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.

But class and income are not always related. University educated. Private school. Definitely middle class.

Yep I know a couple of people who work in the trades. Highly skilled, years of experience and are at foreman/supervisor level. They also work away and do lots of overtime so are on really good money. I have another mate who is a panel beater and with bonus is on about 40k. He's on more money than me and I've been to uni and have a masters degree.

Some people can’t afford food!

it's such a common belief , maybe it helps people make themselves feel better, I don't know.

Did you expect some kind of subsidy to arrive purely because you are 'middle class' ?
Why do you think someone working in a trade should earn less than you do?
And it's no secret that teachers are chronically underpaid, but do you really think being a teacher makes you automatically middle class? And all the working class oiks are uneducated and should earn less money? Do you have any idea of the costs and time and amount of training involved in learning trades? How many hours a week they work? How if they are self employed they don't get holiday or sick pay?

Your entire post smacks of entitled snobbery to me.
Unfortunate as if you had posted and said you were disappointed that you had had a privileged education and were working full time in a job using your degrees and still found it hard to make ends meet/ cost of living is high etc etc then I'd have been sympathetic.
The aggrieved 'but I'm too posh to be poor!' really isn't a good look.

The trades earn great money atm. Bricklayers can earn up to 350 a day. Plumbers and electritions more plus they can work extra hours, weekends etc. Not all but if they are smart and work the hours they can earn quite a bit. People on fixed salaried incomes are kind of stuck on what their paycheck is until they get a payrise. Lots of people are running side hustles nowdays selling on ebay, etsy etc. Lots of people are not afraid of debt or remortgaging for big expenses. Lots of people inherit chunks of money. Lots of people working two jobs if they like a certain kind of lifestyle. I would say househole income of 80k is just two people on average wage, it's not high it is just average wage so you have an average lifestyle as you described.

You don't seem to understand the class system.

I am from a northern working class family .. norm mid 60’s .. professional job which I worked hard to get place ini cause and generally considered high status ( Medicine). My patients who are tradies earn way more than me.. I would be considered solidly middle class. Don’t work in Uk, private contractor so pension,
Where you end up financially depends not on your job but either you bought a property early and it gained huge value or you inherited.

Why are the middle class so obsessed with being middle class. It's pathetic.

48% of the country don't go abroad each year

16% don't go on holiday at all

Those holidays and nice cars will be on finance, and the payments will break them each month. Don't compare yourselves to others

You’d probably be a lot happier if you stopped using your own perceived version of “class” on yourself and others.
It’s ridiculous, not to mention archaic.
Who gives an actual flying fuck about the class system anymore.
It was a tacky, hierarchical system that was really only ever used by the middle class so they could look down their noses at the working class.
As a child I used to cringe so hard every time my mum made reference to us being middle class.

Your neighbours are just better off than you, so what.

I agree.

Our electrician added me on Facebook for some reason. He goes on holiday abroad around once a month. He and his wife are in Barbados at the moment! I find it fascinating how loaded he must be. If I had teenage children I think I'd recommend they go into the trades instead of university if they were at all interested.

As others have said, some "blue collar" workers command the best salaries.
Often ppl pick and choose what to spend their money on. Some families will budget hard on food etc...so they can afford a new car or a holiday.
Also inherited wealth is the biggest divide still. If you are left enough cash not to have a mortgage anymore, you'll feel flash on a fairly median range salary.

Trades earn well - try getting quotes for any building work and work out the hourly rate vs yours! But not secure, if self employed no sick or holiday cover, if it’s physical work and their back goes by 45 they’re screwed,

And compare your lifestyles once you are 67.

Quite. But now earning £80k between them - I’d say they have middle class roots, but have become working class as years have gone by.

As I say though, it’s all meaningless in reality.

@CitizenZ ,we aren't. It's just what we are.

Public sector and some private sector salaries have been deliberately stagnated for at least the last decade.
in the public sector, this was called austerity.
In the private sector, this has been made possible by the large companies buying out any competition. In addition to that, skilled migrants will accept lower salaries, which bring down the ‘median salary’ and that is what the large corporations base each salary grade on. This makes it look like these large corporations are growing, when they are just buying companies and driving down salaries, in real terms.

Chap who did our windows drives around in a top of the range Mercedes. He's loaded!
I have a nearly 10 year old Golf (and new windows)

This.

Public sector workers never seem to include their index linked pension in the calculation of overall remuneration. All pubic sector pension schemes are much more generous and secure than their private sector equivalents.

Public sector workers also have far greater job security as well.

So I think you need to look at the whole package.

Class has changed, you are holding on to the old system. Tradies are earning much more than you and can have a better standard of living. 50 years ago teachers were middle class and maybe council officers, not anymore. You have not managed to monetize your expensive education. Need to retrain or get promoted.

Those holidays and nice cars will be on finance, and the payments will break them each month

This might be comforting to say to yourself if you're struggling but it's by no means always the case.

Ahh you remind me of so many people I went to university with, thought they were above everyone because of their background. This is the first generation where children have not done better than their parents.

you will have good pensions buts lets honest you have to be city lawyer/big 4 partner to have the equivalent to what you had growing up and whilst I’m sure you and your husband work hard it won’t be equivalent to that type of role.

Class is absolutely dead. Private school means fuck all if you’re working next to us muggles does it!

I went to a dogshit failing school in the poorest part of the country but now a higher rate tax payer. Genuine question which class am I?

Sounds like you have a comfortable, middle class, life. How long is left on your mortgage?