Lower Middle Class & Middle Class

Pros of being from a middle class family:

1. I learned to value every penny, to this day I think a lot before I make a buying decisions and only buy something if that is an absolute necessity.
2. I developed inexpensive hobbies like reading, exercising and programming. I learned that you don’t have to spend money in order to do something enjoyable. One can find a joy almost in anything he does.
3. Being middle class gave me the motivation and drive to work harder, it is much harder to get motivated to do something when your parents are filthy rich and you don’t have the need to make any money.
4. Being middle class taught me that almost everyone in this world treats you good only when you are richer than them. Be it close relatives or friends, if they know you are not form money then they would treat you differently.
5. Being middle class taught me the importance of self-education. I realised very soon that if I had to improve my financial circumstances education was the only key, self-education to be more precise. I saved my coffee money to buy internet data so that I can learn from the internet. If I would have been rich, I would have used internet only for entertaining myself.

Problems I faced being from a middle class family were mostly financial.

How difficult is live a life of middle class family?

I honestly think that being a middle class person is the best thing to be.

You are not so poor that you cannot afford to do anything.

Also you are not rich either that you have no drive/motivation to work.

Being from a middle class family brings the best of both worlds, i.e you have enough money to be able to get educated and yet still have the middle class values which would encourage you to save money and work hard.

Most of the problems you would face being a middle class would be directly or indirectly related to finances.

However, there are (non-financial) cons of being form a middle class family as well, here are some of them:

1. Money is looked at as a tool used to just buy consumer goods and not to grow oneself.
2. The middle class cap their ability to move ahead by settling at their current job, even if they have potential to get ahead in life.
3. Middle class is risk averse, people avoid taking chances with anything and a safer side is always preferred.
4. Education is looked as just a means to get a job and not to grow as an individual.
5. Formal education is given more importance as compared to self-education. Although today a lot more middle class are becoming aware of self-education.
6. Thinking big is highly discouraged, focus is mainly on living a stable yet monotonous life.

If you are a student who belongs to a middle class family, here are a few tips from my end.

1. Finances are not the main issue being middle class, you will obviously get a decent job and make money if you study well. The main disgrace being a middle class are some of the false beliefs and values(one I have listed above) that are much harmful.
2. Being middle class, self-education is your best friend and there is no better thing than the internet to self-educate yourself. Hence make sure to use it to its max. Self-education is the 6 lane highway that can get you from where you are to where you want to be.
3. Educate yourself not to get a job but to grow yourself. Don’t just learn a skill so that you can work at an XYZ company, instead learn it for yourself to build something of your own. You’ll need to put a lot of effort into learning something and that is very valuable, don’t just rent out your skills to some company for X dollars, instead use them to your advantage and build something. When you have that attitude, companies would be willing to pay you a lot more.
4. Don’t limit your potential, more importantly don’t let others limit your potential. Just because a company says we will pay you X for a months worth of work does not mean you are just worth X every month. It just means that the company sucks at finding the true potential inside of you. Remember that a company’s job is to pay you as less as they possibly could.
5. Look at money as a tool to grow, money is not just meant to buy things, the same money can also be used to grow yourself. For example, instead of buying a jacket you can use that money to buy a book which will help you grow. Not just books, there are a multitude of ways you can use money to grow yourself, for example, you can buy a gym membership which can help you grow stronger. You can use the same money to eat healthy, get a certification etc. There are a lot of ways to use money to your advantage.
6. Take calculated risks, if you think that you have the ability to switch to a better job, move to a better city, take up a different career then do it. I know it sounds scary but if you are willing to grow you must be willing to risk. Just make sure that you take calculated risk and that the risk has a significant payoff.
7. Don’t look at work as some kind of a chore. For most of the middle class, work seems to be like a boring task which needs to be done for sake of getting that monthly paycheque. While it is true that you need to work to make money, but that does not mean you need to consider work as some form of torture. This is the very reason you need to work on something that is interesting enough which makes you feel like you are on some sort of a mission, a mission to build something or do something substantial. If you are finding your work to be boring and uninteresting means that the work you are currently doing is way under your potential.

-Saurav Sharma