There are rich people and poor .There are even books about rich dad, poor dad are talked about .But no middle class mom or dad.People talk about being frugal or rich .Not middle class.
Today I am writing about content that feels different, as a part of the cornerstone content challenge.
This topic “middle-class money mantra”, is as different as it gets.I wonder why no one talks about this, though.It’s not a class thing per se ,but more about the mindset.
Do middle class not invite writers?Few write about their middle class life, family holidays, festivals and always saving first.
So today I decided to share my thoughts about it.After all its 2020 .So here goes.
I liked growing up and being middle class. It’s aspirational while having a grass root connect.
It’s the best way to grow up and live perfectly balanced.But there’s absolutely no harm in going all out wealthy .That’s the aspiration part.Financial freedom is what it is about.
If you have a middle class upbringing you know what I am talking about.
You save at least 30 percent of what you earn
You recycle, upcycle, reuse and stretch the t-shirt thin till you buy a new one.
You always use the pencil till it can’t be sharpened any more.
You always have a Laxmi jhappi to keep your extra change.This extra change becomes like the emergency fund too.
You learn to have a side gig even when you are working full time.
You have a PPF and retirement fund in place before you even think about a mutual fund.
You really like the idea of NPS because it makes investing in Mutual funds easy without headache.
You are okay with the less shopping be restaurant hopping in this time.It just means you have more savings.
You avoid bank loans, personal loans, credit card debts unless it’s unavoidable.
You pay off your loans before you can breathe deeply.
You don’t like credit cards and never really cared about them.But you like the cash back feature it has.Definitely makes you rethink.
You like real Gold rather than paper gold.I’m totally with you here.
You save till you buy your first ,much loved second hand car .(I refused to sell that car even for a profit.I actually got two offers.Untill finally when the gear came off and the fuel guzzling habit couldn’t be tamed,we finally bought a new car.The exact same car.Just new model .Luckily my husband doesn’t get angry when I make decisions like these.)
Then you zero in on a new house. You beg and borrow from your relatives to make enough for the down payment.Then worry even more about the bank loan.
Finally when you are free and clear of the personal loan ,you wish the interiors would magically happen without you spending money.Wasn’t that a part of the buy a home deal? You wonder.Because you are still paying EMI right?Well newsflash .No it’s a whole other budget plan.But before I go there ,for today I will share a few things I love about the middle class money mantra.
My Favourite inbuilt middle class Money saving options, I can’t do without.
My fixed deposit
My Public provident fund.I started as soon as I joined Medical College.
My life insurance is both the term insurance and life time insurance.
The health insurance.
The Blue chip fund, which happened when we decided to invest in one.
The NPS started as soon as we left our Government job.
One non- middle class investment we did is the REIT .Its part of the NPS tier 2.
Do you think the middle class is aspirational or is it just in my mind?