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.

Like others have said your pension should be good eventually.
I know several, I guess you could call them, blue collar workers that seem to be living quite lavish lifestyles but they are not putting much away into their pensions. One not at all and they are off to Dubai on holidays etc but no money for later on!
Also maybe you have more opportunity for progression? My husband started off as a teacher but is now earning much better as a head so that could be an option for you going forward. Or like me, I started in teaching but have retrained and earn a bit more that way but it’s a similar sector. Could your husband also progress in management? Maybe you’ll be better off in the long run.

Class and money are two different things. You can be upper class and have no money. Definitely a middle class attitude to assume working class should earn less than middle class. 😀

The class system is made up and ridiculous.

It's possible to be working class and good with money/middle class and bad with money.

People's priorities play a huge factor too.

In our friendship group:
We didn't have a car till we were mid forties, big saving.

Didn't holiday abroad for the first 5 years of marriage, huge saving.

Have takeaways once a month, big saving.

No pets, huge saving.

No kids, huge saving.

No expensive hobbies.

No gym memberships.

No Amazon or Sky packages.

List goes on......

Friends ask how we can afford theatres or good restuarants as they can't, except, they have all the above costs.

I don't think in todays society there is a 'middle class'.. you are either working class or rich. i don't even think there is a 'poor' class in the UK now. yes there are those with little money, but they don't have NO money!

My dh is blue collar but he earned over 70k last year,class isn’t everything.

You are at the very bottom range salary wise for middle class. Average 40k per person is quite low salary nowadays with cost of living etc.

Holiday in Spain or Greece is not the end of the world I think. We can't all go to the Maldives and Barbados, right 🤣

BTW we haven't been on a holiday in 5 years apart from our home country and our last holiday was in Germany. Pathetic.

Oh god this. The "class and money are not the same" argument is bollocks and is what people want to tell themselves as everyone is getting poorer and poorer in the UK.

IThe fact that you say you have no money and holiday in places like Spain and Greece shows you don’t really know what it means to have no money.

People who genuinely have no money don’t tend to be able to holiday abroad.

Ahh, but you can’t beat a Golf. Whatever the age.
There’s someone near me who drives a MK1 Golf GTI and I absolutely seethe with jealousy every time I see him 😂
VW have never ever made a bad Golf. I am now jealous of you also 😂

Skilled factory workers can earn 40k a year easily, plus overtime. Some can earn a lot more than that.

Self employed electricians are 50k-65k a year depending on days worked. Van and phone are partially tax deductible. Bricklayers and carpenters are similar amounts.

Self employed heating engineers are up to 100k in the South East.

I was surprised with how much dog walking and sitting pays for an unskilled role.

Agree with other posters UK is getting poorer and poorer.

I always thought class was based on job, so I was born wc but became mc through going to university and becoming a teacher. Then it's about cultural capital.

And the reason your neighbours have better holidays is because they're not paying double to go in summer holidays.

For our family of 4, a week in Spain/Greece in the school holidays, self catering is 3.5k. Which is unaffordable to us. So it makes sense that spending upwards of this every single year something I'd associate with middle class.

Why would blue collar workers earn less. The days are long gone that teaching was viewed as a financially prudent career to have, especially in an expensive area. Teachers can't afford to live where I do but every other drive has a white transit van on it.
You might be middle class in your mind but you're not financially.
Two basic skilled workers here (in the grim North) would earn £30,000 each as an average. £60,000pa in London must be practically poverty level.

Ah yes.
Obviously 'trades can't possibly be clever. And they are all tax dodgers who have single handedly crippled the economy.
Ok........🙄

Comparison is the thief of joy! Stop comparing yourselves with your neighbours, you dont know what their real situation is, i.e inheritance. Concentrate on your own life.

I agree with this. Class isn't necessarily anything to do with income.
Many people that would be called middle class work in fairly low paid jobs such as in the voluntary and public sector.

OP you and you partner have chosen good solid but not particularly high paying careers, what did you expect?

I would have described a teacher and a middle manager in the civil service as solidly working class. Same lines as a qualified tradesman like an electrician/ plumber.

We're born working class - state schools and DH a very rough one - then uni and middle class professions.

Often felt like this - think it housing as we were later than peers due to education and moving round for work - and houses cost more by time we could buy just before 2008 crash.

Then many of non uni peer got to age many started divorcing and the lifestyles decline.

Those bit older like next door - decade older - had longer to be mortgage free and child free. However starting to think we'll never get to similar point at same due to rising cost of living.

Why are you so obsessed with class? I keep seeing this popping up on mumsnet and it's such a weird thing to benchmark yourself against.

If you need to ask about it, you don't have it. That's what I was told and it sounds right to me.

You don't seem to understand what middle class and working class mean.
Neither term is derogatory or to do with income.

The fact you’re a teacher and your husband works for the local government, with a combined take home of 80k, really does suggest poor return on investment from your private school fees. And I say this as a teacher too! But I went to state school. My husband works in tech support, also went to state school, and our take home is around 100k. I’m surprised you wern’t connected to better paying, “middle class” roles, to maintain the lifestyle you grew up in?

I wouldn’t say teaching is a middle class profession to be honest. The pay is well known to be terrible. I’d forget about being in a category and just look practically at a budget on a spreadsheet and see where you’re at. I think many people live with a lot of debt!

Yes. When your pension comes it will balance out, it has for us.