How are people affording this lifestyle?

[AmusedTaupePlayer]

Just curious if anyone can shed liJust curious if anyone can shed light on this. I know a couple a few years older than me (late 20s/early 30s) living in Newton-le-Willows. He works as an admin/warehouse inventory clerk at some small frozen and she did not go to uni, she has no LinkedIn, never mentions any kind of work or side hustle.

And yet they’ve been on a couple of holidays in the last year, seem to eat out occasionally, and post pics of family days out etc. It’s not luxury by any means, but still — two kids and one modest income??

Are they just really good with money? Family help? Universal Credit top-ups?

Genuinely trying to understand how people make it work on paper when everything is so expensive these days.

You don't have to go to university to learn how to work hard and earn good money.

hth

ps - sour grapes is never a good look.

Perhaps they're just cleverer at money management than you are OP.

I visualise you with a cats bum mouth........🙄

I hope Newton Le Willows is a big place as you have provided some very detailed info about this poor couple.

I can't understand why you are angry. If you are doing ok why worry about others?

My friend and her husband , same age as us , both went to Uni. My DH and I didn't. They are just about doing ok. We are far wealthier ( big house , nice cars , multiple holidays and private school for our DD)

My DS decided Uni was a waste of time and money so used his A levels to get a job in finance in London. It took 6 months to secure a job but he did some exams related to the field he wanted to work in. He got down to the final two candidates He beat a graduate from a russell group uni for the job because he showed the company he wanted it more and his personality was a better fit.

My parents go on holiday quite frequently (in their very late 50s). Other family members often remark how they must be "rich" or "raking it in somewhere".

They aren't they are just frugal elsewhere. They own a very old car, mums very frugal with food, bills are kept low (very minimal heating, bath water used to water plants, nothing ever left on electricity wise etc etc). They walk lots outside of work commutes to reduce fuel costs. They don't pay for any subscriptions/TV/gym etc etc.

They do all this so they can go away, it's the one thing they spend on.

Those saying "we could never afford that" have sky TV, regular hair appointments, takeaways, meals out and a brand new car often. And there is nothing at all wrong with this, that's their choices which they are entitled to. It's just everyone chooses to spend their money differently so you can judge someone else at all without knowing every penny that comes in and every penny that goes out!

Equally I know people who appear to have a lot of money as they have a brand new car and go on 4k holidays each year, but I know them well enough to know it's all on her credit card and loans...

Maybe invite yourself over to their house and rummage through draws looking for bank statements when they’re not looking.

All I can say to you OP, is that you have absolutely no idea as to this couples financial status. You’re making huge assumptions based on the little you know, ie, the man’s job and the fact the woman has not been to university. You know nothing else. Maybe they’ve had a win on the lottery, perhaps they’ve received an inheritance, perhaps they’ve been savvy with savings, maybe they’re up to their necks in debt. Who knows? What I do know is it’s not yours or mine or anyone else’s business. Stop worrying over other people’s lifestyle and concentrate on your own.

Well, call the police. The lack of LinkedIn is a well known offence and they should be investigated.
With all respect, mind your own little business OP

I thought LinkedIn was for people looking to network not just random social media, 🤔

🤣🤣🤣 seriously why do you care? As for universal credit are you serious? I work and claim universal credit to help pay towards the high childcare bill I have each month (which I need on order to work) and I can tell you I don’t get enough to go on a few holidays a year. If only 🤣 Why would anyone be this nosy, people amaze me.

I actually understand the "social contract" complaint. I was talking to my 16 yr old son about it just this week.

But the history of broken social contracts is long, it's just hit the uni going lot now. The social contract started breaking with historical working class communities losing factories/mines, hard, back breaking jobs, but jobs for life that could support a household and then a social welfare safety net.

But now the social contract, study hard, go to university, get a graduate job and live a more middle-class life, this has broken down as well. So now more people, educated people, are angry about this, a lot not for themselves but their middle class children who they assumed would be ok.

The social contract has been broken for decades OP. It's just hitting more and more and more people in increasing wealthy, educated "classes" shall we say.

So what are you going to do about it?
Spend more time whilst you are young being angry and resentful? Or look at life in a different way and look at where you are, what you are doing.

Perhaps this anger can be an indicator of what you really want. Do you want the holidays or the children more? Do you have children?

What I also think some people don't remember is that during your 20s you do, unless there is family inheritance, or deposit money, or whatever, is people house shared, they took jobs that didn't pay, were long hours but it was the experience you were earning.

We are 50 now and there isn't a chance in hell we could've afforded a mortgage, 2 kids, holidays, days out, in our 20s with just one wage, there would've been either family help or most definitely two jobs. Were there other young adults who could? Obviously, but we didn't, and still don't, and our teenagers don't, look at photos on social media, usually curated photos, that just tell one snapshot of what a day, a holiday, blimey with digital cameras that can take 100s of images an hour even we could cobble together something that looked "desirable" and would also be a total lie.

Be angry, feel cheated, then move on. It's going to get you nowhere. You are by no means the first person the "social contract" has broken down for. How you deal with it going forward, well that's up to you.

