Who are the people who are actually doing well financially in the UK right now?

[BeAlertBrickFinch]

I feel like I'm living in two parallel realities. Everyone I know — including dual-income households in London — is struggling. Struggling to pay rent or mortgage, worried about job security, cutting back on holidays, etc.
And yet... I see people who seem to be thriving. They’ve got two properties (sometimes more), their kids are in private school, they go on multiple holidays a year, and they don't seem particularly high-earning on paper — not doctors or bankers. Some even appear to have fairly average jobs or are self-employed.
So who are these people? Is it inheritance? Family money? Do they just hide their real incomes well? Or is social media creating illusions?
Genuinely curious — not bitter, just trying to understand the mechanics behind it all. Because in real life, everyone I talk to is barely staying afloat

In my circle there seems to be a divide between younger friends (late 30s, about to turn 40) and older siblings/colleagues/friends (late 40s, about to turn 50).

Friends who are about to turn 50 (and up) seem to have noticeably got their shit together in terms of money, mortgages, kids.

Friends in their late 30s-early 40s; almost all are struggling.

I think it’s mainly inheritance. The war generation were the first generation where the masses bought their own homes. All that property wealth is now trickling down to current generations. When baby boomers go, there will be an even bigger shift in wealth.

That’s more likely due to house prices rather than people having their shit together.

People turning 50 are likely to have benefited from much cheaper house prices than those turning 40.

Im on benefits including pip (absolutely not even close to 50k a year) I still have to work and pay a mortgage. Why would you think i wouldn't benefits dont pay your mortgage for you pip doesn't even cover the cost of disability

yes another thread bashing people unfortunate enough to be disabled.
though to be fair we haven't had one for ..ooh at least 20 minutes.

People who have paid of their mortgage, people from London who move up north, lottery winners, people who got inheritance. People who run successful businesses. People who live of rich parents or rich partners. Celebrities. Property developers, bankers. Drug dealers.

I think it a family has people on either PIP or DLA and they are on benefits they avoid the benefit cap so can get lots more money. Still not enough to make them rich though or send DC to independent schools.

Judging by our local shopping centre today everyone but us 🤔 the car parks were rammed .
The amount of people buying Halloween decorations is madness to say there’s not much money around apparently and hauls on tik tok .

Tongue in cheek (sort of ) of course !

Probably not relevant to thread, but it was released by 2030 almost half population will have no children (this includes males) for various reasons. This will mean classrooms will be empty or smaller naturally due to lack of children, will be interested to see what comes of this. Bristol already reported they didn't have kids for their reception classes. It will also be interesting to see the changes in law to encourage people to have kids.

They do hauls on TikTok, after that they return it for refund lol

Well “working from
home” doing Tik Tok videos can buy you houses now and numerous holidays a year apparently . This is where the money is atm …

I agree, I've seen a lot of teachers on TikTok too - tempted to do it myself!

Agree a decade makes a big difference.

Since 2013 we had a big rise in property growth.

Then in 2020 the stock market collapsed, so if you had the spare finance (which you would if you had bought your home a while back and made a big effort to overpay when rates were 1-2%), you could have bought stocks when they were low. They had some big gains since = more passive income from interest.

Its just an observation but these things tend to go in 15 year cycles.

And why should it?
We all have to work and the idea that the state should fund you.. and whilst tax payers are funding so many people.. why do you think you should be funded? To the point that you complain about how much. You feel hard done by..
This is the exact issue in the UK.
Why do you think others should pay for you?
Genuine question. And you’re not even grateful for what you do receive. Money people worked hard for, paid in taxes. A lot of people not feeling well, battling cancer and all sorts.
But yet you get these hand outs and complain they are not enough…

I think timing/chance plays a huge role (what sector you go into and crucially when). If you have a tailwind in your first two decades then life looks very different than if you were struggling against a bad economy or shrinking sector. Same timing point for house prices. You then get set up (or not) for the next decades.

Also richer people then find more financial opportunities because of who/what they know, and because and can afford to invest in x y z side project or speculative investment or a friend’s hedge fund. If it doesn’t work out then no harm done, if it does then it’s just more capital that can be deployed in the next thing. That also drives a divergence. Someone once said making the first million is really hard, making the second is easy, and I think that’s what they meant.

Everyone who has used the internet to find ways to avoid financial struggles.
The internet has been a valuable tool for over thirty years, helping people explore high-paying jobs, careers, and financial strategies to improve their lives. Personally, I used online research two decades ago to find a career that suited me best and pursued it. Since then, I’ve consistently relied on the internet to make smart financial decisions for both my future and my family’s, always seeking the best advice available.

Probably not relevant to thread, but it was released by 2030 almost half population will have no children (this includes males) for various reasons. This will mean classrooms will be empty or smaller naturally due to lack of children, will be interested to see what comes of this. Bristol already reported they didn't have kids for their reception classes. It will also be interesting to see the changes in law to encourage people to have kids.

Classrooms won't be empty, they will merge or close schools as they are already doing.

No country has ever managed to reverse birth rates once they have fallen below replacement level.

Well, the OP was nothing to do with benefits.

Probably inheritance in some cases. A lot of self employed trades seem to do well.

@pennypansThats really interesting and I didn’t know that.

what do you think will happen to pensions if there isn’t a new generation workforce paying into it??

Lots in the press about moving the state pension age to 70....the ageing population is already damaging the economy. No idea how they will fix it, they likely can't. We will all just get poorer.

This describes us. We're teachers.

The mortgage is £500 a month, we have one car loan, and that's it. Joint income of £100k. One dc.

We aren't struggling, but that's because of choices we made. We chose not to live in a city. We chose to buy a nice house in a decent area 12 years ago with a mortgage that would be manageable on one salary, rather than going for the bigger ones we could have had on two. We chose to only ever have one car loan at a time. We chose to only have one child so we could afford to give them everything we wanted to, even though we'd have liked more.

We're now in a position where we travel 3-4 times a year, have savings, and a really nice life. But to get here we made compromises that other people may not want to or be able to.

How about those who bought houses 15+ years ago so don’t have huge mortgages left on high interest rates? Ok, they may have had to remortgage on a higher rate but probably won’t have 700k or whatever to pay off.

We're doing well. 54 and 48. No mortgage and this year both changed jobs each earning more than we have done in our jobs before. No children. Good savings. We live within our means but live a good life. Not in an expensive city although an expensive area for where we are relatively to others areas. We could have mortgaged ourselves up to the hilt for a larger, fancier house..but what's the point! There are 2 of us....small and bijou will do me.

I think who's doing okay and who has enough wealth in the pot to send two children private are two different questions.

Doing okay and comfortable are those with reasonable incomes and low overheads, people on the property ladder with manageable mortgages, people with stable lives and families, people who aren't atomised from their wider families and have enough of a safety net to take risks or rely on adhoc childcare in tight spot.

Everyone I know is doing fine. As are we. (Not trying to be goady, just answering question.)

My social group is late 30’s - early 40’s, London + London suburbs, mixed ethnicity/nationality, highly educated professionals. Generally married with a kid or two. We’re pretty high earning, but not crazy banker money. And we’re all…fine.

It’s been business as usual. People are buying houses and going on holiday, debating private school, etc. I’m aware that there is a CoL crisis, but it doesn’t really feel like something that has anything to do with us.