I guess my parents are middle class- they make about $160k. They both always have new cars, they have a nice house, they have travelled... paid for all of my sister's education so far and helped with mine... I guess it's perception though, they were doing pretty well, but we didn't live in a nice new house in the suburbs and they didn't buy me a car as soon as I was old enough to drive like many of my classmates
Holy hell, 160k a year sounds like upper class to me.
Shiiit. I'd have to agree.
I guess it depends on how you spend your money.
Well firstly, it's not like they've made $160K since the day I was born. My dad got a big promotion when I was like 14, my mom hit her salary cap, my dad does work here and there for a large medical company in addition to his job. So I definitely grew up middle class, I have no idea what they made then, and I only know what they make now because I went to accounting school for a bit and I do their taxes now. They've always had good jobs- nice but small house, they never had major money problems like my OH's family, but we just didn't have a lot when I was growing up that the 'upper class' people I went to school with had.
No pool, no luxury cars- and no cars for us.. no family vacations (my PARENTS have been to Europe, Florida, east & west coast of Canada, Japan), 1 TV in 1 living room that my dad neverrr let us 'have a turn with' lol, strict Christmas spending rules
($200 per kid), no dishwasher (they finally got one when I was 18).. no cottage, shared a bedroom until I was 17, we didn't have tons of clothes or anything... the vast majority of my classmates had all or most of the above.
Cost of living is also high here- food, taxes, gas, everything costs more in Canada I SWEAR
... they paid into RRSPs and RESPs, employee health benefits, so that is a fair bit of your salary too..