What household income supports this lifestyle ?

[Drealifegoals]

If your lifestyle looks anything like this please share with me what yearly household income you have!

please share mumsnetters, this is where I want to end up for my 40s and there are people around us living this kind of lifestyle but I can’t ask them how much they earn IRL!

dream lifestyle is:

3 holidays a year - one long haul two smaller European city breaks type
1 nice car bought outright - nothing majorly expensive around the 60k mark
coffee out for both adults x5 a week
lunch out for both adults x2 a week
dinner out every Friday - whole family two adults two kids
good Christmas every year
money for regular hair appointments for whole family
enough money for both kids to do sports and music out of school
nicely decorated house
monthly shopping treats for all family members maybe £50 each
Food shop from M&S
clothing to be mainly high street with the odd designer item thrown in for whole family.

no mortgage, no childcare fees, both children in state school.

Blimey, £60k as the standard. What about all the reliable Japanese SUVs around below £30k?

We have a £50k Volvo but I would not consider that to be average.

Loads of people who earn 200k plus just do private school because they themselves went as opposed to needing too, for some it’s a status symbol, others it’s the longer day, etc.

You've almost described my lifestyle but our household income is around £140k before tax, split almost down the middle. But we live in my house and have no mortgage to pay down to my husband's death. It's not a price I recommend paying but financially it meant that my income was solely for lifestyle/investments rather than having to pay a mortgage. My DP pays half the bills (but nothing for decoration/home upgrades) and has his own house that's currently rented out.

Me too! We are allowing at cars this weekend and I am dithering over spending £20k.

Not to mention uniforms, activities, school trips.

Wtf is this

1 nice car bought outright - nothing majorly expensive around the 60k mark

in what world is a £60k car not “majorly expensive”?

Pre tax income of about £170k. I think the £60k car bought out right from new is a bit of a red herring here, that must be some sort of cash windfall or they are not savvy with cash.

We have most of that, no children and £1.2k per month mortgage - but let’s assume that goes to the cost of kids clothes, sports etc.

We earn about £180k between us.

We are saving for a car of c £30-40k, £60k would feel out of our budget/more than we are willing to spend.

You don’t mention savings and investments though, we do save a lot in pensions and investments and so could probably forego those for the more expensive car, but to us that would be a stupid thing to do and you can’t afford a £60k unless you’re doing the investing and pension savings, so I stand by £180k not being quite enough to do what you say.

She says why she is asking in the 2nd paragraph of her OP.

Does anyone else read threads like this and feel like a stupid, useless inadequate failure?

Not necessarily. We paid ours off recently-in my 40s and DH early 50s. No windfall, just lucky when we bought.

She dosen't, thats the point. She sees people living a particular lifestyle. She aspires to what she has listed when she is in her 40s. She is asking how much she would need as a houshold income to make it happen.

Glad not just me that got stuck there!

With no mortgage then you could have this lifestyle on about 80k a year and be comfortable.
its the rent or mortgage that would mean you would need more than double to live in a nice house and have all of that.

I think this would be achievable on £150k for us with 3 children (probably minus the car outright in the immediate future). Our mortgage and nursery fees are £3k a month. I think redirecting that £3k a month could cover the holidays and dinners out. We do pretty much everything else - haircuts, good Christmas, Ocado food shops (mixed with Aldi as our closest for top ups), whatever sports/music they want to do etc…

A lot. We take home 7k a month and live like paupers compared to your list. 2 children at uni will put paid to the 60k car (ours was more like 6k) and dinners out on the regular. I’d say at least 8-9k a month and even then only with hefty savings and no big outgoings.

You could be describing my DS and DIL, although they only have one DC who does attend nursery a couple of sessions per week for the interaction. They earn between them only around £60,000, but she comes from an advantageous financial background where holidays, childcare costs, cars, etc. are always paid for and their shopping and car costs are paid as well.
Even my closest friend commented one day that they must be in debt. I laughed, but said nothing. It's their business.

We earn around 250k per year and if we were mortgage free we would live a very nice lifestyle like the one described in your op. However with a very large mortgage we can’t afford everything you described.

Don't forget this is an anonymous site which a lot of people use to daydream in public... Don't assume people are (all) telling the truth.

£800 mortgage a month. Own both cars.

I saw the 60k for a car and thought? I stopped reading!!!! Mind u, when someone recommends shoes 150 pound, I think- how?