🚀LIMITED TIME: Get 5 FREE stocks on moomoo (up to $175,000) and 1 free share of AMC if you deposit $100: bit.ly/3kpn5wa Follow me on IG for weekly personal finance, self-improvement and entrepreneurship tips: instagram.com/hivincentc! This is my ONLY IG account, please be careful of scam imposter accounts.
Hello, first time commenter. I really enjoy your videos but if I may give you some feedback. I’ve noticed a trend of sad emo faces or deadpan expressions for your cover photo. I don’t know if it is so compelling for people to click on selling negative emotions. Perhaps some more uplifting or positively reinforcing images. Just my two cents. Keep up the good work. 👊🏼
I’m really glad my parents were frugal growing up and I learned to save because of them. I really wish the education system would teach people how to be financially literate. Consumerism, materialistic mentality and inflation plays a big role too. I totally understand that it can be hard to live below means
There is the total opposite of that, which exist too. You can go the Dave Ramsey route, or, the route of many millionaires and billionaires. I personally think everything is a social construct, and it doesn't really matter. Once people realize this and realize their realities are more fabricated then they think, I do think people will elevate themselves. Best case scenario you'll work 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, which means you will have 96 days in which you can be 'free', meanwhile, 240 days you'll work, and on your 'free days' you'll probably spend time catching up on time you've lost to clean, or manage your life, which means you'd be lucky to keep half of those for days you TRULY enjoy. To simplify, lets say 50 days a year, not even 2 months. And if you calculate 50 days over 50 years, that's 7 years. Imagine that, 7 years of your life within 50 years you got to truly 'enjoy' life. Idk, I just think its sad. Working 43 years, to gain 7. Think about how miserable we are at our jobs, our lives, yet, we play into this reality day in and day out. I refused to play personally, and it led to big gains. Scrimping to save up money, struggling, working until you're 65, never having free time. People think what they have is so valuable because society said so, "Oh, my 5K savings is so important", "Oh, my credit score has to be perfect". It may lead to more stability over a long life, but stability doesn't = happiness. This leads people to take 0 risk and go the 'long' route instead of trying to play some risk and enjoy life. Like I said, its all social constructs, lets say you take a risk, you lose, you go bankrupt, yet return to 90% of that life right after the fact, same job, same pay, same saving strategy, same bills, then have you really lost much? Maybe a few years of progress or savings at most, your credit score takes a light impact which can be rebuilt over the years anyways, but in a picture of working for 50+ years, why do people think that losing 2-3 years of that somehow is such a bad thing? Honestly people think success is high risk high reward, when in reality, its exceptionally low risk and high reward, its only a high risk when you have something to lose, most people should realize they don't have much to lose. The more debt you have, the more important/successful you are, just look at any massive company or billionaire. The working class is playing the game wrong. This country has massive issues, and its not getting fixed anytime soon, so while the rules persist, people need to start playing the game differently.
My parents weren’t the same, I’m 20 now and a few years ago found out how easy it is to save at this point in my life with only a few bills. It’s really tough to change your mindset away from keeping only a couple grand saved but it would seem that with dedication/diversifying you’ll see results no matter who you are
Speaking of materialism, unless it somehow gets you into better connections/networking(like let's say clothes)... it's kind of just a waste. Some people have this mentality they must have nice clothes every time they are outside the house. But if it's not actively helping you in some way, it's just wasting money. Sometimes they're willing to even cut back on healthy food... to have those nice materialistic goods. You don't need to respond to this. I'm just rambling my thoughts.
I have some physician friends with terrible income debt ratio as they spent their first paychecks on a bmw and brand new single family home on top of loans. Some are making almost $300k annually yet still paycheck to paycheck
I believe they are one of the worst in handling their money. Making that much money and they don’t even end up in the top 5 occupations that make millionaires.
Middle class is now engineers, programmers, finance, and managers. It used to be unskilled labor, but the labor market demands more training and education. If the people continue to aim for the same factory/retail/service jobs then they would no longer be the middle class. Most middle class families now can afford what middle class could in the previous generation, it's just that the jobs that used to be middle class are considered lower class now.
An inevitable change though.. The real problem is that higher intellectual abilities are required for these new 'middle class' jobs than classical ones. The requirement will continue to rise as new technology emerges.
@@Gorechill it is sad that as society seems to make more money overall and advance in technology that inflation always seems to outpace household incomes. I'm curious as to why we couldn't advance technology and create all of the knowledge based jobs and still have left the people doing manual labor making a living wage. Why did everything get pushed down as opposed to lifted up? Yes now we have many computer programmers but we still have factory workers, waste disposal, welders, mechanics, carpenters, etc. that used to make "decent money". But once people started to realize that this new knowledge/intellectual based workforce was growing and they were all making $100,000+ a year that became the new standard. Anyone below that was basically living paycheck to paycheck. I'm not a history, sociology, or economics expert so I of course don't understand all the nuances of these changes but it would seem from the surface that you could create all these new high paying jobs, since they work at companies that made all these new billionaires, and still keep the "working middleclass" intact. But clearly I don't know what I'm talking about lol
@@KRYMauL Yeah skilled trades are. I gross close to 100k a year in the midwest as a diesel technician. And my girlfriend grosses close to that as an RN (I consider her job blue collar).
I learned from watching my parents mistakes. They both earned 6 figures at one point. They realized the “American dream” they were both immigrants that started businesses BUT they didn’t learn what to do with it. They just knew how to spend it. My mother killed herself 2 years ago after overspending her entire life and draining my fathers retirement account. I’m a business owner as well now since I was 23 And have been aggressively investing and doing everything possible to save money since. I’ve even chosen to be homeless to speed up the process. I’ve got 5 more months to hit my target timeline. And I’m proud to announce that I can retire at the age of 31.
@@lifeisabadjoke5750 assuming i already have a house and need not to pay rent, and i spend $20000 in California every year, to retire and not accounting for inflation, ill need at least 1.5 million to retire at 30 years old.
Totally agree with this man. It's been crazy seeing the world change as I've grown up with more and more "middle class" going lower on the totem poll and becoming more frustrated
Cause of technology. Info is very easy to access now. For example before very little people knew how real estate could make you rich unless you came from a wealthier family or your parents did it. Now that the secrets out and everyone and their mom wants to own real estate for easy cash flow cause they know it's not that hard as they thought.
I hope we all grow frustrated enough to force a change in legislation. I’d rather die then let my future descendants be subjected to such despicable standard of living and such LOW expectations of our own government to protect us from the Multi billion dollar industry’s who use us like pons day in day out until we’re dead and our kids can be substituted in to continue the endless charade of making them richer while we die broke.
I agree. And I attribute the death of the middle class to student loans. Imagine paying $200,000 for a piece of paper that gets you nothing. No receipt. No refund. Then be called lazy by the boomers for not buying a house.
@@S2K2121 engineering is worth a degree! Good on you. My best friend is the one with 200k in student loans. It was originally 150k but ballooned in ten years due to interest. She can only afford interest. It's not fair. I stayed local but still amassed 20k in student loans..paid it off. Never used my degree. Have a cool career now.
don't sign the dotted line. It's simple, really. I decided to go to a much cheaper school, the only one that offered me the most scholarships even if it wasn't "top-tier", so I would have the smallest amount of debt possible (and I was 18 at the time). The few loans I did take out? I read the fine print very, very carefully and, as soon as I could, I refinanced into a much lower interest rate. But you know, it's always easier to complain than educating yourself/becoming financially literate. it's time we take responsibility for our bad decisions and learn how to fix them. Again, how many people could refinance their student loans with really really high interest rate but don't? could look for short courses to hone/gain new skills, marketability, and vie for higher-earning jobs so they can pay them off? instead, they waste their time begging politicians for debt forgiveness...
I retired and moved to vietnam. You can live a lot better on a US middle class income when you move to Vietnam. My kids are in the US on the hamster wheel. I taught them the 3 things that keep them poor: 1. Home debt 2. Car debt 3. Loan debt (e.g. credit card)
Widening wealth disparities hurt everyone, even those at the top, and have a destabilizing effect on society. You’re right to point out inflation as a key factor to pay attention to. Most people aren’t aware of how it negatively affects less wealthy people so much
I agree the term “middle class” has definitely changed. I have friends who are making 6 figures and living paycheck to paycheck. And are always asking for money just to fill up their gas tanks. They are also heavily in debt trying to keep up appearances with cars, clothes, etc. it’s ridiculous how people spend money on materialistic things.
99% of people in this comment section are middle class derp. I love how videos like these try to victimize you so that they can sell you financial courses or get you subscribed to their channels. They're called grifters btw. Especially, videos from this guy who's like "How to make FREE money online". Do you all smell the bullshit or do you just want to feel more victimized? If you have a smart phone, hot showers and a PC that can play any game you want then you're probably middle class. Most families didn't even own a PC 20 years ago and the fastest speeds back then were 56k dialup. Middle class is defined pretty broadly across different groups of people in the first place. Average black families make way below average white or latino families. The wealth gap also has to do with the amount of new immigrants who've entered the country over the years as well. Americans just love to broadly label things because they have literally no understanding. But you can be like this guy who just tells you how bad your life is so that you can subscribe to him and he'll continue to profit off your misery. Or... you can actually do something yourself.