Where is Newton le Willows? Why does it matter where they live?
I remember being asked by someone at work, how we managed to go on holiday twice in one year, none of their effing business, we had a low mortgage and only one child and only 1 car and we saved simple. 🙄

Not sure why everyone is being so prickly when every other thread is about how expensive life suddenly is.

I know people who are out to dinner all the time, multiple holidays and weekends away and I think exactly the same

If this is real no wonder you have no one willing yo sign official docs for you.

I am doubting the being real part with this poster though

And we know the social contract has broken down.

I have a modest inheritance, that if we monetized it would be very useful and fun.

But I am not doing that, my husband and I have agreed, that we are basically caretakers of I guess what should be "our" inheritance and passing it directly to the children (our parent's grandchildren).

Our parent's didn't need to find £100k for their children not to come out of university in heavy debt, etc. etc. etc.

There are younger couples around us in much bigger, more expensive houses, they seem to be around a lot, not long working hours, with kids, how? But it depends what they are doing with their money I guess.

For H to retire anytime around 60 with an income that means it can be enjoyed a bit, our children to go to university (which they seem to want to do with for many years) without being in crippling debt, to have any basic help of a "house deposit", we are living what looks like a very average lifestyle, smaller house, old cars and our income is in the top 10% (income only but still) and here we are in an ex semi-detached council house, not some detached, kitchen island malarky.

But that is the social contract breaking down, we are taking the hits now in hope our kids are cushioned. It shouldn't, in old terms, be like this, but it is. So what to do?

We look at what we do have, what we have achieved, what we are trying to give our kids, and it's all on the never never, we might be dead before the kids understand that our decisions financially had to be made for them to not have an utterly terrible early adult life. You can only be in one room in a house at a time, only sleep in one bed, we have every record ever made at the push of a (spotify) button, you can read or listen to amazing literature, we have a garden big enough to kick a ball around and sit and read. We have decent healthcare and play games and spend time together. All the things that make kitchen islands worth having we have, just without the kitchen island.

Anger, jealously, it will get you nowhere OP. Have a think about who you are, what you really want, where you want to go and break it down, what do you have, what are you missing, what chances do you need to take. Life is much more interesting than someone else's holiday or day out photos.

I reckon about 70% of our dinners out are paid for by MIL because she is incorrigible, has money to burn and leads us astray with cocktails!

There are lots of possibilities- they may both of inherited money or have investments- most investments have done very well in recent years.
More likely they are frugal- my partner and I lived under the poverty line all our careers, I worked freelance about 5 months a year and used all of it to pay down our mortgage, which I paid off when we were 40. We then saved into cash ISAs every year up to the limit. We always lived like we were still students, true we had no children but my partner retired when he was 57 (from the civil service) and I work one day a week, so a fixed income and a very small income.
We get no benefits but we have 2 holidays a year and eat out occasionally.
I suggest you look at a load of frugal forums-you don't need to be a financial genius but you do need to take plenty of action to make this work.

Rick Astley is famously from Newton Le Willows. Are they any relation? Maybe they're funded by Rickrolling royalties. 🤷‍♀️

Not exactly living a luxurious lifestyle going out to eat a few times and having a couple of holidays. You see people on benefits taking kids on cheap holidays or taking them out on days out
I work and earn a living wage but nothing extravagantly paid and still take my kids out when I have time to do so. Do working people not deserve to treat themselves and their families now and again? You sound quite jealous of these people.

It's part of a very run down town near Liverpool (St Helens) where there are soaring rates of depression and suicide. It is not a luxurious place to live, the shops are very very limited, but it does have good rail links which makes it a desirable place to live for commuters as it is so cheap to live here but easy to get to neighbouring (more expensive) cities and towns. This OP is crazy thinking that people who live here on two incomes shouldn't be able to afford to eat out or go for days out or have a holiday. As I say, living here is very cheap and a two incomes household would be a lot more well off financially than 90% of residents here

Why do you care?Get a life!

Thanks for the kind and measured words. Appreciate it.

So most people who live there are deprived?

Yes it's a very run down town. There are some "nice streets" but the majority is very run down. This is the main shopping street here, and as you can see most of it is boarded up. We have a card factory, home bargains, heron foods, Tesco, a pie shop, a butchers, a boots pharmacy and some betting shops. We also recently got a B&M here.

Very good town for commuting though and the people who live here are mostly friendly

The social contract has nothing to do with your standard of living, or what you feel you are entitled to.
The social contract is about the legitimacy, or otherwise of the control the state has over the individual.
The fact that the path to a comfortable life through education and/or hard work has absolutely nothing to do with the social contract.
The state may have misled you about how useful education is- but since universities are now there to make money it is hardly surprising the importance of a university education is overstated.
I would point out that getting a degree and hard work have never guaranteed a good financial life- I came out of university in 1983 and my degree never helped me to earn good money, hard work helped - but not much.
Look at the Wikipedia about the social contract- you think you are well educated, perhaps not as much as you think.

How come you know these people @AmusedTaupePlayer? Ypu don’t know anything about where they live. You’ve looked her up on LinkedIn, think you know what he does for work, that they go on holidays and eat out now and then. Who are they to you? It’s all very strange, why would you be comparing your lifestyle to their’s when you know so little about them?