AIBU to think my adult life is average rather than privileged?

Tbh except the house for the DD I don’t think it’s that privileged to
be honest 50 k and some birthday money your hardly landed gentry! It’s not really life changing and 70k is not that much. Sorry. Seems everyone else here must live on groats. As apparently you’re privileged. Although normal everyone here is blagging about their massive income and wealth.

Its because your friends are in the same socio-economic group, even if you think there is no bias, there is.

I'm in a similar position to you, I inherited my house at age 18 from grandparents , have never had to have a proper 9 to 5 job which gave me time to slowly build up a very successful business.

You connect with others with similar stories, in my case people who have built businesses, they have all sorts of back stories, but age mid 40s are all in similar circumstances.

But trust me, we are very lucky, take a trip down the road and I promise you, you will find people with less than nothing, grafting like mad and still with nothing - and sadly, they outnumber those with privilege by a vast number.

Aww hope u get the attention u are looking for, poor babe

Come on now. How do you not know you are privilaged.
Do this calculator to get some perspective
https://wid.world/income-comparator/

OP, why do you struggle to recognise your extreme privilege?

In 2024, only 4% of people earned over £70k. Even without inherited wealth, that means anyone who does is extremely privileged.

I believe the median average gross household income in UK is around £40k. Acute lack of council homes, and inadequate housing benefit to afford private rents while waiting (years) for one, has resulted in record homelessness, including a record number of families with children. Temporary accommodation is hellish.

It’s so important, when extremely privileged, to be conscious that you are.

You need to get out more.

Went to a state school in a deprived ex-mining town.

I probably get gifted £50-100 per birthday.

Renting.

Have £12K in a help to buy ISA which I have saved for since I was 19. I feel pretty privileged to have been able to save all that!

I earn £25k a year. Single person.

I’d say my circumstances are average.

You are privileged. And I don’t believe for one minute you have friends from different walks of life. If you did, then you would KNOW you are privileged.

Ignorant and goady thread. Fucking disgusting.

This

They work hard and save for it you absolute silver spooned person!!!! Why else do you think there are so many people who cannot get on the housing ladder

You can be both average and privileged, if you move in similarly privileged circles. When you compare yourself to people you work with, you're missing out all the people who are not working for a start.

@Weeelokthen

True, but I do know a lot of privileged folk and they’re still aware, humble and educated enough to understand their privilege. OP does come across as very dim.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3w38qvz195o

I considered myself privileged because my uncle lent me £15k and charged me half the going interest rate so I could put a deposit on a house. What you’re describing is beyond privileged and I don’t know a single person in your position despite living in a fairly affluent area in the south east.

my kids will be in a more financially privileged position than I ever was because of inheritance but it is still nowhere near the level you are describing. I can’t fathom how you think you are average

The only help I got from my Mum and Dad towards buying my own house was that they bought me a washing machine! Everything else was done through my own hard work and saving.

Yes you are privileged. The way to work that out is to look outside of your social circle. It’s wild but other people do live quite differently to you and the people you know.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3w38qvz195o

No one is this ghastly

Thats what privelege does though, envelopes you in a bubble

As you are so deluded, I took a screenshot of your post and put it in Chat GPT to ask if your experience is privileged or indeed the UK average you seem to think it is. Here’s the response:

“No, this is not an average UK experience.

This person is significantly more privileged than the average UK resident, even if their social circle normalises it.

Why it’s not “standard” in the UK

• £50,000 towards a house deposit is well above what most UK first-time buyers receive from family. Many get nothing and struggle for years to save even £10k–£20k.
• £2k–£3k gifted every year is also well above average. Most adults in the UK are not receiving regular cash gifts of that size from parents.
• A child having a house held in trust from grandparents is extremely unusual and a clear marker of wealth and intergenerational asset transfer.

What this indicates

This is a person from a background where:

• home ownership is supported rather than self-funded
• regular family financial transfers are expected
• wealth is being preserved across generations

That’s basically the definition of material privilege, even if they personally feel “ordinary” day-to-day.

Bottom line

Their lifestyle may feel normal relative to their friends, but compared to the average UK resident, they are well above average in financial security and inherited”.

There you go.

I say this as someone very privileged.... yabvu.

Your income is high but not exceptional.

Where you are privileged however is in the amount you have received/continue to receive from parents & grandparents.

it sounds like your social circle is similarly privileged. Most people do not receive anything like the amounts you've had. My parents are better off than most - they were able to give me £15k towards a house deposit. My grandparents were much more typical, they left modest estates to my parents & aunts/uncles, nothing was left to grandchildren. My parents give me modest gifts for birthdays/Christmas - £50-£100 a time - this is similar to most of my friends who are adult DC of middle class professional (retired) parents.

So basically not only are you privileged with several examples of large monetary gifts, good education and career and trust funds for your DC, but all your friends are incredibly wealthy and you don't associate with ANYONE who's family isn't in a position to outright buy them a house or give them 6 figure sums and this is evidence that you AREN'T privileged?

As others have said, you can't help if you're privileged but I don't understand how you can't recognise it and I guess it is a little shocking to hear about the bubble some privileged members of society live in.

I came from a working class background, North East comp, had a single Mum, worked since my early teens cleaning, kitchen assistant, receptionist etc. However there was help with uni fees both BA and MA in the early/mid 2000s for people like me and that made me privileged (a privilege working class kids no longer have access to eg. European social funding) and my FIL lent us £5k towards our deposit (which we paid back within 2 years of buying) I now have a professional career (although earn less than you) and own a house (with a mortgage) in a nice part of the North West (we were lucky to get on the property ladder at its low in 2013). I consider myself incredibly privileged, however I also have family and friends that are probably a little more representative of the average Brits financial situation.

All you have to do is just look online at average(median) incomes and assets to see where you sit. Your friends are probably in the top 5% but you're probably in the top 10.

What a shame money can't buy you tact or sensitivity or honesty - or anything of much true worth actually. Disingenuity is worse than outright lying or outright spitefulness you know and it's the modus operandi of cowards.

Are you privileged? Yes. But privilege is on a continuum so you know people who have received more than you. That doesn't make you not privileged it just means other people have had more or larger handouts than you. I think you are getting a hard time but you also don't seem to have a clue about the huge disparities of wealth, social mobility and access to opportunities that exist in this country. And you should because those things really, really matter.

You are massively privileged. HTH.

You move in/are attracted to privileged circles and therefore this seems normal to you.

Council housing isn't available to all who would benefit from it.

When I was a student in Glasgow, I was in a bedsit. The other occupants of the flat - in the other two bedsits - were married couples.

A friend in another bedsit lived opposite a bedsit containing a family of three - a married couple and their teenage daughter. To clarify, the bedsit was the only room that was was theirs alone - they shared a kitchen and bathroom with all the other bedsits in the flat.