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 knew the instant reaction to my post would be ‘don’t believe you’. I nearly didn’t post but it annoys me on mumsnet when people make blanket statements such as ‘people on pip aren’t sending their children to private school’. That may be their experience but it simply isn’t true.
I don’t know if the parents receive a bursary or scholarship as well but I believe they are subject to a limit of 40% of fees.

I worked bloody hard for 35 years in jobs which had good pension schemes. I saved and didn't get into any sort of trouble with loans or credit cards and paid my mortgage off in my 50s. I have had some luck, yes, especially a redundancy package when I was thinking of retiring anyway, and later an inheritance from my Dad. And I'm childfree. So despite the idiots who thought Brexit was a good idea I'm doing OK thanks, and I won't apologise to anyone for it.

In my experience, it's my parents' generation who are comfortably off, although there will be exceptions to the rule, obviously.

For Boomers, if you played your cards right, pretty much everything was set up for you to have a nice, successful & comfortable life. On ONE income!

Now you can graft till the cows come home, have two adults working in professional jobs and still realistically, never hope to achieve anywhere near the level of financial security that my parents take for granted.

My parents are mid to late 70s, they spend next to nothing, are miserly with their money to within an inch of their lives, own mulitple rental properties from which their earn a fortune, have fantastic pensions ...their money keeps rolling in month after month.

They could afford to enjoy a good quality of life if they chose, and still have more money than they could ever spend, but they're too tight to do so, because money is and always was their priority.

And all this, they achieved without even a college (never mind university) education between them.

My mum was a stay at home mum for 19 years, then walked into a cushy job in a council run care home without a single qualification to her name (left school at 14). Wages were really good working for the council back then.

My dad got a job easily in top management, again without any qualifications. I'm 100% sure in today's market, he wouldn't even get an interview, and the best he would be offered would be a minimum- wage role, if at all.

What pisses me off the most, is their sense of entitlement to it all - their belief that they only have all that because they "worked bloody hard"! Try working "bloody hard" these days and see where you are in your 70s!

My friends don’t seem to be struggling really overall. Everyone has a mortgage yes, and no private school, but lots of holidays and clubs and luxuries (kids clubs, theatre trips, dinners out, weekends away) between us.
We’ve just got back from a very expensive and fully booked AI so clearly lots of people are affording things like that. Talking to people they worked in jobs like tech, project management, accountancy. Oh ‘logistics’ as well 🤷‍♀️
A few families we know save all of the second earner’s income. A friend uses all her income for their holiday fund hence they go away a lot! Her and her husband are both teachers at a private school, so not rolling in it.
We all know we’re very financially lucky but no help from family (in our case at least!).

Our family is not struggling, although kids are at uni/state school and we had 1 week holiday, 1 weekend away(uk) and a camping trip this year. (We may have another weekend away later in the year)
We don't eat out frequently or have fancy cars but neither is it a struggle to pay bills, or afford things we want to buy.
I had an inheritance 5 years ago, but also our business has had an upturn since covid as well, so it's a combination of that. However we live very modestly compared to lots of people living in our area

I think I’m doing well financially because I’m a home owner, not struggling to pay bills each month and can pay for the things my kids need, like food, clothes, toys. I have one small house and my kids go to a state school though. It’s all a matter of perspective

This. We are ok now, but it hasn’t been easy for most of life.

Trouble is, it’s even harder now with higher housing costs and child care costs.

I certainly wouldn't have put doctors in high earning class anymore.
Both my sister and her husband are doctors - have been for a few years. One works in A&E so does antisocial hours all the time and the other does a mix of general medicine and research, but also plenty of antisocial hours (meaning their pay is enhanced).

Both are full time, some weeks between 70-80 hours a week. No kids.

They are struggling with mortgage payments in a very "normal" 3 bed new build. Nothing fancy, a standard town new build estate.

Because originally it was said it was paid purely paid out of pip and they had no other income so how does someone pay 36k purely out of pip when the absolute maximum for the most severely disabled is less then 10k a year

Isn't PIP unrelated to income? So even if you were a multi millionaire, if you met the criteria you could get it?

There’s many different types of people who have money
A lot inherited
but some not
being expert in specialist in demand fields especially things that serve the very wealthy
diamond merchants
yacht designers
racing horse breeders
golf club owners
security services

or things which are essential
energy water health housing money

there is out of control inequality nowadays that is the social issue - the knowledge of some people having unimaginable wealth can make people feel like a failure or spend their lives chasing rainbows

there is nothing wrong with a life where you have enough, a warm, safe house, partner to go through life with (the ups and the downs), happy healthy kids, can pay the bills, put money towards a retirement - just a normal life

at the moment many people are being priced out of a normal life - this contributes to the social unrest towards immigrants and those on benefits, for some reason not as many people have such disdain towards the super rich because I think that people judge by money - more money good? And think if only we got rid of “insert disadvantaged group here” then life will be loaded