The property situation and assets in general have far out paced wages ,I’d prefer to own a home than a smart phone or gadget I wouldn’t call that much of lifestyle improvement from the 1950s were most people owned there own home
@@hamishfullerton7309 You wouldn't own a home WITHOUT a smartphone, internet or gadget. People keep talking about this 1950's bullshit middle class lifestyle. You realize that the majority of people today have better mental and healthcare than they did in the 1950's? If you got sick in the 1950's with measles, you were dead. If you had a mental illness, they were scraping your brains out with an ice pick. You don't get pills to treat your ADHD or depression. It's easy to live a 1950's middle class lifestyle though. Unplug your internet, throw away your phone and get a dog in a house with 900 square feet, because that was the average home size back then. Like I said, if you have hot showers, own a smart phone and got a PC, you are middle class. People are better off today than they were 50-100 years ago.
@@noire.blackheart I bet a lot of the people that make crazy statements about the middle class grew up in upper middle class or upper class households, didn't/don't realize or appreciate that, and when they fail to maintain or exceed their parents' standard of living they decide that must be what poor is like. They're the same people that graduate with 30k in debt despite last year's graduating class averaging a 55k starting salary and describe it as crippling. I blame their parents. People who lack the intellectual curiosity to look at some actual data to figure out where they stand on this sort of thing have been raised poorly. Which is probably how upper middle/upper class children find their way to being plain old middle/lower middle class adults. Really most of them have just been coddled by helicopter parents and are too mentally weak to function as adults. Then they just retreat to their social media echo chambers to have their weak peers tell them that they aren't the weak ones it's the system's fault.
That's actually happening all over the world. I see the middle class dying in Europe as well, with a very similar situation as you described in the video. Young people and entire families are living in constant debt not realizing it in front of fake possibilities to buy nice clothes and a cool mobile phone. And the renting has never been so disturbing as it is now.
The housing market in Texas is going bananas right now. Rural not usually desirable places in my area have houses with a little bit of land are going for $600k+. Rent is insane, single wide trailers going for $1500 a month. Minimum wage is 7.50 I think, but you’ll make like $9 at most places to start. Now I see places offering $11 an hour as if that’s worth it. I don’t know how people with no support system and kids can survive. The only reason my husband and our 3 kids are able to live comfortably is because of our parents resources we have access to.
Come to Seattle... $3k is a good starting point for a 2 bed apartment. Min wage is like $13-$14 and people are still having to put 3-4 people in those 2 bed apartments. Our parents generation set all this up. Blame them.
I was fortunate enough to have to withdraw from college during the recession. This led me to only amass very small student loan debt. Worked my butt off for almost 10 years to get my career grade job, without an education. Now just working on becoming 100% debt free. I was also grateful to have been able to purchase a decent priced investment property before CV19. Coming from nothing or from a hard place means it takes time, but don’t give up people.
@@VincentChan I combined my two best skills IT and Automotive work. I started as a technician in the Building Automation industry which is not broadly known by many, and it’s a great starting point for hands on and technical people who might not know what direction to head in. I have been in this industry for about 9 years now, and currently working as a Project Manager.
@@kenaultman7499 Some of us don’t have a cushion to rebound off of (not saying you do). The effects of a broken economy take a toll differently on everyone, and not everyone recovers quickly. I had to work full time to make ends meet, and help my family rebuild after loosing our home. Keep in mind my scenario was back in 2008 with the big housing market crash. It’s a bit easier today, even given our current situation. By all means I still suggest to anyone to attend college and at least give it a shot. Even with the debt, you can typically make a livable wage and pay it off these days. Also opens up doors quicker. I took the long route but that saved me from being part of the masses still struggling to pay debt, because of the lasting effects from 10 years ago.
Time is also a very limited resource for “middle class”. My partner and I are young professionals and each make above six figures but we don’t feel any kind of security at all. For example, having a baby would be a disaster, because we both have busy jobs and would have to put the baby in a 8-6 daycare, which sounds like terrible parenting.
@@leekh-a3933 It sucks. It's probably going to get worse in your area at some point. I have no idea why people are flocking to Florida. I mostly hate it here.
You are right. I was in the middle class and now 27k plus in debt. literally I can work in McD and make money. I'm literally losing my salon by the end of the month. and the clients are like work in the corner so you can still do my hair. oops, I'm done. I make more from my dividends than I've made in 4.5 years having a business thanks to high rents, transportation, products and high cost of operations. I went from low class to middle class to 'wtf' class. lol
yeah people keep saying you should start a business, in my small town in the UK a fair few businesses have gone under in the last few years, made way worse by COVID ofc.
@@BradleyCTurner you are so right. I got poorer having a business than a McD worker. It's like a pimp and wh$re situation. I can bring in about $600 to better week $750, then pay about $750 a week in rent. Currently behind in 5 months of house rent because of cost of business rent and operations. Covid just ruined alot and now they just increased the rent again last month and I was like I AM OUT.
Yo Vincent spewing facts left and right, as a college student (engineering) about to enter the workforce based in a large city, I feel this more than ever and it's frustrating beyond belief. I'm lucky enough to have no student loan debt, but thinking about owning a house even if I have a low 6 figure salary in my area seems damn near impossible. Now think about it, isn't housing or a place of permanence a "basic human right?" no matter how small or big. Why should people be paying near the mid XXXX range for rent? Besides demand, availability, and inflation I can't see the pricing out being too insane, there is something much more nefarious behind it. We need a whole economic/social restructuring, because younger and current generations are getting fucked over hard.
I remember fighting with my parents, teachers, friends, and siblings about me not going to college. I always thought it is ridiculous how much college costs. Luckily online college is far cheaper than actually going. It still is very expensive and I can pay for it by making an average of 23$ which is impossible for my age group. I got lucky working at a fast-food seafood place that gives me 13$ an hour plus tips which is about 10$ extra an hour I had to work 55 hours a week all summer this year to be able to afford an associates degree at my local community college with no government handouts since even though my family lives paycheck to paycheck my parents made to much to allow me to get scholarships or financial aid. I had great fortune when I found out my dad was a part of a union that provides free college. So yea the system is flawed. I only managed to not go into debt by great luck. If my father was not a part of the union and I worked the normal $15 an hour job I would have basically been able to pay for each year of college by each summer I grinded.
Ive come to the realization that if I have kids Ill encourage them to stay home and go to school and work as they build up their assets. Why try to move out and live broke and miserable just trying to prove you can when you can use the assets I have built to grow yours exponentially. They can get to the point of investing sooner in life by staying home longer. To be honest the only reason to be in a rush to move out is if your family is so huge it's not feasibly possible to build your own family in the same house. But it's like you said we have grown with a certain mindset and can't see a better way of doing things until it's too late.
@@KRYMauL in regards to working that's a given. I started working at 15 and know the value of working/building responsibility. In regards to school they can go to any they worked towards/qualify to attend. Applying for scholarships or going military to pay for school are good options. Just depends what route they want to take.
I was frugal. I saved for years. I didn't buy new cars or nice clothes. I saved enough for 20% down right when the market got hot. My 20% down meant nothing here in Denver. All cash offers are the new 20%. I have even offered to waive appraisals on properties and they still choose the cash buyers who are likely institutional investors over a single family potential buyer. All of the frugality and fiscally conservative actions over the last decade have been a bit pointless. It's very frustrating.
My relative got pay raises for being a perfect hotel worker. After 20 years, they realized their yearly raises in 20 years....allows them to make as much as a newly hired worker.
I REALLY wish you went into millennials and affordable housing more… I would love a deeper dive into the whole renters-sphere and how it’s basically a trap.
@@teaja211 You won't die homeless, and you're saying you don't want to live with your kids and make your grand kids a bunch of meal? That said there are plenty of affordable houses throughout the US, but you have to be willing to drive 1-2 hours out of the city.
I am impressed at the easy availability of financial literacy material available on youtube. SO thank you. The challenge is for younger folks to become more money savvy sooner in life. There was no need to in the past. Student debt really should be minimized or avoided. How? Home town communtiy colleges or trade schools and live at home or roommates. Then chose your home, whether renting or owning, carefully. Pick moderate to low cost of living areas early. Save your money. Opinion only. Don't count on the government to fix things.
I'm definitely part of the working poor. there's 5 adults in a 2 bedroom apartment, making it work as best as we can. We're all feeling the paycheck to paycheck thing.
People have forgotten that the middle class isn't just above destitution. They think because they're not in the process of starving that they're middle class. Can you afford a decent new suv? They cost about $50k for a used low mile one with a third row. New Tahoe with a few features is $75k now. Want it loaded up or in a Yukon so you can pull a boat, camper? Add another $10k. Can you even afford a little boat, trailer, and something to haul it around in? Can you afford a 1 month vacation for you and your family anywhere in the world every year? Have you had to budget groceries, medicine, clothing, new phone, etc? Do you have a retirement? Do you have disposable income to invest? THEN, YOU'RE NOT MIDDLE FUCKING CLASS! You are lower class!!! America is a third world country with a gucci bag.
Semi new fan, found your channel a couple of wks ago. You’re so good at breaking down these issues and making easier to digest and understand. Overall you’re very pleasant to listen to and learn from. Thank you for all the great videos!
