关于我的中产阶级水平

译者 jiangyh

I was in twitter when I noticed that SeeJaneGetRich.com tweeted a link to a U.S. News article on yahoo called “How to gauge your middle class status“.  Since I love feedback and statistics, I thought I’d check it out.

　　我在推特（Twitter）上看到SeeJaneGetRich.com发布的一则雅虎财经网链接，这是一篇题为《如何衡量你的中产阶级水平？》（原文｜译文）的文章。我就是个喜好反馈信息和统计数字的人，所以我认为我也该自我评估一下。

It was interesting read so I decided I’d write about how I was doing.

　　这是个有趣的阅读体验，所以我决定把我的评估过程记录下来。

Income: We are very close to the midde-middle income level for a 2 parent, 4 person household.  We are a bit above that $81,000 dollar number, but still less than $100,000.

　　收入：作为一个四口双亲之家，我们家庭收入的总和应该十分接近中等中产阶级的财产水平，介于8.1万美元至10万美元之间。

Housing: Our house is assessed at $200,000, but it’s only 2,100 square feet.  It’s good size for my family though.

　　住房：我们的住房估价为20万美元，面积仅有2100平方英尺。不过对我们一家人来说，大小正好适中。

Medical Expenses: First, we are doing a HSA, so it’s kind of like it’s still our money.  But we are much lower than the $5,100…   We are more like $500…

　　医疗：首先要指出，我们已加入美国医疗储蓄帐户（HSA），所以那户头里的钱大概还是算我们的吧。不过我们的医疗费用似乎远低于5100美元，貌似更接近是500美元……

Cars: We have 2 cars, both were bought new, but only cost about $30,000.  That period in time may be the last time we buy new cars.  Our expenses around them are less than average, because I telecommute a few times a week and car pool with a buddy occasionally.

　　车辆：我们家有两辆车，虽然都是新车购入，但总计只花费了约3万美元。我们并没有继续购入新车的打算。花在这两辆车上的费用也是远低于平均水平——因为我每周都有几天是远程办公，偶尔也和朋友合伙拼车。

College Savings: This is one area that I am very average.  My savings rate is around $4,000 a year.  To date, I have a total of $65,000 saved for my kid’s college expenses in a 529 plan.

　　大学存款：在这个方面，我很符合平均水平。我每年的存款金额大概是4000美元。迄今为止，我在529大学储蓄计划中已经为孩子存了总计6.5万美元款项。

Vacations: We’re pretty typical here too!  Although we usually only spend about 75% of the $3,000 amount the average middle class American spends.

　　度假：这项我们也很标准！不过，我们通常的度假费用只有中产阶级平均水平（3000美元）的75%。

Retirement: I save about 15 to 20% of my gross income in this area.  I got hit hard during the recession, but it’s coming back nicely!

　　退休计划：在这一项里，我将总收入的15%至20%都纳入了退休计划。我在经济大萧条时期受到了沉重的打击，不过事情已经正在渐渐起色了。

Everyday Spending: This is one area we use to really win at (being frugal and all), but kid’s sports, and other needs has had this number slowly rise over the last 5 or so years.  We have been going thru a bit of a lifestyle creep for our kids.  But at least our kids are happy…  Our cost are still far less than the average though!

　　日常花费：这项是我们引以为豪的（精打细算才是王道），不过孩子在娱乐运动等方面的需求使得日常开支在过去5年里略有攀升。我们为了孩子而转变了些许生活方式，不过孩子们开心就好。虽然如此，我们的日常花费仍然要远低于平均水平。

Number of Earners: For the past 9 years, it’s been primarily me, but since my daughter started kindergarten, my wife now works a side job for about 6 to 8 hours per week.  She works mainly to keep her skills fresh.  Since it’s not critical, the job she works has a high degree of flexibility.

　　工作人数：过去9年里主要是我在工作挣钱；不过自从女儿开始上幼儿园以后，妻子现在也在做点事情，每周大概工作6到8小时。她工作主要是不希望让自己的技艺变得生疏。因为没什么压力，所以她的工作还是高度自由弹性的。

Hours Worked: With my wife working now, we still work less that 50 hrs a week, but definitely more than 40.

　　工作时间：算上我妻子目前的工作，我们每周工作时间仍低于50小时，当然肯定是超过40小时了。

Education: Both my wife and I have college bachelor degrees.  I play around with the idea of going back for an MBA, but so far, I’m too busy.

　　教育水平：我们夫妇二人都持有大学学士学位。我老是开玩笑说要回学校去继续念MBA，不过我一直以来都太忙了。

Free Time: We are fortunate that we have an adequate amount of free, but busy time, no big complaints here.

　　自由时间：幸运的是，我们有十分充足的自由支配时间。在这里就暂不抱怨忙碌的时候了。

Household Net Worth: I don’t think this number is for the average 4 person middle class family…  When compared to a similar socio-economical family like ours, we are higher than average.  Hopefully in the near future our spread will continue to expand, since we are totally debt free (no house mortgage).

　　家庭资产净值：话说我觉得原文给出的数字并不适用于中产阶级的四口之家。与其他类似的社会经济家庭相比，我们的净资产比平均值要高。在不久的将来，我们的资产还有望得到提升，因为我们家完全是零负债（无房贷）。

Debt: I have no debt (credit card, auto or mortgage) at this point in my life.  I’m actually surprised that the payments towards debt is only 18% of the disposable income!  I was thinking the percentage would at least be over 20%.

　　家庭债务：就这项来说，在我生活中完全没有负债（包括信用卡、车辆或房产抵押）。原文中说中产阶级全部可支配收入中仅有18%用于偿清债务，我实在觉得有些不可思议。在我看来，这个比例应该至少20%以上。

Well, they you have it!  My assessment for how I’m going verse the average middle class American!  Overall, I’m very happy with our progress.  In fact, I believe we are going better in every area above, at least in a positive sense (for example, our hours worked isn’t over 70 per week, and I view that as very positive).

　　好了，以上就是我的自我评估。目前我的结论是……我还应该是一个处于中产阶级平均水平的美国人！总的来说，我对于我目前的阶段表示满意。事实上，我相信在上面所有的条目里，我们都会越来越好，至少在积极的意义上是这样（比如说，我们的每周工作时间没有超过70小时，这在我看来就是个积极的信号）。