likely talking $2M+ unless you have pensions, rental income, etc. To me that seems to be the numbers I hear most people talk about (at least those without pensions), they dream of having $1M+, so $2M+ for a couple. You're not the lifestyles of the rich and famous but you will never struggle either.

For me I have specific requirements for places I live, they need to have sidewalks, people need to be using those sidewalks, I need to see people caring for their own lawns, the cars need to be mid-range vehicles, etc.. that's what I'm comfortable with... I like to know my neighbors and be in a walking friendly area. I haven't seen any upper-middle-class neighborhoods that fit that. It makes me feel sad when I drive around and see pristine places where you never see anyone except the hired gardeners, no sidewalks, etc.. it just seems so isolated... its not my style at all.
 
Spanky said:
Classless - no need for distinctions of wealth, income, education, culture or social network. :)
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I was teasing my friend Nemo. Like one would say "he has no class".

But as Karen pointed out in the above post, one's socioeconomic status always comes into play in our lives, even if you do not consciously think about it. You do not look down on people who are stuck at a lower rung in society, but you still want to be in a neighborhood that you feel safe. And you are more comfortable socializing with people whose situation is more like yours. You have more things in common to talk about.

The US is not truly classless, but I like it much better than other societies. Reading about the caste system in India makes me cringe.
 
Bestwifeever said:
So funny.

We must have some class because we are adding Britbox to our Amazon Prime channels.
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I've heard good things about Britbox, which didn't exist before we'd moved back in 2016 :nonono:
 
ShokWave, I still have absolutely no idea of the purpose of your thread.

From the title and first post, it looked like you want to classify people, for some reason. But you are saying others are getting hung up on your use of class, even though that's all you talked about in that post.

Then you said it was to help with a housing decision. I'll repeat for a third time that it makes no sense to obfuscate that decision by trying to put yourself into a category. You haven't explained why you can't just make it a decision based on your finances and desires.

Now in your post this morning you still want to label and/or categorize people. I'm not hung up on the word "class", I'm hung up on the whole concept that you are wanting to put people in buckets. Why? Why is this important?
 
I looked at wealth percentiles in the past using census.gov data and found it helpful. It provided perspective on my financial situation relative to other households in the US so that I could measure whether I was moving ahead with wealth accumulation. Shokwave, I think wealth percentiles are helpful for that purpose.

Like others here, I dislike using hierarchical social class categories for the reasons so many of you have stated already --- who needs self elevation?
 
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I see myself as occupying a fairly singular "class", at least compared to most of you. Once I quit my job, I'll be in the category of (hopefully) 'comfortable poverty'. :) This is because I'll not really be "early retired" (unless you allow one year before S.S. 'full retirement'), and my net worth is a fraction of most of yours'. But my wants are pretty insignificant now, so I'd say my retirement income will be spent on what is only necessary. Anything extra (fancy meals out, new musical gear, trips out of town, etc.) I will have to earn with part-time casual work.
 
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Again, a meaningless exercise with no point. Just so someone can say I am higher class than you. Jr. High stuff.
 
Reginald Hunter nails it about class. Click through to get to Youtube.

 
I think I know what he's getting at.

I live in a "middle class" neighborhood. Most here work in construction or the construction trades. Gardening and landscaping.

I'm an engineer and I chose to live here for lower housing cost and I like it. I have very little in common with my neighbors and have no problem with that. We wave and say hi and congratulate each other on our Christmas decorations, but that's about it.

If you want to be "social" with your neighbors maybe you care if they are your "occupational peers"? I don't, so it's not important.
 
Lawrence of Suburbia said:
I see myself as occupying a fairly singular "class", at least compared to most of you. Once I quit my job, I'll be in the category of (hopefully) 'comfortable poverty'. :) This is because I'll not really be "early retired" (unless you allow one year before S.S. 'full retirement'), and my net worth is a fraction of most of yours'. But my wants are pretty insignificant now, so I'd say my retirement income will be spent on what is only necessary. Anything extra (fancy meals out, new musical gear, trips out of town, etc.) I will have to earn with part-time casual work.
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I am probably in the bottom half of forum members as far as net worth, but due to hard times in my early adulthood I feel awfully well to do right now. I could easily afford those extras you mention, but just wanted to tell you that in 8+ years of retirement I haven't bothered with fancy meals (who wants to dress up anyway?), new musical gear (I'm too busy to get that Yamaha electric piano that I always thought I'd get when I retired), or trips out of town (I'd rather stay here). So, maybe you won't have to work part time for extras, depending on what your retirement turns out to be like.

RobbieB said:
I think I know what he's getting at.

I live in a "middle class" neighborhood. Most here work in construction or the construction trades. Gardening and landscaping.

I'm an engineer and I chose to live here for lower housing cost and I like it. I have very little in common with my neighbors and have no problem with that. We wave and say hi and congratulate each other on our Christmas decorations, but that's about it.

If you want to be "social" with your neighbors maybe you care if they are your "occupational peers"? I don't, so it's not important.
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According to statistics that I find online, I have a lot in common with my neighbors. The median age is downright elderly, most have lived in the neighborhood since it was built between 1955-1965, and apparently most neighbors have an unusually high educational level for this region. I am an elderly PhD retired scientist/engineer, so I guess I fit right in.

But despite possibly having a great deal in common I just wave while backing my car out of the driveway. The only time I ever talked to one of them was while waiting in line to vote back in 2016. Most of them have relatives here and have friends that they have known for over half a century. That's great as far as I'm concerned, because honestly retirement just keeps me too busy for a big social life, plus with strong INTJ tendencies a busy social life does not appeal to me at all.
 
RunningBum said:
Now in your post this morning you still want to label and/or categorize people. I'm not hung up on the word "class", I'm hung up on the whole concept that you are wanting to put people in buckets. Why? Why is this important?
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A great deal of political discourse is predicated on categorizing people for the explicit and deliberate purpose of treating them differently. Then those categories get codified into law; e.g.: Large or small income? Assets - how much and in what form? Homeowner or renter? Married or unmarried? And what is marriage? What is poverty and who belongs in that class? You know that it isn't hard to find laws that define those categories (and many more!) and treat the members accordingly.

So don't be so hard on the OP.
 
Things that make you go hmmm

It's amusing that for a thread with so many "I don't care" responses, there sure are a lot of responses! Why so much interest in a ho-hum topic?

Doth we protest too much? Could it be that, while most of us believe class distinctions are not important, each of us is prey to a sort of naughty pleasure in privately knowing he is just the tiniest bit "better" than the next guy?

In our defense, does a bit of covert vanity mean we are bad people? No, it only means we are people.
 
We live in a class-less society, and as long as I'm upper class, it's going to stay that way.
 
I just got back from an HOA special meeting, to discuss the new cable TV contract, and based on the questions and discussion points, it's pretty clear that my neighborhood is the "math challenged" class.
 
Bestwifeever said:
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
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Surely I can. I still remember when I had only the clothes I wore, and even that was debatable.




I was a juvenile dependent. My parents owned everything.
 
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