New British Class System

All three of us are traditional working class, which is correct.

Same as my husband and I, Sel. Although we have what I consider to be good pensions, we couldn't invest the whole of our pension income and live on the interest/dividends, etc., that it generates. Could you?

Of course, we could sell our house, but then we'd have nowhere to live and, in any event, the interest accruing on the deposited sale monies would not be sufficient to live on and the capital would have to be used also.

A very small minority can exist on just the interest arising from their capital and assets.

I wonder how much money it would take to get say £25,000 a year in interest?

Enviousamerican How long is a piece of string? It would depend what you invested it in. If you wanted to minimise risk, you would need a lot more capital than if you were prepared to take some or a lot of risk.

Easy arithmetic (I hope!). If you could get 2.5%, after tax, you would need £1,000,000 to generate £25,000,

I think you can possibly be proud of yourself if you manage to achieve a good education/career in spite of coming from a deprived background. Would Stella McCartney have become so successful if her dad had been a factory worker? She was not rated very highly at her college.
Would George Osborne have reached the dizzy heights had he not been freed from financial constraints because of his family's business?

I wish I could get 2.5% after tax! Even then it wouldn't keep pace with inflation.

We saved as much as we could for our retirement but are now thinking of spending it while it is still worth something.

Yes, I wonder whether some would have 'made it' without parental help? Probably most would not!

It's all a bit bonkers really - I did it for a bit of fun and we had a good laugh at where we came out - I'll be off to Ascot next!!!!

Ladies Day presumably Mishap? I hope you have your hat!

What is the point of a survey such as this?

Is it to make those I am faaaaaar richer than yoooooo types feel better about themselves and to confirm their status?

Is it to give those at the top end of the results a pat on the back and those at the bottom a kick up the pants?

All I can say is that I know how much I earn, I live in the only home I own and short of winning the lottery things will not change much for me in my lifetime.

Why is it that those who seem to "forget where they came" from are the biggest snobs?

I love the idea of so many people belonging to an elite. If it's that common, I don't want to belong.

Who was it who said that if a club was willing to accept him as a member he wouldn't join?

I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT PEOPLE LIKE ME AS A MEMBER. Groucho Marx

Movedalot

Thanks Gilly [grin}

I take the conclusions with a large pinch of salt but it defines a persons lifestyle and interests on a different scale from just how much money they have and what job they do than just the three class definitions did.

Apart from that it does not do anything to define how clever anyone is, or how well educated they are. Those being two very different things! Or how compassionate or what good citizens they are, which is far more important.

I am tempted to look at it again and tweak it to see what happens.

According to this, if DH and I split up I'd move into a whole new class, just like that! Then if I met and cohabited with a rich man I'd shoot up again...

I should stick with him then Ana you couldn't cope with all that rising and falling

It is a truly bonkers online tool - I think we came out where we did simply because we are classical music fans. The choice of who you socialise with didn't include lots of categories of people we do see a lot - and most of them are retired from these jobs now anyway.

It must be great to get paid to make up this nonsense! Where did I go wrong? - I am sure I would have been brilliant at it!!

I couldn't be bothered registering and I'm all passworded out so I've decided I am elite working class with a touch of tone deafness. I've never been capable of answering a survey honestly anyway.

Love it stans I'm tone deaf too!

Well, how about this from someone who comes out as Traditional Working Class - I acted as hostess for my employer in his box at Ascot on Ladies Day (Thursday) for two years! He had to buy me a couple of very expensive outfits - with hats and shoes and bags, of course.
I am not the least interested in horse racing, but it was fun to watch all the fashions. Terry Wogan was in the next box.

I really dislke giving people labels and in fact will not do it - I suspect that hsaving a label such as middle or upper class might make insecure people feel more secure and OK about themselves but it is all nonesense - forget labels it is who you are that matters not what you do or how much you have got in the bank.

16-03-2013, 11:38 AM#1
Shibboleth
I used to have a cast iron proof method of recognising whether a person was working class or middle class, Don’t ask me why -it was merely an observation with no real life application .- and is not to be confused with the “Shibboleth” method of sorting out northerners & southerners by asking them to pronounce the word BATH/. This of course wont make sense to any of you because-like the refrain YOU SAY POTATO AND I SAY POTATO, it doesn’t make sense unless verbalised.

I digress- .

The magic word[s] are MEAT DRAW- if you are middle class you wont have a clue what that expression refers to.

If you are working class you took part last week.

If you are a toff-what are you doing in here.?

Finally- did you have to look up SHIBBOLETH & did I spell it right? My epitaph "was that it then ? "

I know what it is because I can google

And I've read about it in a book.

Some of the richest and most successful people come from very deprived background - as it makes them so resilient and determined.

I know many people who come from very privileged backgrounds who don't do well at all, as expectations are too high and they constantly feel that they are a disappointment. Three of my close friends were in that situations, 2 had miserable lives as (rich) alcoholics and died in awful circumstances, 1 had a huge nervous breakdown when his parents died when he realised he lived the lives they wanted - and not the one he dreamt of.

I do feel very sorry for the children of famous or successful people, as even if they do very well, people will always say 's/he wouldn't have done so well if it was not for mum/dad' etc. Being the son or daughter of someone very successful can be a real ordeal, as they have to fight even harder in some ways.

Petallus welcome back, a late reply to your post but I have been away. I described ticking 'unskilled working class' as stupid because all the other demographic information I had given them indicated this was not true. It was not a judgement on people who fall into this group. If I had given demographic data that suggested that I fell into the unskilled working class group I would have ticked 'aristocratic'.

What I objected to was the stupidity of the whole question. The questionnaire had already asked questions on age, gender, occupation, income and savings (it was a questionnaire about attitudes to money). There was no need for a question on class, least of all one that subdivided people into so many groups. Faced with a stupid question I chose an answer that conflicted most with the data I had already given, I could also have ticked 'aristocratic' but this smacked of personal agrandisation. I felt more comfortable ticking 'unskilled working class'.