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

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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?!

Ladyflumpalot
OK, slightly diverting the thread, but in an ENTIRELY positive way ....
look at this thread
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/freelancers/1538634-How-might-I-earn-1000-a-month-working-from-home
and then lurk around that board - its a really positive, supportive place

Sockreturning
A dear friend of mine is, through wheelchair bound husband and daughter, stuck on benefits till her husband dies - which will be horribly soon. I BUST A GUT to get extra funds for her - so do all her true friends.

TalkinPeace2 Do not argue with me

This thread is a discussion thats the whole point...

And YES IT IS (do you shout all the time in real life?) That is relative. Relative to a salary of 150k, 60k, simply isn't a lot of money. It may put you in the top 5% of earners but still doesn't necessarily make you wealthy, depending on your outgoings (mortgage, childcare, commute, area, debts etc). Of course if you're really hard up you're getting something wrong but wealthy... Not necessarily. Although it all depends on your definition of wealthy.

Many people who complain of large mortgages forget that eventually they will own a valuable asset.

Thank you, I'll have a read through that.

Its all relative. And may sound a lot but earners at that rate get taxed heavily.

talking im glad your friend has decent supportive people in her life. anyone who is vulnerable due to health,circumstances or education needs support.

Cpt von Trapp
It does make you wealthy.
Your outgoings might be more expensive, but you are still wealthy.
If you are hanging out with a load of people earning £150k in an area that is too expensive for your means, might feel skint, but you're really really not.

charlottehere
They only get taxed at 40% on the portion over £34 370 so they pay 40% on c£26k which means they pay £10.4K in tax instead of £5.2K if it remained at 20%. I don't really think a £5.2K tax increase between £34K and £60K counts as being very heavily taxed.

CaptainVonTrapp
You are SO RIGHT
if all of ones friends are in the top 0.5%
being a poor pleb in only the top 5% must be just terrible.
My heart bleeds.

But luckily there are millions of poor saps earning less in a month than you do in a week who make your lifestyle possible.

i earn that (£68K), its OK but we are NOT living the vida loca

dont get me wrong I am full of gratitude, but still watch the pennies, dont have a big house, dont have a posh car

not complaining, but neither are we off on annual ski holidays IFSWIM

*MrsDeVere

Can I just point out.
Earning 120k and not having spare cash.
Means.
You have spent it all.
Not
You are poor. *

Very well said, I think this sums it up for me.

MrsDeVere - Can I just point out.
Earning 120k and not having spare cash.
Means.
You have spent it all.
Not
You are poor

I think this sums it up for me

Why aren't the *'s working?!

There is lots of research to show that people's defintion of wealthy (no matter how much they earn) tends to be anything that is above double what they have. £60k is a lot of money (on a relative basis), but equally does not make one wealthy.

Thing is, wealth is subjective, and open to a lot of factors. I live in the rural bit of Dorset. I work in Salisbury. Between OH and I, we bring in 28k a year. We just scrape by, ok, we are both up to our eyeballs in our overdrafts.

Because of the area we live and work in, our expenses are less. £600 a month rent gets us a three bedroomed house with parking and a huge garden. I should think, that if I wanted that in London I would have to pay twice, or even three times as much rent.

I think, what I'm trying to say is that £60k a year here in Dorset is a HUGE wage. Probably not so much in a big city where living costs are so much more.

Fuck me! Just looked on Rightmove ad a three bedroomed apartment above a shop in SW1 is £8,500 a WEEK!

PMSL about East Molesey being London. East Molesey is Surrey. We live in Putney and near the bridge and we regard ourselves as almost suburbia albeit zone 2

We are also very lucky that we have champagne money and chardonnay tastes. DH earns far in excess of £15k a month but I work full time (not for peanuts probably cashews or choc coated brazils but less than 1/10 of DH's money). I have been blasted on here for spending about £150 pcm on myself and have been told I am grossly extravagant to wear No7, buy Per Una and have my hair cut and coloured regularly. We drive modest cars, my last car was replaced when it was 10 years old. We live side by side with the very rich; we also live side by side with those who want to be be very rich and aspire and spend way beyond their means. We couldn't give a *k! DH is a scruffy sod, the DC aren't very interested in material things and despite their expensive schools have very well developed social consciences.

