Are you the same class that you were raised as?

[laohaire]

I'm not TRYING to monopolize this forum this week, just seem to be thinking about money a lot recently, I guess.

Are you better or worse off than your parents?

I guess that question is technically different from a class distinction, since class is only partly about money. I am middle class and I would honestly be/feel middle class whether I was homeless or financially independent. I have middle class values, mannerisms, etc.

Anyway, whether you're talking class or financial standing, are you the same as how you grew up, or do you live differently?

I grew up upper middle class - private schools, vacations to Europe, music/horse/sports lessons, etc.

DH also grew up upper middle class - private schools, big house, fancy cars, etc.

Oddly enough, we are middle middle class. Our combined income is less than 1/2 of what our fathers alone made at our age, WITHOUT ADJUSTING for inflation. We make $40k, whereas our dads in their early 30s were pulling in $90k plus, back in the late 70s/early 80s. (Our moms were both pink collar - mine a nurse and his a teacher, both working after we were in school).

Some of this is just the times changing, I think. Our dads made their careers in a pretty good long boom. But, still, I wonder how it is that this happened. I'm not complaining, but it seems a little strange somehow. Maybe DH and I just made very different choices in terms of priority. Also my income is a little limited because I am multiply disabled - my choices are realistically limited though I'm very smart and have a great work ethic and am good at business.

[mar123]

This is tough question b/c my parents were divorced. My mom was a secretary and never made more than 15K a year in her lifetime. My dad was vice-president of a company and made big time money- his bonus was around 112K when he retired- that was just bonus, not salary. I often attribute this to my bi-polar way of handling money. I seem to be great at being frugal for a while, then I go on a spending spree, LOL.

We are actually living in the middle, which is how my dh was raised. He went into the same field as his dad, which accounts for some of that. We are middle class. The only real reason we struggle at times is b/c we have to put our kids in Catholic school (the public schools are beyond awful in the area we live in.) without the tuition, we would probably have a little more of the nicer things, but we certainly don't lack for the necessities in life. I would also say we are pretty much where we thought and hoped we would be. I am a teacher, so I knew I would never be wealthy, but I wanted a job that would allow me to support my kids alone if needed.

[texmati]

I guess we are middle middle class-- for dh this is a jump, for me not so much. I guess I always though we were upper middle class-- but no ponies, private school or trips to Europe. Maybe we were just middle class?

[Chicky2]

We were probably lower middle class growing up. We are mid-middle class now. Really not any different, if you ask me. Maybe a bit more wiggle room sometimes..

[celestialdreamer]

Started out as lower middle class in early childhood but we were upper middle class at least by my teenage years.

I would consider that DH and I have been generally middle class up until about 1 1/2 years ago. We were quite comfortable up until then. Now I'd say we are lower middle class due to the economy drying up his line of work and adding 2 more children (now a family of 6).

[JamieCatheryn]

I think we're about the same, lower middle class I guess. Though my parents separately each stopped living within their means when I was 10 so we're spending less than either of my parents. My MIL who DH grew up with is and was doing a bit less well, lower class living situation I guess, only because of CA cost of living though.

[ElaynesMom]

Growing up we were probably considered lower class, maybe lower middle class by the time I was a teenager.

As a young kid we always rented and didn't live in the nicest areas in town, we always had beat up cars, we shopped for clothes at discount stores, etc.

By the time I was a teenager my parents had bought their own home in a nicer neighbourhood, had a newer used vehicle, sent me and my sister to Europe a couple times each (school trips). I guess the difference was that my mother stayed at home with us when we were younger, and started working full time when I was 13.

I would say that my family now is lower class. I'm a SAHM and my husband is a factory worker. We have no money for vacations. We live in a small 2 bedroom apartment as we cannot afford a house, etc. We have enough money for us personally to be comfortable, we don't really want for much.

[choli]

Family of origin - lower middle class, lower class after my father died. I and all of my siblings are now middle middle class.

[sunnysandiegan]

I've never really paid much attention to class standings, so I cannot answer from that perspective.

From a financial perspective, I have a much cushier life as an adult than as a child. So does DH, but it isn't as obvious for him because his parents never discuss finances with him. Oddly enough, his mom discusses finances with me. The differences for DH are more subtle than for me.

