Where do people get the money?

[MrsLouisTheroux]

I understand that there are people (I thought the minority) who earn a zillion pounds and are very high earners but I just don't understand how so many people afford to eat out, shop, go to the cinema/theatre so often. The huge shopping centre near me is always literally packed with people doing just that. Not just at this time of year either.
The shops seem to be doing brilliantly but I don't know where the money comes from.
DH and I earn a good amount between us and we do nice stuff but can't afford to eat out, shop or go to the cinema more than a couple of times a month and we don't buy a lot when we do go shopping - certainly not for designer stuff.
I thought there was a recession?!
AIBU to wonder how people afford it?

It's a good point about expenditure a my initial post only dealing with income goes to show how my mind is wired!

We could afford to trade up house, we live in the cheapest town in the area and never have. I don't do clothes and makeup etc, just have minimal stuff and shop at asda and buy a lot second hand. We've had 3 family holiday abroad in the past 12 years and they were budget ones. We also chose to only have one child.

I have a cheap old Volvo that I'll run until it's not economical to keep any more.

My husband earns a fair bit through over time as well as having worked hard for promotions.

We spend our money on good times rather than things. We live a good life all year round rather than having expensive things or expensive holidays. We like to eat out and go for days out. We have a great life all year round rather than expensive things and an expensive week a year to look forward to and pay for.

Things are very different to when we first started out and hubby earnt £55pw on his apprenticeship and I worked 60 hour weeks in a factory to keep us afloat! In our late 30's life came good. We are very lucky as I have family who work hard too and never got the breaks on life we did so never managed to end up with a well paying job. Life's not fair and we appreciate how lucky we are that hubby's talents are recognised and well rewarded at work.

I know what you mean OP. I remember going to my local big out-of-town shopping centre on a weekday at the deepest dip of the recession, and expected to see some evidence of the financial crisis. But it was as heaving as ever, and has remained so throughout.

I also find teenagers and students surprising too. When I was a teen and student, all my clothes came from jumble sales or charity shops, toiletries were from the most basic places, food came from the market etc. These days young people expect to be able to follow fashion, even if that means designer clothes and handbags and so on. I presume they have credit cards. In my day any student asking for a credit card would have been laughed at!

Times and priorities have changed, and retail has a greater prominence in most people's lives now I think.

I don't know OP - and I wish I did, because I wouldn't mind some of it! There's 5 of us, 4 teens (so effectively 4 adults) and one child. A cinema trip - or any other kind of trip really - sets us back around £50, and a meal out (nothing fancy) anything between £50-£100. Just keeping the DCs in shoe leather and clothing is hard going, and that's after the mortgage, council tax, utilities, cars, petrol and food and other basics (cars needed for jobs, no public transport).

Both DH and I earn good money, but don't have the disposable income that so many people I know have - where the kind of money that allows regular meals out, trips to the theatre, days away, big shopping sprees etc for a family comes from is a complete mystery to me.

2 adults and 2 teens I mean!

it's very hard to generalise, I think.

I have a friend who is always buying clothes, always eating out, always getting her nails done, drives a 50k car, foreign holidays several times a year. She and her dh both have had well paid jobs since they were teenagers, (they are now in their 40s) didn't go to university so no student debt, and have only one child and no childcare costs. Quite simply, they can afford to do as they please.

I have another friend who lives an identical lifestyle, on the surface. But few people know that her house has been re possessed and she owes tens of thousands on a dozen different credit cards. But still she spends, because she thinks she deserves a nice lifestyle

I agree it's about priorities. The most I've ever spent on a car is about 7K. I commute through London and it sometimes feels like the majority of cars I see are ones someone recently bought for 30K or more. I think to myself: surely you don't spend more than the minimum on a car until your mortgage is paid off and you can afford to pay the extra out of dividends on your share portfolio. But apparently other people think differently.

Housing costs vary so wildly. There are a lot of people around who bought their house in the 20th century for a quarter of its current cost, (or have subsequently moved but still at a minimal incremental cost, leveraged by the equity in their original home). They have little or no housing costs.

Young adults living with their home-owning parents see home ownership as an unimaginable dream so there's no point in saving every last penny for a deposit if flat prices are going to continue to be 7 times your annual income. It's a bit like the situation in the Japan property price bubble - housing prices were so high, that the young people spent their money like water. It's probably why they still dominate the high end consumer electronics and gaming industry - they had a huge market of cash-rich early adopters.

And then there's a few people lucky enough to have decent incomes while living in social housing.

Same as lepetitprince both DH and in in graduate vocational careers that remunerate reasonably well if you stick in and work hard. No DCs yet, no cars on finance, do a lot of things ourselves eg car maintenance, house DIY, dont drink much when out and dont have massive mortgage on 4 bed detached new build but small mortgage on extended detached house which achieved 4 bedrooms only recently!