Apart form school fees (our major extravagance - but believe me the state schools near here would not fit with the mnet middle class agenda) we could live on £2k (perhaps £3k ) pcm and still be very comfy and not have to downsize, albeit because everything is paid for. But we are 50+, have worked our cotton socks off, stayed together, aren't flashy, have simple tastes and don't want the high life. Many people would look at us and think "oooh they must be struggling - look how scruffy they are - and until last year "is she ever going to replace that knackered ten year old French car. I will buy slippers from Shoe Zone and bits and pieces from Primark. Perhaps we have just focused on working for it rather than spending it.

Sadly my English cleaner left me after 12 years in 1996. Since then, in spite of living within a mile of some very poor communities, I have never been able to find a reliable English cleaner. That is very very sad and says a great deal about British society. I pay a lovely Polish girl £10ph. She lives in a shared house, sharing a bedroom with two others for £50pw - cleans and irons for well in excess of 45 hpw and sends money home to her family and misses her 9 year old daughter. Says it all really.

Admits to a tiny weakness in relation to shoes .

marriedinwhite has got to the crux of it
I pay a lovely Polish girl £10ph. She lives in a shared house, sharing a bedroom with two others for £50pw - cleans and irons for well in excess of 45 hpw and sends money home to her family and misses her 9 year old daughter. Says it all really.

The people living in London and the Southeast on LOW incomes do not have "houses" or "flats" - they have a "place to sleep"

remember that when you go to buy your Newspaper, petrol, latte and flowers tomorrow ... or sign for your shopping ...

We earn 45K between us and its plenty - i think we are very lucky (have lived on benefits in past). We have a mortage now, but because we don't want to spend all our income on accomodation, we bought a cheaper house then we could have (in a less desirable area and in need of lots of work), drive an old banger, don't do foriegn holidays, don't use credit cards and don't eat out - through choice. Means we can pay the bills and have less stress. I think 60K is alot - but of course you wouldn't have much left if you chose to have a mega mortgage and holidays etc - but that would be a choice you make. Its possible to live very well on that kind of money if you live within your means.

We are fortunate my husband now earns good money, I realise we are very lucky but I would never think of myself as wealthy, To me that is the ridiculously rich with extra flats in London, counttry estates, top private schools and mega savings etc.

Most folk on mumsnet who are comfortable or the more wealthy just don't talk about it much, it doesn't go down well when many folk are seriously struggling.

The crux of it Talkin is that if English women were prepared to clean for £10ph, there would be no need for economic migration from the former Eastern Block; if there was a facility within the benefit system for the British population to work a little without being worse off, there would be many families who were more comfortable. My Polish lady has been working for me for six years and I would not want to stop employing her but it is very sad that I cannot find a local English/British lady who is prepared to clean, to come every week and to do the job well.

marriedinwhite
be careful what you say : I am a first generation economic migrant - just one who does not look or sound "foreign"

round here we hire Poles because they work BETTER and HARDER than the English.
Simple as.

The Poles get no benefits for the first three years so work their asses off.

The first flood of Poles (who have ALL gone back home now) saved like buggery to buy back their family farms after Communism fell : 7 to a room and leftovers from a takeaway to eat was the norm. I know. I paid their wages. Dozens of them.

But marriedinWhite. - your polish Lady makes it work by by often undercutting the going rate by leaving a child and family behind to do a hard stint in a foreign country, living squashed up digs, probably putting every spare penny by so she can get back home as soon as possible. Does she also pay taxes? Why should your local english lady be expected to compete with this. Your average English Lady might have a family here to support with the high cost of living, mortgage or high rents and all that family life in the UK entails.it's not like for like.

"Not to be nosy but what do you spend it on? Ok I am being nosey

not sure if you were asking me, but here goes!

£3800
goes on
£800 to DP
£1600 mortgage and bills
£550 shopping and fuel
£100 on car
£100 on pre school
£50 school dinners

thats 3200, leaves £600 for "fun" , clothes, savings, for MOT shite and to put aside for holidays