My parents had me when they were young (20) and hadn't even figured out careers. They divorced shortly thereafter and I lived with my dad. He found a career via apprenticeship training, which takes time. We were broke a lot of my young childhood, but I don't really recall the issues my dad discusses. By the time I was old enough to notice or care, he either was making enough money or he went into debt to provide for me. All that happened before he figured out his life. My dad moved himself from a dirt poor childhood to a middle class (various places on that continuum) adult life to a pretty comfortable retirement lifestyle (early retirement was forced on him, but he has handled it with grace and no financial hardships). My childhood was spent in the lower end of his climb out of poverty. I didn't know or care and money was the least of my concerns as a child.

My adult life started pretty rocky, financially speaking, seeing as I was homeless for the first year and then married into the military. We did fine financially once then-DH started receiving his real pay. We had other issues, however, and I was on my own for a number of years before meeting the love of my life. I got a few college degrees along the way and always worked and paid my bills and was financially secure. Not rolling in discretionary income, but living below my means and saving the excess versus spending it frivolously (as many of my friends did).

DH's childhood was very stable financially. He was the "oops" baby when his three siblings were teenagers. His childhood was the lap of luxury compared to theirs, according to the whole family. His dad worked and his mom stayed home. DH is the only one in his family to have a college degree and his job is easier and he makes more money than his father did (without adjusting for inflation, but also just in everyday life decisions). Ironically enough, today, his siblings all have more affluent lives than we do. It is a function of COL (ours is much higher) and values (we don't value the same "toys" and large homes, etc). I don't know if their incomes support their lifestyles or not. DH's parents are steady as rocks and lead a conservative, but comfortable retirement (nothing fancy, but definitely sufficient).

Together, we are raising our daughter in a lifestyle most similar to DH's childhood, but with some lessons from my childhood thrown in for more meaning (aka teaching moments). DH was somewhat clueless about money, but lucky enough to not make any HUGE mistakes. Probably because he had a pretty large salary. (It is easier to make mistakes and not have them devastate you when you have steady income that is substantially higher than your true expenses.) He had a lot more debt than I ever did when we met and I strongly encouraged him to work on that before we merged our finances. Although money/finances didn't make the radar much in my childhood, I learned about money nonetheless somewhere along the line enough to never get into trouble with it. Then, I earned a degree in finance and worked in banking and securities to round all that out.

Long way of saying we definitely have improved our financial standings compared to our childhoods.

[Denvergirlie]

Way worse than my parents.

I too had horses, private lessons, international trips, etc. I remember when in highschool my dad bought me a car, he put it on his American Express card.... which of course must be paid off each month.

Anyways, no where near the same level than what I was raised at.

[kittywitty]

Better off than my whole family. WAY worse off than my step-family. My s-dad always had money but we were put on a very low allowance so food, etc. was not always there. We're not well off, but better off than my parents & family.

My family was lower class (low-low to mid-low) and are now slightly higher. We are upper-lower to lower-middle.

I don't know what is meant by middle class mannerisms, though.

[laohaire]

It doesn't matter that much but for the record, I didn't have a horse growing up - just riding LESSONS. And piano lessons. And violin lessons. That's what I meant.

[Caneel]

Compared to DH's family when he was growing up, we are living many levels above. His father started to do well financially later in life but it only bought bigger houses and cars. He still lived his life like he did when he was younger, hanging in the barroom, surrounding himself with undesirable characters, making poor choices.

Compared to my family? I don't know, probably even. I remember things being very tight when I was little. My mom remarried and then our standard of living greatly improved.

[laohaire]

Originally Posted by kittywitty

I don't know what is meant by middle class mannerisms, though.

I think that a person tends to dress a certain way, talk a certain way, do certain activities for relaxing, that sort of thing, that can be correlated to class. In this country it's taboo to talk about of course, though.

[kittywitty]

Originally Posted by laohaire

I think that a person tends to dress a certain way, talk a certain way, do certain activities for relaxing, that sort of thing, that can be correlated to class. In this country it's taboo to talk about of course, though.

I would disagree with this. I think a lot of that is materialism-but all classes are guilty of that here in America. When I was in high school, we were easily upper middle class by income yet my s-dad was such a penny pincher, I was only bought clothes once-in 8th grade (secondhand) to last me until I graduated. I had $1.50 for lunches when they were $3 for the school ones, never took a real vacation, and we had a beat up honda with the hood duct-taped on. My classmates were shocked when I was in economics and we talked about our family income.

I was raised (if you don't count that period of time between my mother's marriage and divorce) very lower class where some of my family still have homes with dirt floors. And yet I enjoy "upper class" things like the languages I taught myself, my love of Opera, violin, classical music, and I use wonderful grammar IRL. I would hate for people to assume my income from those things. I find it rather offensive, really.

