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I'm lucky enough to be middle class, ever since landing a somewhat boring job that pays, like, 75% more than my old one, all in web development. I still can't afford luxuries like a car or a house, but hey, I have a nice electric bike! And I can pay someone to clean my apartment every two weeks. It costs, like, 7% of my income, but I know I wouldn't be able to keep it clean otherwise. Health issues suck.
I have poor friends who don't earn much more than the minimum wage. They often complain about the price of groceries, and say things like "I've wanted this game so bad for so long but I don't have any money left this month". Each time I'm reminded of how thankful I am that I don't really worry about prices anymore at the grocery store. And it makes me sad that we hadn't such bad financial priorities that we have people WITH jobs who have trouble paying for food. Imagine those who can't find a job!
There's also my dad, as well as a friend couple of mine, who are rich. The friends, it's crazy. They each have a car, PLUS a special summer car, they buy Dungeons and Dragons books on a monthly basis, they go on international trips yearly, they go camping in an RV, they're always doing activities that cost a lot of money, they go to the restaurant a lot, etc. My dad is also on an airplane on a yearly basis.
It makes my head spin to just think about the sheer money. But none of these people are evil my rich friend is definitely more left-wing than anything else, and he's a very smart person. They were just both blessed with luck, energy and talent, I guess. My dad is just a normal near-boomer. Neither better nor worse than the rest of them. He just got a high-paying factory job and had the energy to keep going.
I'm reminded of those people whenever I'm tempted to put all rich people in the same basket.
What’s interesting is what you’re describing of your rich acquaintances sounds solidly middle-class to me.
There’s a whole other level of rich out there that make your rich friends look practically frugal.
The problem is that everyone has a different definition of "rich". I think OC has a good definition.
I'm not personally a fan of "middle-class" meaning "has about as much money as me, or as much money as I'd like to have", or "anybody who has to work for a living, but doesn't need to use a food bank".
That's why there tends to be separation in the type of middle class. "Lower Middle class" "Upper Middle Class"
To me, this is like how "The Mid-West" is in central/Eastern USA, and "The Middle East" is not actually anywhere near the Mid-West, but in Western Asia.
Arbitrary phrases that sound like they would have concrete/objective definitions in relation to one another, but are actually defined by culture, history, and however the person using them interprets them, lol
Yeah, I wouldn't classify myself as rich, just middle class and I do some of those things, my mom and her boyfriend could do all of those things and I would not classify them as rich either, just upper middle class.
The actually rich people buy stuff that is so expensive that I couldn't afford it, even if I saved for years, and the price is mostly that high so they can show their rich friends just how rich they are.
I live in Germany, the definition of middle class might be different in other countries, though.