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.

Oooooohhhhh, now I'm with you. I see what you mean, thanks.

Why save 1/3 of salary... life is for living.
Do you go on holiday etc?

Absolutely unbelievable. You're stinking rich OP and this is an incredibly inappropriate thread given how much many many families are struggling. Surely it's obvious to you?

You are both home by 5pm so I've no idea what you do, but your income is around the same as us and we have friends from all walks of life, so some earn ten times us, others a bit less.
We have more family time than the career chasers, and don't spend our evenings working which is very nice.

I'd describe you as 'comfortable'. Not wealthy, that's being abke to live off savings.

People should remember though that headline salaries don't tell the whole story. This family is in the top quintile for income (over £112K). For comparison the lowest quintile have an income of about £12K so theres a 10x difference. However, when you include benefits given to the low income family and take away tax from the high income family the difference becomes only 3x. So while it's very easy to say 'you're earning double/triple/whatever what we earn, what are you complaining about?' remember they don't have double/triple/whatever in their pocket because you will get benefits they don't and over £50K they are losing 51% of every pound in tax /NI/ student loan repayments.

Well off but not rich rich. That's good going re the savings! We stop paying childcare this year in June and I'm hoping we can start saving that £600 per month. We literally save and spend. Save for a holiday and spend. Save for home improvement and spend. I would like to save just to save 😃

What dd they say, so we can understand what prompted you to pose the question on here.

With those savings I’d say well off

https://www.avtrinity.com/news/what-is-the-average-household-net-worth-in-great-britain#:~:text=The%20median%20average%20household%20net,average%20wealth%20of%20%C2%A3489%2C300.
The median average household net worth in Great Britain was £302,500.

The average household net worth in Great Britain where the head is aged 35 to 44 is £198,100.

Pensions are the largest single component of household wealth at 42% and net property comes in at 36%. Financial wealth accounted for 13% and physical wealth made up 9% of household wealth.

So you are above average in terms of wealth for your age band.

I don’t think I know anyone who earns 74K. Wealthy!

Ok so a bit above average.

Not just a bit above average. You are very well off indeed.

Median household income in the UK is £37,400 while yours is nearly four times that amount. A combined household income of £126,000 puts you in the top 3% of earners.

Haven't RTFT, but this family is clearly well off. In what world is £74k pa an "average" wage???

I'd assume that the manufacturing is high tech or pharmaceuticals and so the bottom of the rung people are new graduates earning decent (non London) salaries. And the office based job is being a PM or technical lead where that requires extensive experience or a PhD. And they will start work early in the morning which is why they can finish early.

ETA: pharmaceuticals would explain the good terms and conditions as well

Very well off indeed, especially given the low hours and extraordinary work flexibility you have. Not just well off financially, but in every way, I’d say.

Goady post. Affluent/ well off. Both wages are clearly above average.

net worth 130 savings 160 equity in house + 290K plus 2 pension pots not sure whther kids savings are in kids names or just earmarked for them so haven't counted but putting around 24K into pensions each year means pension pot is likely to be above 200K

you are very comfortable off having approx 1/3 of salary as magin for wants and savings per month is very very good, you will not have to worry about necessities or reugalr emergencies you can cope easily from savings with you centrl heating breaking you could buy a new car outright if it got stolen or squashed without waiting for insurance but you can't have everything you want it is not private school or jet set.
median salary FT maybe 39K but median household income is not 78K it is much less as most households do not consist of two FT workers mostly it is 1 FT and an average of 1 PT on 0.6
for people age 30-39 52K for FT work is top 30% 75K is top 10% of salaries

You are very fortunate in many ways, especially for people in their 30s.

What was said to you that irked you enough to question that?

Wealthy

You are doing well on paper but mismanaging your money.

Unless you are heavily investing in stocks (and know what you're doing), you should be paying off the mortgage rather than saving. Savings rates are almost definitely lower than your mortgage rate.

The smartest people with money don't hoard it - they find ways to make it work for them. Get your mortgage paid off and you'll have a proper whack of disposable income.

Well off.

We live in the SE. This would be very much in the ‘average’ bracket.

I’m not sure you understand how averages work…

Some is in long term accounts. We can’t pay off right now as we are fixed.

I felt I was more talking about average of those around me…

Everything apart from the savings to me is comfortable. Impressive savings on those salaries