are you better off than you were 4 years ago?

I hope everyone is factoring in inflation and the fact that they are four years closer to death

Four years further away for having NEVER EXISTED.

33 is a relatively fortunate age to be in the current climate, a lot of people will have had years of experience of working in a boom, it's a fuck of a lot better than being 21 and trying to get a first job or being in your 60s and seeing your pension evaporate.

And crucifixion potential! Don't get INRIed my fren
xp

ppl in their 30s are overall in a better position but they're also the ones who bought the bubbliest houses

huh, update i just got fukn promoted

like just now?

deems otm

this thread makes me wonder if a) ppl talking in thread are more likely to be ppl who feel they're better off but that ilx as whole is not so overwhelmingly positive (poll results will indicate this i guesS) and b) if ppl who post on ilx maybe due to stuff like internet access / education / literacy better situated to do okay even in times of economic depression.

I was definitely thinking b; part of me wonders if an argument could be made that the actual real middle class is better off now than they were 4 years ago but the poor are worse off, although some of that is definitely tied to the myopia caused by my social circles.

Don't get INRIed my fren

this reads like an alternate lyric to "Jumper"

the actual real middle class ?

xps ya i mean i am actually better off than i was twenty minutes ago

All congrats Djp

xp

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZieBbZTY-RU/T94NvZTSRsI/AAAAAAAAC3g/OOOIdoq_0p4/s1600/and_wearing_shoes_middle_class_k_750725.jpg

the actual real middle class ?

as opposed to ppl making $250K+/year in their household or people making under $30K/year for more than one person who still get lumped into "the middle class" for political rhetorical purposes

yeah

in the uk ppl would describe the actual real middle class as ppl w/ $250K+/year in their household

in ireland it's anybody with a job who actually needs to work

No, the real middle class is the people in the middle. The UK average national income is something like £20k. People who want to define "middle class" as £250k+ are just playing semantic games because we have this stupid tradition of thinking of the "upper class" as being only inbred idiots with titles.

semantic games

in ireland it's anybody with a job who actually needs to work

― Randy Carol (darraghmac), Tuesday, September 4, 2012 2:15 PM (4 minutes ago)

so what about the ppl who made bank prior to 2k8 and diversified

ireland is ill suited to having its own native leisure class

they're all in portugal tbf

luséire class

Oh. I've just worked out who "Nilmar" is.

Another UK person here, but three years ago I bought a flat, which 4 years ago I would not have believed would be possible. And as WCC says the interest rate has been low for 3 years so my mortgage rates have been much cheaper than rent.

On the other hand, my 3-year bonus rate on the mortgage just ended, and things like food and bus ticket prices are creeping up faster than my pay. And I last went on a "proper" holiday, where "proper" means not just a long weekend in this country or visiting family in Ireland, in... 2006?

So I feel better off than 4 years ago but worse off than 3 years ago.

(Though really I have not had to tighten the belt, we still eat out and drink too much and get too many takeaways and waste money on shiny impulse buys and buy food which we don't even bother to eat before it goes off. Could really do with learning to budget.)

Oh. I've just worked out who "Nilmar" is.

feel bad for people who aren't as dumb as me - every few months I meet about a dozen new ilxors, it's amazing, all these new people. eventually people say "oh that's mark" or whoever but if I miss the thread where they say it I will literally never know

I seldom have a clue who anyone is if they change their username.

i have no idea who nilmar is, where is that one thread

four years ago: recently made unemployed from a job i was overqualified for
now: recently made unemployed from a job i was even more overqualified for

on the other hand, i am now more qualified and can fail on a theoretically broader set of levels

shit i actually thought it was nilmar honorato da silva

ikr

i have no idea who nilmar is, where is that one thread

he used to post as 'nude spock'

nilmar must be regretting that totally opaque writing style :(

congrats Perrys

<I>ppl in their 30s are overall in a better position but they're also the ones who bought the bubbliest houses</I>

37 now, didn't buy a house until I was 35, who's laughing now everyone else that's who.

$250k a year in their household is like £157k or so, that's a couple of people earning £75k each. That's a fuck of a lot of money for most people but if you looked at the lifestyle it provides, in the South of England particular, a lot of people would think "middle class" or "upper middle class". That says as much about costs vs standards of living as it does about British attitudes to class.

this thread makes me wonder if a) ppl talking in thread are more likely to be ppl who feel they're better off but that ilx as whole is not so overwhelmingly positive

Yeah, not that I'm not happy for y'all (it's genuinely heartening to see a confirmation that so many people are doing so well), but my 'hell no' is kinda sticking out like a sore thumb just now...

I'm just sad that "sort of? maybe? I guess?" was not an option.

poll only open to those that can access internet, shame on u iatee

oh, i'm 33 and will probably never be able to afford to buy a house. but i'm making about $20k more than 4 years ago, which may not seem big to most people, but it feels huge to me, working in the non-profit world where you are lucky to get a 3% cost of living increase. even though i'm using a large portion of that to pay off debts and still not saving anything. my credit card debt at least should be gone in the next 6 months and i should be able to start saving that money and direct more towards student loans. life is not so bad.

$250k a year in their household is like £157k or so, that's a couple of people earning £75k each. That's a fuck of a lot of money for most people but if you looked at the lifestyle it provides, in the South of England particular, a lot of people would think "middle class" or "upper middle class".

Most of my friends from college are earning at least this much (we certainly aren't, fwiw) and I would regard them all as "middle class" - not wanting to head off on that discussion, but I don't think class is hugely a function of salary. What else should I call them?

"The wealthy"

£75k puts you in at least the top 5% of the population, but the lifestyle that provides will still be presented to the country as a whole as "middle income" - that's how "aspiration" functions in the UK.

I'd have thought £75k would put you in top 1%.

Is that top 5% in London, though? I seem to remember that e.g. in Chelsea the average household income is over 100k (although that's probably the mean, and skewed by some ridiculously high figures).

Definitely not top 1%, even some years ago across the whole UK:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_in_the_United_Kingdom#Percentile_points_for_income_of_individuals_before_tax

my father-in-law started calling us one-percenters after we bought our car and I said "don't be silly, we're ten-percenters"; that got a good laugh

Hey WAU look at that gender pay gap. I'm so glad I'm a man. Oh wait.

If I'm reading this table right, then (assuming this is across the whole UK), it's probably top 4% of UK incomes, so... I'd guess top 10% of London incomes, maybe?

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_distribution/3-5table-feb2012.pdf

I'm assuming a big chunk of that pay gap is down to the types of jobs that women in late 20s/30s/40s often take to facilitate families.

wrong thread

And why do you think that's OK?

Even if it's true?

OK, no, this will just make me a screaming ball of fury if I carry on, and I'm not doing it at quarter to 5. Just... no.