I stay living in my HA house in a "hard to let area" so that I can keep my lifestyle as it is.

I don't put the heating on, unless it is - and then there are times I plan to sit in my Mums during this type if weather.

I am vegan, don't do the regular wine and chocolates thing. I make do and don't buy anything not needed, even a 25p packet of chewy's.

I plan regular trips to the theater in London (I am in Liverpool), I have just come back and am waiting for the premier inn new year sale to plan another trip around Easter. That way I get my travel cheaper as well.

I plan Manchester in advance, as well.

I am already planning how much a week I can afford in the Credit Union Saving Scheme for next Christmas.

I asked my teens a few years ago if they want lots to open at Christmas or trips/shopping days throughout the year.

I shop around week to week even if it triples the time. I walk my dog to my local Aldi/Lidl/Tesco/Farm Foods, to fit this in.

I have thought hard about whether I would want to move somewhere nicer, or have a warm house, but do less,

I agree that the shopping areas that you see serve a large area, I see half of Liverpool when I go to the Trafford Center, or even Newcastle.

a couple of times a month going out is quite a good social life perhaps the people you see eating out or going to the cinema are just doing the same as you, and people going shopping isn't really something i am envious of I hate the idea of just buying for the sake of buying

alot of people driving cars lease them rather than own them I think. people spend on different things.

remember that some people are living on borrowed time
metro.co.uk/2013/10/07/shopping-addict-jailed-for-magic-marker-cheque-theft-4137968/

I'm the sort of person who will take a drink and snacks out while shopping or buy a cheap sandwich. would never eat out whilst there apart from in costco possibly.

I may pop into the small waitrose on way out for a free drink with a few essentials

Leasing a car is often more expensive than owning one - it depends very much on the T&Cs - eg, the NHS in Scotland is one of the biggest employers in the country, but the car leasing scheme is very expensive so that won't be saving you any money.

I think that the mortgage and rent is probably the biggest expense. If you got onto the property ladder years ago and were able to move up at the right time to accommodate a growing family then chances are you'll be paying a very small amount in comparison to your income - or if you sold in a more expensive area and then moved to a cheaper one. If you've not had childcare costs because family have looked after your DCs then you have saved many thousands over the years. If you live within walking distance or a short public transport journey away from work then commuting costs will be minimum, and if it's just you and your DH/P, or you just have one DC, then your outgoings will be very small compared to a larger family.

I am a lone parent I get part hb and tax credits I can't afford new clothes nights out don't happen I am broke. Most of my money goes on rent. Still hopefully only another 2 years and I can tell housing benefit to piss off! It would be different if I received cs. I would be far better off as I could keep every penny!

The difference in rental where i am is shocking, there is a large car park between my house and another street, you can rent a house (last time i looked) for 210PCM, yet i pay literally double, i see why though, If i wanted more disposable income i could move onto the next street but our families quality of. life would change dramatically. Its all about priorities.

My eyes goggle at the pensioners round here. You should see their baskets in Waitrose: steak, fine wine etc. Likewise M&S - most people in there are over 60.

Pils used to moan about their pension of £30K, but they had no mortgage, no children with ever-growing feet, and were able to avail themselves of just about free everything. At one point they were having five holidays a year and buying Royal Doulton figures like they were penny chews.

my dad gets a good (early) pension my mum moans they are skint both still work I think they just like to moan that they are so skint when they are sunning themselves on their 2/3 holidays a year

personally i am a bit like a PP i live in a smaller house we could probably afford a bigger one but we like doing stuff and going away places people live differently

SirChejin: A cinema trip - or any other kind of trip really - sets us back around £50, and a meal out (nothing fancy) anything between £50-£100
Yes! That's exactly what I mean! £50-100 for a meal with a drink each! £50 is my whole weeks food shopping!!

I know! The weekly shop for 5 of us is around £80/90, give or take - and yet one meal out can cost the same, and often it's nothing that I can't cook better myself at home

If you have thousands a month left over after mortgage, pensions, savings, giving to charity etc then a £100 meal doesn't seem a lot of money.

i have a relatively small and cheap house, therefore have a decent disposable income

we could afford a bit more square footage, and an extra bedroom, but I am working class, and like to feel a few reddies in my pocket

Dh earns a good salary and we plan what we are going to spend our money on. So when we eat out or go to the cinema, we know that it's not affecting our ability to buy food or pay bills and we can still afford to go on the holiday we have booked and save as planned.

If you have thousands a month left over after mortgage, pensions, savings, giving to charity etc then a £100 meal doesn't seem a lot of money

Of course it doesn't - but if you think of the median UK salary at around £15k, the average mortgage at around £100K, together with all the other average outgoings of the average sized UK family, I can absolutely see why the OP is perplexed at the amount of disposable income there appears to be floating around.