Ok, I looked in the national institute of statistics, 90 percentile salary (not family income, but individual salary) is 50000 us dollars (38k euros annually). There is no much more detail, so I don’t know in which exact percentile I am, over 90. Median is 23k us dollars, and average 28k us dollars. The prices here however are not low, if Spanish go to NY for shopping. Real estate is so expensive that the majority of guys stay with their parents till 30. So I would say, middle class is shifted upwards in percentile in comparison with the US, and even being in top 10% does not mean I can call myself upper middle class, and buy a house on the coast, and other upper middle class privileges.
The best investors are the ones who can assess the value of a company/stock and only buy when the price is somewhere below that value - i.e. they buy bargains. This mindset is something that you can’t really turn off (see: Warren Buffett). I’d lose respect for a PM who rattled on about buying cheap stocks but then I find out drives a Bentley or something. I think it’s probably very normal for finance people who make a ton of money to spend like they are middle class. Personally I spend like I’m middle class because I am middle class.
The bonus compensation structure in finance naturally encourages people to live frugally. If 50% or more of your compensation is variable, you would probably spend less on regular expenses like mortgage payments, food, and entertainment. That’s the way it’s been for me, anyway.
I’ve just realized that people mix up middle class with median income. Not exactly. The simplistic and a bit outdated definition is that middle class is an educated layer of society as opposed to working class. Upper class which is normally 1% of the society are The Rich. Then there are The Poor, who are practically inexistent in the US, but in some countries this class can reach 80% of total population. As middle class in civilized countries is the majority of population, and in healthy societies such as the US it can be even 80% of the population, it is further broken down into low middle class, middle class and upper middle class. And it is basically the lifestyle that distinguishes these layers, and it is, as somebody mentioned, arbitrary. Say, as I understand it, upper middle class live in their own big houses, have home servants, join expensive private clubs, travel for holidays in business class and live in hotel suites, have one or two vocation houses on the coast, expensive but not overly expensive cars for different purposes or in different locations. There would be a low range for upper middle class, not as affluent as I described, but still quite comfortable financially. And the upper range as well, nearing The Rich
IH8FSA Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > cfa_gremlin Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > 1) I’m a reg at the town’s pub on weekends and > bad > > days > > 2) I’m client #9 in my locale’s spizzot > > 3) I trade on Wall Street yet I’m short and > hope > > all broker-dealers go belly-up > > 4) I can’t wait to go on youporn after work > before > > my fiance gets home > > 5) I love giving myself a dutch oven > > 6) I give my gas tank only $10 worth each time > as > > a bet against oil > > 7) I take bong hits to escape the agony of bad > > trades > > 8) I let it rip when I’m pissing in urinals > > 9) I think Paulson should be on America’s Most > > wanted #1 fugitive > > 10) I take my cat on walks cause he’s the > coolest > > cat right up there with Garfield > > 11) I live in my parent’s attic > > > > #4 is classic!!! check out pornhub as well meh amateurs… wide6.com the google of free porn sites including the ones mentioned above…
virginCFAhooker Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I tinkle on the garden instead of purchasing > expensive fertilizers. > > I use my laser printer to print currency when I’m > running low. I know someone who does the same… HIs name is Guithner. Except his printer is 4-tone.
When I’m not going out with anyone, I ask for free cup of water at mcdonalds instead of buying bottled at supermarket.
I’m a big believer that net worth determines your feeling of social standing, not annual income. A person with $3 million in the bank, no mortgage, and $40k in interest a year and is going to feel much more financially secure than someone making $200k pre-tax that has $120k in student loans and contemplating a purchase of a $600k home. The annual income statistics may be skewed downward by part-timers, semi-retirees (or even retirees?) on social security etc. Are they only full-timers? Many people here are young and just starting out. Given the high costs of living in a city alone, as well as inflated real estate costs, I’d be surprised to find too many people that feel truly wealthy even with great salaries.
you guys also have to consider the cost of living where we are working. BBs and lots of finance jobs (percentage wise) are in big cities, NY, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver, etc etc. The wages are higher, yes, but the costs of living are higher too. so while the median may be 52k those people are all not working downtown and paying 2.5 times more for a house with the same squarefootage than someone downtown. 60k in an avg size city may buy more than 80k in a big one, thats an important point to note as well. although the results of this thread arent surprising. Even though Im still in school I know in the finance industry that one day the numbers can look great and another youre down 25%, I have a lot of similar habits to the ones posted and spend very conservatively.
My salary is about 10K less than the median posted here, yet I would hazard to guess that 10k difference ends up being equalized by my relatively low cost of living.
^AM - isn’t Miami really expensive? I live in central florida and I find Miami to be considerably more expensive than Orlando or Tampa for example. If you are comparing Miami to NY then I can see Miami being somewhat less expensive. However, I never thought of Miami as a cheap place to live.
thommo77 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ^AM - isn’t Miami really expensive? I live in > central florida and I find Miami to be > considerably more expensive than Orlando or Tampa > for example. If you are comparing Miami to NY > then I can see Miami being somewhat less > expensive. However, I never thought of Miami as a > cheap place to live. Compared to Central Florida everything is expensive. I went to school in Deland. Miami is cheap to live if you know the local spots (coco grove, coral gables, brickell) however, South Beach is stupid expensive, like more than NYC expensive. Example, I got TWO drinks for a date and I (pina coloda and a corona) total tab + gratuity incl = 36.78. My rent is south of 1k/month and my electric hovers around 40/month. My commute is 7 miles and on the weekends I ride the moto which is a 2/month fil up @ 10 dollars. I don’t eat out much (ie. 1 or 2/week) and when I do it’s usually pretty good sushi ~ $100 meal. I guess I live pretty cheaply, but most of my cash get deployed at any one of the various night spots around here since I am addicted to going out.
That is interesting about your rent and electric. Great deal. I thought an apartment in Miami somewhat close to the financial district would be at least $1,500 to $2,000 a month. I guess it was my perception from visiting the area a few times that it was expensive. Thanks for the info - good to know.
Bump.
Where is Akanska and is mo34 dead?
I drive a Honda.
(Three guesses on the model. The first two don’t count.)
Mo34, Blast from the past.
AF used to be interesting. Now it’s just shitty English and people who don’t use the search function.
You’ve only been here for less than 2 years.
Zing
Lurked for a year or two before I opened an account. This thread and all the other revived dead threads + search function is enough proof no?