What do you consider to be well off?

[Namechangestimes100]

What do you consider to be well off, for ease let’s say outside of London?

DH and I (early 30s) combined earn 85k base salaries (we get annual bonuses but as these aren’t a given and vary, can’t really include) We are most certainly not rolling in it. When I started working, 85k combined seemed like a lot, but with the increases in the cost of living, I do find myself worrying about money often, esp when i go back to work and we’ll have 2 kids in childcare . The 30 free hrs, doesn’t amount to a lot at all when split over the year with food+ nappies on top.

so i think well off probably over £100k a year?

what do you consider well off? For me it’s no money worries, you don’t worry about money.

( just because MN this is in no way a ‘brag’ post)

Our combined income is about £55 - £60k (DP income is variable) and while I don’t consider us “well off” because we never have enough money for the things we want, I am mindful that the things we want are e.g. a new bathroom and the reason we don’t have the money for it is because we have had to prioritise new fences after the February storms and subsequently decided to spend further money doing up the garden.

We would probably have about £700 spare at the end of the month if we didn’t spend it on house stuff (which is constant at the moment) but still manage to put some away after mortgage, bills, food, petrol and frivolous purchases.

We are lucky that our mortgage is small (£540/month) which helps a lot with disposable income.

I don’t feel well off but aware am very well off compared to some. I think everyone always thinks they could do with more money because their expectations change.

@SweetSakura exactly, we are similar to friends in terms of income but we don't have the luxury of 200k plus gifts from our parents to renovate or move up the ladder. It's another world really.

its all relative. We make less than some off our peers but have good savings, so we feel well off. Some friends make less than us but live in a posh area so they feel well off. Everyone has different goalposts.

back then we earned 15k less and ended up accruing debt to pay for the medical bills and I appreciate not everyone could take a loan like we did but it wasn’t as easy as we have it in the bank so let’s pay

No I understand that but it hasn’t left you with crippling debt and you were solvent enough to get a loan. Again it’s not a criticism, I’m glad you were able and hope your DC is ok now, it just lends itself to the question posed

@cuppygup whilst we do earn a lot; we don’t earn 300k but I consider us well off and a lot of my post is how we live.
Like your second post points out; we bought our first house at a very cheap time and profited hugely from that meaning we have been able to afford a very nice lifestyle.

I consider us well off. We are on a combined income of about £75k gross. However, what has helped with the well off-ness is that we have paid off the mortgage (by living like Trappist monks for quite a while and over paying massively). We are now considering sending DS1 to private school for years 9, 10 and 11 which seems doable having done all the sums and taking into account savings we could still do it if one of us lost a job.

Our outgoings are very modest.
No mortgage, only run one car, most clothes second hand (for ethical rather than fiscal reasons), UK holidays (again environmental rather than finance).

So I would say that being well-off depends just as much in outgoings as income.

@Louise0701 I guess i'm looking at it from today's perspective as the only people I know who benefited massively from house prices are all older than myself & my friends.

What you think of as well off changes as you earn more, doesn't it? If I was told what our current household income would be ten years ago, I'd assume we'd feel "rich" but we don't. Your outgoings expand with your income so at the end of every month you feel no better off, even though you of course are.

"Well off" isn't an annual salary of £xxxx - it's the quality of life you can afford

We have a lovely house in a nice area - no mortgage, I work PT in a job I really enjoy, DH is retired with a good pension, we have no money worries, can eat / heat / holiday / buy treats / don't have to worry about bills, unexpected expenditures, I count my blessings as I know this is not the case for many many people

Totally yeah!

i guess my point of the question is, when I started work 85k combined seemed like phew you can breathe easy, but now that we’re there, with our expenses and lifestyle (nothing fancy unfortunately) I’m realising that it’s not as much as it sounds (for us).

but then if DH only supported one household, if we didn’t have nursery, if we didn’t have that loan… perhaps it would

Depends on where you live, I guess, but where I live, £85k + bonuses is a decent income, you could certainly raise an average family in an average house on it, people manage on less. I suppose how 'well off' you are depends upon how you use it, and what is important to you in terms of lifestyle.

Very true!

As someone said earlier, “about 20% more then you currently earn”.

