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

I think a lot of people I know are now realising that for all Kier Starmers rhetoric "those with the broadest shoulders..." etc, actually means they (the ordinary working people) are paying WAY more tax.

In attempting to tax the billionaires, he has in effect got rid of them to more tax friendly places. They then no longer spend here as they used to nor employ people ghere and rent or own big houses here which has knock on effects.

Businesses have had an extra 3% Employer national insurance for every employee, which means less money for pay rises.

I think a lot of people I know are now realising that for all Kier Starmers rhetoric "those with the broadest shoulders..." etc, actually means they (the ordinary working people) are paying WAY more tax.

The frozen tax bands that the Tories implemented are shocking imo. The 52k band should be 80k to be in line with inflation.

I'm not sure you can ever truly know how people are doing unless they give a full financial break down. One person's skint is another person's rolling in it.

For us, we have average incomes but are living frugally and have a lot of disposable income but this is being saved to repay the £100k mortgage in 2yrs, then finish our house renovations. No one knows this and probably thinks we are struggling.

Age has a lot to do with it. We're approaching 70. Our mortgage is paid off and we are still working (part-time) in our SME. I have a tiny pension from my last employment in the 1980s, but we've been de facto self-employed ever since so there's a state pension each but no final salary pension. There was no inheritance until about three years ago meaning it came too late to change anything much. In fact, all the inherited money from both sets of parents has been given to DC to fund property purchase. But DC is working FT in the SE on NMW so this is the only way we can help ensure they will have a secure roof over their head.

@ThePhantomoftheEcobubbleOpera got to disagree - last 3 times I’ve been in Majorca in smart hotels it’s been full of guys in the trades . I’m not objecting to them having a nice life, what I’m saying is many of them are making hay charging double what they could have done 8 years ago

I agree .
And this is a really terrible situation for society. Why would you bother working hard, especially in low paid jobs (and these people who be the most likely to have parents in low paid jobs) if all it buys you is poverty. All your most spent paying rent to someone who was lucky enough to inherit a big chuck of money enabling them to buy property.

How much is a big inheritance for you?

I live in social housing and my living costs are very low. No childcare costs or debt. I work PT and receive PIP, DH works FT in a job above average national salary.

We are quite comfortable atm.

How much is a big inheritance for you?

I would say 500k plus

I am so jelly lol. Salivating in envy. lmao

I think the biggest thing is the ever-widening gap between people who have been helped onto the property ladder by their parents and those who haven’t.

Being given a deposit by The Bank of Mum and Dad is a such a massive head start in life. SO hard for people to save a deposit when they’re paying rent - especially in London.

I do agree with this. DH and I are in the 'doing okay' group. Late 50s, our mortgage is coming to an end in the next 6 months. Only benefitted from one modest inheritance (about £20k). No prospect of any more.

We have weathered storms along the way. But things feel more settled now. We have never been in a position to give DCs house deposits but we have been able to be generous with housewarming presents. No new cars for DCs but we have paid for driving lessons.

What we have always strived for is giving the DCs stability. We have avoided overstretching ourselves at various points. We would never have considered private school unless we had the money in the bank to see all 3 DCs through.

@BeAlertBrickFinch I know people who have inherited 1m and that's after been helped onto the ladder, helped with renovations, paid for gc private school. It's another world!

but those people are rare tho?

We live in a backwater and have no mortgage - I remember the bank's person bafflement when we told her we wanted to borrow as little as possible.

My job pays the national average despite requiring professional qualifications - DH's about 3 times more. We live within our means and save. You might be amazed at our holidays but might not realise that we don't drink, don't go out much, cut our own hair etc.

The people I know with the most cash are in the trades, or those who rode the property wave by doing renovation work themselves and now have a small property empire (say 5 houses). Want to send your kid to the local fee-paying school? Just sell one of the houses. Plus the odd professional like dentists, or public sector managers. The people i know in research and innovation jobs are paid little and are on short-term contracts, having to reapply for grants or finance every year or two.

We don't exactly have a high-value, innovation-based economy in the UK.

Your “logistics” (in inverted commas) comment made me chuckle, is that considered a made up job/profession? We both work in logistics and have earned well from it.

but those people are rare tho?

Statistically in the population of the UK I assume so, in my part of London, at work etc? they are the norm.

Apologies, I meant to quote this post but the page refreshed and lost it.

Your “logistics” (in inverted commas) comment made me chuckle, is that considered a made up job/profession? We both work in logistics and have earned well from it.

