Searching in vain for a better paying job.
If I had only 500k right before I was to retire, I would be scared to death. That certainly isn’t much to live on, for me and my wife, if I was hoping for 30 years.
…the Hell you say! You are mixing together TWO issues
First, I dunno what else was in the ad, but from “having investments of $500K or more” it does NOT necessarily follow that the entire wad is “greed money , money they’re letting “work for them,” usurious sin money, money “on the side” that they don’t even need, the money that’s left over after their needs and then desires are met”. It may be the money needed to cover needs and desires in the future. As a whole bunch of people here have already mentioned, what if that’s the amount of your retirement fund, and you are someone who is NOT vested in an old-style defined-benefit pension? Newsflash: most people who have entered the workforce since the 90s, even in the public sector, are in a defined-contribution retirement plan, a-la-401(k) and thus their retirement fund is NOT a guaranteed pension but as much a managed-investment account as one I might open after a hugely lucky day at the horse track. I see from your prior posts that your thing is not so much about existing on some sort of postmodern subsistence level but some some sort of nonrational concept that passive income is intrinsecally immoral, but really, do you expect everybody to go around just scratching by on a postmodern subsistence level their entire lifetimes until they drop dead?
An entirely* different * issue is the vague, fluid, ad-hoc definition and generalized abuse-into-meaninglessness of the term “middle class”. Yes, that’s a major annoyance but there’s not much I can do about it except try and look at the big picture. From your examples, the guy building the mansion in place of the old apartment houses thinks of himself as middle class because he’s not building the Trump Tower, but he’s definitely upper-crust by your community standards (… BUT, then again, maybe he’s also heavily leveraged, and subject to losing everything down to and including his dick if one or two things go badly, and it reflects on his thinking himself down). The family with the unused bedrooms is just an example of someone with a big house, so what? Are you saying having more house than exactly covers your needs makes you some sort of magnate? Someone can be land/house rich but cashflow poor. I’d be willing to bet they ARE middle-class by the classical definition. George and Laura? OK, that’s a good joke. IMO the Prescott-Bushes are only “middle” class if compared to, say, the Astors at their peak; but then again what real blueblood would want to say W is in his same class? So yeah, I’d be all for getting some sense of proportion back into the notion of what is rich, poor and middle in this society (I mean, really, someone makes slightly less than A-Rod or Tom Cruise, and claims to be a mere working stiff? He can blow me! But, meanwhile, some putz is going to accuse anyone who can pay on time the loans required to put an above-median-price house over his children’s heads, send them to college and drive a nice car, and save away someting for a civilized retirement, of being some sort of bourgeois parasite? Fuck that, too!) but I have no idea how to go about it.
Math time! $500,000 at retirement, let’s say age 65. If you need $50,000 to live per year, you only get to live 10 years before you’re broke. Can you live on $25,000? Hey, you get to live 20 years, score! My not-rich farmer grandfather lived past 100. If you’re that long-lived, at what year will you be in the gutter because you’re flat broke?
“But.”
Yes, I agree. I will have at least that by retirement time (like $350K now) and I am nothing like rich. I can’t even afford to buy a home.
Ferret Herder: Annuities. That $500K @65 would likely yeild $3,500.00 a month for life. That’s $42K/yr, + Soc sec. In fact, that and a small real pension is what I am looking at myself, except it’ll be more like 62. So, $500K in a 401K is adequate for a single dude, maybe even “nice” if they live in a cheaper region (Silicon valley is expensive).
Good point, I’m fighting a migraine atm and am not at my best. However, that’s for a single guy - and of course you have to hope you’re in good health for that time. It’s better to plan for more!
Haha, you’re poor.
Also, this is a great example of the true thought process that lead to Communism as an ideology. “I’m poor, and don’t like it!!!” Cry me a fucking river you big baby. Were you made when someone had a nicer bike than you did growing up too? Or a cooler pair of shoes?