I think the challenge people need to be asking themselves is, are you willing to forgo the satisfaction of appeasing others with useless materialism for the ability to be free later on in life. Most of our young generation might say yes but in actuality they will do no such thing.
Great discussion Vincent! Priorities and life goals have changed especially with HIGH student loans and poor income to debt ratios. We paid off $385,000+ in student loans and rent because the ideals (and tax benefits) of owning a home are not the same as they were in the previous generation.
I must be lucky, we are a one income household, I don't earn an insane amount, raised 4 kids, my retirement income will be very healthy, none of my kids incurred any student debt (with one to go), maybe living in Canada helps😁
Thank you Vincent I try to ignore this topic because it heavily angers me and I hope many others feel the same and strive to do WHATEVER it takes to see a change for us now and our future generations.
Interesting video. Reminds me of a Henry Rollins (Rock Star, musician, actor, comedian) interview where he stated that he recognized the middle class disappearing back in the 1980s. This sparked him to expand outside of Punk Rock and work in other industries.
Okay, so the content of this video is great! But I want to compliment you on another aspect of it... The information was not only top notch and the amount of research and preparation you put into it evident but the presentation was on point too. Let me also compliment your videography, color grading, sound and editing style. Oh, and also that smooth call to action at the end driving us to the next video! You have inspired me to put more effort and work into my own videos... I'm not trying to self promote here, just wanted to give a sincere complement where it's due, GREAT WORK! You earned another subscriber today!
Fantastic work with this vid. Really appreciate the narrative you're taking us on. It's preparing me to understand big vision global economic happenings, to understanding where I fit in the equation, to next, how to tell the truth and take action. I'm a business owner of 12 years, chose this path out of getting a physics degree. I was called to this path at a young age by listening to my deep knowing and intuition. Now I'm able to take dozens with me toward financial health. I see you doing the same. Sending blessings, brothers - thank you!
My mom always told me to save my money, which I'm glad she did. But that's basically all the financial advice I ever got from anyone. School failed us all for not teaching finance. I learned everything I know about investing, loans, passive income, and buying a house from TH-cam and that's sad.
Thank you for making these videos. I live in Finland and even though this video wasn't completely targeted at me I'm really thankful that you make these for people who really need these even more than I do.
Middle class is dying because of their own faults. My wife and I are 29, we make 150k a year together. She paid for her 4 year degree without taking student loans, and I went to community college and paid for it. I drive a 5k car and her car is 5 years old and paid for. We don’t do things flashy, we don’t get into debt besides our mortgage and our home is very modest in comparison to our income. It’s all about choices and behavior. Act your wage and live below your means!!
I agree that it's because of choices and behavior. But some people never learned, or don't know any better. Schools and government don't emphasize financial literacy (mostly I've learned over social media). And tbh school and half of college is damn useless, our tax dollars go towards a k-12 glorified daycare when most of the skills/better knowledge can be obtained online (in a shorter amount of time as well). So in short, yes, it's because of their "own fault" but also a big systemic issue.
@@robcanad Kids are not that expensive. We don’t plan to have kids but even in the event that we did, my wife can work from home and we don’t have to worry about child care. Or if she couldn’t work from home then we are in a position on PURPOSE that we could live off one of our incomes because we live well below our means. Once again, choices.
The middle class is definitely starting to get it tougher each year. Especially the students are suffering, I really hope that there will be some kind of turning point.
The graph showing the top earners earning so much more than all others combined is disheartening. We all know it to be evident locally. Upper management and CEO of Kroger, particularly, paychecks keep going up, but for most employees it hasn't gone anywhere, any especially not keeping up with inflation or standards of living. We wonder why no one wants to work, because working isn't even paying anything anymore for most. The government trying to pass a thing to audit people making more than 600 is fucking disgusting, instead of fixing the problem they're now criminalizing being middle/lower class. Have a side hustle because your work won't pay enough? Big brothers onto you.
the way capitalism and return on investment works, the upper class only becomes richer by exploiting the lower and middle class's wages and labor. basically they need them to work for less income while working to produce more services and goods so that shareholders can take the profit which is suppose to increase year after year. now you see why this model isn't sustainable for an end game society that is beyond just putting food on the table.
"There are only 52 weeks in a year." Yep. Kind of feels like these things should be provided by default, if everyone needs them. Why do we need to compete for healthcare?
Although I came from a middle income family, when we were taught about the stock market quickly (1 week) in a quick economics section, I became very interested in the concept of products I am interested in, and research anyways. So when looking at a PC magazine article on the iPhone, and then seeing one in the store, I knew it was going to be big, and would change the world. I took all of my extra money (I had a job at an ice cream store) and invested it into Apple, while learning all about the finances of Apple. Anyways, long story short, I own many, many, many stocks today (Tesla today - I bout it about 7 years ago). My job might be middle income, but my finances are seven figures. Consider a product that you like, and that’s going to be revolutionary. (The Tesla Optimus - there you go - I just gave a hint). Cannabis is becoming legal - there’s another. Right now, the economy is headed toward a recession - excellent, you buy stock at a fraction of the price. When the economy recovers, you are going to be doing very well.
Community college, come out as a plumber, electrician, mason, mechanic etc. Plenty of jobs if you are willing to put in the hours. Almost no student debt. The debt trap is those basket weavers and BA grads who go to university for 4 years with no goal and come out owing 40K USD+.
Also, housing is a mountain to climb. The government can print money on a whim, but cannot print land. Too many young people today are going to find it impossible to get into the housing market. And owning property is one of the benefits of a capitalist system that helps enrich the general population. But not lately, too many are being cut out from owning land. Could this lead to a future serf class?
1950s - 1 income supported a home, car, all expenses, whole family, vacations and you had a pension. 1970s - all the same as above but 2 incomes are now required (basically both spouses need to work). Side note, CEOs earned more but not the astronomical amounts more like they do today. 1980s - pensions go away and are replaced with 401k. 1990s - debt became the tool used to help support the “middle class”. Today - now 2 incomes and debt aren’t enough, a second job or extended family support is needed as well. So we entering an era where the norm will be extended families or multiple families living together just to get by. All this while CEOs and the top 2% hold more wealth than the majority of the rest of us.
I'm barely lower class (just scraping 24k/year), and about to attempt getting a second full time job to get out from under credit card debt that's mostly a result of car repairs and not having health insurance. I afford life by renting with my mother, but have no way to build any form of savings. There will be no retirement savings, I will never be able to afford a home, but rents will simply keep climbing. I try not to dwell on it.
Such a good video!! One of the biggest issues is teaching financial well being…we can “flex” all we want and be drowning in debt. I would like to believe based off my net worth, investments, and debt to income ratio I’m still in the middle class.
On SSI here, and way below the lower income avg. We get raises (or so they say) but what they don't tell most people is that when we get another a raise (say for example 20.00) they then come back and take even more out of the check for medicate (for example they give us 20.00 a month raise, then they take 25.00 out for Medicare)... So we are going backwards every year. How we'll survive in the years ahead I have no idea. But Im looking for some sort of work I can do via internet at this point.
It really sucks watching this happen, like my parents were pretty clear with the ammount wed need to earn as adults to be more or less fine, and watching over the past 10 years, its gotten dramatically less optimistic despite being on path with everything I had been told. a house i found 5 years ago for a school project is 6 times the price today.
I don’t have much sympathy for those with ton of student loans. I could’ve went to my dream school with 30-40k debt a year, or go to boring community college with most of the tuition paid with scholarships. I also worked at restaurant during school and of course I had to opt out on frequent parties and such to save time. I didn’t have that much fun at college, but now I have doctorates degree with no debt and make almost 6 figures. I see so many of my school mates who chose to go to expensive school with loans to have that premium college experience. Colleges are ridiculously expensive because people like you took loans out and paid. Colleges won’t be this stupidly expensive if there weren’t this many customers selling their souls to pay for them.
I don't even buy anything, just the stuff that will get me to get my job done from home at my parents place, groceries and I still have a network of -$60k and nobody wants to give me my desired salary because they don't think I'm worth that. I work as a freelance audio engineer (studio/live), lighting show designer, and briadcast director where I do get big checks where 90% of my checks are towards student loans. The other 10 percent gas, insurance, food and emergency funds.
Thanks for this video Vincent Chan! So much insightful information. It def feels like my parents had an easier time staying and being part of the middle class compared to me.
I couldn’t agree with this more. I loved how you made the point today the middle class spends money on things that make them appear they aren’t broke as they go broke. My wife and I are fortunate to surpass the threshold for “middle class” but consider ourselves lower middle class as the American Dream triples in price around us. It’s been a very long time since an American could have a house, raise a family, own a car and educate their children on a single salary of average skill and qualifications and that time is never returning.
I am a 1994 millenial in Canada. My father passed away when I was a kid & I inherited his small fortune but was smart enough to save it well into my 20s. When Covid hit, housing prices in my city took a plummet & I knew that first-time home buyer rules were changing soon to become even more difficult for us. So I took the opportunity to purchase my first home before the rules changed, which is actually a condo because I can't afford a single-family home that typically starts around $400k. Regardless, I feel VERY fortunate & proud to own my first home given the obstacles.
