Page 9 | What do you consider to be well off?

Namechangestimes100 · 2022-04-24T19:31:41+00:00

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)

Lovinglife45 · 26/04/2022 11:17

Yes,considering you are both in your early 30's. We have a similar household income and have 10/15 years on you.

With two dc we can comfortably cover the bills, spend 100 per week on food shop, run a car, pay for one extra curriculum activity each, give them pocket money, have a cheap take out once a week, do day trips. We save for an emergency fund but of course it does not build up as we are always dipping into it.

We cannot travel abroad unless we are Willing to save for a year and overlook the fact that parts of our home need modernising. I shop in H&M, Mango, Zara and even then I look for sales. We take a pack lunch to work.

MaryAndHerNet · 26/04/2022 12:34

BarbaraofSeville · 26/04/2022 11:09

But if you lived in a hole in the road and ate dust and drank rainwater, you'd be able to spend all that £12k on whatever you liked and by the logic of some posters on this thread, you'd be better off than someone who spent all their £300k salary on the mortgage on a house in Central London, a nanny and leasing a Tesla @MaryAndHerNet

I live in Yorkshire...
Luxury...

Nuff sed.

Louise0701 · 26/04/2022 12:43

@MaryAndHerNet to be fair, surviving isn’t great.
i don’t think anyone should aspire to just survive.

tuliplover · 26/04/2022 15:46

You are not well off for London. My neighbours earn over £100k between them and they can't afford to buy a three bed terrace in our Zone 3 location (prices are around £1m for that).
My husband earned £500k (he's been dead 12 years now so not sure the equivalent now). We had a nice house and three (out of four) kids in private school. We had two average cars both second hand. We could not afford (due to the school fees and alimony to first wife) a holiday abroad every year. But we were comfortable for sure. But minus first wife and one school fee snd we'd have the same lifestyle earning £200k less. And remember if that £500k over £200k went to the tax man.
So for me, to have what I'd consider 'comfortable', in London you'd be earning £200k plus and have bought your house about ten years ago. If state schooled you could earn £60k less for two kids.

TeamFreeWill · 26/04/2022 15:56

Just to add the other side to this, I'm single. live alone and exist on less than £7,000 a year. Count your blessings.

bowlingalleyblues · 26/04/2022 16:04

Median annual full-time salary for someone in their 30's is £32,965 pa according to the ONS. So you're doing better than 'average' although that is across all areas and education levels. Worrying about money is partly to do with how much of a worrier you are. And being well-off is as much about expenses, assets and support as earnings - someone who owns their home, has a lot of equity, a good pension, no childcare expenses and family that can help them financially would be more well-off than someone without that on the same pay.

caringcarer · 26/04/2022 16:33

I think I am well off. DH earns £65k, I earn £40k plus we have 3 shared btl houses bring in about £24k each year between them and I own a further 5 btl on my own (1 just bought and will need renovating before letting) bringing in about £30k for 4 let out. We also have 7 bed holiday home in France (mortgage free) we don't let out but allow family and friends to borrow. We live in West Midlands and only have 2 years left on our own mortgage. We feel well off and can afford to be generous with children, nephews and nieces.

D0lphine · 26/04/2022 16:46

twistyizzy · 26/04/2022 10:29

North England. Previous to this post I consider us to be comfortable but now I realise we may be well off because:

Joint salary of £103K
company cars
able to save for only child to go to private school
I have a horse
we have some modest shares/investments but only a few K, nothing amazing

BUT modest 3 bed semi and no plans to upgrade yet as due to pay mortgage off at 50yrs old (we may upside once mortgage paid off). Also if husband lost his job then we would struggle as I earn circa 31K so most of income is from his salary. We don't splash the cash on eating out much and the 2 holidays this year are in UK although admittedly previous years have been 2 foreign holidays per year. We aren't in debt apart from mortgage and credit card is pretty much paid off the month we put anything on it however we don't buy many clothes/luxury items and we hardly ever go overdrawn on our accounts. I do feel we are extremely lucky to be in this position but we still worry about the security of employment and try to save for a rainy day. When we were younger I always thought of 70K joint income as the aim to be able to live without worrying too much about money and that has definitely been the case.

