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!

But all areas have deprived bits even south Manchester

Our house is much bigger and more expensive than what we could have afforded on our wages - we had two large inheritances so our lifestyle doesn’t not really tally with our income! And I’m sure there at lots of people in similar situations.

Yes all areas have some deprived areas. However areas which on the higher end of the deprivation index have different allocations of public funding, higher overall crime rates, higher instances of unemployment. I'm not saying that all of south Manchester is wonderful and affluent, it certainly isn't. I'm saying that North (and East) Manchester features higher in the deprivation indexes which brings with it some additional difficulties. North Manchester is not a horrible place, but in terms of where someone may choose to live, it depends on certain factors they are looking for. We moved from Bury when we had kids because where we were, whilst nice, did not offer good schools, particularly secondary schools and the chances of getting a place in the good schools was lower due to them being over subscribed. I do miss elements of it, however education was very important to us. We couldn't find a suitable property in the catchment of a good school.

We have 2 acres. Big farmhouse. Car is old but going to be replacing and buying a second. We never buy “nice” cars just good brands and never new and never on finance.
We earn around 60k with bonuses and live In Scotland.

Joint income variable but last 2 years about £250K per annum. Live in nice 5 bed house in London. We both drive rubbish cars cos we think new cars waste of money. 2-3 hols per year - skiing, sea-side, city-break. One child still in private school other at uni. We also support family overseas. I'm DEFINITELY not complaining, but that's the sum-total of what this very high income buys in nice part of London. Sometimes I think if I lived in Wales or Northern Ireland could prob have a castle with butler/cook/maid/chauffeur/stables/horses/range-rovers/hot-tub !! Too attached to London to move. Honestly don't know how people survive.

This thread is not even “stealth boast” gold, it’s pure, brazen boasting. I’m sure I’m not the only one enjoying it so please, keep ‘em coming!

I'm not sure answering a question can be considered boasting. The OP was specifically asking about people who are more likely to have more than the norm.

I’m aware of this.

Where is the OP, by the way?

Like debt can spiral, wealth can build. It's not a case of just thinking about your current income and outgoings.

Our mortgage on a 5 bed is £766 a month. In 2008 our rent for two rooms in a shared house was £953 (we paid £110 a week each).

We paid off a lot of mortgage on our first place by earning more than we spent. The house went up in price so we were able to carry that equity forward to the next.

It's not fair or just, and I think house price inflation is horrible, just like energy price inflation or food price inflation. I would've been happier for prices to stay flat and buy the second place at a lower price.

Live in the S East, rural commuter village. DH and I earn c150k plus bonuses, we drive nice cars, own a beautiful 3 bed house. Having our first baby and childcare costs in the area are sky high so believe it or not, we will have to watch our spending when the baby is born. Seems ridiculous on our combined salaries but large mortgage and childcare costs and just life being v expensive in general = cash haemorrhage

This is an extremely distasteful comment. Who do you think you are @BeatriceDalle ?