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?!

Are you being funny kensington?

DB and his partner live in a perfectly nice London flat, about 20 minutes from London bridge, and when they got it he was earning about 16k and she was a student.

Of course 60k is a lot. Obviously, if you have expensive needs/wants it will get spent. But it must be quite nice to know you have it.

It totally depends on your outgoings.

I don't earn as much as that, though I am still what many people would think of as a more than decent salary.

HOWEVER, my outgoings on mortgage and all basic bills (season ticket, utilities, phone, TV, insurance, council tax etc etc) are such that I am left with about £500 per month for food and everything else. I don't have a car because I can't drive, but frankly even if I passed my test I couldn't afford to buy or run one anyway!

Crikey, you are assuming a lot MrsWP!

YABU
dh earns that and we are definately not rich by any means.

we have a middle sized four bed detached two cars etc, we live modestly and save what we can.

I suppose it's all relative because people live to their means. But where I live it is probably on the high side. Currently getting a job that pays over 15k is my personal pipe dream though.

To earn that amount I have to pay for childcare. After tax and childcare (nursery, not nanny) it's not a lot believe me.

Gosh, I'd love to have my mortgage repayment (around that size) paying for a 3 bed house. 2 bed flat where I live.

My salary is £57k (or a smidgen under) and I'm under no illusions about how fortunate I am that I happen to have chosen a field that values what I do to that level. My husband makes much less, and his worn is probably more valuable to society and he works no less hard. After tax, NI, pension and (reduced rate) childcare vouchers I take home a few pounds over £3K a month.

But I would say that it's a very relative thing, both how you feel and how far your money stretches. If I lived in another part of the country I think I'd feel much richer on this salary than I do in this far flung corner of London, because my childcare, housing and probably commuting costs would be lower.

And it depends on your peer group and, in Britain, when and whether you got on the housing ladder. I'm amazed at the homes my peers on similar salaries can afford because they bought their first homes in the early to mid 2000s. We didn't buy ours until 2008, and the difference in what we can afford is staggering. Most of my friends make more than I do, so next to them, no, I don't feel rich. But we get by comfortably, even if we don't have the dream job and the luxury holidays, and I don't think I'm taxed 'to the back teeth', I think it's a fair contribution to society and fair enough, because I'm in a fortunate position in that society. And I'm very aware how lucky I am to be in that situation.

Mintyy I'm giving a fairly typical example of a two working parent family in SE England's outgoings. And I'm not saying this is typical for everyone, as I pointed out. But (once more with feeling) £60k is not always a lot of money.

£60k is a lot of money, of course, and anyone who says it isn't is patently wrong. But as other have said, it doesn't necessarily mean unbounded riches: it doesn't go far in London (or much of the south east), never mind servicing student debts, credit cards, nursery bills etc

minty we are a two income household, we have to be with those sorts of expenses. DH and I both earn in excess of £60k, but we have both taken substantial drops in income over the last few years with me taking two mat leaves and going part time and DH being made redundant. The bills however haven't dropped in line with our pay cuts. We're OK, of course we are, but life isn't as much fun as it used to be!

But MrsBucket, you can afford two cars and a four bed detached house.

See, its a lot of money, its given you all that loveliness and security.

being rich to me means you can live off what you have in the bank with no worry of what anything costs.

having dh at home would mean so much to me.

Yes, it's a lot on paper. It's all relative though. A lot depends on where you live, when you first bought property, childcare, schooling etc.

MrsBucketxx - a four bed detached house and two cars sounds very well off to me personally, although perhaps not 'rich'

Nobody said anything about being rich though, op asked if it was a lot of money.

And it is.

It's a lot and a very good salary. I would define 'rich' though as £600k.

but he works away from home for that salary, its a big sacrifice for our family.

It gives you choice though doesn't it?

The choice to have two cars and buy a nice house or to stick with one and a smaller house and have more disposable income.

If someone tells me they are skint, I assume they are skint

It's still worker drone money

Him working away must be utterly shit. My dh works shifts and I find that hard enough.

As I said, if you are unable to acknowledge that £60,000 is a good salary then you are basically a knobber.

we are lucky that he can earn that then eventually we can pay everything off and grow old comfortably, its all save save save

We earn a bit less than that between us, and I think of us as middling - not really struggling but not rich. We have a 3 bed semi in the SE, one ok car and one old and slightly knackered one, enough spare cash to go out for the odd meal or cinema trip but no exotic holidays.

Having said that, we could sell this house and live in a 4 bed detached mortgage free in some parts of the country (I don't know where we'd work though!). And then we'd feel a lot wealthier, as approx 1/4 to 1/3 of our take home pay goes on the mortgage. It's all relative isn't it?

i know its good money im not stupid but as others have said its all relative.