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 think this post is true and I am of a similer age. I am not encouraging my DC to go to university. If they want to sure but I am not pushing for this. Apprenticeships are the way forward at the moment.

I will also add that I have put money towards DC getting a house after paying off the mortgage. I feel this is a better use of money than student debt etc and then them not earning later and being many steps behing their peers who haven't been to university.

My friends who don't pay for as much childcare have so much more to spend on holidays and cars.

I think it's to do with the age you are when you have kids and where you choose to live. Those who have kids younger and stay closer to home have the benefit of younger, fitter grandparents who are more hands on.

Wow. Rude.

@Middleagedspreadisreal , @Quinto wasn't being rude.

I agree with Quinto. Its like there is a total denial that the UK have a class system. Its bonkers.

I was born and raised here, and Im ancient, but i did spend nearly two decades in Australia where there is not a class system. Its absolutely clear that here there is one, and very damaging it is to! Im a social worker and we recently had CPD on how to keep a check on your unconscious bias when dealing with a middle-class parent. Its a massive issue, people with ponies in the yard, and posh accents and fancy jobs dont get their kids taken away from them, and most SW get intimidated by their ability to be so articulate and persuasive, so the stats show we are more likely to close the case. This leaves middle-upper class children who are being abused to not being safeguarded effectively. The opposite is also true, - parents who are working class are sometimes treated in my profession as more of a safeguarding concern than they should be.

This is just one area but I think Ive made my point. ;) Its batshit to suggest a)we dont have a class system and/or b) its not a negative thing. Its bloody archaic but alive and well.

Surely similar assumptions might be made by social workers about children in wealthy families, even in countries without a class system though?

I note that good trades people can earn well in excess of £100K a year yet many graduates struggle to get near this. I guess it's a matter of supply and demand. 50% of school leavers going on to degree level education isn't what the economy needs.

Plumbers round here charge 10k for bathroom
refits - too damn right they can get £100k!

Looking down on the builders, hairdressers and other blue collar chavs out-earning them, yet still perplexed why they do not get a free ticket to ride because they merely went to university and daddy paid for private school.

Whinging and whining, but it's all about our values you know.

For the record I am a second generation immigrant and earn six figures alone in a highly skilled professional role requiring a masters degree. I live in a wealthy area and can afford a very comfortable lifestyle. And a single parent! I know what these aspirational middle class mums think of me😉

Why would they save for kids' college funds when, as this thread proves, a degree adds minimal value to your future earnings?

This is how it is now. Have degree from excellent uni. Have always worked in public/ charity sector. Siblings in blue collar doing much better. Public sector jobs don’t pay well these days

The middle class are the poor class now OP!

Get with the programme 😭

A degree definitely does not earn minimal value to future earnings, ( that’s just something that people with no degrees say), all my siblings and friends have degrees and are on wages that they wouldn’t be on without one.
There are many many many more people on low wages who have no degrees than people who do.
One of my siblings is on €250k per annum, he definitely wouldn’t be on that without a degree
You have to understand that Mumsnet is a platform to moan about issues, so people rarely come on here to talk about how well their lives are going

A degree definitely does not earn minimal value to future earnings, ( that’s just something that people with no degrees say)

😂

All my friends / siblings / work colleagues have degrees (and more) and I have never heard one of them say that, I honestly have heard people who have no degrees say it though

This

Just a thought: some people study for a degree not because they’re motivated by money but because they’re curious about a subject. Degree doesn’t necessarily equal higher earnings.

I’d advise my DC to become builders and plumbers if their sole goal was earning a good wage and always being able to work. But I don’t because I know these jobs would bore them shitless and because they involve hard physical graft which definitely isn’t one of their strengths.

@StepawayfromtheLindors
Curiosity doesn't pay the bills, hard graft ain't one of your DS strong points, not no ure what he plans to do but hard graft in any walk of
life is what what you on.

Hard PHYSICAL graft is what I said. And I didn’t say that curiosity pays the bills. My post was in response to posters equating degrees with higher or lower incomes, that’s all.

You should see what some geeks get paid!
Plus holiday pay, plus generous pension contributions, plus share options, plus private medical care, dentistry, opticians, counselling, contributions to gym/exercise, plus sick/compassionate pay, plus interesting trips, plus can WFH at least hybrid and without the same risks of a trade.

You need a degree or education in code mind. Which is hard graft in a different way.

They look like the underclass in jeans (at best) and a t-shirt but you can't have everything. Judge away pearl clutchers.

@frozendaisy my DH has his own software company. He left school at 16 with about 4 GCSE passes and failed the rest and taught himself to code. Granted he works alongside/employs many people who have computer science degrees, but it's not the only way to get there.
Shockingly he was a massive stoner as a teenager and the money needed for that habit was a great motivator to get a well paid career!

That is amazing @RelativePitch. How did he get started? Was it a case of doing a bit of work for someone then setting up a company and gradually bringing in others?

@RelativePitch I wonder how easy its to get into IT now without a degree. Yes, back in the day, it didn't matter but now it's a well established field with lots of kids being able to code.

In my family I would say about half of us have professions considered probably middle class and the other half working class. The working class side of the family has more money! And that is also probably why class categories in the UK dont really work.

(I am a teacher and work and live abroad and cannot afford a proper holiday....)

@BadSkiingMum he went to work for the local authority at 16 printing out massive plans in a back room. Then he worked his way up working as odd job boy for the IT department- printer jams, switching PCs on and off. At night he was teaching himself C++ and java? And possibly other languages. He kept applying for developer jobs from 18 onwards and getting resoundingly rejected. But kept at it and was getting a bit of coding experience in at the LA. Saw a job come up at a large employer locally and managed to get hold of the financial director on the phone and offered to do the job at half the salary for 3 months. That was when he was 20. For a decade he just went from contract to contract, going from strength to strength and in his early 30s set up his own company. He's in his late 40s now.