What do you consider to be a good salary?

[BrachDrum]

I had a pay rise recently and shared it with a close friend, in passing, as she’d told me she’d had a pay rise recently to account for inflation. She then asked me figures and I said I wasn’t comfortable sharing…to which she said ‘well if it’s anything less than 75k it’s not worth mentioning.’

I earn a lot less than this, 52k. My friend is not at all materialistic and so this must be a genuine belief of hers. What do you think is a decent salary?! I was happy on 40k let alone 52.

I think a decent salary is different to a decent pay rise. I'm a high-ish earner in my field.

I got a pay rise of £10k last year. I was delighted! But by the time I'd lost my tax free allowance, paid tax, NI, and been pushed into a higher pension band, that £10k worked out at less than £50 a week. Don't get me wrong, it's still an extra 50 quid, but for the amount of extra responsibility it's rubbish.

I wouldn't consider a pay rise of less than £20k to be worth it now. And I am not someone who ever in a million years thought that would be something I'd say!!

My best advice is to never share any details of your financial life with anyone but your partner and I mean long term stable partner.

The average salary in the UK is approx 32k. I’m always amazed at these well paid people being so dim as to not have any real grasp at all as to what income is across the population. But then again I feel your friend is being deliberately provocative.

In my last workplace we had a few Professors across campus that earned 100k. That was highly unusual and there were only a handful. Whereas DH horrid mate earns ridiculous amounts of money in the city, I mean we know because he is always boasting was 200k not inc bonus last time.

Try this online tool op, it’s not perfect but the basics for income, council tax and children are used as a tool. These are the most basic measurements and how people dispose of income after has so many permutations as to make further stats not meaningless but hard to quantify.

ifs.org.uk/tools_and_resources/where_do_you_fit_in

A good salary is relative.

I see a good salary as one that means you can pay your bills, save a bit and have a few luxuries, a holiday and maybe the odd weekend away. For some that will be £25k others £125k

50k is higher rate tax, and where child benefit starts to tail off. I think that's a pretty strong indication that 50k is a very good salary.

🤣🤣🤣😭 I am currently on 12k a year and about to start a job on 19.5k and feel mega rich ahh. This is crazy to me. I understand people have different lifestyles, different rent and mortgages etc but that's still utterly ridiculous to moan about such high salaries.

"A good friend would've congratulated you and not tried to undermine your achievement."
Agree with Really. No true friend belittles pay increase.

I work part time (27 hours a week) and earn £17.5K. DP works full time and earns £24K.
We live in an area (currently renting from family at a discounted rate) where the average 3 bed terraced house is around £550K-£600K. Our wages reflect your standard office / lower managerial roles in our area - I don't think they are sufficient! There aren't many jobs where we live, so employers are not competing for good staff and the wages have stagnated. I love my job and stay for that reason - in the future I will go back up to 40 hours a week and this will help a great deal. DP's job is stressful and in my opinion the salary should be a lot higher for the workload.
Unfortunately for us a lot of people move from London to our area and this has driven the house prices up. We have a lovely local high street full of shops and cafes, good schools and green spaces as well as being a 1 mile level walk to a beautiful small city. We won't be able to afford to stay here under our own steam (rent we pay is around 33% of the market rate at the moment) and in honesty on our current salaries I don't know where we will be able to live within a 30 mile radius!
Anyway - sorry, I just realised that I have not answered OP's question in any way and waffled on about my own circumstances! SORRY!

OP congratulations on your £12K pay increase - I think you can be really chuffed with that and your friend was just having a bad day so they wanted to rub someone's nose in it. She probably guessed that you were on less than £75K and wanted to put you down. People are weird like that when it comes to money!

In my early 20’s, I used to think it was £30K. Now I’m in my 30’s I’d say anything about £45K but I expect this will change as I get older. For my husband it’s anything over £70K. Expenses continue to grow etc.

As long as you are happy and comfortable with your wages for the hours and work you put into the job then that’s enough to class it as a good salary! I have to eye roll at the people saying anything over £100k is a good salary! The majority of people aren’t on half that amount and manage great.

The hours and work I put into my job for my salary are absolutely CRAP! So I would consider my salary rubbish even though it’s above average.

