Are people like me middle class?

pension-newbie

tinkers wrote: »

It sounds as though you work for your money to me, so the clue is in the title you are working class. If you give up work tomorrow will you still have what you term to be a middle class lifestyle??? If not then you work for your money your money does not work for you.

People's obsession in this country with wanting to be middle class is just beyond sensible. Who cares? Just life your life and be happy

again, i don't think anyone in the middle classes could give up work and sustain their lifestyle.

working class = doing stuff that involves physical things - building, retail, cleaning - you know all the essential stuff
middle class = doing stuff with ideas/paper/email - coordinating, managing (even senior manager), teaching
upper class = owning stuff (or being related to people who used to),

Pete111

pension-newbie wrote: »

again, i don't think anyone in the middle classes could give up work and sustain their lifestyle.

working class = doing stuff that involves physical things - building, retail, cleaning - you know all the essential stuff
middle class = doing stuff with ideas/paper/email - coordinating, managing (even senior manager), teaching
upper class = owning stuff (or being related to people who used to),

Not bad, but I'm not sure the middle classes are limited to White collar 'manager' roles in the way you infer. I can see the conversation at the boardroom table now:

'So Cheps, it's spankingly obvious that Smith is the better man for the Director spot in terms of business sense and general ability but dash it all, if I'm not going to give my vote to Chomondly-Fortesque. He may be a bit of a thickie but I'm pretty demned sure his brother knew mine at Harrow'

Not sure that's quite how it works these days! (Thankfully)

pension-newbie

Pete111 wrote: »

Not bad, but I'm not sure the middle classes are limited to White collar 'manager' roles in the way you infer. I can see the conversation at the boardroom table now:

'So Cheps, it's spankingly obvious that Smith is the better man for the Director spot in terms of business sense and general ability but dash it all, if I'm not going to give my vote to Chomondly-Fortesque. He may be a bit of a thickie but I'm pretty demned sure his brother knew mine at Harrow'

Not sure that's quite how it works these days! (Thankfully)

get out of my head - that's exactly the conversation that I imagine going on all the time at board level

its reminds me of the joke
Q: "why is a nox exec like a bidet"
A: "no-one's quite sure what they do, but they add a touch of class"

movilogo

One of the most hilarious threads in MSE forum!

Let's see OP's situation.

Buying a 12k car with 37k income means OP paid 1/3rd of income (infact nearly 1/2 if you consider take home) on car which is depreciating asset.

OP paid £300 on a alarm clock. I'm still utterly confused. But again it is a depreciating asset (unless it was an antique).

OP bought large screen TV etc. Again depreciating asset.

OP is saving money but is he investing the money? (didn't read whole thread so not sure about it).

So from the information given, I think OP is poor in maths and finance planning (knowledge of investing in appreciating asset etc.)

Anyone with that level of relative expenditure (compared to level of earning) is poor in my personal opinion.

PS: It reminds me the famous saying that tot of people spending money they don't have to buy goods they don't need to impress people they don't like.

But hey, we need some people like OP to keep UK economy going forward.

alexlyne

My parents bought a 32" beast of a crt a few years back that cost them £1400 after discount. Several years later, I buy a pretty decent sony 40" tft for £500. Which does a load more (internet connected). People appear to be more materialistic these days, but we're earning far more compared to the price-tag on a lot of stuff compared to 10 or 20 years ago (houses excluded of course ).
I'm middle class: uni educted, office job, mortgage, own a computer and a laptop.
but I'd never spend £300 on an alarm clock.

shellsuit

alexlyne wrote: »

My parents bought a 32" beast of a crt a few years back that cost them £1400 after discount. Several years later, I buy a pretty decent sony 40" tft for £500. Which does a load more (internet connected). People appear to be more materialistic these days, but we're earning far more compared to the price-tag on a lot of stuff compared to 10 or 20 years ago (houses excluded of course ).
I'm middle class: uni educted, office job, mortgage, own a computer and a laptop.
but I'd never spend £300 on an alarm clock.

Is that what you think makes you middle class?

I know plenty of people who have or do the same but would never call themselves middle class and are not embarrassed to be called working class!

twirlypinky

No idea whether the OP still reads this or not but:

You've worked out that it's daft to buy things on credit rather than save up, yet you're saving £500 a month towards buying a house, so you're currently renting. Why aren't you saving more per month so you need to borrow less? Buy a few less suits and flash cars, and you might not need to get a mortgage at all...

alexlyne

shellsuit wrote: »

Is that what you think makes you middle class?

I know plenty of people who have or do the same but would never call themselves middle class and are not embarrassed to be called working class!

In that case, I'm working class! I don't care what I'm called. As can be seen here, there's no hard and fast definition, so be what you want to be. I'm just glad I'm not upper class... spending all my time having to look down on everyone else.

vaporate

pension-newbie wrote: »

Considering the scorn of your earlier posts reporting him for using the word derriere is a little hypcritical and nanny-statist - ooh help me help me

tell me what upset you most - that he said you were talking out of your !!!!!, or that he used french to do so (must be middle class)

Eskimo - a ditty my dad used to sing (east end childhood)
"The working class can kiss my !!!!! - I've got the foreman's job at last"

Finished ranting?

shellsuit

alexlyne wrote: »

In that case, I'm working class! I don't care what I'm called. As can be seen here, there's no hard and fast definition, so be what you want to be. I'm just glad I'm not upper class... spending all my time having to look down on everyone else.

I don't give a stuff what class I am, I was just pointing out than if you think what you have and do makes you middle class, then lots of working class people have and do the same.

You made the statement that you're middle class, so you must care really.

And it was a serious question I asked ~ that do you really think you are middle class because you have been to uni, have an office job, have a mortgage and have a PC and laptop?