Worked with an insurance company for 15 years. I assume I would be labeled as "middle class". Decent salary, company car, 401K and good health insurance. Got very tired of taking orders from superiors and knew where I was at in life was never going to change if I stayed in that position. Saw myself doing the exact same thing 25 years from then. Decided to cash in everything, all savings, all retirement and go to law school while continuing to work full time. Made it through and me and another attorney hung out a shingle about 10-11 years ago.
We've been fortunate and blessed. We've developed a system that has worked and hopefully will continue to do so. I will tell you that my gross pay averages close to 10X what I was making in my former career. But...I work for myself and out of my gross pay, I'm taxed well over 40%. Then, we have to pay our 5 employees. Then we have an advertising budget well over $100K per year...without which we wouldn't be in business. Then we pay malpractice insurance, health insurance, SSI, mortgage and insurance on the office and on and on and on.... Haven't worked up the exact figures but I would say I'm not too far off in estimating I keep a good bit less than .20 cents on the dollar.
Am I complaining? Not in the least. That's what I signed up for. But, I'll be damned if I'm going to make the decision to spend 4 plus years of mine and my family's lives sacrificing and cashing in everything I own to try and better ourselves financially and be able to work for myself and make my own decisions......only to have our President tell me "You need to pay your fair share". And then listen to someone say we need to "distribute the wealth". Have no idea what the actual criteria is for defining someone as Mr. 1%. Heard our President trying to call people who gross $250K or more "wealthy". I do know my take home says I'm Mr. Middle Class. But I won't complain until someone starts telling me I don't deserve or am not entitled to what I have and need to do more.
A few years ago, my partner and I found a resignation letter from one of our employees on our desks. This was totally out of the blue. We called her in to find out the problem and we were blown away by her answer. She said she saw us moving into new houses and taking vacations etc. And since she worked here, she felt she deserved those things too and we should be giving her a 6 figure salary because she worked just as hard as we did. Awkward moment that turned to laughter...on our part. We told her to take her ass on to law school and pass the bar. Buy yourself a building and furnish the entire office for you and the employees you'll have to hire. Pay their salaries and benefits. Pay for all the other shit involved and put your ass on the line for everything. EVERYTHING. And if you're successful enough at it and have enough left over to build you a house and take vacations and do what you want, then good for you. Until then, fuck off.