How much do you earn to live in nice area in a 3/4 bed house and drive a ‘nice’ car?

[BraOffForTea]

Just wondering. I thought I earned enough and having had a look online it seems I am in a high percentile of earnings. But I am unable to live lavishly at all - old car, small but nice home. Absolutely nothing special. I don’t necessarily aspire to have more things but I do wonder what you need to earn to drive a new Merc and so on. If I can’t do that in the top 8 percentile how do people manage it?! I worry about bills and often have beans on toast for tea!

Household income of £65k.

Ours is a bit over that and we rent a 2 bed flat and DH drives a Nissan micra.

I think this is going to be massively area and age dependent!

Keeping up with the Jones, eh?

So British.

We have a joint income of around £55k but this is in addition to disabled child's DLA at nearly £500 a month.

We live in a large four bed and drive a small second hand car.

We used to have that kind of lifestyle but 20 years ago. I worked in pharmaceutical marketing and earned £50k plus bonus and a company Mercedes.

But I worked all hours and had to travel to several conferences and meetings for a week at a time so not great.

I live in a large four bed in a village in the midlands, apparently it’s worth over 400k now which is insane.
I personally earn less than 20k a year and I finance my fancy car. I genuinely have no idea what my husband earns, his car is leased through his company.

We have a 4 bed detached in the southeast, brought before prices went stupid. We are lucky to also be relatively high earners (household income of around £150k excluding bonuses). DH works for a luxury German car manufacturer so we both get to drive posh cars for next to nought. A lot of friends and acquaintances get company cars or generous car allowances.

4/5 bedroom house, 2 cars, big garden, 2 driveways. No mortgage or any other debt. £45k joint salary. 2 kids. (Ayrshire)

We couldn’t afford the house we live in now, if we hadn’t bought it years ago. We have a nice company car.

We probably look more affluent than we actually are, even though we are now mortgage free.

£63k, have a 4 bed detached house and drive a 19 plate VW Tiguan r-line (not quite Mercedes fancy but I love it!)) and we live in a lovely area, but we are in Wales so it’s very different to the South.

Our lovely big 4 bed detached with big garden was £250k. And our prescriptions are free. Reasons to love Wales

4 bedroom house, 2 cars, big garden. Good schools. Mortgage about 50% house value, no other debt. £48k household income. 2 kids. Shop
frugally though, secondhand for most things, camping holidays only. Could do with another £10k to be comfortable.

Fortunate to live a niace area 4/5 bedroom, was only able to do this through financial help from family. Joint income of £80k and drive a new car (on lease). Scotland

Around £90k, own a 4 bed in a nice area in the South East (mortgaged, not outright), two new nice but not fancy cars, although I wouldn't want a Mercedes so it is subjective.

We have one DC currently, and enough money for a couple of holidays each year including abroad, savings and a good amount of disposable income each.

Totally depends where you live and how long you've lived there surely? . We have a five bed detached house, double garage, two very nice cars used to have a Merc DH is retired and I earn just over minimum wage ... income from pension/investments/my salary is approx £50k ... but we live in an area where house prices are incredibly reasonable compared to the South East.

There are too many other variables surely? It depends whether you mean "afford a nice car after prioritising lots of other things first (pension, fulfilling hobbies, savings, travel, education)" or whether you mean "afford a nice car when that is your top priority after housing".?

I live in a wealthy ish area (leafy 4-5 bed detached are the smaller houses) and have quite a few friends who have a very flash car but claim they would like to have but " can't afford" the things I see as far more important than a flash car (various hobbies for the children -horse riding, music, football etc; decent pension; tutors when needed)... Whereas I don't have the flash car because I have prioritised all those things first .I could afford a fancy car as well as our big house, but only by cutting other things I see as more important.

We have a 5 bedroom house in the country, a flat in the city, a four year old BMW, and a brand new BMW. Both cars are owned outright. Combined salary of around £250k. Flat is worth more than the house, due to location.

None of our neighbours near the house know about the flat, none of the neighbors near the flat know about the house (we live between both, due to work), and anyone who asks about/comments on the new car is told it’s DH’s company car.

You often see threads on here asking how people can afford X and Y and there’s a queue of posters sayings it’s credit, but I think we underestimate the amount of people who have an awful lot more than we’d expect them to have.

In fairness though I think even if I had a £million income I still wouldn't buy a fancy car as I love my basic little runabout! It fits in even the most awkward space in the car park. Meanwhile friends with huge SUVs have to get everywhere early to try and find a decent space or park ostentatiously across two spaces

We have a large house in a nice area. An “ok” car. But not fancy.

£60k income

90k between us but we've only recently bought our 1st home just outside London (average 3 bed terrace) and have a disposable income of £150 a month so not exactly rolling in it. Childcare is a big cost that will reduce soon though.

Our house is a 4 bed fixer upper. When we bought it we had a combined income of £90k. It's now close to fixed up and we earn £120k

We swapped out a nice car for private school and drive a banger instead.

Northwest, but an expensive part.

Nice area, nice house, beautiful view northern but close to civilisation national park, one income stressful job £87k. I’ve got everything I want materially.

Lifestyle choice too, I used to earn double that in the ‘smoke’ for less stress but left so that I could walk to work and live somewhere really beautiful.

Oh and not a Mercedes but a Lexus hatch. I’m not into cars and bought the car with the best deal (% off) from the garage.

household income of £53k, 4 bed detached hosie in a nice area and 22 plate SUV. But we’re in Wales which helps!

Should add that we don’t live lavishly at all. We tend to prioritise a nice home and car and then skimp on things like takeaways, nights out etc. We mainly do outdoorsy free things with the kids and try and have one holiday a year, a weekend UK break or a week abroad depending on budget!