Middle class but no money

[roopiea]

Does anyone else feel like this?

We would say we are middle class. Both university educated and privately schooled. In our 50s now. Parents had similar professions to us.

We work for the public sector, a teacher and management in local government. We live in a pretty reasonable part of the country. But we still feel we have no money for being in the middle class? We probably earn a combined 80k a year but live in a pretty bog standard 3 bed semi. Have holidays in places like Spain or Greece.

Whereas our neighbours are blue collar workers but seem to have so much more money than us. My best friend and her husband work similar jobs and they have a nicer house and better holidays than us.

I sort of know what you mean. We’re similar but have a joint income of about 60k and live in London, so money doesn’t go far. I’d still say we are middle class, though.

Frequently lavish lifestyles are funded by debt IME.

Could be a combination of inheritance, spending of the past (like building savings up when they were younger), age of children (some in their 50s have primary school children, and some are grandparents) or not having children, your spending priority (clothes, nails hair, holiday, cars) where you spend it will also have an influence (waitrose vs aldi, doing your own nails vs using a salon)

I think money is more the driving factor now.
You can be an educated person who's poor.
What is it with putting people into 'classes'. It's a bit archaic in many ways.
Maybe if you're a teacher and you're in a union then you're 'working class'?
Does it matter that much?

We’re teachers, I don’t think we are middle class.
We earn a little less as a household than you but we are doing alright- probably luck that we bought our house 20 years ago when we first qualified so only have a little mortgage.

But why would you think middle-class people would be likely to have more money than working-class people? Money and class aren’t the same thing. I’m a senior academic, and our builder certainly earns considerably more than I do.

“Whereas our neighbours are blue collar workers but seem to have so much more money than us.”

Unless you know there incomings and outgoings you really shouldn’t compare

It's shit isn't it? I've noticed everything has gone up AGAIN for the new year.

Local government and teaching aren't very lucrative professions though. I think I kind of see where you're coming from, in that you were probably brought up to view yourselves as "a cut above" (I don't mean this rudely, I'm from a similar background). It was a bit of a shock to me to realise that private schooling and a degree didn't necessarily translate to above-average incomes and lifestyle.

Some 'blue collar' jobs earn a good living. It's often skilled work in high demand. My uncle was a mechanic (own business) and consistently out earned his academic brother (my Dad).
Depends what you do and who you work for.

The "middle class" is a fiction designed to make you think that your interests don't lie with the working class. Do you own the means of production? No? Then you are working class, and the only difference between you and any other working class person is the amount of money you earn and what you spend it on.

All of the clever people I know are poor. Trades and nail techs/beauticians seem to be the most well off these days. Fairly sure a lot of trades don't pay full tax so suspect that's what's gone wrong with the economy...

Where you will win out is in 10 years or so time with pensions. Public sector pensions are better than others usually and definitely better than for the self-employed builder/plumber etc who will have no employer contributions.

You will have way better pensions

Highest earner I know is a plumber/ heating engineer.
They out earn everyone else in our group by a considerable amount

I don’t think a household income of £80k is middle class. Not in today’s prices. I’d say technically ‘working class’.

Although the British ‘class’ system is tacky and irrelevant in today’s world.

It's a 'middle earner' lifestyle - people are getting confused between the two.

You’ve got to factor in the 20% + employer contribution that’s being made to your pensions every year

Money and class aren’t the same thing
I am flabbergasted that some people think they are.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/02/death-of-middle-class-professional-spells-danger-for-labour

Interesting article on this in the Guardian.

You work in the public sector. Your salaries are lower than the equivalent private sector jobs.

Plus you're employed rather than self-employed so pay more tax.

I am self-employed now and pay all the tax HMRC asks me to, everything goes legitimately by the books. But I pay out much, much less in tax and national insurance than I did when I was earning 1/4 of that amount in employment.

And I was really struck by this statistic from the Resolution Foubdation:

“Two decades ago, the median recent graduate starting out in a genuine graduate career could expect to earn two and a half times the minimum wage. Now the premium is only 1.6 times minimum wage for median earners, according to the Resolution Foundation, and the lowest earning graduates are fast approaching parity.”

Times have changed op.

Public sector doesn't pay very well and with years of below inflation pay rises and rising cost of living it's just no match for private sector roles.

My best friend and her husband work similar jobs and they have a nicer house and better holidays than us.

Ok this is pertinent. How do they? Ask them. Say you are finding things tough and they seem to manage things better.

If by blue collar they mean qualified trades then yes they likely earn more than £80k between them