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

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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

I think a lot is inheritance
my son inherited a large amount from his grandparents and there is more to come from his other grandparents

his partner is also due a big inheritance

they plan to use partners inheritance to pay of mortgage / match what my son put in

so at 30 & 27 they will be mortgage free by the start of the year

they aren’t having kids
average salary for both but due to low mortgage / no mortgage soon they live incredibly well with lots of weekends away holidays carsx both paid for and plenty of savings

It‘a not rocket science and no great mystery- the ones doing well are the same ones that have always done well. People with degrees who enter a professional job and work their way up the career ladder. It’s little different to 30 years ago. Just now they have a bit less disposable income and chose to have fewer or no children. It’s not inheritance or the internet or some dark conspiracy. It all starts with education. If you left school at 16 or 18 you immediately limited your options and earning potential.

Family money does make a difference, I don't know anyone who got on the ladder without some form of help. And it's very normal for gps to pay school fees.

People with degrees who enter a professional job and work their way up the career ladder. It’s little different to 30 years ago

It's very different as salaries are pretty low in the UK. Years of stagnation.

Mid 30's, both self employed as we own our own garage, which is currently busier than ever. Going on our third holiday of the year, small mortgage compared to a lot of people our age. No inheritance, just a lot of bloody hard work, long hours and being sensible.

We're not wealthy but doing ok. Children are 11 and 13 and not costing much at the moment. Two parents in stable work earning above average wages. Low interest rate on mortgage with two years to go. Run older but reliable cars, not big or flashy spenders. However, this could change with redundancy, separation, health issue diagnosed etc.

Billionaires?

People who inherit?

So, not ordinary/middle class people who actually have to work for a living to earn money rather than living off other people's labour.

Yep this is me. Dual income, professional jobs, no kids, reasonable house but not excessive, two properties (although not by choice - a long story involving the cladding scandal) living in the North, fully paid for (not flashy) cars.

Both parents were very working class.

We spend probably the best part of £10k a year on holidays, put £40k+ into pensions and ISAs each year and don’t really need to restrict ourselves when budgeting (but we’re not huge spenders anyway).

Sorry to say there are two children in my sons private school who’s parents are entirely reliant on PIP and various other benefits. Not trying to be controversial just stating a fact.

The people I know in rl who have recently bought bigger home/private school have done so due to inheritance. I'm in the SE, 3 bed semis are circa £650k and that is a lot to inherit.

I don’t believe that

They might be in receipt of PIP and have kids at private school - I believe that - but I cannot believe the PIP is paying for it. Some private schools have scholarships ie basically a small number of people who for academic or other reasons get their fees reduced or even waived completely - maybe that’s what you’re seeing here?

Because being disabled puts you at a massive disadvantage in life and pip is their to equal the playing field. I have to pay a lot of money for things such as traveling to areas the other side of the country due to the fact local hospitals don't have the specialist I need if the government made sure that every local hospital in England where adequate and didn't close departments things like this would not be needed. Working a full time job will not cover the cost the disability. So what do you suggest disabled people do. I work to pay my bills and mortgage like everyone else. I would need a 2nd full time job to cover the cost of being disabled which is obviously not possible for equipment and travel. I cant drive or use public transport so getting to hospitals the other side of the country a couple of times a month is very expensive. When claiming pip you are not entitled to hospital transport as that is what your pip replaces. Its personal independence payment so all its given for is to cover the costs the government would otherwise be paying

Don’t believe you. How much a year?

My Father, who retired on a lovely final salary pension, along with a large sum. He also invests and has a lot to invest with. At the age of 89 he has decided he doesn’t need any heating, washes with a kettle of water and literally spends almost nothing. I don’t understand this mentality, but it started after my Mother died. He does in all fairness give generously to local charities…

Yep absolutely living the high life with CB, UC, CDP for my youngest, Scottish Child Payment x3, and Carer's Allowance. Having a ball. The jokers are out this morning!

You don’t need to have all the things you’ve listed to be ok financially.
We have a smallish income - around £3k a month - but have no mortgage as we downsized. We spend around £5k a year on holidays, don’t eat out much, have 2 newish cars and rarely go over our budget. We save each month too.
Some people think being “well off” means you have to earn loads!

if you stay childfree, I did and so did my partner, both by choice. It makes a huge difference.
Women can be totally financially screwed by having a child, you only have to look at the threads on here.
I would never live in London unless i was hugely wealthy, you may as well burn money.

I think people who say stuff like this have absolutely no idea just how poor low paid working people are. The poverty of the lowest paid in the UK is an absolute scandal and nobody seems to give a shit.

It does happen. I work in a school for children with SEN and 2 of our year 6’s went to tribunal to go to a private school. The fees for one of them were £90k a year.

How much do some people on this thread think pip is? You know the lowest rate pip is less then £30 a week right. For high rate for both components which is for the most severely disabled in society about 30% of pip claimants is about £180 a week.

There's definitely been a generational shift in terms of quality of life, in some areas. DH and I both work in professions traditionally thought of as high earning, which have a fairly linear promotion route. It's striking that senior management (50s) have a much higher standard of living than us that they've enjoyed since they were around our age or earlier (30s), and these things just aren't ever going to be on the cards for us - e.g. living in the same city as our work, in areas and properties that will always be way out of our budget, having large families where all the children go to private school etc.

Sounds bitter but I'm not - more importantly, I can't figure out how on earth we're going to aspire even younger generations into doing these jobs. We're already getting the message from many that it's just not worth it now.

Low paid working people cover the majority of people on benefits.

We're doing OK I think. Paid off the mortgage mostly by aggressively overpaying while interest rates were low. We live quite frugally by nature but I do like a holiday.

DH earns less post redundancy but it's still enough for me to be a sahm because we supplement it by renting out the spare room on Airbnb.

I'm spending a lot of savings on holidays whilst I can before dc starts school but it's not sustainable so not as many next year. I try and book holidays that are good value.

Dsc is at private school - he won a significant bursary.

From the outside it wouldn't look like we're struggling. Most of the people I know aren't either - a mixture of good jobs, frugality, inheritance, investments, meeting later in life so they already have two houses, avoiding debt - varies for everyone.