The Department of Commerce defines the middle class as a family of 4 making between $50,000 and $120,000 a year. I’m sure that in higher cost of living areas those numbers are higher. In her story in the July 2014 issue of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Jane Bennett Clark paints a grim picture for those in that group.
She says that “middle class income’s have stagnated while the costs of higher education, health care, and housing have skyrocketed, and private pensions have slowly disappeared. The recession wreaked havoc on jobs and home equity, the latter one of the source of middle class savings.”
This is a good read to wake up those in this group to the new “normal” of what you can look forward to if you don’t do something about it. That “something” is to take personal control of your financial future and make a plan to make your future different than what most will have to accept. Our country is filled with more success stories than any other country in the world. People from all over the world are trying to get in to be able to take advantage of the freedom we have to create our own destiny if we only have the courage to try.
What needs to happen is to look in the mirror and appoint the person in the mirror the CEO of the “change my family’s fate” group. Nobody else is going to do it, this story made that clear. Will it take sacrifice and some risks – sure? Is it worth it? Yes, unless you are going to be happy with working until you are 65 or 70 just so you can hopefully have enough to get by.
At Buckingham Investments, we have been helping our clients make sound real estate investments for over 50 years. Our approach is to first help educate you about investing then help you make a plan to attain the goals for you and your family. Only after you feel confident about real estate as the right investment for you do we help you get started with that first investment. Give us a call or find us on the internet at www.buckinghaminvestments.com