I actually kind of get where VCO3 is coming from. When I was in my early 20s, I had a salaried job that would have averaged out to about minimum wage if I had averaged it out across 40 hours a week. Of course, since I actually had to put in about 70 hours to get all my work done, it averaged out to much less than minimum. I was so naive, I thought having a salaried job was the big time…little did I realize how much I was getting screwed. But, it didn’t matter to me…the economy sucked and I was lucky to have any job, so I wasn’t about to complain. At that time of my life, if anyone had told me that I ever would be in a place where I wasn’t living paycheck to paycheck, I wouldn’t have believed them. I basically figured I was a permanent part of the underclass. It sucked, and I was a little resentful myself of people who seemed to have it easy (and, hey, some people do…I realize that, but I’ve become more philosophical and don’t resent it anymore).
But, a weird and magical thing happened. Over the years, I stuck to one career (even though sometimes I hated it), worked a lot, and really got pretty good at what I do…and it paid off. I now make a decent salary, and even better than that, I am generally fairly well respected in my field, so I don’t have to worry anymore about punching a clock or having managment hassle me. While I was doing this, my husband and I squirreled away as much cash as we could. (And guess what, VCO3…a lot of times, that meant foregoing our wants. If you think everyone with 500 grand in investments bought everything they wanted FIRST and then started saving, you are sadly mistaken.)
Now, I know you have said before that you aren’t into material stuff, and you don’t work a lot of hours because you want time to pursue music & other stuff, and that’s cool. It’s all about choices. I passed by a lot of other stuff I would rather do in order to put the time into work that I needed to so I could have a hope of being comfortable in my old age. I’m sorry about that sometimes…I’ll never get my 20s and 30s back now, you know? So I’m not saying you have the wrong priorities, necessarily, I’m just saying that there are consequences, and you are going to have to accept them and not blame the rest of the world for it.
It’s pretty simple. He’s young and is thinking idiot young person thoughts. When he get’s older, his views will change.
I’m not, by the way, suggesting that all young people have idiot thoughts. But many do.
The parents of a methodist girl I dated used to say that you weren’t rich unless you could screw around in several unused bedrooms at the same time.
VCO3’s perfect match on this board is that poster who was convinced she was dirt poor despite having a sizable investment nest egg, and who shares his inimitable combination of hostility and confusion. Can’t think of her name, but she is currently raising Internet consciousness in darkest Africa.
Oh, now that’s just mean. 
Hmmm. I got four kids to get through college, and Univ of IL is hard to get into so likely its provate college for all three. IF I ever retire (I may not, I like what I do) it would be in about 15 to 20 years. How much should I have put away?
But to the semblance of a point - since the “class” above “Middle Class” is often considered “Capitalist Class” or “Rich” and most of us think of Bill Gates or at least someone who never has to worry about getting the bills paid when we think of that, then few of us want to think of ourselves as anything but Middle Class. Including those of us who have well funded the kids’ 529’s and our own 401Ks and still have some to invest in a more speculative way “on the side”
And hey, nice gratuitous use of the rich Jewish American princess stereotype.
What’s the difference between VCO3 and a large pizza?
A large pizza can feed a family.
Wait, do real estate investments count towards your “investments”? Does the equity in your mortgage count towards this “beheading” total?
Because if it does…
::Looks at VCO3’s location::
Hokay, bro – what kind of home should a “middle-class” Chicago family be allowed to own? A nice 3-bedroom house in a nice neighborhood is going to be in the $400k range, at least. (And one-bedroom condos in millennium park start at $650k!) Are middle-class Chicagoans not allowed to be home-owners in your universe?
Does AM Catholic radio ever have any shows? Or is it all commercials all the time?
Is FM Catholic radio disco?
pat
There’s a bigger issue here I think. Very few Americans are willing to identify themselves as upper class or even working class. What’s so special about being middle class?
Marc
They wont have their heads chopped off.
Awwww shucks. Baal was close, but Mammon would be the more appropriate deity for your ludicrous but hilarious rant.
You also forgot interest…Online savings accounts can get up to 5% nowadays, but even if they go down you should be able to get a decent (2-3%) rate on a CD.
I am paying for my needs and wants. I need and want to not have to do this shit when I’m 65.