Most of the people I know identify themselves as the “sandwiched middle-class”. Not surprisingly since in Singapore, it probably covers anyone between the 20th and 80th percentile. Anyway, I think the term “middle-class” is so broadly defined nowadays that I feel it is necessary to subdivide it further so that instead of just 3 categories, we get 5 quintiles on the social ladder instead:

• Lower (0 to 20th percentile)
• Lower Middle (20th to 40th percentile)
• Middle (40th to 60th percentile)
• Upper Middle (60th to 80th percentile)
• Upper (80th to 100th percentile)

The majority of this blog’s readers is likely to span across the three middle quintiles. If you are at the bottom and reading this, there’s probably more pressing concerns like earning a higher income. And if you are at the top, I doubt you get much value out of my writing. The three middle quintiles are more relevant to this blog. For example, Lean-FIRE is...