Middle class salary?

Kirkmain

Please help me settle a debate. A family of three, sole earner who makes £62k before tax. Surely that is enough to be considered "middle class" and comfortable. Outside of London, £600k home with £1200 per month mortgage. Individual insisting they are not middle class.

Kirkmain

Edit was in the context of should they still be entitled to child benefit as it all gets paid back at that salared

FIREDreamer

Three times minimum wage sounds pretty middle class to me. Class isn’t just defined by income though.

Does he keep coal in the bath or breed pigeons though? 😀

Grumpy_chap

Single earner at £62k.
HICBIC claws back CB over the band £50k to £60k.
It is possible that some CB may still be available.  What is the ANI (adjusted nett income) for the sole earner?  The obvious things that would adjust the £62k gross are pension contributions (reduces ANI) and other income / interest (increases ANI)

Marcon

Kirkmain said:

Edit was in the context of should they still be entitled to child benefit as it all gets paid back at that salared

Being middle class has nothing to do with it. Child benefit is all about earnings; class is about so much more...

sevenhills

Kirkmain said:

Please help me settle a debate. A family of three, sole earner who makes £62k before tax. Surely that is enough to be considered "middle class" and comfortable. Outside of London, £600k home with £1200 per month mortgage. Individual insisting they are not middle class.

The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status.

How comfortable you feel is irrelevant, I earn less than £20k and because I have accumulated wealth over the last 40 years, I feel comfortable.

Savvy_Sue

But what's his job? Blue collar, trade, manual? That can affect perception.

I was born middle class, both parents had that sort of white collar job. DH was born working class, his dad did skilled manual work. You couldn't have worked that out: our families were very similar. I'd say we, and our boys, are all now firmly middle class: degree educated, not manual jobs. But I will always be lower middle class, because of my lack of aspirations.

Paying CB back has nothing to do with class, everything to do with income. He could pay more into pension to reduce income. 

Emmia

Class isn't about income, it's about educational attainment, type of work etc.

Not qualifying for Child Benefit isn't really a criteria - the household income could be a lot higher and receive CB if both parents work in jobs paying just under the threshold. Is that fair? Debatable, but those are the current rules.

Keep_pedalling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W34CsPPw5uM

MattMattMattUK

Income is irrelevant, they could be middle class on half that, or working class on twice that. Class is about outlook, culture, attitude to education etc.

lincroft1710

Middle Class = you are shorter than John Cleese but not as short as Ronnie Corbett