I was born in a poor family on the eastern border of Polland in the late 80s. Now all my siblings are adults and have kids, we all have flats(with a mortgage) Jobs that allow increasing balance on our saving accounts. That means even with a not-so-great start we ended really well. I think there are few points that differentiate European countries and the USA: - cheap and unrestricted access to medical help(we know how the USA medical system works). - cheap and unrestricted access to education (most of the European countries have paid from taxes or cheap education - compared to the USA) - good social security system(we have some homeless people, but nothing compares to the problem that the USA has). The future of the middle class indeed looks not so bright. Especially for the millennials. My generation was lucky and was able to grab a home/education and start the career as we were thought that if we want to have a good life there are opportunities. Now it looks a bit different.
Its not just America its happening all over the world. I have 1 kid, zero credit cards, zero debt and I'm only determined to be self sufficient as possible without going into debt. I drive for a local RideShare and is building my house slowly out of pocket with a rental unit attached. After that I'm starting up a car rental business and will get into trading i refuse to work a reg job or get into debt I did that already I learnt my lesson.
Great video Vincent! Its definitely a scary thought of falling behind with net worth especially as cost of living continues to increase. Do you think a recession would fix this or is this a runaway train?
I don't think a recession would fix it - it'll probably be the same as the 07 recession where it was the upper class who recovered significantly more than the middle/lower class relative to pre-recession levels
No, it's no longer depending from us to became high class. Cost of food, cost of energy, cost of things we need to just live, is getting higher and higher. And our wages are standing mostly still, or barely matching official inflation. I live in country where LPG prices increase over 40 percent by only few month, and in my city you can't heat your house using coal, or wood, you need to use LPG, or electricity - it price also goes up very fast. But official inflation is less than 5 percent. So we earn even less and less ( if we compare purchasing power) and it's not going to change.
Basically we are heading into a world like H. G. Well's Time Traveler, where there are only the Eloi (the super rich) and the Morlocks (the super poor), each living in their own world and still breeding.
This is the most inspiring and informative channel I ever watched. I admire his editing and narrative skills. I am currently a junior high school teacher and there are only few students in my 15 years of experience I know who can do this of deep research. I also know that his editing video skills is superb. I will surely recommend this channel to my students.
I wish I found your video earlier (11 months ago). I think the old values of working hard, saving money does not apply in today's economy. Looking forward to watching your other video (hopefully while I'm still middle class).
Let me just say this is complete bs. People making 6 figures and living check to check are financial irresponsible and do not know anything about budgeting. I was brining in $1100/week and I felt like a millionaire and I was saving weekly. I left that blue collar warehouse job to focus on finishing my degree in cyber security. Stop making excuses.
@@Scere Nah he's correct, the guy in this video pointed out $100k salaries being middle class when he glossed over the fact that it is for household income and not a singular income. $100k/year is good money for a single person anywhere in the world unless you're living above your means.
Great video as always Vincent. It's scary to see the evaporation of the middle class with rising housing costs, student debt, and that wages have barely increased. Baby boomers still hold most of the wealth as well contributing to generational disparities in economic status.
A big part of this is also because people have kids before they are married so lots of single parent households. That makes it so hard for them to get ahead. All the research says to finish school, get married, then have kids to be financially more stable. If you combine your male weeks and female weeks together, two person income, they have much better margins.
I lucked out and am part of the boomer generation. Came out of grad school with just 10k in student laons and just retired as an HR Director of a company and am financially set. I advise young people not to bother with college unless you are going for a career that specifically requires it.
The shift in financial stability is changing how many are living now. With inflation and the dollar changing throughout the years many find themself stuck in the middle class but slowly leaving that bracket. It does not help that pretty much everyone is in debt. We are told to "look" rich but in reality it has a cost for one not prepared for the future.
It's easy to summarise this. In the 1970s most middle class households were a 1 income household. Now they're 2 incomes + also looking for side incomes.
Whereas my friends are buying houses and drowning in debt, I’m buying my first very small apartment with cash next month 😃 I run a small eCommerce business in Poland 😄 thank you for your channel, i love it
Hey Vincent, thanks for the inspiring video as usual. Maybe you could do a video (unless you already have one) on how we can hedge our money against inflation and what investment vehicles can really propel the new "middle-class" to higher standards of living? Keep up the work and you will have a million subs in to time!
It got worse because all first world countries were shut down. And in the US, people were incentivized to be unemployed. Lastly, 40% of the money supply was printed in 13 months, eroding at any savings. It is sad and I have no idea how to solve the problem. The government needs to stop stepping in and trying to fix things. This has disproportionately hurt the poor.
One big problem is people buying more than they can afford. My household income is almost 200k and know others who have similar and are struggling cause they take out the 600k home. The large suv. The vacations on credit and constant buying of material things. I got a home for 280k and just buy food and a small car that I will keep till it breaks. How easy it is to get debt is a big factor. Know people making less who look like they make double my income but barely paying the credit bills
This video is definitely for new people learning the true value of money and income. My point is, there’s nothing wrong with being in the middle class or upper class. You have to make it work for you and know how to manage it. Life can always be better, but you have to decide which lifestyle you want to live and why. Have the income before living it. Most people I know tries to live the lifestyle above their income. That’s the real issue. It easier said than done but not impossible.
Inflation, living way above ones means, and trying to keep up with the joneses on social media is what I think is causing the middle class to struggle as if their lower class, a lot of people who are lower class would feel rich and live like a rockstar with a 6 figure salary cause they know how to survive off very little so they’d definitely make 6 figures work but the problem is once alot of lower class get middle class they start being irresponsible and end up in the same situation it’s like a continuous cycle of people just becoming more and more irresponsible the more money they make and I don’t get it
🚀LIMITED TIME: Get 5 FREE stocks on moomoo (up to $175,000) and 1 free share of AMC if you deposit $100: bit.ly/3kpn5wa
Follow me on IG for weekly personal finance, self-improvement and entrepreneurship tips: instagram.com/hivincentc! This is my ONLY IG account, please be careful of scam imposter accounts.
Hello, first time commenter. I really enjoy your videos but if I may give you some feedback. I’ve noticed a trend of sad emo faces or deadpan expressions for your cover photo. I don’t know if it is so compelling for people to click on selling negative emotions. Perhaps some more uplifting or positively reinforcing images. Just my two cents. Keep up the good work. 👊🏼
It def is, the numbers prove it...unfortunately the middle class is dying as we speak as the wealth gap is expanding.
middle class is 0.75-2x median income
Okay, so the rich get richer. So what?
Omg is this the Vincent Chan that I met before?
I’m really glad my parents were frugal growing up and I learned to save because of them. I really wish the education system would teach people how to be financially literate. Consumerism, materialistic mentality and inflation plays a big role too. I totally understand that it can be hard to live below means
Agreed! Thanks for commenting Rage :) Appreciate it
There is the total opposite of that, which exist too.
You can go the Dave Ramsey route, or, the route of many millionaires and billionaires.
I personally think everything is a social construct, and it doesn't really matter.
Once people realize this and realize their realities are more fabricated then they think, I do think people will elevate themselves.
Best case scenario you'll work 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, which means you will have 96 days in which you can be 'free', meanwhile, 240 days you'll work, and on your 'free days' you'll probably spend time catching up on time you've lost to clean, or manage your life, which means you'd be lucky to keep half of those for days you TRULY enjoy.
To simplify, lets say 50 days a year, not even 2 months.
And if you calculate 50 days over 50 years, that's 7 years.
Imagine that, 7 years of your life within 50 years you got to truly 'enjoy' life.
Idk, I just think its sad.
Working 43 years, to gain 7.
Think about how miserable we are at our jobs, our lives, yet, we play into this reality day in and day out.
I refused to play personally, and it led to big gains.
Scrimping to save up money, struggling, working until you're 65, never having free time.
People think what they have is so valuable because society said so, "Oh, my 5K savings is so important", "Oh, my credit score has to be perfect".
It may lead to more stability over a long life, but stability doesn't = happiness.
This leads people to take 0 risk and go the 'long' route instead of trying to play some risk and enjoy life.
Like I said, its all social constructs, lets say you take a risk, you lose, you go bankrupt, yet return to 90% of that life right after the fact, same job, same pay, same saving strategy, same bills, then have you really lost much? Maybe a few years of progress or savings at most, your credit score takes a light impact which can be rebuilt over the years anyways, but in a picture of working for 50+ years, why do people think that losing 2-3 years of that somehow is such a bad thing?
Honestly people think success is high risk high reward, when in reality, its exceptionally low risk and high reward, its only a high risk when you have something to lose, most people should realize they don't have much to lose.
The more debt you have, the more important/successful you are, just look at any massive company or billionaire.
The working class is playing the game wrong.
This country has massive issues, and its not getting fixed anytime soon, so while the rules persist, people need to start playing the game differently.
Ragequit
My parents weren’t the same, I’m 20 now and a few years ago found out how easy it is to save at this point in my life with only a few bills. It’s really tough to change your mindset away from keeping only a couple grand saved but it would seem that with dedication/diversifying you’ll see results no matter who you are
Speaking of materialism, unless it somehow gets you into better connections/networking(like let's say clothes)... it's kind of just a waste.
