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?!

If one more person says "It's all relative" on this thread i may possibly have £60,000.

Why must you spend what you earn? Is it keeping up with the Jones's?? See, if i was paying a ridiculous amount of money on a mortgage etc i'd downsize a bit. It doesn't mean you have to live in a shithole. I'd stop paying private medical insurance and moaning i have nothing left at the end of the month.
I'd move to a cheaper area where 60k would go further. I'd lose a car. etc

Couthy - i think i love you. That's all.

Seeing as most people on £60k will live in London/Home counties the options for cheap mortgages, housing and travel are small.

Well bringback it IS relative...... lets suppose you win 3 million pounds on the lottery.... would you go out and live in a mud-hut and buy a smart car to travel around in? Hmmmm thought not, people live up to their means (and yes, sometimes, beyond), its the way of the world.

We live in s yorks where houses are cheap, have a 4bed Edwardian townhouse and our mortgage is only 28000 so we do not need to earn big money. We both work part time and earn about 15000 each. But we have more free time and arent slaves to. Our jobs and nortgages

Haven't read the thread but no, it isn't a lot of money. DH alone earns more than that and I earn a p/t salary but I wouldn't say we are well off, particularly.

our one saving grace is that we paid our mortgage off a few years back when dh inherited some money and are therefore mortgage free - but we see this as an investment for our dds' future/university education etc - so it's already , in our heads, tied up IYSWIM.

Perhaps read the thread then Donnie? It isn't about whether you feel well off or not! You just make yourself sound ignorant.

ops, sorry to irritate you so Mintyy - must be all that money I earn. All cash and no brains, that's me . Sorry if you're having trouble dear.

Threads like this are just frustrating and annoying. Do you think the parents who are having to decide whether to turn the heat on or buy shoes for their kids are saying 'well its all relative'. It really isn't. It sucks. More money equals more choice. Full stop. You might not think you are making a choice but you are you are choosing to fit into your equal social bracket.

Yes, that must be it.

oh and btw where I live 60k is NOT a high salary. Therefore I do not think it is a lot of money to earn in a year. Does this satisfy your criteria for posting on the thread .

Seriously, why not read the thread?

well I have read it all now - so what would you like to ask me? my position remains the same as previously stated.

I don't want to ask you anything!

MrsdV, yes, I fully accept I have spent it all. I fully accept I could move to a bed sit and save some money. What I don't accept is that I spend it on luxuries and nice things for my daughter so I should just shut up. All my income goes on simply staying alive and paying bills. I could cut my charity contributions and my internet connection and save about £100 per month but that is it.

My daughter goes swimming once a week and I can run a car. That is about it for extras. But if my - old and second hand car breaks down, I am fucked. I don't have any spare money to get another one. So I guess I lose my job as I can't travel to it reliably as trains and buses don't always arrive at the times you need.

As I am self employed I basically pay double tax each year as I have to pay an amount up front. My tax bill last year was £30K.

Of my take home pay nearly half of that goes on a mortgage. How have we ended up in that situation where housing is so expensive that someone like me who should be feeling rich on an income of £60K actually feels quite scared at times?

I think all this vitriol and anger is a distraction from the real evil that a situation is allowed to perpetuate where low paid workers cannot get paid enough to live on. I don't apologise or feel guilty for earning £60K when I trained for six years to be qualified enough to earn that kind of wage.

What I find weird however is we are apparently not allowed to comment upon observable realities - that housing is expensive and eats up most if not all of this huge salary - without being told to fuck off and die (by some, not all of course)

I have a friend that is a doctor, earns around £80k a year. Her daughter needed an operation costing about £20k, only available in the USA. She had to raise the money via charity as she didn't have that sort of money knocking around. You can't judge how much spare money people have by their gross income.

I don't think it is a lot, in London. Esp if you have kids and are the only earner.

I earn a bit less that that but not too much. After tax and pension payments, student loan repayments and my half the rent on a (albeit reasonably nice and central) 1 bed flat I'm not rolling in it.

I do go out for meals and drinks with friends probably 2 times a week and don't had to worry about things like that but I hardly spend any cash on clothes and we eat cheap veggie at home (DP Is veggie, and I love cooking). I prioritise cash for holidays and go away probably 3 weeks a year, usually 2x ski trips plus something else. My other weeks holidays have been spent at hole or at my parents going out for local hikes. I don't have any CC debt repayments to worry about. Oh, to keep my car running that was £800 insurance plus tax, MOT, servicing and parking permit. So basically 2x months 'disposable' income (cash after rent).

So although I have a nice lifestyle, if i had kids I wouldn't be able to afford ANY of the nice trappings of my life. And if I had to pay the full rent and bills on the flat I would only have £400 a month left over which would be a struggle and would leave no room to save for a deposit or ski trips.

So yeah obviously I could move to a flat in zone 6 or something and stop going out with friends, but I guess like other people are saying you his grow to fit your income.

My job involved a training period on a much lower period. Common talk of "when we're qualified we'll have so much cash" People who had already qualified always said you'll feel rich for about 6 months, then you'll grow to fit yor income. And they were right!

I was confused earlier this week by someone saying they didn't have the £100 they needed for a haircut, so their DP had to do it... I pay £28 for my haircut and that is sometimes a struggle to find (my partner and I bring in around 25K including our Tax Credits). If a salon asked me for £100 I would walk straight out the door!! I used to get it done for £12!

So there obviously is an element of spending to your means...

whois you're right, when I went back to work (part time) we felt we had loads of money for about 3 months, now we are back to being mostly skint. And thats in the low income bracket as much as for the high income I assume. Friends from Uni are now making what we put do put together, with no kids or partners or cars to run, and they all think they are skint too!

YANBU, but if you live somewhere where even a tiny, decrepit 2 bed terrace with no garden is £250K, there's still not going to be a lot left by the time you've paid for somewhere to live.