Was £65k a huge salary 5-6 years ago?

[Donotfitin]

I‘m just curious as back then we thought it was life changing money. I’m currently on that salary and to us it’s now “mid” (in fact, I’m starting a new job with a higher salary which is a really nice upgrade, but still not life changing).

So I wonder if it was us being naive back then, life getting expensive, or something else.

I’m on less than half that as a single parent so it seems quite high to me today.

It’s insanely high now!!!!

It's not. It's very comfortable but not insanely anything.

It definitely went much further 5 years ago than it would now

yeah living a life of luxury here!! 😂
comfortable yes, insanely high, no.

Not sure if my stage or life or the cost of living changes but yes, 4-5 years ago that seemed like a significant amount to be earning, now I’m heading towards that, we don’t feel much more comfortable then we did a few years ago.

God MN is so out of touch with the way many people live. 🙄 £65k is a good level of salary even now.

It used to be worth a little more than it is now. I wish they’d move the tax brackets so people could earn more the 50k without paying so much tax on that part. I’m just over and it puts me off earning more (am self employed so it’s different than if it was a step on a career ladder). It doesn’t buy half of what it did 5 years ago. Not blaming anyone; just saying that’s how it is.

Insane? Definitely not, decent yes then and now

We are on more as a joint salary and we far from live a life of luxury. Crappy three bed semi old cars and maybe one holiday a year.
I was having a conversation like this with someone the other day. When I was a kid if you mentioned willing a million pounds it was almost like you could own twenty houses a hundred cars and live an absolute glorious lifestyle - now it’s a modest house in some areas

@Ca2026 it's definitely not going as far, the cost of living has been far greater than most people's salaries have increased. I haven't had a pay rise more than 5% for the last few years (I swear if it doesn't change this year I'm going to be looking elsewhere cos the business is booming) but everything that I pay out apart from my mortgage has gone up by more than that. Even bus fares went up by 10%, ok it's not a huge amount each trip but as a % over the year it all adds up. My car insurance went up by nearly 50% a couple of years ago despite no change in circumstances, council tax this year is "only" going to be 4%, groceries are well on the rise, a cucumber used to be 69p, a few weeks ago they went up to 99p.

Huge?
Comfortable, given one had no children and no mortgage.

Well allowing for inflation you need to earn almost 20k extra for the equivalent to 65k 5-6 years ago which is insane. Then allow for fiscal drag so more tax take.

that's insane @somuchbedding i hadn't realised it was that high!!

I think it’s once you compound it.

Yep. Inflation has really done a number on us.

I agree. It’s double the median salary in my area now, never mind a few years ago.

And that’s why so many of us feel so much poorer

Inflation has been something like 27% since 2020.

So - your £65k won’t go anywhere near as far as it did five years ago.

In that time my mortgage has increased by 50% (higher interest rate), my nursery bill is up about 30%, my energy costs have probably doubled, council tax probably 20% higher etc etc.

I am actually amazed people continue to manage at all tbh, given the never ending increases in costs while wage growth is fairly pitiful.

Its a high salary now, depending on what you do of course.

A few people hinted I was ott using the word insane for that salary, I work mw but used to work in admin, and most people o know would be 10/15/20k under that. Around here where there’s very few office jobs/ tech jobs people are mostly on about 20/30k less. So it is insane, it may not be enough for people and I get that as my mum lives in an expensive area and even things like paying for parking there give me the heebey jeebies but that doesn’t mean it’s extremely (hence insane!)ly high

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator

You can play around with the numbers here- it's eye-opening.

Depends where you live, £65k in London won’t go anywhere near as far as other cheaper areas of the country, but jobs paying that salary are less common wise where too.

The cost of living has gone up so fast in a short period of time so a life on 65k today feels like life on much less 5 years ago.

It’s obviously better than average but Yanbu to think that you’d feel more comfortable on a higher salary. The obvious question is whether your salary went up faster than inflation because most people’s wages have not.

People who say this don't live in London (obviously I don't know where Op lives). I'm on a similar salary and it really is far from huge. It is very average for London. Scroll down to the 'salary by region' table. www.starlingbank.com/blog/average-uk-salary-by-age/