Would you class this family as average, comfortable or well off?

[Greyorcream]

Curious what people would class as “well off” these days?

Couple in late 30s with 2 dc (late primary/early secondary age). Not in London.
Partner A earns £52k and Partner B earns £74k. So fairly average wage. Neither majorly stressful roles. Both work full time. Home by 5 each evening. Both can wfh 2 days a week.

Both get annual bonuses of around 8% and usually salary increases of about 4% each year.

Mortgage outstanding is £339k on a house worth around £500k (5-bedroom house).

Pension contributions (employee + employer combined):

• Partner A: 17% (this will be increasing)
• Partner B: 21%

Savings:
usually save a third of income each month.

• £130k joint savings
• £40k saved separately for the dc.

No inheritance or family help received. No loans, car finance, credit card debt or student loans.
No childcare or private school costs.
Lifestyle-wise, usually one big family holiday a year plus a couple of weekends away.

Would you consider this comfortably well off, average, affluent, or something else? Genuinely interested as perceptions seem wildly different depending on area and social circle.

I'd say they were comfortable. They have savings for emergency use. Their mortgage is quite high and I wonder if they might not be better served over paying on their mortgage to cut out a lot of interest rates.

Edited to remove info re savings v paying off a chunk of mortgage, then read the full thread! Sorry!

What stood out reading the full thread is that you’re happy and neither of you are too stressed. That’s priceless, particularly with a young family - being ‘well-off’ isn’t all about the ££ (and I bet your own dad missed out on a lot of family stuff due to his career). You’re both doing amazingly 😁

No, MOST people don’t have MOST of them.

From a quick Google:

• About 35% of adults have life insurance / life assurance.
• Only around 7–10% have income protection insurance.
• Around 10% have standalone critical illness cover (sometimes called illness protection), though more people have it bundled with life insurance.
• Among mortgage holders, only about 16% have income protection linked to their mortgage
• around 36% have no protection at all (no life, income or critical illness cover).

You really do live in a bubble. I mean good luck to you, what a nice happy life you must have, but it really shows that it’s not just the hardest working and smartest people that earn the big bucks.

I feel I work hard for what I’m paid tbh.

I’m sure you do, and I don’t doubt that you put in the effort. But you seem fairly oblivious to the world outside yours, and I think if you looked beyond it you’d see people who get up at 5am to travel across town on multiple buses to cleaning or care jobs for minimum wage, people who are nurses or teachers earning half what you do, people working more than one job because they can’t find one that offers sufficient hours. None of these people will be home by 5pm, nor will they have multiple insurances, nor will they be in any doing that they are poor.

Just because I stated how my life works does not mean I’m oblivious to how it is for others. Of course I’m aware that others have longer commutes etc.

And yet your thread began and has continued with lots of mistaken assumptions about others live, from ‘are we average’ to ‘most people have multiple insurance products’. Honestly you have a nice life so I don’t blame you for being introverted, but if you want to learn more about the world and your place in it it sounds like you have plenty of spare time, and you seem like a nice person. Why not volunteer or do something with a community organisation in your area.

Everyone is working hard. The vast majority for a lot less money than you.

Yet upthread you asked if people actually have debt! Lots of people live their lives managing by taking on debt - car loans, credit cards etc.

i’m afraid you do come across as a little naive.

That's a nasty comment

It would be average where I live in SE, but comfortable of course. But why are you asking?

I think it’s arguably harsh but true.

Nasty and harsh are two very different things!

I have answered this

Name me one part of that post that is nasty. Straightforward - yes. Blunt facts - yes. Nasty? Not one word.

The last paragraph…it is wrapped in passive-aggressive sarcasm, the underlying intent is to demean my character and intelligence. It is a personal attack that offers no constructive value and has an overall resentful tone. That is why it is nasty…not harsh…nasty!

It's factual.

It’s actually not…you know nothing of my intelligence or my work ethic

It is - it's the statistics of the UK employment market. I haven't commented on either of those facts have I? No... read back... use that intelligence.

I’m talking on your last paragraph not the stats above that.

Which bit? Go ahead because I've not been remotely rude.

Jesus wept…this bit “You really do live in a bubble. I mean good luck to you, what a nice happy life you must have, but it really shows that it’s not just the hardest working and smartest people that earn the big bucks.”

I'd say average because there's only one house and it's not paid off yet. Two people working to pay off one mortgage is very average middle class.

Well-off or affluent couples have access to more than one property that has all been paid off. Usually coming from both sides so the wife has XYZ flats in various places and the husband owns a holiday home or land someplace else.

Two people tied to one mortgage is also quite average. In affluent circles, each person has their own mortgage for separate properties, or it just runs under the highest earner.

I posted that did I?

Got confused with the quoted comments my apologies.