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

Saying that though I'm on 36k a year, £1k rent and don't consider myself living PC to PC. I was when my son was in nursery. I just have to live a very frugal life

Private school is a choice.

A mixture of lifestyle bloat and high expenses. At 100k specifically they likely have young children and don’t get as much help with childcare costs.

You don’t get rich by spending money!

Agree with the lifestyle creep comment. Although I am not a higher earner, I am not longer a min wage earner. Things I do now that I couldn’t do before are things like occasionally get a coffee from a coffee shop (maybe once or twice a week) and a weekly hobby that costs £10 each time. I couldn’t have afforded this before a pay rise, but now that I do these two things that eats up the pay rise.

it’s small things that are little luxuries for me that I am pleased I can now do.

Yep, I was paying £1500 for 1 outside of London.

Whats with the phrase 'paycheque'?

Or even worse 'paycheck'

This is american language

Its payday to payday

I live payday to payday because I enjoy spending, like another poster said, Im a spendthrift!

A "high earner" is someone who get £100k. I know that is not a low salary, but if you live in London (or around London, even) and have kida to support, you might actually leave paycheck to paycheck! Factor in childcare for more than 1 kids and it's easy to see

£100k doesn’t go as far as you think it should but I suspect people who are totally out of money at that level are putting money into pensions (would be silly not to given tax penalties) and treating some savings as bills/overpaying the mortgage.

There is also a lot of discretionary spending that could be cut quickly. I was horrified when I added up the cost of one of my daughter’s extra curricular clubs. If we had a salary reduction a lot of that spending would need to go but could go relatively quickly.

Rich people often are tight.

Also a lot of very high earners eg a lawyer earning 2m won’t be on PAYE.

I have zero savings, substantial debt, and pay 8% into my pension, which is not a lot considering my age

Yes, the thing is that all those bills and groceries are much more expensive now than just three years ago. Most people have been decreasing their spending but still not catching up. The food prices is one but mortgages can be more than double than two years ago. If you have young kids or teenagers is so much more expensive and worse in the SE. I am more flexible with my budget for my kids. Life here is hard enough to deny them some fun or holiday after a hard earned great exam results year or any accomplishment in their lives. The reality it is that living here is not worth it anymore for many people. At least if you want a good lifestyle with a PAYE high earner salary. Only thick thing would be if you stay here living pay check to pay check.

Before my partner moved in recently I was supporting myself and two kids on a 40k income and still managing to save a few hundred each month.

I have a few things that make it easier for
me though - kids not at nursery now, just needing wraparound club at school so much cheaper; small house with small mortgage; wfh so no commuting costs; co-parenting so kids not here all the time.

I save money by decorating my house myself and buying clothes from charity shops. Holidays are a short break under a week long once a year.

2 in private school is £60k post tax round here - not a hope of sending with an income of £120k.

@Propertyladder123 Im not sure why you replied to my post? Earning 10-20k a month isn’t 120k…

Easy. The more you earn, the more the bank says it will give you for a mortgage. You then look at what you can ‘afford’. Bam, super high mortgage payments. Combine that with the expense of childcare that most people have and while high earners, there’s no money left over.

Yes, people don’t HAVE to buy more expensive houses just because that’s what the bank will give them but it’s human nature to cast your eye over what you ‘could’ have and then once you look at other stuff at lower prices it never measures up against what you ‘could’ have (obviously). Thats the trap.

We have a high household income and If you were to ask DH he would say he lives paycheck to paycheck. However we both save monthly into our pensions and ISAs and have 6 figure savings, we live well within our means. It really annoys me that he comes out with this but he genuinely feels skint because the money goes straight to savings at the beginning of the month and so feels like a bill like everything else. I may have set it up this way deliberately after seeing how he struggles with money.

As far as lifestyle creep goes that is inevitable, especially once you have children, you need a bigger house and car and holidays area lot more expensive. Even as a saver I think there's no point not enjoying your life, so we have short term savings for holidays and house improvements as well as long term savings for retirement.

Not true! Im a nanny in private homes and my cutting employers are very frugal despite having big salaries

Just to add, I earn much more than the majority of my friends (I am a single mother, and many single mothers are on very low incomes). I don't think my friends realise how much I earn, although they see I work hard and am an expert in my field. But, it means I don't hang around with other high earners. Plus, I don't like shopping or consuming (like to feel I am living relatively lightly on the planet).

Oh give over

Our combined earnings are £130k roughly, he earns triple what I do.

We live in one of the cheapest parts of the country, our 4 bed detached house is valued at around £350k now.

Our children are adults now but we had zero childcare costs because grandparents helped.

We put money away each month in pensions, premium bonds, ISAs etc.

We have one expensive car and one run around that's over 10 years old now.

No student loans because we didn't go to university, Dp is a high earner because he has a trade that is not very popular in this country so he's been lucky to be in high demand in his career.

We are currently looking to downsize, no mortgage on the house but council tax is extortionate and we don't need 4 bedrooms because the children have their own homes.

We holiday abroad 3-4 times a year and get a few UK city breaks.

I definitely think it depends on where you live. We couldn't afford to live the lifestyle we do if we lived in London or probably any big city in the UK. It always amazes me when I see the property threads on MN, London prices are insane. Childcare is also expensive and I know we've been so lucky never to have paid that. I can understand how some high earners are living pay check to pay check though, just because people earn a lot it doesn't automatically make them millionaires. A lot of people wouldn't live in my area though because it is very forgotten and underfunded, poor hospitals and schools and terrible public services. We grew up here so don't know any different but it's definitely not for everyone.

Loving the we are so poor but mention in the same breath sticking £1500-2000 into savings every month. 😂

I mean I earn paycheque to paycheque. This is because I have salary sacrificed 18% into my pension and over pay my mortgage by £400 extra per month. I then have £1200 go out per month in nursery and child care costs. I wouldn't say I'm a spendthrift but I have nothing left at the end if the month either.

I am on 100k and have nothing left at the end of each month because I put everything not spent into my pension and early mortgage repayment. I don't feel a need to build up savings because I can deal with life emergencies from my salary.

I shop in Aldi and buy clothes for myself and children on Vinted