In the first part of a new MLC report titled Australia Today, a picture has emerged of an Australian society that is confused about socio-economic strata and how much money is required to live a ‘comfortable’ life.
Sixty-six per cent of the 2,023 Australians surveyed by Ipsos on behalf of MLC said they were either middle class or lower middle class.
Even more strikingly, 44 per cent of people earning over $200,000 thought they were middle class.
“The term ‘middle class’ has become something of a ‘shorthand’ used to describe almost everyone in Australia, except for those at the very top and very bottom of the socio-economic strata,” said the report.
A section of the report titled ‘Are we living for today, not tomorrow?’ found that 75 per cent of respondents believed that “having a comfortable lifestyle means having enough money to do what I want, when I want”.
The top lifestyle priorities of those surveyed were ‘owning the latest technology’ and ‘entertainment’.
“The freedom to spend at will has become the new ‘standard of living’ for many Australians, as opposed to an aspiration,” said the report.
“Indeed, much of what is considered the norm today would have been considered ‘luxuries’ 20 or even 10 years ago.”
The report found that 48 per cent of Australians said ‘living comfortably’ requires $150,000 annually and an overwhelming majority said being worth $1 million does not make you wealthy.
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