most people think they are middle class but most are not and that's costing them a lot of money the
society-wide problem is made even worse because nobody knows what the [ __ ] middle class even
means anymore I feel like you're really just in between a rock and a hard place you know you're
in a spot where everyone's like hey you're doing better than you know low class you're doing great
the wealth of our middle class has been ripped from their home and then redistributed all across
the world he's trying to tell us he cares about the middle class give me a break that's a bunch
of malarkey and you're underneath the people who are actually doing fine you probably think
middle class is what most people think middle class is not rich but not poor a middle class
family can afford a regular home with a 30-year mortgage two cars and a vacation once a year
a middle-class family has two people that work in middle management or run a small business if
they are lucky you might imagine that one of the pair could stay home to look after the children
the middle class describes how largest Sheriff people on the wealth Spectrum slotted between
the extremely wealthy and the working class but you would find it impossible to give a net worth
figure that is the cutoff for entry into any of these classes there are three reasons why
you are not middle class and three reasons why this relevant definition is hurting your real
financial situation the first reason you are not middle class is because that term really
doesn't mean anything anymore I was at a seminar recently where somebody literally said there is
no middle class anymore the middle class is gone the middle class was first used in early
modern Europe to describe the middling people that were not nobility but not peasants either
they were wealthy merchants or factory owners if you don't own a factory or a fleet of trade
ships you already fall outside the original definition of the middle class today these
people would be considered upper class especially in America where we rejected the idea of nobility
the middle class is a changing classification and that change is usually decided by the upper
class in early modern Europe the Nobles needed a way to clash people that were as wealthy as
they were but not considered as important today the middle class describes people that aren't
nearly as rich as the upper class which is the old middle class but also aren't poor
it's a definition so broad that it's practically useless but it has changed a lot in a short span
of time Homer Simpson was once portrayed as a working class man the show has a rigid adherence
to episodic continuity so the family has not changed at all in 33 years the show has been
on air the show may not have changed but the world around it has and slowly The Simpsons
family became middle class than upper middle class and today with their single family home
three children two cars and a stay-at-home wife they could be considered upper class
rich or hiding it from my husband the definition may be meaningless but it's not useless everybody
from companies to politicians Target the middle class as the largest block of customers and voters
this really will mostly benefit the middle class and jobs you probably like to think you
are middle class even if you are not people will place themselves into this group and accept that
something that's good for the middle class is good for them this is a very useful trait when
chasing votes or marketing a product to middle class Americans that's all for the middle class
a middle class tax cut America's middle class is getting hollowed out until middle class incomes
are going up again a system for classifying People based on their wealth that has remained consistent
over time is simply dividing people into two groups the working class and the upper class
the first group are people that need to work to pay their living expenses the working class
the second group is those that don't need to work because they have enough income from Investments
or other payments according to this definition a doctor that still needs to work to pay the
mortgage on their seven-bedroom mcmansion is working class but a retiree living on a
pension would be upper class the definitions are simpler but the outcome is just as blurry none of
this would even matter if it wasn't costing you hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course
of your career and that's not hyperbole so it's time to learn how money Works to find out why
social classes are stupid and only kept around as a useful tool to sell you stuff this week's lesson
was sponsored by zebiotics if you're like me a night out getting drinks with your friends isn't
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your friends and family will thank you the first problem with assuming your middle class comes from
the inherent spending and saving patterns it motivates according to a study published
by Bankrate a financial services comparison and Publishing Company 57 of Americans could not cover
an unexpected one thousand dollar expense without taking on debt or selling something people were
being forced to borrow from retirement savings take out a personal loan put put things on a
credit card this study is published every year and the number of Americans in such a fragile
financial situation has been slowly climbing even though the one thousand dollars is worth less than
when the report was first produced even if your definition of middle class is different from all
of the other definitions we can all agree that having less than one thousand dollars in savings
is not a trade associated with the middle class A Gallup poll found that a majority of Americans
still identify as middle class which means that there is an overlap of people that can't afford a
one thousand dollar expense but still consider themselves middle class the idea of what a
middle-class American looks like is both the cause and effect of this a survey conducted by Lending
Club found that 36 percent of people earning at least 250 000 a year were living paycheck
to paycheck we've struggled I mean we've gone from having money in the bank having savings to
living paycheck to paycheck and basically trying to make ends meet and sometimes they don't mean
that income by most people's standards would put those people securely into the upper middle class
but they were still dealing with financial stress a significant contributor to this financial stress
was maintaining the image that people had of what an upper middle class lifestyle should look like
two cars a well-furnished single-family home and regular vacations are all part of an upper
middle class income starter pack but they are unaffordable in a lot of the areas that people
work to make these high salaries here in San Francisco that income would responsibly get you
a one-bedroom apartment and a basic car that you need to pay to keep locked up so that it doesn't
get broken into those living conditions don't feel middle class though so people overextend
themselves because they think that if they earn what they think is a middle-income salary they
should have a middle-income lifestyle this lifestyle assumption is the second way that
thinking you are middle class is hurting your real financial situation it makes you less
likely to pick the right job some of the best job opportunities in America right now are roles that