A neighbour, self employed plumber, has a holiday home. He has a child in private school. He's clearly doing OK. But he works extremely long hours, seven days a week. His holidays at the holiday home involve him restoring it while his wife and child relax. Otherwise, his wife works full time. So basically, they put in very long hours, combine holiday and work, do building projects themselves. No part time working for the second parent.

I have a child in private school. I'm a single mum, only one child, work full time, middle income, no family money or help. I saved for 7 years to allow for fees. No holidays, no evenings out. We had holidays the last two years but only because I can see the end of school fees. I grow my own veg, make my own jam, bread, pickles. Bottle fruit. Cook from scratch. Don't drink or vape. No takeaways or meals out. No subscriptions. Do my own nails, brows. I may look comfortable but I watch every penny.

People find a way to afford the things they prioritise. I have a colleague who grumbles endlessly about prices, can't afford his pension etc. Yet he has a £900 sleeve of tattoos, and a £4,000 road bike. Spends £8 a day on lunch. Vapes and drinks.

Plus plenty have help from grandparents who are mortgage free and have a decent pension.

They’re all my clients, they’re all rich as Midas. And off their tits on their own importance and masses of drugs and huge houses.

@LaurieFairyCake Would it not be possible to find some different work in your field rather than dealing with people you dislike so much on a daily basis?
How do you know they take ‘masses of drugs’? I’m not disbelieving you, I’m just interested as to how this is evident.

What do you mean by “see people” who are thriving financially OP? Are you talking about real life people you have real connections with - or people on social media etc.? if it’s the latter then you really have to remember that identities on social media are illusory.. you cannot use it to make broad socio-economic analyses.

If you know all these well off people IRL - well it’s all the age old reasons some people have more liquid income than others.. there are so many of these threads on here - “why do lots of people have more money to spend than me?” and something about this question seems so misguided and distracting to me.. ask bigger questions, try not to get bogged down in resentment or envy. The big picture is one of economic decline and threat to the vast majority of working/middle classes IMO.

In my circle the people I know who seem to live lottery winning lifestyles are..
My husbands ex wife, works in HR and had already paid off her mortgage by herself had a comfortable lifestyle. Then to add to that a few members of her family died over the last few years and she must have inherited a lot, just brought a beautiful house outright for 2 million.
An ex work colleague (doesn’t need to work anymore) married a man who is a self employed electrician, 30 people working for him. Brought land, built a massive house, daughter goes to private school and they’re only in there early thirties.
I’m jealous of both of them but also fair play, both nice people who I really like.

I guess that could be me. We bought our first house when prices were low, and gradually upsized. We lived pretty frugally for many years and managed to pay off our mortgage. Then covid hit and we both worked in jobs where we continued to work full time (teacher and admin for a company supplying key worker labour) but working from home reduced our commute costs and we had nothing to spend our money on (no cinema/meals out/theatre etc.

So now we are in a situation where although dh has a lower paid job with more commuting costs, I have a good income and we have no mortgage. We are supporting ds at university but dd is fully independent so for the first time in our lives we have a good disposable income.

Depends on the disability as to costs. The Poster as you say means households where parents have PIP, UC, carers, social housing plus all their kids on DLA of at least middle to high rate across both components. Think highest a family get is 7K every 4 weeks which is much more than average household income.

Well, we are probably those people, though we don’t have 2 houses or kids in private school. We do have a big house and land. We have expensive hobbies (Dh into motorcycles and cycling and I have horses). We don’t take multiple big holidays (like to the Maldives) because we have a dog, but we do both travel a lot. We never have to worry about running out of money at the end of the month. I’m currently off work (due to cancer treatment) so we are on dh’s income only and it’s been fine. There is no rush for me to go back to work.

The answer is that we earn well and live within our means, I’m afraid. No family wealth, no lottery wins, no debt (I’ve never had a credit card in my life). We worked really hard in our 20s and 30s. I had a good career pre-cancer that earned well. Dh started a business at 25 that has been very successful. We have an above average income. We also saved bloody hard and bought our first house at 40. We don’t live in London, but I did the London commute for about a decade so we could live affordably and save. When we bought, we moved 2 hours further out to an even more affordable area. We had a huge deposit by then, so our mortgage is what some friends pay for rent for a tiny 2br in London and we have a 5br house on 5 acres.

We don’t have cars on finance. We never had family help with childcare, so we paid for it all ourselves. We are NC with all of my family and some of dh’s so no support there and doubtful they’ll be any inheritance. It really is just making enough money and not having loads of outgoings or frivolous expenditures. We do live a nice life though, have a lovely house and can afford to do things we enjoy.