Some people have this mentality they must have nice clothes every time they are outside the house. But if it's not actively helping you in some way, it's just wasting money. Sometimes they're willing to even cut back on healthy food... to have those nice materialistic goods.
You don't need to respond to this. I'm just rambling my thoughts.
I have some physician friends with terrible income debt ratio as they spent their first paychecks on a bmw and brand new single family home on top of loans. Some are making almost $300k annually yet still paycheck to paycheck
thanks for sharing! reminds me of the book "the millionaire next door" and Dr. North and Dr. South. Exact same situation you're describing!
300k and living check to 😂
I believe they are one of the worst in handling their money. Making that much money and they don’t even end up in the top 5 occupations that make millionaires.
@@ms_cartographer yeah, but where is the status in that?
@@barringtonmorris90 wth are you buying to live check to check on that income 😂
Middle class is now engineers, programmers, finance, and managers. It used to be unskilled labor, but the labor market demands more training and education. If the people continue to aim for the same factory/retail/service jobs then they would no longer be the middle class. Most middle class families now can afford what middle class could in the previous generation, it's just that the jobs that used to be middle class are considered lower class now.
I think skilled labor jobs are also included in the middle class, too.
An inevitable change though.. The real problem is that higher intellectual abilities are required for these new 'middle class' jobs than classical ones. The requirement will continue to rise as new technology emerges.
@@Gorechill it is sad that as society seems to make more money overall and advance in technology that inflation always seems to outpace household incomes. I'm curious as to why we couldn't advance technology and create all of the knowledge based jobs and still have left the people doing manual labor making a living wage. Why did everything get pushed down as opposed to lifted up? Yes now we have many computer programmers but we still have factory workers, waste disposal, welders, mechanics, carpenters, etc. that used to make "decent money". But once people started to realize that this new knowledge/intellectual based workforce was growing and they were all making $100,000+ a year that became the new standard. Anyone below that was basically living paycheck to paycheck. I'm not a history, sociology, or economics expert so I of course don't understand all the nuances of these changes but it would seem from the surface that you could create all these new high paying jobs, since they work at companies that made all these new billionaires, and still keep the "working middleclass" intact. But clearly I don't know what I'm talking about lol
@@KRYMauL Yeah skilled trades are. I gross close to 100k a year in the midwest as a diesel technician. And my girlfriend grosses close to that as an RN (I consider her job blue collar).
@@terryeffinp If she has a degree in nursing her job is white collar. If not and she's a union nurse that went to tech school she's blue collar.
I learned from watching my parents mistakes. They both earned 6 figures at one point. They realized the “American dream” they were both immigrants that started businesses BUT they didn’t learn what to do with it. They just knew how to spend it. My mother killed herself 2 years ago after overspending her entire life and draining my fathers retirement account.
I’m a business owner as well now since I was 23 And have been aggressively investing and doing everything possible to save money since. I’ve even chosen to be homeless to speed up the process. I’ve got 5 more months to hit my target timeline. And I’m proud to announce that I can retire at the age of 31.
interesting my goal is 35, with how much invested you plan to retire with? 500k? 1m? 2m?
@@lifeisabadjoke5750 assuming i already have a house and need not to pay rent, and i spend $20000 in California every year, to retire and not accounting for inflation, ill need at least 1.5 million to retire at 30 years old.
Wow ,I'm jealous, i hope i can do the same
Good luck I hope everything goes well
Totally agree with this man. It's been crazy seeing the world change as I've grown up with more and more "middle class" going lower on the totem poll and becoming more frustrated
Cause of technology. Info is very easy to access now. For example before very little people knew how real estate could make you rich unless you came from a wealthier family or your parents did it. Now that the secrets out and everyone and their mom wants to own real estate for easy cash flow cause they know it's not that hard as they thought.
I hope we all grow frustrated enough to force a change in legislation. I’d rather die then let my future descendants be subjected to such despicable standard of living and such LOW expectations of our own government to protect us from the Multi billion dollar industry’s who use us like pons day in day out until we’re dead and our kids can be substituted in to continue the endless charade of making them richer while we die broke.
If your wondering why the middle class is non-existent you should thank your politicians....
yup just tax loopholes make u rich
thanks for sharing jesse!
@@VincentChan you the man, thank you for being informative and transparent on your content. Wish you the best!
And the people who fund said politicians
I mean, you don't even know the proper "you're" to use. So, there's that...
normal accomplishments like moving out, getting a car and getting an apartment now seem like major milestones because its so hard to attain today.
I agree. And I attribute the death of the middle class to student loans. Imagine paying $200,000 for a piece of paper that gets you nothing. No receipt. No refund. Then be called lazy by the boomers for not buying a house.
I can't wait for history to finish sweeping their collective attitude out the door.
Mine got me a six figure job and cost 40k. Electrical Engineering FTW
@@S2K2121 engineering is worth a degree! Good on you.
My best friend is the one with 200k in student loans. It was originally 150k but ballooned in ten years due to interest. She can only afford interest. It's not fair. I stayed local but still amassed 20k in student loans..paid it off. Never used my degree. Have a cool career now.
College grads make millions more over their lifetime and get to do it in jobs they like more.
don't sign the dotted line. It's simple, really. I decided to go to a much cheaper school, the only one that offered me the most scholarships even if it wasn't "top-tier", so I would have the smallest amount of debt possible (and I was 18 at the time). The few loans I did take out? I read the fine print very, very carefully and, as soon as I could, I refinanced into a much lower interest rate. But you know, it's always easier to complain than educating yourself/becoming financially literate. it's time we take responsibility for our bad decisions and learn how to fix them. Again, how many people could refinance their student loans with really really high interest rate but don't? could look for short courses to hone/gain new skills, marketability, and vie for higher-earning jobs so they can pay them off? instead, they waste their time begging politicians for debt forgiveness...
middle class = acquiring debt to get a job to buy things you can't afford.
Love the quote
Shhh don't break the first rule ;)
Don't forgot, you don't have time to use those things you can't afford because youre at work.
I retired and moved to vietnam. You can live a lot better on a US middle class income when you move to Vietnam. My kids are in the US on the hamster wheel. I taught them the 3 things that keep them poor:
1. Home debt
2. Car debt
3. Loan debt (e.g. credit card)
Widening wealth disparities hurt everyone, even those at the top, and have a destabilizing effect on society. You’re right to point out inflation as a key factor to pay attention to. Most people aren’t aware of how it negatively affects less wealthy people so much
nah. Those on the top were making even more money when the rest where running around during our lowest point which was during lockdown
they will be aware soon
The wealthy are doing fine
That why you divide your population over pointless crap. Divide and conquer.
I agree the term “middle class” has definitely changed. I have friends who are making 6 figures and living paycheck to paycheck. And are always asking for money just to fill up their gas tanks. They are also heavily in debt trying to keep up appearances with cars, clothes, etc. it’s ridiculous how people spend money on materialistic things.
99% of people in this comment section are middle class derp. I love how videos like these try to victimize you so that they can sell you financial courses or get you subscribed to their channels. They're called grifters btw. Especially, videos from this guy who's like "How to make FREE money online". Do you all smell the bullshit or do you just want to feel more victimized?
If you have a smart phone, hot showers and a PC that can play any game you want then you're probably middle class. Most families didn't even own a PC 20 years ago and the fastest speeds back then were 56k dialup.
Middle class is defined pretty broadly across different groups of people in the first place. Average black families make way below average white or latino families. The wealth gap also has to do with the amount of new immigrants who've entered the country over the years as well. Americans just love to broadly label things because they have literally no understanding.
But you can be like this guy who just tells you how bad your life is so that you can subscribe to him and he'll continue to profit off your misery. Or... you can actually do something yourself.
The property situation and assets in general have far out paced wages ,I’d prefer to own a home than a smart phone or gadget I wouldn’t call that much of lifestyle improvement from the 1950s were most people owned there own home
Low6 figures is barely middle class
@@hamishfullerton7309 You wouldn't own a home WITHOUT a smartphone, internet or gadget. People keep talking about this 1950's bullshit middle class lifestyle. You realize that the majority of people today have better mental and healthcare than they did in the 1950's? If you got sick in the 1950's with measles, you were dead. If you had a mental illness, they were scraping your brains out with an ice pick. You don't get pills to treat your ADHD or depression. It's easy to live a 1950's middle class lifestyle though. Unplug your internet, throw away your phone and get a dog in a house with 900 square feet, because that was the average home size back then. Like I said, if you have hot showers, own a smart phone and got a PC, you are middle class. People are better off today than they were 50-100 years ago.
@@noire.blackheart I bet a lot of the people that make crazy statements about the middle class grew up in upper middle class or upper class households, didn't/don't realize or appreciate that, and when they fail to maintain or exceed their parents' standard of living they decide that must be what poor is like. They're the same people that graduate with 30k in debt despite last year's graduating class averaging a 55k starting salary and describe it as crippling.
I blame their parents. People who lack the intellectual curiosity to look at some actual data to figure out where they stand on this sort of thing have been raised poorly. Which is probably how upper middle/upper class children find their way to being plain old middle/lower middle class adults. Really most of them have just been coddled by helicopter parents and are too mentally weak to function as adults. Then they just retreat to their social media echo chambers to have their weak peers tell them that they aren't the weak ones it's the system's fault.