A lot depends with what you benchmark against. DH works in an industry that pays well with a lot of young (pre-family life stage) people with high disposable income. He does not feel well off.

I work in the charity sector with people in dire financial need. I feel very well off.

Yes one household is expensive enough let alone two.

Dh an I earn 62k we have enough money to pay bills. Do bits with kids and maybe a uk holiday. We struggle to save although tbf we could if we really skimped. I'd say 80k plus is well off.

Well off to me regardless of wage is being able to spend what you want (within reason) when you want

im on a good wage but live modestly. If I want to buy tech (iPhone etc I could) or go on cheap holiday I could

These last few weeks though have really made me curb my spending

Has anybody mentioned buy to lets??
I know a couple who both have quite normal jobs but he inherited a lot of money in his early 20's and bought a house which is now a buy-to-let and they live somewhere else; they make £1000's per month from this property. Likewise some people get "gifted" a house then when they meet their husband / wife they end up with 2 houses. Or 3 if they are lucky! Another couple has a house they use for airbnbs a couple of doors down from where they live.
So wages aren't everything.
I am not in London but in an area which is probably as expensive so the people I know who own more than 1 property are millionaires, technically. They still gripe about prices etc. which infuriates me as someone who's technically homeless.

How well off you are has nothing to do with how much you are paid, rather how much disposable income you have.

if you get paid 10k a week but you pay a 39k mortgage every month you have no money for cars, holidays, fun stuff. But if you get paid 5k a month and have a 1k mortgage you have lots spare and can enjoy life to the fullest.

income also doesn’t account for debt/savings. If you owe more than 5 times your annual salary, does it matter if you get paid 300k a year??? A person getting 30k could be debt and mortgage free.

it’s a pointless question that comes up on here daily, and I just don’t understand why. People with high incomes can live beyond their means and struggle just as much as very low income families…I’m not saying it’s not their own fault, but it can change whether or not a person should be perceived as well off

I think it is always relative. I have had significant salary increases over the years. I earn ten times more now than when I started work. At each step of the way I have thought ah yes but when I get the next pay rise I will feel like I earn enough.

If I take a step back I think being well off means the same as lots of other people on the thread - when you can the bills and live a nice life without thinking about the bank balance at the end of the month.

In terms of amounts - also depends on your circumstances. Joint incomes will allow you to feel better off than if you were single. In London I would say you would need between £80k to £100k but that may mean you aren't saving much

Posted too soon! Outside London I think around £50k based on friends and family.

i should add, I have two houses (both mortgaged) and can take two holidays annually - usually at a total cost of 10k. Prior to a couple of pretty nice pay rises in the last year (dh promotion) we were on a combined income of 50k before tax - but we’ve also been able to do the same holidays when on just 40k combined another few years earlier.

People would definitely consider us both low earners, but I’m seeing we have more spare cash for holidays and fun than many people with a higher income.

so who decides what is well off really?

We were a £100k a year household, but I was made redundant whilst furloughed, but I only worked 20 hours a week for the last four years and we saved almost all of it.

DH retires soon, and following some very diligent savings and years of going without, and an inheritance we will soon be on just under £50,000 pension, more when I hit pension age in eight years time, and a investments to the tune of £320,000 we will be more than ok, we weren't always so fluid, so sometimes it does get easier.

Another one saying it's all about disposable income - and by disposable I mean after all your regular outgoings (including childcare).

Our combined income is lower than yours, but we own our house outright, and work full time between us, so we don't have any childcare bills. We have one car which we don't use much as both of us work locally. We could find £15k from savings if we needed to, though DC are state educated. I strongly suspect we 'feel' a lot more well off than you do as our disposable income is higher.

Dh and I have a combined income of just over £40k (outside of london) I'd class us as comfy, we have money left over at the end of the month and we are able to save. However I would say, maybe an extra £10/15k would make us well of, to my standard.

My measure is being able to say "I like that, I want that, I'm going to buy it" and not worry about where the money is coming from, here I mean a new guitar, a new kitchen gadget, etc.

I think we'll achieve it in the next 5 years if I carry on the career route I'm planning and if dh get the promotion he wants.