Not to start an argument, just saying that mannerisms related to class are very often wrong.

[GoBecGo]

I'm in the UK, and i have to admit that the markers being used for class on this thread are not those with which i am familiar.

My father was middle class (private school, "staff" in the house (maids/housekeeper etc.) his father was a chemist and his mother was a best-selling author). They were "moneyed".

My mother was working class (state school, father was a career soldier, mother was a housewife). They were not "moneyed" but not poor either.

My father was not middle class himself because he didn't get a university education, he was an engineer, and eventually a first engineer, but by working his way up. My mother was not middle class, she was a nursing auxilliary, and later worked in social care and other similar public sector jobs. They were never rich and my brother and I went to state schools (though i was offered several private school scholarships which i never took), though i did have riding lessons, music lessons and my brother didn't but could have, if that makes sense.

I guess we are middle class now. Financially we are better off with just DH working and only now beginning to ascend the higher ladders of his career path (he's a software architect) than my parents were with both working and my dad about to retire. We are both university educated. We live in a middle-class house in a middle-class area. But DD will go to an excellent state school nearby, not a private school. She currently has dance lessons, though is losing interest (she's 4 next week!) and we will provide riding/snow-boarding/music instruction when she's older.

To me the class boundaries are all very blurred and strange nowadays anyway. I think the UK standard i was aware of was that the working classes did the dirty work, the middle classes assigned it, the upper classes enjoyed it and the aristocracy owned it all.

[limabean]

Yep, we're the same. Both our parents are middle class and so are we. DH's parents stayed about the same as their parents, and my mom pulled herself up from lower-middle to middle class.

We're financially ahead of where my mom was at our age (but only because she was a single parent -- if I were a single mom I'd be behind where she was financially), but about on par with where DH's parents were.

[Peony]

Growing up I thought we were lower middle class, but really my parents were probably middle to slightly upper middle class. They were very frugal, we took long vacations but it was 6 weeks of camping across the US, stuff like that. We were never enrolled in any lessons, shopped at thrift stores, so I always thought we were lacking in money instead they were just socking it away. My dad always build all our houses, they never had a house payment. They are still like that today which allows my father to be selective about working and allows for lots of expensive "play" time.

DH grew up upper middle class, no private schools but he had 3 cars as a teen. he never went on vacations but had to stay home with the nanny while his parents went off. DH and I are in that bracket DH and I are in as well. No expensive vacations, but yes private school because of DD1's issues. DD1's therapy bills eat up a huge chunk of our money though.

I think what shaped DH and I more then income bracket was the fact that we both come from families that were successful business owners, built from the ground up. We both had an upbringing that the notion that we could whatever we wanted to if we really wanted it, but our families didn't help us pay for it. DH moved out when he was 17, I was 15 when I moved out for the first time. He started his first company when he was 23 and we bought the second together with money I made waitressing while putting myself through college. He didn't go to college, no one in his family has ever graduated from college, and I am the only one in my family to despite the income bracket which I always find interesting.

[hillymum]

Originally Posted by GoBecGo

I'm in the UK, and i have to admit that the markers being used for class on this thread are not those with which i am familiar.


To me the class boundaries are all very blurred and strange nowadays anyway. I think the UK standard i was aware of was that the working classes did the dirty work, the middle classes assigned it, the upper classes enjoyed it and the aristocracy owned it all.

This!

Remember the Two Ronnies sketch on class?

[Monarchgrrl]

I am better off than my parents. Of course looking from the outside it might not seem so. I grew up with a great house, great yard, great neighborhood, new cars,any and all lessons wanted, went to the best schools, in the suburbs. Middle-upper middle class. I never wanted for anything. I found out as an adult that it was all on credit. It eventually sank my parents when they divorced. They lost their business. Both went backrupt and had to start all over. They are doing ok now but my mom had to file for bankruptcy again recently!

I live pretty modestly but have no debt. I make more money than they ever did but I don't live beyond my means (anymore, anyway!). I have a higher degree than either of them received. We're middle class now (according to our high COL area)

DW grew up very, very poor. At one point in her childhood she only had frozen soft pretzels to eat for about 3 months. Every meal. Their greatest Christmas present each year was being able to have meat at Christmas dinner. Her parents ended up doing better for themselves and bought a house and lived ok for a while. None of her brothers have made anything of themselves and haven't gotten out of that cycle but she got a degree and made good decisions and now she's much better off than her parents.