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.

Very well off. One can dream. But the important question is ‘are they happy?’

Yes we overpay a bit. But can’t too much as we are fixed for now. Our aim is to pay off a chunk when the fix ends.

yes I’m happy.

Where I live that would be pretty standard in terms of income and mortgage etc. No idea what other people have in savings. But I'm acutely aware we live in a massive bubble of privilege and those circumstances are actually far from normal. Just look at statistics for average earnings, average savings etc and you'll see that it's pretty well off.

So £126k + 8% bonus per annum with 170k in savings.
No I wouldn’t call that average.
And not struggling if they can afford to save.
In my book I would say they are very comfortably well off.
With an income like that and all that extra cash I am surprised that they aren’t higher up the property ladder.

This is very very close to our salaries and our mortgage. We have three children and live in outer London. We have savings but we don't currently save or add to our savings. We pretty much spend our whole salaries. We pay for 1 child to attend private school (grandparents pay for the other and we have one in state infants). We get away for a few days each school holiday. Ski for a week each year and two weeks away each summer in Europe.

I trained on the job and they paid for my degree. Dh has a degree but it was free too. I’m sure his parents paid his accommodation costs. Yes we have two cars.

That mortgage and loan to equity value will most likely be crippling to them! I’m guessing around £3k a month so practically wiping out the lower wage when taking into account pension contributions.

So all other costs coming out of £74k. So after pension prob clearing say 4-4.5k a month. Clearly a lot is going into savings so whilst on paper they seem to earn a lot, their mortgage and savings choices prob make them feel not particularly well off. Although clearly they are earning more than most who won’t have the options to service such a huge mortgage or make the pension/savings decisions they do.

So yes they are well off, but they probably don’t feel it.

You are as poor as church mice. Does that make you feel better. Or worse.

I wouldn't consider them affluent but they are very smart and consistent with their money, started young and are doing all the right things. That is significant savings for such a young couple with kids and a relatively big mortgage for their earnings. They'll never be loaded but they are on the ball and doing all the right things so should be quite comfortable thank you very much. If it's you well done. Sounds like you are both on board and on the ball.

If there have no other plans for those savings then it should really be very long term invested. They are at a young enough age to do low risk over a long period.

Just curious how you had no childcare costs if your mum only helped one day a week, OP??

If they lived where I grew up they’d be considered loaded (and posh because they have non manual jobs and one of them is a “boss”).
If they lived where I live now they’d be comfortable (£500k would not get a 5 bed house, more like a 3 bed new build) but would probably feel average to below average because it’s a bit of a bubble

Are these threads a wind up? That’s not an average wage 😂

I had a years full pay, dh had 4 months full pay. Once we went back to work, both of our roles allowed flexible working arrangements, which meant we could sort childcare between us. My dh worked evening shift a few days a week 3-11 (he could do this in his previous role). My mother also helped care for our child one day a week, when we were both on site. This all stopped then once they both hit school age.

Clearly both very comfortable and well off.
I can't believe you think your salaries and their bonuses or your savings are average.

They don't think that.

Well said. The thing I’m amazed about is how people like OP and her partner have the ability to achieve and carry out such high paid jobs successfully, but lack the basic intelligence to know that their income is way above the national average.

My 11 year old could work out that OPs family is earning way more than most families in a matter of minutes.

Nothing fairly average about their salaries and savings. Many people barely make ends meet.

I apologise, only the one wage was referred to as fairly average.

I find these tone deaf threads a bit insulting tbh and have clearly let my irritation cloud my comprehension skills.

No I mean they don't think that, it's a goady thread.

How did either of you get jobs without knowing how to calculate averages ?

the average wage is under £40k

HTH

Well you’re not entirely truthful to say you’ve had no family help. You’ve had childcare from your mother one day a week for at least 7 years if you have one in secondary and one at the lower end of primary. That has saved you a considerable amount.

I think it’s also unlikely that a supervisor role had a year’s fully paid maternity. I can’t think of any industry that would be so generous as to do a year on full pay, where you are also only one rung up on the ladder but also into the higher tax bracket. Oh and they also paid for your degree. And your husband’s work paid for his (also his parents paying for accommodation is also help).

Wages are good (unless in London where that's average) but that's a big mortgage so presumably a fair bit going on that, and not a lot of equity. Nice amount of savings though. I'd say comfortable.

Oh hang on, five bed house for 500k! Def not London.

74k and 52k are way, way from average which is c.30k. This is a well-off couple.