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.

Your take on the class system needs to evolve to factor in salary erosion. Your combined net income is little more than a family receiving universal credit top ups after their lower incomes are factored.

Even in the North, a household income of less than £100k with say, a £1100/month mortgage and a car payment with 2.4 kids may well be considered challenging.

We are being taxed left right and centre and it stinks.

Teaching is definitely classed as a mc profession

you can be upper class and broke, nothing new there.
Why does it make you feel better to pretend than the 2 are the same?

A broke upper class person tends to have assets though.

I think people in the public sector, although I'm not saying they're alone in this, have seen their real earnings hugely squeezed since probably as far back as 2008.

When I left on redundancy terms, as long ago as 2013, my pay had been frozen for 3 years and I don't think for my part of the scale it went up much in the years following. My pension, based on something like the best three years in the last 6 and indexed, was by some thousands more than current salary * pensionable service.

both parents are lawyers, and they're still living in reasonably modest 3 bed semis. I'm sure in the past, people like these would live in quite grand houses.

20 year earlier DH profession was in the big houses nearer town - now we are in 50 ex council suburb. It's good house nice area but pretty much what we grew up with but poor social economic are that I grew up in. My siblings stayed where we grew up in similar jobs to parents - in HA housing rather than owning and lucky to get that.

DH cousins are in trade like generation above - they have similar lifestyle to us - so not sure we missed out with education as just didn't improve as much as we thought we might - but they've had divorces and splits which cost which could be impacting.

You've got ordinary middle class jobs, and live a comfortable life. So what if your tradesmen neighbour earn more than you? What kind of lifestyle do you think a teacher and public sector worker should have? Because a 3 bed semi and foreign holidays sounds about right to me.

That's meant to say both parents are doctors, not victims!!

I’d say we are middle class. Early 40s. Earn combined around 90k. Only manage to own a 4 bed detached house in the South (with mortgage) and foreign holiday once a year due to inheritance. 3 kids and paying full time childcare is a killer! We have fairly cheap cars and our house is perfectly liveable but needs updated. All kids will be at school soon, and promotions are on the horizon so hopefully will be able to update the house in the next 5 years.

Clever enough not to lumber themselves with university debt, earn a great income, see them welcomed into most countries as skilled migrants and not encumbered by the seething resentment of underpaid graduates whose middle class status is no longer built on economic power but hobbies and whether you eat your main meal at dinner or supper.

Only owning a 4 bed detached house in the south sounds pretty good to me! Most people couldn't afford that.

Yep. Lots of people re mortgage their house, a lot. If we look at average national credit ratings, they’re usually particularly low. People’s credit rating should be 1000, it’s usually half that, people have a lot of debt / use a lot of credit. People don’t live within their means.

That really isn't the definition of working class, and hasn't been for a really, really long time. And no, of course being mc doesn't guarantee you spending money, because (as has been repeatedly pointed out), class and money are not the same thing.

Earn combined around 90k. Only manage to own a 4 bed detached house in the South (with mortgage) and foreign holiday once a year due to inheritance

The OP is probably unusual in that she hasn’t had an inheritance, there can be a big divide there.

Just done my neighbours books for him (a rather excellent tit for tat arrangement as we have boiler issues) plumbers earn far more than my rather respectable middle class job!

Unfortunately the traditional middle class roles don't 'pay' as well any more. Some, like accountancy are now competitive and will be vulnerable to AI takeover. Very few of dc well educated friends consider teaching - it doesn't pay enough in London.

Round here tradespeople seem to have the nicest lifestyles with big, lovely houses that they do up. Or young, highly educated couples make lots of money in finance or tech or corporate law. These seem to be the only people able to buy houses in London now and/or have an affluent lifestyle. I think it's different up North where an average salary will get you a better standard of living overall.

Our salaries (public sector also) have risen but we feel worse off than 10 years ago due to cost of living rises and having dc. Luckily we do have good pensions which keep us in these jobs. I have encouraged dc to never consider public service and have highly supported educational attainment to so they can aim for a finance/Stem career if possible. We're also getting them EU citizenship so they can up sticks if things worsen.

Sorry OP, I think you are either just not good with money, or just have widely unreasonable expectations of what your standard of living should be.

Degrees are now as common as air molecules. They are not longer rare and the way for employers to select from the brightest in the country. So you should not see them as a way of getting a rich lifestyle. Most people I know who went to public school have very ordinary jobs.

Public sector pay is no longer good. ( I worked in LG all my life and regret it - will not recommend it to my kids). 80k HH income will put you amongst the top tier of earners in the country - so above the middle. You will have a comfortable life, though not luxurious.

You clearly do have money if you have a three bed semi and foreign holidays. Because you are spending your money on that.

A private education and a uni degree does not always equal financial success.

Our electrician and plumber earn more than DH and I ever will and we have well paid jobs. They did not need to get themselves into 40k of debt to start earning a good salary. Class has nothing to do with it. Perhaps us middle classes need to take a look at the wisdom of going to uni just for the sake of it.

Most people I know who went to public school have very ordinary jobs.

Most people I know who went to private school are on very high salaries - it's very much dependent on the school.

We have half the income as you, a smaller house, and no holidays abroad but we feel positively privileged having both grown up in poverty. Perhaps change your outlook and just consider how much you do have rather than what you don't have.

"Does it matter that much"?

Sadly @BobbyBiscuits, even in 21st century Great Britain, it does seem to matter, to a significant percentage of the population.

Being middle class for "some" people defines them, as "more than".

Not sure it will change anytime soon, meritocracy is not alive and well in this country.

Being middle class doesn't mean you necessarily have a lot of money. A lot of middle class jobs aren't that well paid.

All of this is such absolute bollocks.

We have a mortgage that high, two kids and a much lower income that £100k and we have a comfortable lifestyle, thanks. It cannot in any way be considered challenging. No inheritance received or coming either!

I don't for one second believe UC gives families near 80k a year either.

You are middle class, as are we. However you are (mistakenly) linking class with income and purchasing power and that has steadily being eroded for years. Therefore what a middle class person of 30 years ago could achieve on their middle class income you/we cannot. Income erosion over recent decades has been massive. The “new” middle class is progressively getting poorer.

A.I. summary of Google search on definition of British middle class:

The British middle class is a social group of well-educated people with good jobs who are not poor but not very rich. The middle class is considered to be in the middle of all the class groups in terms of wealth.

Some characteristics of the British middle class include:
Occupations
Many middle class people work in professions or management, such as doctors, lawyers, teachers, electrical engineers, occupational therapists, and midwives.