re: Have any of you baws moved up a class in your life?

While I could have had it easy in college because my parents are fairly well off, I refused to live off them. The only thing I let them pay was my cell phone because they insisted.

So I was a poor college student and it took about 2 years of working not that great jobs after graduation before It finally hit me that I wasn’t poor anymore. And every year it gets better.

Last year, except for student loans and mortgage, I became completely debt free from awful mistakes I made right out of college. It’s like a weight of the world off my shoulders. And I’m only looking ahead to move up in the world even more.

I fought and struggled to get where I’m at. It wasn’t always easy but it’s possible. And I’m still not satisfied.

That’s why I have no sympathy for welfare lifers. It’s not the system or anything systemic. It’s them. And only them.



ETA: My MiL is a weird case. She’s divorced and makes close to a 100K a year, lives in a cheap rent house, buys old second hand vehicles, and always has money issues. She comes visit and is in awe of how we live. I don’t understand it.

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I guess I have. I was raised in a middle class environment, but was lower class when I moved out on my own.

The test in the other thread has me at upper class income, but this is interesting.

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Among all American adults with your education, age, race or ethnicity, and marital status, 40% are LOWER income, 52% are MIDDLE income and 8% are UPPER income.

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What I did to get there is work hard and have a good attitude at work. That led to promotions. Away from work, I found ways to work for myself.

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Didn't commit crimes. Didn't have kids out of wedlock.

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It's really not hard to not be poor in the US. Add in graduate from HS and get a job and you most likely will not end up being poor.

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It's really not hard to not be poor in the US. Add in graduate from HS and get a job and you most likely will not end up being poor.

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It's true. Check out the Brookings Institute research on this:

LINK

I went from being born into a dirt poor redneck family living out of a beater single-wide in the middle of the woods, to graduating college, working up to a six-figure salary in a field I thoroughly enjoy, and marrying into trust fund old money. My outlook on life is looking good.

It’s easy to move up....

Don’t get married, or marry someone wealthy.

Don’t have kids.

Don’t do drugs.

Work.

Save.

You’ll be shocked how much money you can accumulate if you do this.

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Have any of you baws moved up a class in your life?

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Not one but several. I was poor growing up. Free lunch, medicaid, canned government meat, food stamps, government cheese poor. I remember vividly being in the school lunch line with a different colored lunch ticket and feeling shame at my situation.

In junior high school I decided to change that and started working - at first the only job I could get was detassling corn. Now, if you have ever done that you know what a sweaty, dirty, nasty job that is. You are up early, work in the fields, and get home exhausted. That was my summer for 2-3 years. Once I was 14 I got another part-time job during school and just kept adding jobs and experience. By my senior year I was making more than my teachers.

I know this because my science teacher was talking about how important college was to success and at the time I was thinking I wouldn't go to college (none of my older siblings had graduated high school, let alone went to college and we were far to poor to afford it I thought). Anyway, he and I got into a discussion on the merits of college and income and I popped off that I was doing "all right" already without a degree and one thing lead to another and we got pay stubs out. I beat him once you added up my three jobs.

After graduation from high school (a semester early so I could get to work) I joined the Air Force mostly to GTFO of my home town. I knew the future was limited there. I spent 4 years in the Air Force doing things and learning things that really taught me more than college could have at the time. When I left the Air Force - a decision I regret every day of my life - I went to college, got a BS and then went back and got an MBA. I am now a moderately successful Investment Banker that on an average year makes a good living and on the good years makes an amazing living. I have been places I didn't even know existed growing up, have met 3 presidents and can walk in access to several senators and congressional members. My kids attend one of the best private schools in the DFW area and think a "bad" year is when we don't get to go the the mountains during the summer.

So yeah, the American dream is attainable, and I hope to preserve that dream for future generations.

I grew up with a single mom who didn't finish college and an absent dad. We lived in poverty and very poor. I worked my arse off to ensure I didn't have to live that way when I grew up.
Even as an adult, I've still moved up in class. With my degree, I had kinda peaked unless I changed industries. I took a different job at a $20k pay cut, but I knew that path had a much higher upside. I've now nearly tripled what I was making 5 years ago and still have room to grow.
So yes, I went from below the poverty line to the upper income.