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?!

Everyone can have NHS dentistry if they choose, just some have to pay to have it!

(And obviously if there is a dentist)

"Everyone can have NHS dentistry if they choose, just some have to pay to have it"!

????Can you clarify?

Well there is tier system. You can register for NHS dentistry and if you are a child, on benefits or have maternity exemption then you don't have to pay, if you are on a low income you may be entitled to some help with the costs or otherwise you pay a set band of charges - see here

I'm not entitled to any free dentistry grrr

And Offred I know what you're saying and I understand you don't want me to live in a slum

It's true people are entitled to one, but finding what can prove to be a different matter altogether. Tis a shame because people who really need it can't get on the books because the dentists are already full.

Yes, our dentists are scarce but we were incredibly fortunate to have been registered with an NHS dentist since childhood meaning my children were also able to be registered despite them not taking on new families and then a new NHS dentist opened across the road so we were practically first in there. We've been really lucky and although the provision here is good relatively it is still not enough.

Surely it is possible to answer this one categorically????

Anyone earning £60000 is better off than the vast majority of the world's population. That is an absolute.

Anyone in the UK earning the same amount is also far better off than the vast majority of people in the UK. That is also an absolute.

Anyone earning £60,000 per annum in London or the south east is still well off in my book, meaning that they can: buy a house - if they can obtain a mortgage- feed, clothe and occasionally treat an average-sized family. They are well off compared to people surviving on state benefits or on a salary of under £30,000, which is not unusual in London.

£60K is less than my Dh earns but more than I earn.

Ah, I see. But that rests, as I assume you meant in the post I x-posted with, on there being a dentist who hasn't closed his/her NHS client list.

By the way, someone was trying to insist to me last month that benefit-claiming meant that one would have two new pair of glasses each year. It doesn't. It means a free test, (instead of a £10 payment as a private payment) and a £28 pounds optics voucher IF your prescription has changed. And things like anti-reflective coatings (which I need, as otherwise I STILL can't see) come out of one's own pocket.

Narmada
It can be answered categorically.
I have done several times on the thread already but here goes again
www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_distribution/3-1table-feb2012.pdf
£60k is between the 90th and 95th Centile.

Talkinpeace - yes that's true if you look at wage distribution. It isn't the same as income.

And income isn't the same as wealth.

£60k a year is a lot but it doesn't make you well off.

People who bought their homes over ten or twenty years ago or people who have got good inheritances might be in a far better position financially.

It annoys me that people only look at that years income to make a judgement. We have nothing except for salary - that doesn't make us feel rich or secure

And worldwide comparisons aren't relevant where living costs are lower too e.g. In Zimbabwe a low income family of six needs £340 per month to survive here compared to a wage of about half that which leaves them compromising on electricity and sanitation. A family of six in the uk would not be able to afford any home at all on even the required amount.

offred
Read the link - that table is INCOME as per HMRC, not wages.
This table covers other sources of income
www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_distribution/3-4table-feb2012.pdf
sorry but you cannot escape the data

Income (from any source) of £60k a year puts the recipient in the top 8% of the population.

I remember my goal being 12 years ago to earn over £50,000 and the lifestyle that afforded. You'd now have to earn £200k to be I the same position

Declared taxable income. And it doesn't account for dependents. Have you missed all the news stories about tax avoidance?

Mosman,
what makes you say that?
this table www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_distribution/3-1table-feb2012.pdf shows the ceniles for the last gew years.
12 years ago, £50k was about 97th Centile, the equivalent of which is now £120k ish

the most interesting part of that chart is that it highlights increasing inequality :
the figure for 90th centile has less than doubled, that for 99th centile has more than tripled...

offred, unless you know a handful of tax avoiders, HMRC's stats talk about taxable income. They do go on and break it down by whether its earned or investment income, but I totally agree with Talkin that income of any source puts you in the top 8% of taxpayers in the UK.

Offred
I'm an accountant.

For me it's all about what you'd need to buy or rent a nice house, car, bills paid, dining out, new clothes. £50,000 wouldn't go far now and neither would £120,000 I Imagine

What's you're point then? Are you trying to say there is not a problem with tax avoidance which is worst amongst the super rich? I'm not sure what being in the top 8% of earners might say about how far that money would actually go in real life. If the top 1% had such hugely unimaginable incomes then it is still possible for the other 99% to be classed as higher income distribution without being able to afford things.

*your - gah...