I am one highly educated person who is financially poor, I belong to the low societal class.
I did not go for higher education, and I am currently unemployed and dependent on family member.
I used to be on middle class of income (south east asia) 10 years ago, but apparently not now.
Count me in.
Iām in a class of my own, baby.
10-96
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I never identified with any particular social class myselfā¦Iāve considered and treated as equals the bums drinking in the cemetery on up to those from very wealthy familiesā¦I feel just as at home in low income housing as I have among the very wealthy. Mind you I am not about to go hangout down at the local country clubā¦Iād be a fish out of water there.
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I used to be an architect and received a degree in Architecture in 1990. I too am considered poverty level. I used to beat myself up that I couldnāt pursue my dream of being an architect but I did put a lot of houses on the ground during the time that I worked until I got sick in 1997 so I just thank my lucky stars that I had the opportunity to work for a while although I canāt work now. I am on disability.
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ehā¦never really thought about itā¦ but i would say low
lower middle class. My parents are lower middle class while the rest of my family is upper class. A little unfair feeling at times, my cousins all live in luxurious houses and go to private colleges and universities, study abroad, ect. while I go to a public university on an academic scholarship. But I have more ambition than they do, I have lofty goals and reek of some sort of napoleonic complex or something to do with being a poor runt. I am physically slight, the shortest male in my family so I lift weights and am clinically overweight but have very low body fat, most experienced weightlifters are clinically overweight.
I aspire to get a masters and then a doctorate, both in clinical psychology. That is a big lofty goal, but I am getting closer one semester at a time, with nearly perfect grades so far. Some of my cousins and my sister are less ambitious, just getting bachelors in things like accounting or film, but not all of them are like that. I am deadly serious about school, getting into clinical psych programs is harder than getting into some medical schools. They only want the very best candidates, and even my school, which is public, only lets in about 10 people into the clinical masters program every year.
There is some competitive air in the honors psychology classes. There have been a couple students who gave better presentations than I did. I was intimidated by this one super nerd who wore headphone on his neck while giving what was a graduate level research presentation.
But yeah I am lower middle class. I donāt really have many expensive things. I just got an Iphone for my birthday in June. I have a relatively small TV in my room and old video game consoles with just a few games, I sold most of my games about a year ago. I do have some really nice leather armchairs in my room, four of them, family hand-me-downs that I got my hands on, so I can have four people in my room feel comfortable, which I do every now and then. My parents do give me their credit card for things like fitness, they think that powerlifting gear and martial arts gear and training were healthy and they paid for that. They pay for my weightlifting supplements.
I sort of like not being completely spoiled. I mean there have been times where I get large gifts of money from my generous grandparents, they gave me 1k for graduating high school and again for my 21st birthday. They own a company and are multimillionaires.
Henry Rollins (old school lifter back in the day, also a musician) said- "Strength is a product of the struggle. You must do what others donāt to achieve what others wonāt."
I remind myself that making As in whatever classes I find myself in is my life and that most people, people who arent even mentally or physically ill, dont do what I do, which is make straight As, have a personal life with friends, family and dating, and be in great physical shape. Having schizophrenia just makes it taste even better.
My schizophrenic friend is also very bright and in the lower middle class, studying and working. He gets broke sometimes and I help him out, I was broke one time and he helped me out. He makes almost as good grades as I do, he has a 3.5 while I have a 3.9. You meet hard working people who dont take things for granted when you arent a spoiled brat who spends tons of money on drugs or booze or clothes or all three, whatever most of the rich kids I went to that international school blow their parents money on. I know plenty of kids who are just getting along in school, dont have plans for grad school, and party too much and spent tons of money on substances. I know a fair number who dropped right out of college.
This laptop is my most expensive possession. It was like 800 bucks. I wear clothes that are two years old, I bought my current wardrobe with the money I got from my grandparents for graduation, and I wear worn out converse sneakers every day.
I dont know how my parents pay for my therapy. It costs 125/hour and I go twice a month. They told me one time that they dont put a price on sanity, I guess they really meant it. I mean I used to be a ā ā ā ā mess.
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I have plummeted the social scale due to social drift .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drift_hypothesis
I would be an E http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/class_survey.shtml. My father who retired from the diplomatic service with an equivalent rank to a top level brigadier and who has an entry in ā Whoās whoā is an A.
My brother who was out of work for decades due to a physical problem is a D/E whereas my sister would be rated a B.
I think I qualify as an A. (Hole.)
10-96
haha that is a nice pun!!
I deeply admire Henry Rollins, Black flag and all. Heās so articulate and so underestimated. People look at his punk antics and just think, āburnt out old punk, dumb musicianā But then they have a conversation with him, and he is beyond impressive.
As far as class? If you ask my brother, heās a surfer. That is itās own class, religion and set of ideals.
I never think about what class I am. Iāve met some amazing people who are considered ālow classā Iāve met some horribly selfish and evil people who are considered upper class.
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In my city there are mixed classes. My family is probably the lowest class there is, but I am planning to help them with that and possibly get some way other than my disability to contribute to the family unit. My parents say that I am doing enough, but I know Iām not, itās just the fact I was in the hospital contributing. I want to do something about it so my mom wonāt have to work so freaking much 
Iāve managed to maintain a middle class level, but then Iāve been able to stay working in a professional environment (software engineering). Iām saving and investing while I can for when/if I will be unable to work
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I belong to the over-educated middle class of America, the class of life-long learners.
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My husband makes about $400,000 a year as a lawyer. I think that makes us upper middle class, but Iām not sure. We donāt have much fanciness in our lives at all though because he wants to save money to retire early.
I grew up middle class, but now I am in the low class. I was taught not to be materialistic when I grew up, so I donāt worry about it.
Iāve been able to save money because since I got sick at 18, I never knew how long I would ālastā at a job since I had to switch schools 4 times before I was able to graduate. I pushed myself very hard because Chemistry was hard but I knew I had to be one. I would always be afraid I would be jobless so I never spent more than I make and save maybe 20 percent in case of problems.
Iām Ok with low stress and God has allowed me to find jobs I can handle. These days I donāt deal with people too well but I work in the lab with my machines and can talk to people by email!
The biggest thing is never be a slave to credit cards. If you donāt have the money in the bank, you canāt buy it. So I save up for things sometimes for a long time before I can get it.
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