To be fed up of being on a good income but always skint?

So you don’t understand take home pay but are quick to proclaim how much less you have?
The take home is 5k for the DH and around 1.2k for the OP.
Then there’s the child benefit you are entitled to which the OP isn’t, so another £200 odd inflation your income with 2 kids. Then nursery funding which the OP isn’t entitled to. In many cases lower incomes are entitled to a UC top up, particularly if renting.
All of a sudden your smaller income starts to creeper closer and closer to the OP’s in terms of spending power.

This poster paid off a large mortgage before 70, spends £30k a year on private school (you need to earn £60k alone for that) and is so daft she thinks it’s down to buying a massive doer- upper a mere 15 years ago?!! 😂😂😂

poster- I bought a tiny doer upper 15 years ago, it cost £300k and I had to earn £60k and have a £45k deposit for it. I sold it for £500k and now live in an average 4 bed detached. Where did I go wrong? Why aren’t my kids on private school? Heeelpppp

and my employer pays 12.5%

that's another example of how things have changed pension wise, it's not a great contribution. It's why i moved to the public sector.

Yeah I need the figures on this, and the number for the mortgage broker wizard that sealed the deal…

It's the old story. The bigger the income generally means a bigger mortgage, better car, better food & on it goes. That's why it's a myth those couples with children on relatively huge incomes compared to others are better off. They just appear to be.

Still waiting for you to actually share your outgoings OP.

You cannot be good with money if you feel like that isn’t enough. I am a single parent whose household income is less than yours and I manage holidays, meals out, I pay £250 a month for wraparound child care as well!
Time for a serious look at what you’re spending your money on. You may not be able to afford the lifestyle you want but you make choices based on what you can afford. If you want a holiday then prioritise saving for one, it’ll mean you don’t spend money on other things though.

@Whatsitreallylike but how is your take home 5.7k then?

Because you bought your house 15yrs ago? It is probably 50-100% more expensive now and interest rates have doubled.

I could barely afford my house if I tried to buy it now.

I pay 2.5% and my employer pays 12.5% … I have 15% total pension conts which I’m happy with. But thanks for checking 😘

You can't have a nearly 400k me mortgage and only pay 450pm... Break that down for us. .

You are in a position to clear the debt. It is unbelievable irresponsible that you have stretched your finances so far, that earning 120,000 per year is not cutting it.

Try buying nothing but essentials for a year, update children's wardrobe from a charity shop.

Is your DH gambling?

These are also the funniest sorts of comments because it shows how utterly out of touch come people are.
A couple earning £120k a year must not borrow more than the equivalent of a £1,200 per month payment or they are over-mortgaging themselves?
A £250k budget doesn’t buy you a small family home in huge parts of the country!

I’m genuinely baffled by posts like this - we have a similar income and have a big house with no mortgage, go on multiple holidays a year and kids are in private school.

This is wild but it's probably your lack of mortgage...

Presumably cheap private school too as it would be 30k a year per dc where I am so even without a mortgage 2 would be hard on 100/110k.

How rude!

Listing outgoings isn’t quite the flex people like to think. At the end of the day you chose where to spend and the big things are the big things.

i put £1k a month into my pension. Immediately the “live in a one bedroom flat and drive a 17 year old car” brigade would tell me to stop doing that. But who is going to pay for my old age if not me? Why shouldn’t I take advantage of a good pension scheme my employer offers?

the OP is why can’t high earners do basic things like this? Isn’t that the dream, the social contract of being a high earner?

and the answer is COL has broken the social contract. The middle classes are over.

I have no idea what the take home would be on £120k but ours is about £39k

It’s a good household income but as I’m sure has been raised when it’s disproportionately earned you get rinsed in tax, so the take home won’t be as impressive as a household earning £120k more evenly.

I would say that’s a large mortgage, not a modest mortgage. That is where most of your money is going.
which part of the country are you in? If it’s the south then obviously the cost of living will be higher.

We have a similar income to you and can afford holidays, eating out and to put some away for savings. We have a mortgage of around £200k though and no loans or car finance - We drive around in two old cars.

@Whatsitreallylike why don't you pay into a pension?

I’m genuinely baffled by posts like this - we have a similar income and have a big house with no mortgage, go on multiple holidays a year and kids are in private school.

however we did buy a proper do-er upper house 15 years ago when we were not as wealthy and have extended and refurbished over the last 10 years. We are extremely frugal in other ways and know how every single penny is spent. Our priority was always paying off the mortgage as soon as possible and we did loads of the work on the house ourselves. I don’t understand how you are spending your money.

So are we talking about the MN definition of struggling/skint, ie unable spend on anything you want without thinking rather than actual skint ie looking down the sofa for coins to buy bread and hiding from the bailiffs?

I know on MNs it's normal to earn 100k but only borrow twice your salary mortgage wise but for many in the real world that's unrealistic and again often it's cheaper to pay a mortgage than rent.

Yes I have. It helps that I earn £100k a year and my take home is £5,700. Assume a bit over a grand for the OP and you’re not far from £7k.

And I don't think lower earners quite understand the tax/ benefit implications for high earners - they see a headline six figure salary and automatically think "rich!".

Someone with two kids earning earning £50k/ year will take home almost 50% of someone in the same position earning £150k plus they get tax free childcare.

Higher earners prop up the welfare system and at the moment they just don't feel the benefit of working harder - the £100k tax trap for example, loads of my friends contort their salaries (work PT, take unpaid leave, make huge pension contributions) to avoid the 60% marginal rate and loss of tax free childcare. How does that make the economy grow?