I have noticed a small change in acknowledgment in the wealthy boomer group, they are not as smug as they used to be, not about themselves, or even their children, but they have grandchildren who are teens now and they cannot avoid the financial insecurities that their grandchildren are potentially facing

you can see on here, people are constantly asking “what jobs will pay well in future” many people want a definite answer to this so they can make sure their children are aiming for top of the pile

but it’s impossible to predict

we have teens, and concerns, but we just have to have faith that something will work out, what else to do? There are many jobs and careers, not just banking or trades, still male dominated careers there are many females who want work as well, that will be needed to make life not just comfortable but enjoyable, as well as new problems the human race is facing.

an interesting life doesn’t necessarily mean richest. Again it’s about enough, knowing who has the most wealth is largely useless knowledge for your daily life, or your children’s lives.

there are teens right now, young adults, studying degrees and a levels and some of them are going to be well paid and in demand in areas that cannot be predicted, some will be in the right place at the right time and take the risks and gain advantages - but no one can accurately say who

there is much ore to life than money

chasing rainbows is a disaster

Absolutely put the poster was saying they had no other income and the private school fees where paid purely out of benefits

I'm this age and very comfortable now. I was also massively better off when I was in my 20s and 30s than somebody of that age, and in similar jobs, would be now.

Why don't you try it as a lifestyle and see if you still agree after a couple of years? DLA/PIP doesn't come close to covering the additional cost of most disabilities. UC, as you said, is hardly enough to live on. And most people getting both benefits are working too with higher than average commuting costs and additional work expenses to deal with disabilities.

Struggling to see “cutting back on holidays” as struggling - I come from a generation/class where a single holiday every few years was living the dream. We had so much less stuff and a much greater share of our income went on the basics of food. Struggling is hearing g your parents fight over how to feed the family for a week . Living on bread and jam. Worried about how to find the bus fare to get to the dole office to sign on, because there was a real shortage of jobs with unemployment rates at 25% for much of the north east when I was a child.

On the whole however I do agree - housing costs are horrific and high house values get passed to a luck part of the next generation and embed wealth inequality which is what I think you are really objecting to. So either we have a house price crash or we start taking a lot more of inherited wealth as tax

I think to term it “struggling” feels a bit much and might upset people who are in a much worse position than fewer holidays. Or people who have known much worse than where you are now. Not that that was a good place to be and not that you shouldn’t be concerned / just touched a nerve I think !

@frozendaisy just for your info diamond merchants are not doing well right now, diamonds have halved in value in the last 3 years, so anyone holding jewellery or diamond stock is massively in trouble.

DH is an IT architect. High earner, yes, but it has been really hard work, constant learning, upskilling and working 24/7 for many, many years (he is a brilliant matematician, too). And yet, we are hardly rolling in it. Standard tiny 3-bed with a garden and a mortgage, 2 holidays abroad self-catering, kids in state schools, one 5-year old car. Nothing special, but no financial worries either (mid 40s, hoping to retire in 10 years, so saving hard for this and kids' unis). Our main trick was to buy a flat in early 2010s. We sold it 10 years later with 50% profit.

I've just Googled, it says about 1/6 of PUP claimants work.

There is a growing divide between income and wealth. Wealth tends to be intergenerational. We are becoming a country where sadly your parents wealth really matters.

Some people are OK without family wealth to back them; generally because they have already built assets through property; pensions etc; and may have paid off their mortgage; or not have long left on it. There's difference between regions and some parts of the UK are more affordable for housing costs; so the impact is felt differently in different places.

We are very comfortably off so I’ll answer in an honest way, and ignore the argumentative tone of some of the posts here.

We have both worked very hard, me especially, and I’m now in a very senior role (not any of the hated finance roles, but a media role, not that this justifies the hatred of finance people!) earning a comfortable six figures. My husband earns a good 5 figure salary.

No inheritances but my parents gave us a small deposit approx 20 years ago to help us get on housing ladder in London - we then sold and moved further out of London which helped a bit though still in quite an expensive SE area.

But more significantly than any of that: we live pretty cheaply. If you saw my house, you’d be surprised at my salary! Kids aren’t at private school and never will be, we have one small car, don’t go on lavish long haul holidays etc. As a result, we are now mortgage free.

I know quite a few people who are "comfortable" (us included) by the really wealthy people I know all have generational wealth

The young couples I know are doing pretty well tbh. No inheritances yet, so not that. They are generally young professionals, double income, no kids. Bought houses/flats, depending on area in country, getting married and having lots of holidays. Late twenties demographic.

Thanks for the info! Will hold on to the family jewels for the time being :-)
(just trying to introduce some alternative job options into the mix)

People who work really hard and manage to buy a house near London are not earning anything like normal salaries and there is usually a huge amount of luck in being able to get the sort of job that lets you buy at those prices without help. It’s people on typical reasonable incomes ( the 50% ) not the MN 100k plus community (10%) that is finding a downgrading of their living standards

I stand corrected - and only 38% of UC claimants work.

However for PIP the rate of employment is variable depending on award levels.

Neither are out of work benefits.