Here's another one I've failed - "Have you transitioned to middle-class?"

In My Humble Opinion
41

It would appear that I’m low life scum.

Turned out just as my old mum said I would.

On the other hand I’ve had a lot of fun, travel and life experiences so I’m not downhearted…sob.

42
  1. Home ownership – eh well, the bank owns about 40% of it.
  2. Automobile ownership – yeah. I own a car in full and the one Singlebro uses belongs to both of us.
  3. College education for your kids — Childless, so I can’t ever get this one.
  4. Retirement security — inasmuch as it’s provided by my guv’mint and the Swiss guv’mint.
  5. Health care coverage — Seguridad Social for the win. Nothing like living in countries without it to make you appreciate it.
  6. Family vacation — I’ve been known to go on vacation with my mother and Singlebro, does that count or are children required?
    Like in the other one, whomever came up with these is taking generalizations and turning them into a litmus test. No workee, Johnny.
43

Another vote for “kids? what kids?” Yes on the others, though.

44

  1. Home ownership.
    Check. Or, more to the point - I own a mortgage.

  2. Automobile ownership.
    Check. Including a minivan.

  3. College education for your kids
    Sorta. We’re not there, yet, but it’s assumed that they’ll be going.

  4. Retirement security
    Eh. Sorta. I’ve got various investments and a pension working, but we’re not secure yet.

  5. Health care coverage
    Check. Pretty decent coverage, too.

  6. Family vacation
    Fail. Not because we couldn’t - It’s just not something we do.

Middle-middle class. But we’ve know that for years.

45
  1. Home ownership. On my third now but still have a mortgage
  2. Automobile ownership Yup
  3. College education for your kids One down, one to go but money is there
  4. Retirement security As long as I work until 60 and kick by 90, I’ll be okay.
  5. Health care coverage Yup
  6. Family vacation Twice a year for the past ten years.

SO, yeah…guess I have.

46
  1. Home ownership - as long as I get to count the one that’s mortgaged, then yes.
  2. Automobile ownership - we each have our own, paid for.
  3. College education for your kids - no kids and god willing none ever.
  4. Retirement security - heh - keep the market from sucking all the gains out of my 401k and then maybe.
  5. Health care coverage - sure - through my employer
  6. Family vacation - We spend all our money on home remodeling projects - we really aren’t much for the vacations unless its camping and canoeing, in which case we get one every year.
47

  1. Yep, will be paid off in about 8 years. Also own the lot next door and another 40 acre parcel.

  2. Two vehicles and an old plow truck.

  3. No kids. No problem.

  4. Working on retirement. If it weren’t for the recent down turn I be a little bit more optomistic. But, it is to be expected, i think we have time to recover.

  5. My Wife and I don’t travel a lot, but we get around. Visit family, or IronMan races (my Wife, I’m pit crew).

48

Home ownership - no. That is substantially more difficult when you live in an area where the average asking price for a 2-bedroom flat is 350,000 quid. When my daughter’s past school age I might move away so that I can buy a place (I’m also looking into houseboats).

Car - no. It’s really not important here. I can’t even drive.

College fund - no, but her Grandmother has some money put by and she’d most likely get scholarships anyway.

Retirement fund - only the government one, which isn’t much at all. This is the main reason I’d like to own a property.

Healthcare - universal health care.

Family vacation - we have done a couple of these and will be doing one next year too.

49

Do you guys have some sort of state retirement pension in the US, that you automatically pay into with your taxes and get whether or not you have a private pension plan?

50

Yes - it is part of Social Security. The amount of pension you get depends on how much you paid into Social Security while working, but it can end up being significantly more than the UK state pension. If I start claiming Social Security at 65, I will get about $24,000 per year whereas the full UK state pension is currently only £95/week, which is less than $8,000/yr.

And following the link in your other post I see that the little 2-bedroom flat I owned in North London is worth about as much as my 5-bedroom house on half an acre here.

51

Cool, I thought that might be the case.

TBF, there are a lot of top-ups available for the UK state pension (income support and housing benefit), and of course you don’t have to pay anything at all for healthcare, so it probably works out about the same - as in, the state pension is actually not all that great.

52

  1. Home ownership. Yup, the bank owns it, I pay the mortgage.

  2. Automobile ownership. Husband has a company car.

  3. College education for your kids. Kid is two years old. I’m saving for him, though.

  4. Retirement security

  5. Health care coverage
    4&5 are standard provided in the Netherlands.

  6. Family vacation. Sure, once or twice a year. We have lots of vacation days.