To Q why many high earners still live paycheque to paycheque?

What about them? Other bills are council tax, water, gas & electric, various insurance for cars, home, contents, pet, MOT'S etc. They all get paid. Drop in the ocean compared to mortgage

@harrumphh you are a Millionaire Next Door par excellence!

Yep it was a two bedroom flat, so two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen and bathroom to be washed down, filled and painted, and it took four weeks because we were only doing weekends and odd half days when I could move my work around (too little light to do much in the evenings). Plus also trying to keep a semblance of normality for DS, which meant I did most of it by myself while DH took DS to the park.

i don’t know how much it would have cost to get it done professionally, probably £5-6k, but if I’d had that money spare at the time I’d have paid it.

What about the rest of the bills?

DH and I are reasonably high earners, him £70k and me £60k, plus £20k bonus that goes straight to savings and holidays.

That’s a pretty big bonus vs salary ratio. Intrigued as to what industry or are you just both young starting out?

Nowhere did I say the woman 'should' take a career break. I said it is an option for one of you if that's what you want to do. Please don't twist my words.
If any person chooses to have children and continue with their career / vocation, then good for them, but they know beforehand what the nursery is likely to cost, so why moan about it afterwards.

How many parents of six month old babies do you think have enough cash to buy a house almost outright, anywhere?

It is quite apparent being mortgage free would make anyone’s financial health rather better, but without massive family wealth this is completely unrealistic for 99% of young people. If you’re buying a property today as a first time buyer, you aren’t going to be making massive equity gains in a short period of time as some experienced in London 15+ years ago.

And - it’s not desirable to take ‘a career break’ for a lot of women, for their own financial independence and future opportunity to retire.

”oh just buy a house in cash then you can quit your job and have no childcare costs”. Brilliant.

Also it's a generalisation to say salaries outside of London are lower.

There's a lot you can do when you don't have a mortgage, including one of you taking a career break, thus having no nursery fees. Again, I'm not saying this is for everyone, but people seem to think that they are stuck with the situation they are in and then complaining they have no money left, and this that and the other is too expensive!

15 years ago my husband and I wanted to get out of London with our young children. Our skills are niche and this is where the jobs are for us.

We consoled ourselves that even though all our money went on the mortgage, at least some day we would have a valuable asset. Not sure how thst will pan out with wealth taxes coming …

@SLeanne what was true 15 years ago isn’t necessarily the same today.

Im pretty sure if I’d owned a house in London 15 years ago I’d be mortgage free if I moved out now too - but I’m not, and the average age of a FTB here is 34.

And in any case - it’s not just the cost of the house, it’s that having a young child may cost you the same again in nursery fees, per child. That is an issue nationwide.

And of course - outside of London salaries are lower, so the headline figure is meaningless really. And particularly once childcare costs are taken into account, which is the most common theme among these ‘struggling’ higher earners.

No, we did it when our first child was 6 months old, and the 2nd hadn't been born.
I am not saying that is what people should do, I am saying that there are other options for those who find London is too expensive for the lifestyle / home they want to achieve.

We moved out of London roughly 13 years ago and with the sale of our flat we bought a small (but lovely) terraced house and paid off the mortgage. We have since moved into a large detached house and with the money we saved on having no mortgage, we still have no mortgage. If you want / need to live in London, then that's fine, but it isn't for everyone, and I for one wouldn't want to be working every hour God sends just to break even. That makes no sense to me at all.

@SLeanne so ‘downsize and move to a cheaper area’ is actually… quit your jobs, take your children out of
school / nursery, sell your house and move somewhere you may have no network, friends or employment.

Easy!

The question is ‘how do people on these salaries live paycheck to pay check’ - well, this is how. It’s not as easy as just giving up everything and moving to another part of the country.

And - buying a house today is a very different prospect to 15-20 years ago. That experience is not really relevant to today’s workers and young parents.

We don't commute to London. I never said we did. There are jobs in other parts of the country you know!

But this is the point, you’re putting away 20k to savings and holidays - some people have to only live off 20k for rent bills, food- everything. People can’t act hard done by when they spend their money on luxury’s and act like they have no money in their bank - because you spent it on luxury’s and have thousands and thousands in savings🤣

@SLeanne how much does the house you moved to cost (today), and how much does it cost to commute into London?

With £400k you still aren’t going to get a lot of house within commuting distance of London and it will still cost you £2500 a month in mortgage repayments.

What kind of price range are you thinking? Keeping in mind of course that even if you reduce the mortgage by X, you need to consider Y in commuting costs.

We moved out of London when my DS was 6 months old as we wanted a house with a garden instead of our 2nd floor flat. (Also because of the riots). And I don't regret it one bit. So there are options. London isn't the b all and end all.

Regarding downsizing or moving to a cheaper area.

A £400k mortgage might be costing you 2.5k at the moment.

Given the price of property in London, where are you going to downsize to?

The cost of living today is nuts. Inflation has been crazy recently.

I got my first professional job in London in 2002. I was paid £60k. I was single, living in a flatshare and could not believe my riches.

According to the Bank of England inflation calculator, goods that cost £60k in 2002 would cost £108k today. Everything has gone up in price massively. Wages have not kept pace. Plus I now have a mortgage, childcare, school fees, house repairs, etc. I feel far poorer even though I earn much more. Large sums get swallowed up by housing and childcare in particular.

A lot of people are getting needs confused with wants. Like the OP saying their car loan costs 1k a month. You don't 'need' such an expensive car. Ppl don't need to send their kids to private school. And as for all of these massive mortgages, why not downsize or move to a cheaper area? I appreciate that childcare costs are crippling for some but hopefully this will only last a few years.

This says more about you.

Our mortgage went up £700pcm and our PS fees are about to go up £700pcm. All of our other outgoings have also gone up.

3 years ago, we would have been around £2.5k a month better off.

High mortgages, childcare fees, school fees if they’re keeping up with the Joneses, expensive car finance, debt repayments, holidays to keep up with the Joneses, expensive extracurricular clubs for kids. All sorts of reasons.