*“It is preoccupation with possession, more than anything else, that prevents men from living freely and nobly.” - Bertrand Russell*
thanks for sharing!
"We are living in a material world, and I am a material girl!" Love that song...
Dude, I'm a 34 years old plumber in Norway, and by these standards, I'm middle of the middle class. Something is wrong with the USA.
yeah so many Americans are denying the problems of this country
That's actually happening all over the world. I see the middle class dying in Europe as well, with a very similar situation as you described in the video. Young people and entire families are living in constant debt not realizing it in front of fake possibilities to buy nice clothes and a cool mobile phone. And the renting has never been so disturbing as it is now.
editing and story telling in this video was amazing. good job!
Thanks so much man!! Appreciate you :)
What’s milo doing here
The housing market in Texas is going bananas right now. Rural not usually desirable places in my area have houses with a little bit of land are going for $600k+. Rent is insane, single wide trailers going for $1500 a month. Minimum wage is 7.50 I think, but you’ll make like $9 at most places to start. Now I see places offering $11 an hour as if that’s worth it. I don’t know how people with no support system and kids can survive. The only reason my husband and our 3 kids are able to live comfortably is because of our parents resources we have access to.
america :/
Yeah, Im in Texas too. Honestly this is the major reason Im staying childless.
Come to Seattle... $3k is a good starting point for a 2 bed apartment. Min wage is like $13-$14 and people are still having to put 3-4 people in those 2 bed apartments. Our parents generation set all this up. Blame them.
I was fortunate enough to have to withdraw from college during the recession. This led me to only amass very small student loan debt. Worked my butt off for almost 10 years to get my career grade job, without an education. Now just working on becoming 100% debt free. I was also grateful to have been able to purchase a decent priced investment property before CV19. Coming from nothing or from a hard place means it takes time, but don’t give up people.
That's amazing, thank you for sharing Ruben!! What job did you pick up after withdrawing from college?
@@VincentChan I combined my two best skills IT and Automotive work. I started as a technician in the Building Automation industry which is not broadly known by many, and it’s a great starting point for hands on and technical people who might not know what direction to head in. I have been in this industry for about 9 years now, and currently working as a Project Manager.
So, instead of just finishing up school, you spent a decade of your limited life doing shit labor? I'm going to finish my degree bud... Lol
@@kenaultman7499 Some of us don’t have a cushion to rebound off of (not saying you do). The effects of a broken economy take a toll differently on everyone, and not everyone recovers quickly. I had to work full time to make ends meet, and help my family rebuild after loosing our home. Keep in mind my scenario was back in 2008 with the big housing market crash. It’s a bit easier today, even given our current situation. By all means I still suggest to anyone to attend college and at least give it a shot. Even with the debt, you can typically make a livable wage and pay it off these days. Also opens up doors quicker. I took the long route but that saved me from being part of the masses still struggling to pay debt, because of the lasting effects from 10 years ago.
@@kenaultman7499 holy sht youre an absolute as shole imma be one too and say hope you dont get that degree
Time is also a very limited resource for “middle class”. My partner and I are young professionals and each make above six figures but we don’t feel any kind of security at all. For example, having a baby would be a disaster, because we both have busy jobs and would have to put the baby in a 8-6 daycare, which sounds like terrible parenting.
I agree. Over this past year, rent in Florida has increased by $500 or more to around $2000 a month just for a 1 bedroom apartment.
Ouch!! What city in florida?
@@VincentChan Riverview (near Tampa).
Pink that sucks!!
@@pinkpanda5696 I'm just 30 min from Tampa in manatee county and renting an apartment is around 1400 n up🤦🏽
@@leekh-a3933 It sucks. It's probably going to get worse in your area at some point. I have no idea why people are flocking to Florida. I mostly hate it here.
You are right. I was in the middle class and now 27k plus in debt. literally I can work in McD and make money. I'm literally losing my salon by the end of the month. and the clients are like work in the corner so you can still do my hair. oops, I'm done. I make more from my dividends than I've made in 4.5 years having a business thanks to high rents, transportation, products and high cost of operations. I went from low class to middle class to 'wtf' class. lol
yeah people keep saying you should start a business, in my small town in the UK a fair few businesses have gone under in the last few years, made way worse by COVID ofc.
@@BradleyCTurner you are so right. I got poorer having a business than a McD worker. It's like a pimp and wh$re situation. I can bring in about $600 to better week $750, then pay about $750 a week in rent. Currently behind in 5 months of house rent because of cost of business rent and operations. Covid just ruined alot and now they just increased the rent again last month and I was like I AM OUT.
Yo Vincent spewing facts left and right, as a college student (engineering) about to enter the workforce based in a large city, I feel this more than ever and it's frustrating beyond belief. I'm lucky enough to have no student loan debt, but thinking about owning a house even if I have a low 6 figure salary in my area seems damn near impossible. Now think about it, isn't housing or a place of permanence a "basic human right?" no matter how small or big. Why should people be paying near the mid XXXX range for rent? Besides demand, availability, and inflation I can't see the pricing out being too insane, there is something much more nefarious behind it. We need a whole economic/social restructuring, because younger and current generations are getting fucked over hard.
Thanks so much for sharing winter! You make some really great points. What city are you entering if you don't mind sharing? NY?
@@VincentChan on the other side, “seattle”
I remember fighting with my parents, teachers, friends, and siblings about me not going to college. I always thought it is ridiculous how much college costs. Luckily online college is far cheaper than actually going. It still is very expensive and I can pay for it by making an average of 23$ which is impossible for my age group. I got lucky working at a fast-food seafood place that gives me 13$ an hour plus tips which is about 10$ extra an hour I had to work 55 hours a week all summer this year to be able to afford an associates degree at my local community college with no government handouts since even though my family lives paycheck to paycheck my parents made to much to allow me to get scholarships or financial aid. I had great fortune when I found out my dad was a part of a union that provides free college. So yea the system is flawed. I only managed to not go into debt by great luck. If my father was not a part of the union and I worked the normal $15 an hour job I would have basically been able to pay for each year of college by each summer I grinded.
Thank you so much for sharing that and I'm so glad your dad's union was able to help out. What did you major in if you don't mind sharing
@@VincentChan I’m majoring in Business management. I’d like to open my own business in the future, but I’d be happy with a management position.
Ive come to the realization that if I have kids Ill encourage them to stay home and go to school and work as they build up their assets. Why try to move out and live broke and miserable just trying to prove you can when you can use the assets I have built to grow yours exponentially. They can get to the point of investing sooner in life by staying home longer. To be honest the only reason to be in a rush to move out is if your family is so huge it's not feasibly possible to build your own family in the same house. But it's like you said we have grown with a certain mindset and can't see a better way of doing things until it's too late.
How about encourage them to go to Community College and work part time.
@@KRYMauL in regards to working that's a given. I started working at 15 and know the value of working/building responsibility. In regards to school they can go to any they worked towards/qualify to attend. Applying for scholarships or going military to pay for school are good options. Just depends what route they want to take.
That’s how it’s always been for young people in stagnant 3rd world countries. America’s path is clear it seems
Americans believe that
I was frugal. I saved for years. I didn't buy new cars or nice clothes. I saved enough for 20% down right when the market got hot. My 20% down meant nothing here in Denver. All cash offers are the new 20%. I have even offered to waive appraisals on properties and they still choose the cash buyers who are likely institutional investors over a single family potential buyer.
All of the frugality and fiscally conservative actions over the last decade have been a bit pointless. It's very frustrating.
Homeless people everywhere, Tents everywhere, RVs everywhere. It's the sad reality across the country. Housing & food prices are out of control.
My relative got pay raises for being a perfect hotel worker. After 20 years, they realized their yearly raises in 20 years....allows them to make as much as a newly hired worker.
I REALLY wish you went into millennials and affordable housing more… I would love a deeper dive into the whole renters-sphere and how it’s basically a trap.
You could just buy in the midwest.
Im a millenial and i accepted that I will die homeless and I already contemplate suicide coz having kids just to support me would be so damn selfish.
@@teaja211 You won't die homeless, and you're saying you don't want to live with your kids and make your grand kids a bunch of meal?
That said there are plenty of affordable houses throughout the US, but you have to be willing to drive 1-2 hours out of the city.
I am impressed at the easy availability of financial literacy material available on youtube. SO thank you. The challenge is for younger folks to become more money savvy sooner in life. There was no need to in the past. Student debt really should be minimized or avoided. How? Home town communtiy colleges or trade schools and live at home or roommates. Then chose your home, whether renting or owning, carefully. Pick moderate to low cost of living areas early. Save your money. Opinion only. Don't count on the government to fix things.
I'm definitely part of the working poor. there's 5 adults in a 2 bedroom apartment, making it work as best as we can. We're all feeling the paycheck to paycheck thing.
Damn, I pray things work out for you guys, that's rough.
Get a job bitch.
@@zakuabumi8908 I have one, but I'm concerned whether or not you could afford any manners. What a shame.
@@zakuabumi8908 He literally said "working poor" can you not read?
@@sixwings6932 Every poor person thinks they're part of the working poor. More like wanking poor lol. Get a job hobo.
