Middle-Class Broke

Despite what you may hear online about 10x and getting rich, most people crave financial stability.

Sure we’d all love to win the lottery.

But I think most of us don’t want our life’s purpose to revolve around money. Instead, we want to remove money from the equation so we can focus on our purpose.

I promise you that’s a realistic dream. But, if you’re doing the same things as everyone else, you’ll likely fall into some of these categories:

• 27% of adults have no savings

• 77% of adults have debt

• 80% of people aren’t happy with their job

• And more than half the country is just unhappy in general

I’m going to let you in on a theory I have that’s driving these statistics.

What is the Middle-Class

The middle class is shrinking. There is data to back it up. It’s gone from ~60% to now 51% of Americans that fall into that bucket.

But what is this bucket? A feeling?

The middle class is defined as a household that makes between 2/3 and double the median household income. And it can vary.

You might be considered middle class across America but step into a high-cost-of-living environment and you might not be. And vice versa.

The median household income in America right now is about $80k which means to be considered middle class, you’d need to be making around $53k to $160k.

If that’s not you, stick around this community longer. What you think about comes about and what you focus on grows.

Does The Middle-Class Stand A Chance

It’s hard to say what the future holds. But, call me crazy, I’m a relentless optimist when it comes to my future. I don’t want to live in a reality where my future isn’t better.

And hopefully, you want that too.

We have a lot of factors against us right now in the economy, but I think the greatest challenge is that we want it all. And businesses know it.

These marketing agencies have painted a false reality that we don’t have to wait, that we shouldn’t have to wait, it’s actually our right to have whatever we want right now.

Amazon packages will arrive tomorrow.

Your favorite meal in the next 30 minutes.

Can’t figure out the answer to something Google it in 3 seconds.

And I don’t want to gloss over the fact that inflation is real and housing has gotten out of hand, but I also want to call out that Consumer Spending is also out of hand and you have more control over that.

This chart shows consumer spending year over year and factors inflation into the numbers. If you factor in some population growth, we’re spending 13% more even factoring in inflation.

All I’m trying to say is that today’s generation may have been dealt a crappy hand of cards, but they’re also just playing the game wrong.

Middle-Class Dichotomy

And so within the middle class, we see a huge dichotomy. Those who overspend and those who don’t.

Middle-Class Broke vs Middle-Class Rich.

In the book “The Millionaire Next Door” they are defined as “Under Accumulators of Wealth” and “Prodigous Accumulators of Wealth”. (Prodigous, what douchey word to use).

Basically, those who can maximize the hand they were dealt and those who played the game wrong.

And it’s not a game of luck. One of the things I like about the calculation they use in the book is that they compare net worth to income. So you could make very little and be a PAW and make a lot and be a UAW.

You're an under-accumulator if your current net worth is half the Target or less. If it’s more than double, you’re a prodigious accumulator.

One of the top five careers of millionaires is teachers according to the largest study of millionaires conducted by Dave Ramsey and his team. Income is certainly the greatest tool for building wealth, but you can live a wealthy life without a high income.

One of the things that pisses me off more than anything right now is the hopeless narrative. Because it’s much easier to throw in the towel and give up on financial stability when you don’t know what you’re playing for. When the future seems uncertain or hopeless.

What I Want For You

Obviously I’d love to hear that you’re already a Prodigious Accumulator of Wealth.

Realistically if you’re not, these are some things that you can accomplish by the end of this month to avoid being middle class broke.

1 - Write down your ideal day - Be as detailed as possible. Where do you wake up? Who are you with? Maybe you haven’t even met him or her yet. What do you spend your time doing? How are you making money? Do you need to make money? What are the hobbies you focus on? Everything.

Not only does this help you align your life to hitting a goal, it enables you to understand what you’re delaying gratification for. What you’re sacrificing for.

2 - Speak your vision to the world - Tell someone! Your partner, your parents, your friends. You can even tell me. You don’t need to tell them you’re plan or how you’re going to do it yet. I actually like to keep that part silent. But talk to someone about it. Doing that will make it more real.

Also, if you’re in a relationship, it gives you a chance to hear what your partners vision is. Hopefully, you can help them live their ideal day as well.

3 - Make a plan - Budgeting is easier than you think. Use my free spreadsheet to plan out your January spending. List out all of your bills and the things that you need to spend money on next month. It helps if you have a calendar in front of you. This will show you how much money you have left over for debt, investing, saving and spending on what you want. This will give you a goal to shoot for next month. It will also help you identify spending behaviors that are slowing down your goals when you reflect on spending at the end of the month.

If you can start here you’re going to build the right foundations to improve your financial situation and find stability.

As always, I’m here to help anytime!

Lastly, I haven’t announced this yet, but I’m working on getting a Youtube channel off the ground. This is still super new to me, but expect a lot more to come.