Christ new site is shit.

twistyizzy · 26/04/2022 16:50

Yep I had to report my own post 😆 numerous times over!

TheOrigRights · 26/04/2022 17:00

caringcarer · 26/04/2022 16:33

I think I am well off. DH earns £65k, I earn £40k plus we have 3 shared btl houses bring in about £24k each year between them and I own a further 5 btl on my own (1 just bought and will need renovating before letting) bringing in about £30k for 4 let out. We also have 7 bed holiday home in France (mortgage free) we don't let out but allow family and friends to borrow. We live in West Midlands and only have 2 years left on our own mortgage. We feel well off and can afford to be generous with children, nephews and nieces.

This is refreshingly open, honest, matter of fact and without the 'but, but but' disclaimers.

TheOrigRights · 26/04/2022 17:03

My neighbours earn over £100k between them
How do you know what your neighbours earn?

I'm often surprised on MN at how many people know their friends and families salaries.

It's not something I discuss with anyone apart from my accountant!

Original poster

Namechangestimes100 · 26/04/2022 17:23

caringcarer · 26/04/2022 16:33

I think I am well off. DH earns £65k, I earn £40k plus we have 3 shared btl houses bring in about £24k each year between them and I own a further 5 btl on my own (1 just bought and will need renovating before letting) bringing in about £30k for 4 let out. We also have 7 bed holiday home in France (mortgage free) we don't let out but allow family and friends to borrow. We live in West Midlands and only have 2 years left on our own mortgage. We feel well off and can afford to be generous with children, nephews and nieces.

You were really smart getting into BTL!

did you go into HMOs, student properties or more ‘standard’ residential? I’d love to do that but I’m just not that liquid right now to put a deposit down for a BTL mortgage

OP posts:

PuzzledObserver · 26/04/2022 17:38

You are always going to want more money

Actually, no.

I did when I was younger and always ran out of money before the end of the month.

I did when I used to have to pinch and scrape to repair things that went wrong, and had to defer plans to improve the house because something came up that meant I had to use what I’d been saving for something else.

But at some point a corner was turned, and I started to able to afford the unexpected things without dipping into savings, or at least was able to replenish them pretty quickly.

Now I’m retired and (along with DH) own the house outright and have ample investments and pensions to be able to enjoy ourselves. Not a champagne lifestyle - we are currently drawing £2.5K/month from ISA’s to cover everything, but obviously no mortgage or childcare costs. We don’t have to worry about the energy bills or what we spend in the supermarket, and as long as we do a bit of cash flow management, days out and concerts/theatre are regular things, plus we are able to book some holidays and short breaks - though not a fortnight in the Caribbean or a massive cruise. Well, we could, but not from income - we would have to access our investments to do that.

I don’t particularly want more money. Though having said that - inflation is very high just now, so that is eroding the real value of those of our pensions which are capped at either 2.5 or 5% increase. Fortunately we have quite a bit in other types of investment, which should be able to outperform inflation given enough time.

We are definitely well off, even though our ‘income’ of £30K per year is nowhere near what OP has.

diamondsf · 26/04/2022 18:05

You were really smart getting into BTL!

It's no where near as profitable these days for people new to it.

Original poster

Namechangestimes100 · 26/04/2022 18:15

diamondsf · 26/04/2022 18:05

You were really smart getting into BTL!

It's no where near as profitable these days for people new to it.

from my customer facing days it’s quite stringent criteria for getting a BTL mortgage too

OP posts:

OnTheBoardwalk · 26/04/2022 19:02

alright @twistyizzy we get your point 😂😂 - the new site is shit!

SomeFuckingWizardry · 26/04/2022 20:18

Our household income is 73k. My family were fairly poor when I was a child, so I thank my lucky stars we have this much money coming in. Being able to own a house and not live on a council estate feels very well off to me. Being able to pay bills on time feels well off. I remember in the 90s my parents had a small windfall and I was thrilled to be allowed to pick a book to buy from a shop, not one from the library, one I could own. Me being able to go into a bookshop and buy 5 bloody books if I want to feels very well off.