The "squeezed middle"

[kaosmark2]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/10812086/I-make-120000-but-I-cant-recall-the-last-time-we-went-out-for-dinner.html

I'm sure everyone is riddled with sympathy...

[kaosmark2]

How about these three paragraphs:

“The squeeze has really hit me and my family. Even though we have a reasonable income we have had to economise, swapping Ocado deliveries for trips to Tesco, never changing our cars or going on city breaks. I can’t remember the last time we went out for dinner,” says Guy Jackson, 53, a financial compliance officer in the City, who lives in Farnham, Surrey, with his wife, Sharon, 50, and their sons Tom, aged 17, and Harry, 16.

Much of Jackson’s £120,000 basic salary – which is at the upper end of the Squeezed Middle – goes on his sons’ school fees. The boys attend Lord Wandsworth College, the independent day and boarding school that counts rugby legend Jonny Wilkinson among its alumni.

“The boys are flexi-boarders, so they stay at school on various nights of the week,” says Jackson. “Annually it’s costing £45,000 after tax, which is a considerable outlay, but I’m happy to pay because I want them to have the best start.”

Edited May 7, 2014 by kaosmark2

[kaosmark2]

I think this line is what pisses me off most:

"But the trickle-down economics central to wealth creation is only effective if benefits accrue to every stratum of society."

Trickle-down economics DOESN'T WORK, it's been proven time and again.

[Babyquack]

I would find that article comedic if these 'squeezed middle class' didn't sound genuinely serious that on a £120,000 salary they're struggling. It's insulting and very infuriating to say the least.

[kaosmark2]

I think the last line is one of the most insulting:

“But with taxation at its current levels and the rising cost of essentials, it is quite difficult for people like me to maintain our standard of living in the current climate, and that is a worry.”

Firstly, as if taxation is a bad thing, and secondly, their opinion about essentials and standard of living....

[Babyquack]

You're completely right. Those who can afford higher taxes will always be the ones arguing against it more loudly.

The fact he spend £45,000 after tax on his kids' boarding school is horrendous. This is clearly a family trying too hard to be higher class as if it was a good thing to be.

I'm not sure I'd even classify them as the high end of the middle class when I count my own mother and father as being that and they earn less than half what he earns alone.

[feral chile]

Yes, while it's those with no assets and little or no disposable income who really feel the squeeze, as rents increase along with utility bills and food bills.

[feral chile]

Well there is relatively little difference between the people who you would call the squeezed middle and below... Similar levels of disposable income and similar abilities to shoulder storms.

[feral chile]

I wasn't talking about the idiot in that article but the more normal middle classes. The growing use of food banks by people in the middle classes is telling and backs up my point up. They are choosing between heating and eating in some casses . That will grow if rates go up. Low mortgage rates have kept this issue at bay and simply downsizing has largely not been an option due to negative equity. In some of these cases renters have more options than house owners. They could downsize for example much more easily.

Edited May 7, 2014 by feral chile

[Babyquack]

I don't know what help there is for people who are buying their house these days - it was horrendous in the last recession. Mortgage lenders made very little concessions, you couldn't get Housing Benefit or much help with benefits, and if you sold your house you didn't qualify for social housing. So there was nothing you could do to slow that slide into potential homelessness if you lost your job.

[LondonTom]

My heart bleeds for them not being to eat out while paying for private school >_> What utter c**tbags!

[Babyquack]

That is nothing new though...

[Babyquack]

I missed the "late" 20s bit...

Do they have jobs ?

[Guest]

That is nothing new though...

Edited May 8, 2014 by tonyblair

[lost]

I smell BS.. looking at the guys linkedin I'd say he's a contractor with no holidays or say 2 weeks off for Christmas I'd make his rate £480 a day if he's claiming £120k a year.. Personally wouldn't want to be stuck on a £350k IO mortgage at 53 if that's the case.

[eFestivals]

FFS... They are NOT the squeezed middle... Cheeky c**ts!

I would say the "squeezed middle" are the families with half that income...

yeah, cos those on £60k pa really have it hard.

Some people need to return to planet earth. You're no less detached from reality than our glorious leader.

[t8yman]

People like those in the article really wind me up. If they are the squeezed middle - we are dirt poor. Our combined income wouldn't pay for his kids education, and I run my own business and work 6 days a week. My daughter has worked since she was 14. I'm not crying about what we have, but I certainly dont feel the need to keep up with the joneses and send my kids to private schools. And I bet the people in the article dont go on holiday to self catering places on the med either, nor will they miss their annual trips to chamonix or val d'isere.

My heart bleeds.

[russycarps]

FFS... They are NOT the squeezed middle... Cheeky c**ts!

I would say the "squeezed middle" are the families with half that income...

[eFestivals]

You are either deliberately trolling or a cretin. Which is it?

It's Barry, which one do you think?

Barry thinks it's every person's human right to have three foreign holidays a year, and thinks he's being unfairly penalised because his child benefit was cut.

[eFestivals]

Well I was talking family income... Presuming two people earning around £30k each. I would of thought that was the average middle...

PMSL.

Yep, as in-touch as Dave Moron.

[eFestivals]

I have never had three foreign holidays

then you bullshitted when you said you did.

and I supported the child benefit cut...

and moaned like fuck about how you were being unfairly penalised.

[russycarps]

Well I was talking family income... Presuming two people earning around £30k each. I would of thought that was the average middle...

[eFestivals]

I have never had three foreign holidays and you will never find a qoute to back your lies up.

only because most of the 2010 posts have been deleted. ;rolleyes:

You said it. I've been saying it back to you ever since, and only now, 4 years later, you say for the first time it's bullshit.

But never mind. You believing £60k is the average household income makes you look plenty ignorant and self-aborbed.

[lost]

So what family income do you think the average middle class family has ? I am losing what point you are both trying to make.

.

[eFestivals]

So what family income do you think the average middle class family has ? I am losing what point you are both trying to make.

that depends entirely on how you define middle class.

If the average personal salary is £26k

That's the mean average, which is a distortion of what "average" suggests in instances like this. It implies that's what the average person experiences, when it's not - it's massively distorted by the high earners.

The median average is about £21k - about £1k lower than it was 5 years ago, as it happens. This is what the average person experiences.

There is nothing "average" about the numbers you're mentioning.

Edited May 8, 2014 by eFestivals