To think that 60k is a lot of money to earn a year?!

[MinkSlink]

I think it is a lot of money to earn per year but it seems a lot of people on mumsnet don't think so, am I in the piss poor minority here or what?!

Thing is, when I WAS a high earner, I thought the same, that I wasn't well off. But I was. Living in the same town on £12k is far far harder than it was on £45k, even when you bear in mind that I got some benefits when I was earning that.

The benefit top ups I got when I earnt £12k did not take me anywhere close to the £45k I had previously earnt. In fact even with 3 DC's to pay childcare for, I wasn't hitting £19k. And childcare in this town is criminally high, and at that time 80% of it was covered by benefits.

So I still had less than half the income to pay the same (well, actually more) costs.

It still took the same amount of food to adequately feed my DC's, and that still cost the same amount of money.

You can't say that it costs someone earning £12k less to live - it doesn't. It just means that they have no luxuries, where someone who is on £60k does.

It may not SEEM like you do, but in honest terms, having a car, or even two, IS a luxury you can't afford when earning £12k. If that means you can't take a job that requires a car to get to, then you can't take that job. If that means you can't try to earn more, then that's what that means.

I can see through my own life experiences just how easy it is to be so blinkered that you cannot see beyond your own life, and to realise how lucky you really are to have those choices. But you are lucky, and you do have those choices.

charley fyi eton costs about 35k per year but you do get about a grand back when the child leaves.

about half the cost of a private place at a special school, that will cost around 55k a year

i wasnt being rude just giving an example of the schools that cost the higher and lower amounts in the 30-60 range. purely because i think its intresting.

and i have children in private special schools and loads of people assume that due to the fees being huge they must be at eton [hgrin]

Right, can we all just love each-other & accept 60K is a whacking great salary?

Please?

It's a nice amount, but it doesn't make you rich if it's the only income your family gets.
Mortgage, fuel bills, higher rate tax and no child benifit next year see to that.

Ok, so being in the top 5% of earners, in one of the richest countries in the world doesn't make you rich???

I suggest you stop taking magazines.

Star you earn 60K as a family & you're moaning about HRT & the loss of your CB.

Really?

oh & Star it's only HRT after £150,000.

In which case, you really shouldn't be moaning.

Here is my change to Just's post :

Ok, so being in the top 5% of earners, in one of the richest countries in the world doesn't make you rich???

I suggest you stop taking drugs.

What Couthy said

Fuck it

Fuck it.

£60k pa is a lot of money. It just is.

It saddens me that people who earn this money cannot even see that by moaning about "higher tax" or the mortgage on a 4bed semi or the cost of running 2 cars they are showing how well off they are.

To those whinging...How many people live around you in high rise council flats, earning so little they cannot afford a single luxury for their kids, who send their kids to school on hungry bellies (see recent kidscape articles about the increase in this), or on state pensions so meager they fucking need winter fuel allowance so they don't bloody freeze to death?! You are not badly off. You have over stretched yourself with your outgoings if you think you are.

I read this as someone who earns multiples of the amount mentioned, i do pay the higher rate of tax, without too much genuine complain (comedic grumbles aside) and I maintain anything over 60k as an individual income makes you wealthier than many people can imagine. It gives you financial independence, freedom of choice...

Not once during my climb up the greasy corp ladder did I not realize how fortunate I was. Perhaps because my mother came from such impoverished background that she can remember what REAL hunger was, when a family had to share very little food, sometimes her mother eating nothing at all to enable her children to eat instead, and when she had her first pair of shoes at age 7, and left school aged 11 to work (not UK but taught me to value everything I have)

Some people need to wake up.

married - £15k a month take home isn't £120k - it's £300k+ (assuming full tax is paid)

Median full time uk salary is £27k so clearly £60k is a lot of money to earn in comparative terms.

If you choose only to compare yourself to people earning more then you will feel poor, but compared to the general population you are rich.

We are on a combined of 75K. We buy Boden clothes once a month and eat out and go to the cinema.
There is no point in pretending my life is the same as a family on 40K. It's not. We have been a family on that and it was harder. To be a family on 20K I don't want to imagine.
It's not all relative because it means life gets easier. It's easier having two cars than no car. It's easier living in a 4 bedroom end house than a flat with a family. And it's definitely easier not worrying how you are going to feed your kids that month.

loveweekends I love your honesty! There are so many people about who earn £100k then moan that the cost of the weekend cottage, prep school and gymkhanas is bleeding them dry.

It's all relative.
Depends where in the uk you live.
How many kids you have.
Whether its a single income or joint.
What you pay in terms of pension.
A few years ago I would have said anyone earning £60k would be very comfortable...not now.

i can honestly say we dont live any differently than to someone on 40k, cause we about two years ago.

you dont need to spend more if you have more.

15k a month?! Fuck me. That's just the most ridiculous amount of money I've ever heard. Blimey.

Ok I earn roughly that amount. We don't have a lot of spare cash at the end of the month. but that's because of our choices. People going on about rents/mortgages, school fees etc are being disingenuous.

Your earning capacity is not dependent on the actual house you live in. You could live in a tiny studio in a crummy area for a reduced amount. And this is especially true in London where naice areas borders rough as hell areas. But you don't want to 'because you work hard for your money'. You could house share. You certainly don't have to pay for school fees (and it sets my teeth on edge when people list it as a necessary expenditure and I say this as someone who will send their dc to private school). You could buy economy food but choose to buy from waitrose.

We make choices in what we want to spend our money on. But to claim that 60k is an ok-ish amount of money is actually really fucking insulting. Because what you're implying is that the amount the vast majority of people earn is pathetic and you couldn't possible bear having their standard of living.

Oh damn. I earn roughly 60k. Not 15k a month if earned that I'd be having my butler type this.

My dad earned that a few years ago when I lived at home. 3 kids, a 4 bed house with large mortgage and trying to feed two starving teenage boys, ill tell you it didn't go far. I would definitely want a family income of £40k+ before considering a family, and another £10k a year per child!