Apr 9th, 2008
Settling for middle class is cowardly
There have been a couple articles lately on “middle class” that have caught my attention. First there was the discussion thread on the simple dollar, and then Mrs Micah wrote “Whats Wrong with being in the middle class.” So am I just a gigantic jerk?
Maybe but let me explain. My beef is not with being middle class: I am middle class, my friends are middle class, and my family is middle class. My beef is with “settling.” For anything. My beef is with the idea that “middle class is good enough so I am going to settle for it.” I am not including people who choose to live to live in middle class or live their lives in middle class. To many people money is not a priority and thus they do not apply here. I am talking about people who settle because they do not want to try. That is cowardly.
Success in life can only come from truly apply yourself to all things that matter to you. Everyone says they want to succeed in life but very few are willing to push themselves and do what it takes to achieve their goals…this is why two twins can be separated at birth and be raised by very similar families but one will succeed and one will fail.
I would hate to think on my death bed “boy I settled with my life.” I want you all to think of more than just financially, though I don’t think you should settle financially either. What are the things that are important to you right now? Are you settling on any of them? I’m not talking about situations that are outside of your control, I am talking about things within the sphere of your control. Are you spending $50/day when you could be spending $10/day? Could you be going to the gym regularly but haven’t? (my current point of action that I need to take - get back into a regular workout routine).
We live in America, which means you have unlimited opportunity. Take advantage of it.
- 2 Comments
- Motivation
Here’s the thing, Jesse. My passions come from things that aren’t always directed towards money. Like quilting, I have a passion for making quilts and giving them away, particularly to hospitals. If I focus most of my time and efforts on getting rich, that leaves me less time for quilting. Or other things I love.
That passion isn’t exactly a big moneymaker. And even if I have talents that can earn me more, they’re not my passions.
Maybe someday I could quilt when I’m rich, but rich is never rich enough and maybe I won’t last until someday.
In my book, getting rich at the expense of my passions when I can be comfortablely well-off and enjoy them instead is a wasted life. It would be cowardly to be too afraid of being middle class to do what I want.
Now when I say middle class, I mean debt-free with a comfortable retirement account, etc. Not middle class in debt with no prospects for the future.
At the same time, if someone just wants to be lazy…well it depends on what they mean by lazy. If they don’t want to work more than 40 hours a week so they can do something they love, that’s cool. If they don’t want to work more than 40 hours a week so they can lie around the house…that’s their choice, but maybe it’s not a good one.
I really don’t know what middle-class is anymore. I have a friend who is a partner at a large CPA firm. His wife is a school superintendent, and I know her salary is $140,000 (school employees salaries are public where I live). My guess is that he makes a similar amount of money. They have no children, and live a very modest lifestyle.
He and I were golfing the other day and he referred to himself as middle-class. I thought ‘what’? ‘You and your wife are making near $300,000 and you are middle class?’ Obviously, I didn’t say that, but I sure did think it.
I thought I was middle class making $104,000/year. I suppose I’m lower middle class now. Sigh.