people associate with the working class trade jobs Trucking farming and oil work can all make more
money than most white-collar jobs in an office a lot of young people dismiss these careers as
something they would only consider if they didn't make it into college because they don't want to
be working class even though they can make a lot more money and take on less debt pursuing one of
these options skilled laborers become more and more scarce companies will become more desperate
and out of necessity pay more also the longer that you work in the trades the more money you
tend to make there are pros and cons to White Collar professional work and blue collar trade
jobs but working your way up a corporate ladder is not as guaranteed as putting in some high-paying
hours with a good trade but too often it's dismissed because people think they are better
than that when really they are probably not and that's because of the second reason you are not
middle class in a throwback to European nobility that status is becoming hereditary according to
studies published by Georgetown University Pew research and Harvard Business review the biggest
predictor that a child will have Financial stability in their adult lives is not their
academic ability but the wealth of their parents wealthier parents can provide better opportunities
and remove Financial burdens like paying out of pocket for college or saving for the down
payment on a first home children of wealthier parents also have soft benefits that according
to research can make a big difference just being surrounded by social networks of people that are
also financially stable means that wealthier children are more likely to know the basics of
building credit saving for long-term financial goals and avoiding common Financial mistakes
search and Social Studies have argued that disadvantage goes even further children of
wealthier parents have less to prove and are therefore less likely to spend recklessly on
conspicuous consumption and they are given learned social skills that help them perform well in a
professional environment even if the child of wealthy parents doesn't end up in a high paying
career they can still end up significantly ahead of those that do children from poorer households
that break the cycle and earn a middle or upper middle class income are still going to need to
catch up financially these children will need to pay their own way through college by taking
out student loans they will need to buy their own car build their own credit save for their
down payment and they will also be under more pressure to help improve the financial situation
of their family these people are overrepresented in the same group of high income earners with very
low Financial Security and that's what causes the third problem with thinking you are middle class
it will make you take unnecessary risks if people who believe they are middle class can't afford the
trappings of what they consider a normal middle class lifestyle to look like they might take on
debt to keep up or look at risky alternatives to make money which group of people do you think are
most likely to fall for financial scams if you are brave enough put your answer in the comment
section so we can all make fun of you for being wrong according to the FTC elderly people trying
to pay back the IRS and gift cards actually fell for scams at a lower rate than young professionals
on above average incomes younger adults worth 330 percent more likely to fall for investment
scams in particular texting snapping messaging on social platforms that's how they communicate and
and scammers love that right they're on all of those platforms they're on all of those networks
everybody wants to get rich quick but people with high incomes who have still fallen behind
what they think of as a middle class income life need to get rich quick just to keep up
any investment promising 100 annual returns is clearly a scam but someone who thinks they
ought to be middle class has the right combination of enough income and enough desperation to fall
for these cons on the slim hope that they may work even less blatant scams are targeted exclusively
towards people who they think should be further ahead in life because they are middle class let's
test this out here watch this ad now tell me honestly was that ad someone trying to pitch you
an Amazon automation day trading Drop Shipping or real estate investing course or do you have
Adblock or YouTube premium and are totally confused right now if you are in the former
group It's because according to my own Community poll you are the prime target for wanting to make
extra income to improve your financial situation even people who don't fall for scams or pay for
shitty courses pitched by hustle Bros are still more likely to have aggressive stock portfolios
or partake in Risky strategies like house flipping options trading or cryptocurrency investing this
financial anxiety can hurt you in more ways than taking more dumb risks it also causes the fourth
problem with thinking that you are middle class it makes you less likely to take smart risks
Financial Security has a lot of benefits people that save more and spend less are happier and
having a middle class job to pay for a middle class life is about as secure as most people
think it gets the problem is that people get used to this imaginary safety and put themselves in
quite risky Financial situations to maintain it a person who has been with their employer
for a long time will feel secure in the role even though multiple Studies have found no correlation
between time at a company and job security Beyond probationary periods the reason that people expect
that they are more secure at a job they have been at longer is simply survivorship bias if
they haven't been laid off yet they are less likely to be laid off at all even if that is
simply not true true employees that stick with their employers for longer than three years at
a time not only earn significantly less than their peers who move jobs more frequently they
also have less overall job security potential employers do value company loyalty but they
value a range of experience and flexibility to different situations more someone that has been
with their former employer for decades is a red flag to hiring managers because they could be
set in their ways and difficult to train on the unique processes that every company has these
calculated risks don't stop at moving jobs they can also be moving to a new city with much better
job opportunities starting a business in a field day of experience in or just asking their boss
for a raise someone who is barely maintaining a middle class lifestyle is less likely to take
these calculated risks because they know that any complications should cause them to lose their
facade very quickly now the third reason that you think you are middle class is because the
middle class and upper class are the groups most portrayed in the media but this is nothing new and
it's been going on since one human had a larger cave than another to find out why go and watch
my video over on how history Works to learn why historians only care about rich people if you want
to watch these videos a day early and get articles that will never be made into YouTube videos then
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