To think people who live paycheck to paycheck on high salaries are just bad with money?

Nevertheless 50k is high and substantially more than the median and milllions live in expensive cities on way less

One of the most sensible things you can do is to avoid lifestyle creep.

My rule is that when I get a salary increase, I take two months of the increase to enjoy it all. I buy some quality items that will last (like shoes or towels). Then after two months, 10-25% of the increase gets added to my monthly expenses budget, and the remainder is added to savings.

I'm happy with my expenditure at the moment, so I just put the whole extra to savings or pension.

That’s a fantastic new grad salary. I clearly am in the wrong industry!

£50k plus is a high salary?

Whut?

Really depends on location. On that much I could not afford to live alone in London. Birmingham however - no problem.

Cars are great. People on 12k a year have as much need as those on 50K. So they go for cheap insurance group, if there is a financial/practical need for one. Socialising and savings means that you've chosen to spend your money on those things. Someone on 20K has to live with less of both and might do without completely. When my eldest has said she's skint, I have, at times, said, well yes, you've spent the money you've earned. She used to do nails, botox, designer clothes. They go on good holidays. They do spend out on decent meat. It doesn't compare to the lower WC who are being told to be happy they can just about cover essential bills and hope that there's free community provision for their children. Deciding on a set amount to put into savings and pensions, is still a choice on what your money is being used for. It's surprising how many thick people earn well.

Jointly on £50k... I appreciate I glossed over it as it was tricky to explain- I am on £47k basic but bonuses are common and can give me an extra £3k a year. My husband had a period of retraining to change career (film can be a brutal industry long term!) and then a 6 month unemployment so we've been topped up with some part time ad hoc work he picked up, but this was only a few extra thousand last year. So the last year we probably had something like £54k total combined.

Things are looking up though as my husband has just started a £25k role/ one year contract and we are expecting the first paycheck from that later this month. I'm hoping we will have some more breathing space this year! The insecurity in my husbands paychecks have been really hard to budget, but he has also hugely stepped up on the childcare/ school runs/ housework and helped me to grow my career. I feel I've benefited from him taking on a lead caregiver role in many respects.

I will bite. It depends on likely salary increases. £50k is a new grad salary in my industry. I can easily see how a couple in London each earning a lot more than £50k 3-4 years into their careers could easily spend most of what they earn on nursery or nanny, large mortgage etc. But it s an investment to keep both their careers going not poor money management. By their mid 30s they will be on a lot more money and can start to save / invest substantial amounts.

Which is OP's point - live within your means.

Can you do a breakdown of your rent/mortgage and bills please?

Lol I live quite comfortably on 16k.

I’m on 39k net. But I’m single with three kids, high rent and high childcare costs. So I find it really hard to make ends meet. I’m just about doing the bills and not much else.

It depends on what you mean by bad with money. If you have high outgoings some could be unnecessary (overly large car payment, very expensive gym membership, lots of shopping) but some could just be life (mortgage payments going up etc).

Could they downsize/move to a cheaper area/buy a second hand car outright? Yeah probably. And that's what I would do on £50k but I'm used to living on £33k for a family of four so I have to be good with money. For people who've never had such high outgoings to suddenly get them they can't just get out of contracts etc when their outgoings get too high.

I get you OP because sometimes I think 'how the hell am I managing on x amount but they can't manage on x amount with less y to pay for' but it really is a grey area. Some are bad with money, some aren't.

I think when young sharing a room is fine

Then as they get older you don't have childcare costs so could afford to size up to one room per child

So that's a red herring in a way ?

Unfortunately, I’m all to aware of our 45% tax rate. I’d be £3k better off a year if I still lived in the south. Don’t get me wrong, I’d be happy about it if I could see it being used but the local hospital has just been closed, the mental health services have just been reduced, the rural library services have been stopped, the transport to the local schools is practically non existent, the councils are going bust and the crime rate is spiralling. Just to clarify, my son isn’t entitled to free uni as we used to live in England.

£50k is around £3k net a month. If you have a mortgage / rent, bills, childcare fees, a car to run (fuel, insurance etc)... that can easily be £2k plus. Not including food, socialising, saving...

In Scotland the higher tax rate starts at £43,663 and is 42% not 40% as in England. Then the 45% rate starts at £75k. They need lots of money though as they are such a wasteful government.

Yes, I agree. My point was just that answering the question needs to involve identifying the necessities of a comfortable life, as you are trying to do here, and not just saying "it depends on your outgoings" and "people with bigger incomes tend to have higher outgoings". You can't just say someone isn't "comfortable" because they lack some unimaginable luxury, even if a majority of their peers at their income level have that luxury.

The latter won't get "loads" of UC you get less the more you earn I'm on 30k and the UC is only 60 a month, you really think that brings one up to the same level as someone on 50k?

Did that poster even say she was part time, to work part time enough to get generous benefits you'd have to be earning less than 15k. Even the free school meals you need to earn less than 7k. People on this website seem to think everyone on less than 50k is getting loads of free shit and extra money. The op is right that most of you just can't budget someone even mentioned their 3k mortgage, just move to a smaller house!

Yes, YABU
My DS doesn't get any assistance with Uni fees so there's £750 pm, my other DS cannot afford to live on his own very low income so we top him up approx£350 pm to help with energy costs. One DS still lives at home on an apprenticeship and DD just going into 6th Form. 2 cars as we live Rural approx£700 with fuel and maintenance, and mortgage now at just over £2000 pm! Our own energy costs of approx £350pm, council tax £300pm and that's before we think about general living, food, clothes broadband pets etc. Not to mention up here in Scotland there are additional tax bands that means I pay £40k in tax a year!! Yes, I've worked hard in my career and have a salary most dream of but in this country the more you earn, the more the government take!

I had my own bedroom after age 7/8 and went to Brownies … I’d want the same for a child and don’t consider that a luxury

A teenager sharing a bedroom with a younger child is just a recipe for a stressful home

You're right most people I know get by fine on half of that. Be ready for all the mortgaged to the hilt five holidayers a year to moan at you though

And actually sometimes if people have become single parents through no fault of their own then that will make things super tight.

This is a good point which I was thinking about the other day. It was quite routine to share a room until about 15/20 years ago, now I know many families with 2 children maxing out to buy a 3 bed who haven’t even considered that a 2 bed might be sufficient if the rooms are a good size.

I nearly qualified my post my saying excluding SEND but to didn't want to make it too long. Completely agree, I'm a SENCO and the provision for some children in mainstream can be awful.

Bedroom for each child is luxury, as are paid activities.