Yahoo Finance The middle class is dying and you need to get out of it: Grant Cardone
Once upon a time being middle class was an achievement, today its considered a curse warns Grant Cardone, motivational speaker and author of Sell or be Sold. “Notification to the middle class is get out, get above it, whatever you have to do.”
76% of middle class workers are living paycheck to paycheck, and with wage growth stagnant saving for retirement and planning for your future is likely not happening. In order to rise above the fray you need to simply earn more, says Cardone. “$109,000 a year is where you need to get, so if you are making $60,000 or $58,000, the average person makes $58,000 in this country, figure out how do I add $42,000 into that?”
Earning an additional $42,000 is easier said than done for most Americans however Cardone says anybody can do it by focusing on these principles. “If you want to get out of the middle class you need to market yourself, promote yourself and sell yourself.”
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The clock is ticking. Middle class Americans are carrying an average debt load of $84,000, an increase of 161% from 1992 which is rapidly creating a two class society in America. “Poverty is getting bigger, wealthy people are getting bigger and the middle class is actually shrinking,” according to Cardone. That may mean eventually America will consist of only the rich and the poor.
Sobering Stats on the Middle Class
Wages are flat or declining for 20 years
Middle 60% of households earn less than 50% of all income
50% of college graduates don’t get a job in the field they studied
28% of Americans have no savings, 43% have enough for 3 months of expenses
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