After years of working and saving, I can now afford to miss ONE paycheck. I'm no longer poor! /s
When the revolution comes, you will not be spared.
Lots of people in here fighting about what "working class" means. If you have to work to survive (other than minor household chores), you're working class. If you have enough money, or assets that you get dividends from or can borrow against, or passive income so you don't need a regular employment then you probably aren't working class.
Working Poor isn't as common and definition varies a lot.
This is it, it’s super simple.
If I dialed back everything, I could probably live a few years off my savings/investments, and selling some stuff. But I would be just burning trough my money, and I would need to go back to work eventually. So I’m still working class, even if I’m in a luckier situation than most people.
What I find interesting is how often statements like this that are trying to unify the working class (or whatever you end up calling it) just derails into semantics instead of actually people bringing out the pitchforks and shouting "eat the rich"
We are all fucked.
Amongst the little mice fighting under the table for crumbs falling from the cake being divided above, once in a while one finds a slightly larger crumb, proudly raises it over his head and shouts: "See?! The system woks!"
"But through my retirement I own .000000001% of a company!"
Having stock in a company doesn't make you a capitalist anymore than checking out a bible from the library makes you a Christian.
.000000001% of a $100 billion company is $1. The average person could own per year $5000 if they used automatic deposits and got the employer match.
I know you are trying to exaggerate to make a point, but don't discourage people from getting the employer match if they can.
I employee matched for years just to watch our CEO tank our stock to 1/5 the original price.
Point being, remember it's still an investment in a single stock and comes with that amount of risk.
Don't be fooled. It's billionaires against everyone else. Even multimillionaires are closer to the everyday person. The working class consists of two groups: those without disposable income (nominally those with "hours" in income), and those with some disposable income (days in income).
If they ain't got a "year" in income, their they're one of us.
I think it's better to think of it like this:
How do you make your money? Do you need to make a wage? Or can you let your property (land, buildings, stocks, etc.) be your income?
The real amount doesn't matter, it's whether you have to work to live or not.
If you have to work, you are the working class. If you don't, you are the owner/capitalist class. But your analysis is still somewhat correct: millionaires and small business owners are closer to the working class than billionaires, it does still matter how they make it though.
Modern America is like Tsarist Russia. A tiny elite, a small 'middle class,' and a vast army of poor people.
It's generally considered safe to withdraw 4% of your nest egg each year. Someone with 2 million can support an 80k/year retirement.
The average multimillionaire is literally just any person with a six figure salary who has been saving for retirement and is nearing retirement. You basically can't retire without at least being a millionaire.
What if I can miss two paychecks? Super-rich, or?
GET EMMMM!! WHERES MY GUILLOTINE!?
Yeah people don’t believe me when i say middle class is 300k because they want to be middle class
A person making 300k can still be working class. Unless you own capital that makes enough money for you to live off, you are working class
Exactly. It's how you make your money, not how much you make.
ITT: lots of people making very concrete statements about cost of living that somehow apply equally to every single city in the US at the same time
Middle class was originally defined as a class that gets at least some significant percent of their income from stocks bonds and other investments. I'm willing to bet that ain't you.
That's an American point of view. Here in Britain there are pretty much only two main classes: aristocracy and dirty peasants. Doesn't matter what you do and how rich you are, if your ancestors didn't sit at the round table - you're a peasant.
There are 4 in the UK.
The upper class aka the aristocracy. Born into money and titles.
Middle class. Rich enough to live purely off their investments, don't need to work, but also don't the the old blood titles.
*Upper working class (what the media likes calling the middle class). Lives well, but reliant on a job income.
The bottom 2 are peasants. The 2nd are "vaguely acceptable breeding stock/upstart peasants.
I don't think that's true. There's definitely the three classes, but many people believe they're middle class when they're not.
It's basically impossible to become upper class. I think I read somewhere that it takes 3 or 4 successive generations at somewhere like Eton to be considered upper class.
That's a definition of "working class" but not generally what people outside certain academic contexts mean when they say that phrase; using the more common definition does not indicate "confusion about your class status."
As with many terms describing social class, working class is defined and used in many different ways. One definition, used by many socialists, is that the working class includes all those who have nothing to sell but their labour. These people used to be referred to as the proletariat. In that sense, the working class today includes both white and blue-collar workers, manual and menial workers of all types, excluding only individuals who derive their livelihood from business ownership and the labour of others.
Emphasis mine. I'm not sure how the OP differs in this definition. If you HAVE to work to survive, you aren't earning a livelihood from ownership and the labor of others (passive income).
Workers work because they have to. Owners own and work if they want to.
I can afford to miss a paycheck. In fact, I'm currently planning for a four month stretch where I'll need to live off of savings. Thinking that I, with my 11 year old honda fit, 10 year old PC, and my 2 roommates, am in the top 20% of this stat is very alarming.
I work paycheck to paycheck but if I told people how much I made and called myself poor I'd probably anger people. I just make sure that I do what's in my power to keep myself comfortable now, even if that means overspending on luxuries
If you have no financial reserves, you are IMO poor or stupid. One of both.
I like how things are defaulting to the US as if that's the whole world.
She's probably American and talking about America. We shouldn't have to qualify every single thing we say, if it doesn't apply to you then it doesn't apply. It's certainly worthwhile to the discussion to add your own experiences in places it doesn't apply, but just pointing out that she didn't explicitly say she's talking about America (even though she very nearly did) isn't super relevant.
Bold of you to assume I'm American.
That was silly of her. I mean, look at you? Clearly nowhere near America. She should apologize to you.
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