People have forgotten that the middle class isn't just above destitution. They think because they're not in the process of starving that they're middle class.
Can you afford a decent new suv? They cost about $50k for a used low mile one with a third row. New Tahoe with a few features is $75k now. Want it loaded up or in a Yukon so you can pull a boat, camper? Add another $10k. Can you even afford a little boat, trailer, and something to haul it around in? Can you afford a 1 month vacation for you and your family anywhere in the world every year? Have you had to budget groceries, medicine, clothing, new phone, etc? Do you have a retirement? Do you have disposable income to invest? THEN, YOU'RE NOT MIDDLE FUCKING CLASS! You are lower class!!! America is a third world country with a gucci bag.
Semi new fan, found your channel a couple of wks ago. You’re so good at breaking down these issues and making easier to digest and understand. Overall you’re very pleasant to listen to and learn from.
Thank you for all the great videos!
Thank you so much Hong! Welcome to the family :)
Feel this too!!!
I think the challenge people need to be asking themselves is, are you willing to forgo the satisfaction of appeasing others with useless materialism for the ability to be free later on in life. Most of our young generation might say yes but in actuality they will do no such thing.
I have I got rid of my car and live 350 month on rent.
I current ride a motorcycle to work and save 45% of my salary to start a business
Great discussion Vincent! Priorities and life goals have changed especially with HIGH student loans and poor income to debt ratios. We paid off $385,000+ in student loans and rent because the ideals (and tax benefits) of owning a home are not the same as they were in the previous generation.
wow! $385k is a huge accomplishment, congrats :) how long did it take you to achieve that?
@@VincentChan thank you! Paid off over 75 months with 72 months spent in residency/fellowship 5-figure salaries.
Thats AMAZING!!!
I must be lucky, we are a one income household, I don't earn an insane amount, raised 4 kids, my retirement income will be very healthy, none of my kids incurred any student debt (with one to go), maybe living in Canada helps😁
That's an amazing accomplishment Rob! You should be very proud of yourself :)
Thank you Vincent I try to ignore this topic because it heavily angers me and I hope many others feel the same and strive to do WHATEVER it takes to see a change for us now and our future generations.
Interesting video. Reminds me of a Henry Rollins (Rock Star, musician, actor, comedian) interview where he stated that he recognized the middle class disappearing back in the 1980s. This sparked him to expand outside of Punk Rock and work in other industries.
Interesting, thanks for sharing :) what other industries did he get into? was it the actor/comedian bit?
Okay, so the content of this video is great! But I want to compliment you on another aspect of it...
The information was not only top notch and the amount of research and preparation you put into it evident but the presentation was on point too. Let me also compliment your videography, color grading, sound and editing style. Oh, and also that smooth call to action at the end driving us to the next video!
You have inspired me to put more effort and work into my own videos... I'm not trying to self promote here, just wanted to give a sincere complement where it's due, GREAT WORK! You earned another subscriber today!
thanks so much brian!! appreciate your kind words :)
Fantastic work with this vid. Really appreciate the narrative you're taking us on. It's preparing me to understand big vision global economic happenings, to understanding where I fit in the equation, to next, how to tell the truth and take action. I'm a business owner of 12 years, chose this path out of getting a physics degree. I was called to this path at a young age by listening to my deep knowing and intuition. Now I'm able to take dozens with me toward financial health. I see you doing the same. Sending blessings, brothers - thank you!
My mom always told me to save my money, which I'm glad she did. But that's basically all the financial advice I ever got from anyone. School failed us all for not teaching finance. I learned everything I know about investing, loans, passive income, and buying a house from TH-cam and that's sad.
Thank you for making these videos. I live in Finland and even though this video wasn't completely targeted at me I'm really thankful that you make these for people who really need these even more than I do.
That entire first minute is absolutely mind blowing. I’ve been thinking this for years, it’s like they’re okay with all of that debt under their name.
This is so spot on. We are getting crushed. We need change before we all drown in this neo-feudal society.
Middle class is dying because of their own faults.
My wife and I are 29, we make 150k a year together. She paid for her 4 year degree without taking student loans, and I went to community college and paid for it.
I drive a 5k car and her car is 5 years old and paid for. We don’t do things flashy, we don’t get into debt besides our mortgage and our home is very modest in comparison to our income.
It’s all about choices and behavior. Act your wage and live below your means!!
I agree that it's because of choices and behavior. But some people never learned, or don't know any better. Schools and government don't emphasize financial literacy (mostly I've learned over social media). And tbh school and half of college is damn useless, our tax dollars go towards a k-12 glorified daycare when most of the skills/better knowledge can be obtained online (in a shorter amount of time as well). So in short, yes, it's because of their "own fault" but also a big systemic issue.
But can you afford having kids? It's easy when you have double income no kids.
@@robcanad Kids are not that expensive. We don’t plan to have kids but even in the event that we did, my wife can work from home and we don’t have to worry about child care. Or if she couldn’t work from home then we are in a position on PURPOSE that we could live off one of our incomes because we live well below our means.
Once again, choices.
The middle class is definitely starting to get it tougher each year. Especially the students are suffering, I really hope that there will be some kind of turning point.
Perfect prequel to “Squid Game”
The graph showing the top earners earning so much more than all others combined is disheartening. We all know it to be evident locally. Upper management and CEO of Kroger, particularly, paychecks keep going up, but for most employees it hasn't gone anywhere, any especially not keeping up with inflation or standards of living. We wonder why no one wants to work, because working isn't even paying anything anymore for most. The government trying to pass a thing to audit people making more than 600 is fucking disgusting, instead of fixing the problem they're now criminalizing being middle/lower class. Have a side hustle because your work won't pay enough? Big brothers onto you.
the way capitalism and return on investment works, the upper class only becomes richer by exploiting the lower and middle class's wages and labor. basically they need them to work for less income while working to produce more services and goods so that shareholders can take the profit which is suppose to increase year after year. now you see why this model isn't sustainable for an end game society that is beyond just putting food on the table.
"There are only 52 weeks in a year."
Yep. Kind of feels like these things should be provided by default, if everyone needs them. Why do we need to compete for healthcare?
I am part of the lower class. I'm poor AF it's not wonder the poor can't get a leg up cause no one will let em
The editing on this video is so next level. Great content as always!!
Thanks Nasya! That means a lot :)
Although I came from a middle income family, when we were taught about the stock market quickly (1 week) in a quick economics section, I became very interested in the concept of products I am interested in, and research anyways. So when looking at a PC magazine article on the iPhone, and then seeing one in the store, I knew it was going to be big, and would change the world. I took all of my extra money (I had a job at an ice cream store) and invested it into Apple, while learning all about the finances of Apple. Anyways, long story short, I own many, many, many stocks today (Tesla today - I bout it about 7 years ago). My job might be middle income, but my finances are seven figures. Consider a product that you like, and that’s going to be revolutionary. (The Tesla Optimus - there you go - I just gave a hint). Cannabis is becoming legal - there’s another. Right now, the economy is headed toward a recession - excellent, you buy stock at a fraction of the price. When the economy recovers, you are going to be doing very well.
Community college, come out as a plumber, electrician, mason, mechanic etc. Plenty of jobs if you are willing to put in the hours. Almost no student debt.
The debt trap is those basket weavers and BA grads who go to university for 4 years with no goal and come out owing 40K USD+.
Also, housing is a mountain to climb. The government can print money on a whim, but cannot print land. Too many young people today are going to find it impossible to get into the housing market. And owning property is one of the benefits of a capitalist system that helps enrich the general population. But not lately, too many are being cut out from owning land. Could this lead to a future serf class?
1950s - 1 income supported a home, car, all expenses, whole family, vacations and you had a pension.
1970s - all the same as above but 2 incomes are now required (basically both spouses need to work). Side note, CEOs earned more but not the astronomical amounts more like they do today.
1980s - pensions go away and are replaced with 401k.
1990s - debt became the tool used to help support the “middle class”.
Today - now 2 incomes and debt aren’t enough, a second job or extended family support is needed as well. So we entering an era where the norm will be extended families or multiple families living together just to get by. All this while CEOs and the top 2% hold more wealth than the majority of the rest of us.
I'm barely lower class (just scraping 24k/year), and about to attempt getting a second full time job to get out from under credit card debt that's mostly a result of car repairs and not having health insurance. I afford life by renting with my mother, but have no way to build any form of savings. There will be no retirement savings, I will never be able to afford a home, but rents will simply keep climbing. I try not to dwell on it.
Such a good video!! One of the biggest issues is teaching financial well being…we can “flex” all we want and be drowning in debt. I would like to believe based off my net worth, investments, and debt to income ratio I’m still in the middle class.
When you realize youve always been lower class... even now at 30, Im just below the middle class threshold. This is really sad.
Vincent. As always you’re spitting facts!
thanks so much marcel :D
On SSI here, and way below the lower income avg. We get raises (or so they say) but what they don't tell most people is that when we get another a raise (say for example 20.00) they then come back and take even more out of the check for medicate (for example they give us 20.00 a month raise, then they take 25.00 out for Medicare)... So we are going backwards every year. How we'll survive in the years ahead I have no idea. But Im looking for some sort of work I can do via internet at this point.
