to think that income is pretty irrelevant compared to wealth/when you got on the housing ladder/what your parents give you

[soggy14]

dh would be classed by many on here (from what I've seen on other threads) as a high earner but we can't come clsoe to affording things like private schools, non-camping holidays etc which some seem to assume that anyone on high salaries will be able to. People we know locally earn far less but do use private schools, have foreign holidays etc because their paretns help with the school fees or because they got on the housing ladder before the price hike or because they have been given or left money/houses etc. Someone quoted £70K on one thread but that will only get you a mortgage of low to mid two hundred thousands which does not get you much of a family home in many areas adn will not come close to enablin gmost to afford school fees. Am I the only one who finds this?

Its all about disposable income as far as I'm concerned.

What you've got left from a monthly pay packet after you've paid for the essential stuff that keeps you alive and keeps a roof over your head.

What you are describing most certainly effects disposable income.

i find it amazing that anyone can afford fees of £4,000 per term

yep, income shows what goes in. End of. No thought to personal circumstances/ divorce/ debt etc etc. I also get really fed up with the wittering about how you shouldn't have a huge mortgage etc from people paying peanuts to rent somewhere. We all have different aspirations, and the drive to progress career wise is probably similar to the drive to own a 4 bed semi/ country pile/ etc.
It's just too complex and done to death to be as easy as assuming someone earning more has more. Childcare/ petrol/ drycleaning/ etc etc.

Interesting question.

I know people who bought property with inherited or gifted money (either as a large deposit or for outright purchase) straight after university. Consequently they have tiny or zero rent or mortgage outgoings and, in some cases, additional income from renting out rooms or whole properties.

The rest of us have been paying rent or mortgage of ~£400-£1500 pcm for more than ten years. I do have the impression from holidays, clothes, going out spending etc.. that the first group have far more disposable income even when they're not in high earning jobs.

However, I also know people who seem to have afforded their property and holidays by being immensely frugal in other areas of their lives (e.g. only buying second-hand clothes, not driving, taking packed lunch to work every day etc..)

So, yes, I think what you mention has an effect but it isn't the complete answer.

It all depends on what you are as a person though. I think I am in luxury when I can afford cider and a takeaway, or having a tenner for the pubIt makes me feel very lucky.

That kind of stuff makes me in RL personally feel well off and makes me think that I have a very decent lifestyle as I can do the things I want to do. For others they would need a lot more disposable income to be satisfied.

It all depends on what type of person you are and what type of things you like to do to whether you are satisfied or not.

I absolutely agree.

Disposable income is the key. Property prices are at the root of it all imo. It's ridiculous to say that someone earning 70k can't afford much of a family home in most areas, but it's true.

I think you're absolutely right, especially when you look at the intergenerational robbery that has been the house price bubble.

It's fat cat to earn £70k with your hard graft and long education, but it's canny to buy and sell a house for a 70k profit on borrowed money with little more than a lick of magnolia paint in between.

But it's also quite hard (I imagine) for someone on £70 with a lot of outgoings to be feeling the pinch, looking forward to losing CH Ben etc, and then being attacked for being rich. I think everyone is feeling very defensive, and it's all pro rata isn't it - if the rent / mortgage of £500 gas gone up, the rent/ mortgage of £1,500 has done the same. So, there's not necessarily more choice with more income - a financial commitment means just that.

Disclaimer (I work p/t and am not a Higher earner)

Durr. Meant £70K

I think housing costs in particular make a huge difference. Particularly for people our age (mid-30s), when you first bought a property makes a massive difference to how much disposable income you have now. We first bought when I was 23, lots of our friends waited 5+ years and now their mortgages are 3 times what ours were. Pure luck on our behalf, we just happened to meet and marry early and get lucky with what we chose to buy, but now making a big difference in our disposable income.

YANBU, not at all.

If someone gives you a house then you can live very well on not much. That sort of thing. You are right

togarama we do take packed lunches etc, kids all have packed lunch, heatign on low etc but the amount that you can save this way seems so small compared with the cost of things like non-camping foreign holidays/a house with an extra bedroom/school fees etc. We will lose our child benefit and it will make us a lot worse off - even fewer "luxuries" (like having the central heating on :) ). I'm NOT saying that people on less do not also struggle - just that I'm a bit fed up with being written off as a wealthy high earning family who don't have the right to moan and/or shouldn't have bought a house in the first place when we are actually also struggling and people who are far better off (in real terms) because they were given houses/large deposits etc do get symphathy because they are on lower wages and everyone focuses so much on pure income.

Number of dependents does not seem to ever be considered.

DH is on a fat cat salary, from which he pays the mortgage on a house big enough for a family, and his widowed mother's mortgage. I earn peanuts, so basically 1 salary supports 6 people. And that's before I notice that SIL and family (= 6 souls on one below average salary) is currently living with MIL after some personal difficulties - so effectively DH is subsidising her too, by keeping the MIL family home afloat. 1 salary = 12 people doesn't leave a fat lot of change for fast cars and fancy watches!

People next door have a relatively low income compared to us but have a few houses due to both buying in the 90s, we bought in 2001 and so got much much less for our money.

Timing is everything. If you bought a property 15 or 20 years ago, before house prices went crazy, whether you had help from family money or just a huge (for those days) mortgage, you are now likely to be doing well, at least in terms of housing, no matter what your current income.

I can't see how that would translate into being able to afford private school, though, as I don't think many people would sell the house to pay school fees.

I agree, I have a mate with a very similar family income and structure to mine in every way except that she bought her house 5 years later than I did. Whenever we go out together I always get very anxious about where we should go for lunch, whether to suggest icecreams for the kids etc, because she's perpetually skint (albeit middle class skint, not can't afford to replace the kettle, holes in the DC's shoes skint) and can't afford any of the things I take for granted.
I reckon 70k will get you private secondary school fees for 2 DCs if you have no housing costs whatsoever, save up like crazy during the primary years, and stay away from the Mark Warner catalogue and What Car? magazine.

Frankly I think you have to be earning an enormous sum before school fees are affordable for more than 1 child. I'm sure £70k (and I think the OP on that thread was talking about FAMILY income, so that might be 2 salaries at £35k) doesn't even come close.

i know this dosent really answer your ????

BUT who are these people who get money of their parents to pay school fees,deposit for a house

and think as a nation we are FAR to bothered and compare what others have,and feel hard done by

sometimes i feel we should stop comparing ourselfs with others,think as a nation wed be alot happier

The housing boom has a lot to answer for. I can't bear listening to older generations moaning how they didn't fritter their money away like todays generations, but they are sitting in £500k house that cost them a couple of grand that they paid off in a few years, not 25-35 years like the rest of us mugs.

ggrrr

but can understand why a family on £15k might find someone on £70k saying the are "struggling, really struggling"!