Your tales of the Middle Class Crunch

It's even harder for single parents

"My family is 'middle class,' earning $52,000 in 2007 and an additional $9,000 in child support. My family is myself and my son. Child care was $500 per month when he was an infant, and while I caught a break when he first started school. I am currently paying $500 per month again due to rising child-care costs and longer work hours. With such high child-care costs and long work hours, the prospect of finding a boyfriend, partner or spouse is all but nonexistent.

"Do I sound angry? You bet I am. . . . When one of three households is a broken home, divorced family statistics are a huge part of the article, and our challenges are greater than most, yet your article only discussed married households as if they are the only real families."

Will retirement be possible?

"Living here in California, my wife and I bring in a decent income. We make on the upper end of the $95,000 scale, but we wouldn't qualify for a traditional 30-year mortgage. So what is a family to do? Live in a less-than-desirable neighborhood for the sake of obtaining the American dream? And don't get me started on the health insurance costs, property taxes . . . saving for retirement or company pension plans.

"They say you should put away 10% of your salary each pay period to save for retirement. I don't know, at this point, if I'll ever be able to retire. At least not with the certainty that past generations did. And if they do away with the company pension plan and Social Security goes away, I'll be left with virtually nothing."

Not hurting, but . . .

"My wife and I are in our 50s, together earning about the same nominal annual income we have consistently earned for the last seven years. We have no debt and have always saved about 20% of our income for retirement. We are not hurting. Still, it does concern me how impossible it would be for us to repeat our last 25 years if we were just starting out with our current incomes today.

"I would now characterize my future lifestyle outlook as one that has declined from upper-middle class to just middle class. That is certainly nothing to complain about. But, it is difficult to look the generation behind me in the eye and admit the truth: In the world we are handing over to them soon, they will not likely be able to achieve what we have on their own, even if they work and try as hard as we did. I feel that we should have done better for them."

'You make choices in life'

"People just don't get it. I've never made more than $45,000 a year in my life and I'm middle-aged now. On that income, I can't afford a home in the expensive area I live (Bay Area). I wouldn't want to ever take on that kind of financial burden just to have a house. But I've managed to save and invest so that I have a net worth in the upper 10% of the population. I live frugally, within my means, make daily spending decisions to spend less or do without, make purchases wisely.

"I live a very comfortable life and have nice things and do things I enjoy. You make choices in life with your money and time."

'We cannot get ahead'

"My husband is a teacher, making about $60,000/year. After taxes and the mandatory retirement deductions, he brings home about $4,000/month. We are living in a five-bedroom, three-bath home that we bought 17 years ago during a housing bust when prices were low. No way could we afford this house were we to buy it today.

"We have two teenage sons who are growing out of their clothes faster than we can buy them. Their school homework assignments in December required us to buy a video camera -- so I bought a $60 video camera meant for children at Wal-Mart. My husband commutes 45 minutes to get to work which means we have to have two cars.

"Our vacations consist of camping because it's cheaper. We currently have over $45,000 in credit card debt and a second mortgage of $45,000. It seems that no matter what we try, we cannot get ahead."

Worrying about the next generation

"The fact of the matter is there were many things that happened to the current 30-somethings that no one warned any of us about! Bachelor's degrees have become a dime a dozen, and the pay is not enough to keep up with paying off the student loans we were encouraged to take out during college. No one told us that between day care and taxes, my entire income would be gone until my children were both in school full time. My husband and I did what we were supposed to . . . but the outcome was very different than what we thought it would be.

"But we are making it. We are going to be OK. What I worry about is my children's generation. What will be left for them? Will college mean nothing yet cost 10 times what we paid? Will a home and family be within their reach?"

'That is their problem'

"When people complain about the costs of having kids, we should simply say, 'That's the cost of having kids.' If someone goes to work and cannot earn enough money to have a spouse stay home, that is their problem for choosing a career that doesn't pay enough to support the lifestyle they want. . . .

"My dad worked three jobs until he found a one that earned him enough money to do the things he wanted for his family."

Letters may have been edited for grammar, spelling or clarity.

Published Jan. 23, 2008

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