Your friend sounds like an arse and should have just said congratulations! I don’t even know how much my friends earn; nor do I care.

It obviously depends on cost of living in your area. £75k would mean living in a mansion in parts of the UK, and living in a one bedroom ex-council flat in central London.

If you are in a cheaper area of the YK, you are doing fantastically well to earn £75k, way better than most. If you are working in the City, loads of people earn that amount and more, so it is nothing special (and yes I am well aware loads of people don’t, but they are often struggling financially).

Well full time min wage is about £18000- £18500 i think so for many anything above that would be good or if your on £25000 £40000 would be a lot
But again depends on role and what they are doing but for many many of us £52k would be a lot to earn

@Pyewhacket my parents lived in london on a road like that my dad earnt about £30000 and my mum £12000 but they bought their house years before, they sold up and moved somewhere cheaper to realise money and enjoy retirement as house was costing too much and not worth what people are being charged . So not all will earn that and some will be renting
To think many earn £100000 is out if touch

Growing up assuming I'd only ever be on minimum wage, earning 18k in 2014 was like riches to me. I was just genuinely amazed at having an extra couple hundred per month.

I personally feel like anything above 25k is a decent salary. That was the time when I was able to cover my bills and still have some money to live on and save.

On 45k now and consider that exceptionally good money. I don't know many people on more than that in my circle. I suppose it's all relative.

It depends so much on your circumstances and location. For me you need to calculate monthly expenses, add a percentage for pension and then a percentage for savings.

Thanks for this.

I would say that if you are above around 70th centile that's probably a good wage. Though that will obviously vary from location to location and whether you are on a good salary for your job role depends on industry as well.

I am on an above average salary, 75th centile at the time the documents. It is also a good salary for the role I do. But when I compare it to friends, I definitely feel poor, 2 of my friends are 96th centile and the others are mainly about 80 with only 2 exceptions.

My next door neighbours car is worth more than £100k. Rental costs where I live are £5k pcm, not that anybody rents in our road. I work as a nurse for the NHS and I get paid £75k. To think that people in London who earn £100k is out of touch , is out of touch.

@BrachDrum

to which she said ‘well if it’s anything less than 75k it’s not worth mentioning.’

That is a fairly obnoxious comment, really, and utterly wrong for all people but a tiny top percentile to think a pay rise to below 75k is not worth mentioning.

Toxic "friends" who like to belittle their friends' achievements like that are just never worth having in my book.

If it's a bloke I think of it as "Wankerish Willy Waving"...

Ostentatious Ovary Display just doesn't have the same ring about it, unfortunately.

I earn £20k! Fortunately hubby is on 50-something so it all balances out

Higher rate tax bracket for me. I’m still a way off that though.

That’s a bit of a put down comment from her. I’d be asking myself why she made a bitchy comment when you wouldn’t tell her.

it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks is decent, everyone has different views and irs usually based on their own earnings.

im not sure why you’d not tell her what you earn. For me that’s not a secret from my friends. We all know what each other earns.

This is all completely relative. There is literally no way to quantify this.

It depends where you are and what your outgoings are.

For me, a good salary is one I can get my desired lifestyle on.

I had a little mini philosophy on this when younger - if it's equal to your age it's a good salary

I'm no longer salaried, and I'm married and dependent on the family income, so now I like to make a certain amount each month, and it's still enough for my desired lifestyle - so I think that's the best measure?

I was just reading another thread about how many treatments people have and I wondered how people afford it- now I know! I earn a small amount compared to posters on this thread but I am happy.
Your friend sounds a bit rude.

I think £30k - 40k is a good wage. I live in an area where wages are traditionally low and do a low paid job myself.

The majority of employers who advertise wages at that level and above round here are NHS or local authority. The area is commutable to some cities where wages are much better though.

I earn around 26k PT (health reasons) and DP the same for full time. It's obviously not a fortune but I consider us lucky to earn enough to live comfortably on and save some (mostly for a deposit for a house as currently renting) It's all so relative though, obviously if we earnt double we'd be in our own home already, going on nicer holidays, home improvements, saving more for retirement etc..