8 money mistakes the middle class keeps making
Sorry, but you just don't need the fancy car. Sean Gallup/Stringer/Getty Images About half of Americans lived in middle-income households in 2014, according to Pew Research . This demographic includes families with incomes two-thirds to double the U.S. median household income – or those earning between $42,000 and $125,000 (with cost-of-living adjustments for expensive metropolitan areas). America’s middle class includes teachers, firefighters, and plumbers, but also engineers, construction managers, and chefs — workers from all over the economy. The middle class provides and consumes the bulk of services that keep society afloat, driving economic growth and investment with each purchase they make. But when it comes to money, the American middle class faces a range of unique challenges. Wages have stagnated for nearly everyone but the highest earners since 1979, and rising inflation-adjusted costs of essentials like housing and healthcare...