It really sucks watching this happen, like my parents were pretty clear with the ammount wed need to earn as adults to be more or less fine, and watching over the past 10 years, its gotten dramatically less optimistic despite being on path with everything I had been told. a house i found 5 years ago for a school project is 6 times the price today.
I don’t have much sympathy for those with ton of student loans. I could’ve went to my dream school with 30-40k debt a year, or go to boring community college with most of the tuition paid with scholarships. I also worked at restaurant during school and of course I had to opt out on frequent parties and such to save time. I didn’t have that much fun at college, but now I have doctorates degree with no debt and make almost 6 figures. I see so many of my school mates who chose to go to expensive school with loans to have that premium college experience. Colleges are ridiculously expensive because people like you took loans out and paid. Colleges won’t be this stupidly expensive if there weren’t this many customers selling their souls to pay for them.
I don't even buy anything, just the stuff that will get me to get my job done from home at my parents place, groceries and I still have a network of -$60k and nobody wants to give me my desired salary because they don't think I'm worth that. I work as a freelance audio engineer (studio/live), lighting show designer, and briadcast director where I do get big checks where 90% of my checks are towards student loans. The other 10 percent gas, insurance, food and emergency funds.
Thanks for this video Vincent Chan! So much insightful information. It def feels like my parents had an easier time staying and being part of the middle class compared to me.
Thank you so much!!
I couldn’t agree with this more. I loved how you made the point today the middle class spends money on things that make them appear they aren’t broke as they go broke. My wife and I are fortunate to surpass the threshold for “middle class” but consider ourselves lower middle class as the American Dream triples in price around us. It’s been a very long time since an American could have a house, raise a family, own a car and educate their children on a single salary of average skill and qualifications and that time is never returning.
Lower of the middle class. Its becoming more and more difficult.
I am a 1994 millenial in Canada. My father passed away when I was a kid & I inherited his small fortune but was smart enough to save it well into my 20s. When Covid hit, housing prices in my city took a plummet & I knew that first-time home buyer rules were changing soon to become even more difficult for us. So I took the opportunity to purchase my first home before the rules changed, which is actually a condo because I can't afford a single-family home that typically starts around $400k. Regardless, I feel VERY fortunate & proud to own my first home given the obstacles.
I was born in a poor family on the eastern border of Polland in the late 80s. Now all my siblings are adults and have kids, we all have flats(with a mortgage) Jobs that allow increasing balance on our saving accounts. That means even with a not-so-great start we ended really well.
I think there are few points that differentiate European countries and the USA:
- cheap and unrestricted access to medical help(we know how the USA medical system works).
- cheap and unrestricted access to education (most of the European countries have paid from taxes or cheap education - compared to the USA)
- good social security system(we have some homeless people, but nothing compares to the problem that the USA has).
The future of the middle class indeed looks not so bright. Especially for the millennials. My generation was lucky and was able to grab a home/education and start the career as we were thought that if we want to have a good life there are opportunities. Now it looks a bit different.
you don't have bloated pork barrel bill spending and a bloated military budget to deal with.
Excellent editing.. seriously, wow
thanks so much :)
Its not just America its happening all over the world. I have 1 kid, zero credit cards, zero debt and I'm only determined to be self sufficient as possible without going into debt. I drive for a local RideShare and is building my house slowly out of pocket with a rental unit attached. After that I'm starting up a car rental business and will get into trading i refuse to work a reg job or get into debt I did that already I learnt my lesson.
Great video Vincent! Its definitely a scary thought of falling behind with net worth especially as cost of living continues to increase. Do you think a recession would fix this or is this a runaway train?
With how the country is right now, I think it would collapse into chaos if a recession happens lol
I don't think a recession would fix it - it'll probably be the same as the 07 recession where it was the upper class who recovered significantly more than the middle/lower class relative to pre-recession levels
@@VincentChan I guess that’s true. Well as you said! Let’s all hope we can make it to the upper class!
Awesome video Brodie ! I appreciate the time and detail you put into this 👏🏼
No, it's no longer depending from us to became high class. Cost of food, cost of energy, cost of things we need to just live, is getting higher and higher. And our wages are standing mostly still, or barely matching official inflation.
I live in country where LPG prices increase over 40 percent by only few month, and in my city you can't heat your house using coal, or wood, you need to use LPG, or electricity - it price also goes up very fast.
But official inflation is less than 5 percent.
So we earn even less and less ( if we compare purchasing power) and it's not going to change.
Basically we are heading into a world like H. G. Well's Time Traveler, where there are only the Eloi (the super rich) and the Morlocks (the super poor), each living in their own world and still breeding.
@@rustyshackleford7200 Exactly. :)
Watched two of of your videos thus far. SUBCRIBED! Looking forward to more.
This is the most inspiring and informative channel I ever watched. I admire his editing and narrative skills. I am currently a junior high school teacher and there are only few students in my 15 years of experience I know who can do this of deep research. I also know that his editing video skills is superb. I will surely recommend this channel to my students.
I wish I found your video earlier (11 months ago). I think the old values of working hard, saving money does not apply in today's economy. Looking forward to watching your other video (hopefully while I'm still middle class).
Your editing is getting next level! Keep it up Vince
thanks Dylan :) appreciate the support
Bro just wanna say I appreciate your content cause’ it’s heavily slept on nbs. Keep it up
Let me just say this is complete bs. People making 6 figures and living check to check are financial irresponsible and do not know anything about budgeting. I was brining in $1100/week and I felt like a millionaire and I was saving weekly. I left that blue collar warehouse job to focus on finishing my degree in cyber security. Stop making excuses.
It all depends on the cost of living where you are as well as the number of people in your household.
“My case proves that everyone is dumb and I am smart”
@@Scere Nah he's correct, the guy in this video pointed out $100k salaries being middle class when he glossed over the fact that it is for household income and not a singular income. $100k/year is good money for a single person anywhere in the world unless you're living above your means.
Great video as always Vincent. It's scary to see the evaporation of the middle class with rising housing costs, student debt, and that wages have barely increased. Baby boomers still hold most of the wealth as well contributing to generational disparities in economic status.
Your videos are a great discovery!! This is really really good work! Thanks for the time and effort you put in them.
Thank you very much!
A big part of this is also because people have kids before they are married so lots of single parent households. That makes it so hard for them to get ahead. All the research says to finish school, get married, then have kids to be financially more stable. If you combine your male weeks and female weeks together, two person income, they have much better margins.
this is such a great video, already recommended it to a couple of my friends!
Awesome, thank you!
My household brings in about 2400 a month and our rent for a 2 bedroom is about 1600 not exactly easy
I lucked out and am part of the boomer generation. Came out of grad school with just 10k in student laons and just retired as an HR Director of a company and am financially set. I advise young people not to bother with college unless you are going for a career that specifically requires it.
Man, this guy is making me watch one video after the other and I sill couldn't stop.
Dude your editing is so crisp!
The shift in financial stability is changing how many are living now. With inflation and the dollar changing throughout the years many find themself stuck in the middle class but slowly leaving that bracket. It does not help that pretty much everyone is in debt. We are told to "look" rich but in reality it has a cost for one not prepared for the future.
It's easy to summarise this. In the 1970s most middle class households were a 1 income household. Now they're 2 incomes + also looking for side incomes.
Community college is one of the best decision I’ve made
Love your videos Vincent. You put it all in terms that are easy to understand
Whereas my friends are buying houses and drowning in debt, I’m buying my first very small apartment with cash next month 😃 I run a small eCommerce business in Poland 😄 thank you for your channel, i love it
Middle class here... fortunately bought a little old house in 2009. Blockchain brings hope to savvy Millennials
Hey Vincent, thanks for the inspiring video as usual. Maybe you could do a video (unless you already have one) on how we can hedge our money against inflation and what investment vehicles can really propel the new "middle-class" to higher standards of living?
Keep up the work and you will have a million subs in to time!
It got worse because all first world countries were shut down. And in the US, people were incentivized to be unemployed. Lastly, 40% of the money supply was printed in 13 months, eroding at any savings. It is sad and I have no idea how to solve the problem. The government needs to stop stepping in and trying to fix things. This has disproportionately hurt the poor.
One big problem is people buying more than they can afford. My household income is almost 200k and know others who have similar and are struggling cause they take out the 600k home. The large suv. The vacations on credit and constant buying of material things. I got a home for 280k and just buy food and a small car that I will keep till it breaks. How easy it is to get debt is a big factor. Know people making less who look like they make double my income but barely paying the credit bills
I just found your channel and I subscribe.
This video is definitely for new people learning the true value of money and income.
My point is, there’s nothing wrong with being in the middle class or upper class. You have to make it work for you and know how to manage it. Life can always be better, but you have to decide which lifestyle you want to live and why. Have the income before living it. Most people I know tries to live the lifestyle above their income. That’s the real issue. It easier said than done but not impossible.
Inflation, living way above ones means, and trying to keep up with the joneses on social media is what I think is causing the middle class to struggle as if their lower class, a lot of people who are lower class would feel rich and live like a rockstar with a 6 figure salary cause they know how to survive off very little so they’d definitely make 6 figures work but the problem is once alot of lower class get middle class they start being irresponsible and end up in the same situation it’s like a continuous cycle of people just becoming more and more irresponsible the more money they make and I don’t get it