To think £100k pa is NOT 'the squeezed middle'?

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The article is very confidently attributing the definition to Danny Dorling, but did he really name this figure?!

These women are fools.

I do have sumpathy with those who start their dc in private school then find that they are faced with having to move them out.

My dc are 6 and 4, ds1 is in year 2. I would hate to have to move them now. They've settled in so well and ds1 takes an active part in lots of school activities and teams. I would probably give up pretty much anything (including our house if we had to) before I'd move them out of their school. There are probably a lot who feel similar due to the actual school and regardless of whether it is private or state.

I actually laughed when it read that DM headline. Absolutely hilarious. What were those women thinking?

Tbh, I can't say that my heart bleeds. No one actually needs a private education for their children. If you choose one and then struggle to pay the bills, then it's your lookout. I feel awful for people choosing between heat and food, but not people who could easily save themselves tens of thousands of pounds a year.

I still have no sympathy regardless of where they live. Why send your kids to private school if you are complaining about the strain? problem solved send them to a state school but you lot will not do that yet like to complain about how tight money is, how my heart bleeds for you all.

Oh good grief. Apologies to the poster who said it, but if you can afford to save £500 a month then you aren't struggling. Rearrange your priorities if it's that difficult, but at the end of the day you are CHOOSING to save that money rather than pay more in rent/go out/whatever.

I'm so sorry, maybe it's just a bad week but sometimes I get so mad on here when people complain when they earn so much bloody money. It seriously is like another world.

I agree that £100k is not "the middle" and the people in the article are ridiculous, but I think TheWordFactory is spot on - people are following the same route as their parents, are earning the same or more adjusting for inflation, and it goes nowhere near.

In real terms I earn probably about 40% more than my parents did, I but couldn't afford a 4bed semi in the leafy suburbs of London and privately educating 2 kids (though we never had holidays of any description).

Now I'm not stupid so I've made other decisions and live within my means, but I can see why if you've done everything "right" and can't afford any of this stuff you would feel a bit cheated. (Disclaimer - I don't, I'm massively grateful for our financial position)

Who's 'you lot' Rebecca?

Squeezed middle to me is people on low professional salaries, teachers, nurses, social workers etc. People who have studied and run up debt to achieve a career and professional qualification but who don't get paid very much for it. It's a salary of around £25-50k I suppose whether that's singly on the lower end or jointly on the upper end.

Although I don't consider myself the squeezed middle because although falling into that category I do qualify for tax credits so I'm cushioned against the squeeze. It will be when my salary goes up a bit next year and I only get child benefit that I will consider myself squeezed.

I agree, being able to save 500 a month is a lot. Soon I only be able to save ten pound a month. Threads like this make my blood boil.

Ah, I see.

Can't afford it - then downsize - don't want to downsize? Well don't fucking complain about it.

There are people who can't downsize any more than they already have - or never had the opportunity to upsize - on £100 k you have options. Get a 1 bed flat and get the bus, stop buying the designer clothes and gadgets - voila you have an £80k disposable income - they could be debt free in a year and have a deposit for a fantastic house the year after.

People who sympathise with how hard it would be to move your kids out of private school - well parents who privately rent have to make those hard decisions too, or parents in temporary accommodation, all sorts. Being privileged makes those decisions easier. So you have to downsize your outgoings and sadly take your kids out of private. You've got the option of moving to an area where there are several great comprehensive schools. You have choice. If you're poor, you have the same problem, but generally not a lot of choice.

They might be squeezed in that the cost of what they want has gone up disproportionately to their incomes, but when the average income ua £26000 squeezed middle is pushing it. As the professor says, they are comparing their lifestyles to the super rich. Interesting article but they need a reality check. A holiday is never a necessity.

Ehric - I sympathise with those two. Having to withdraw your dc from a school they love, for ANY reason, will probably be upsetting for the parents (and dc)

*too

Good lord that woman in the second pic could do with spending a bit of her £108k on a stylist. Under eye black eyeliner, shiny tights and Mary Janes that match her dress yikes

My dh and I earn this kind of money.

We live in central London in a small-ish house.

Our three dds go to state schools, we have one pretty bog standard holiday a year and you'd not think we were 'rich' in any way really.

These people are just stupid eejits who can't do their sums and live beyond their means.

They are also stupid eejits to moan - they are very very lucky, as am I and I appreciate I have a lot more than most people.

I agree! I'm not saying it's easy. I'm just saying it's a situation thousands of low income families are in through no fault if their own due to the vagaries of the housing system and if you have a decent salary you still have options, whereas if you're broke you don't.
It's hard for richer parents but harder for poor ones.

£500 a month is my salary.....anyone who can afford to save that amount is NOT struggling.
Struggling is wondering if the gas will last until the tax credit goes in....or working out so that you can use emergency credit until you have money in the back again.
Struggling is living on the council tax money because you've had a big unexpected bill come in (council tax will be paid on Weds but two days late).
Struggling is looking at the cheapest meals possible to feed yourself and your child.
Struggling is hoping the petrol will last to get you to and from work and a child to school.
Struggling is realising (as I did this week) that I am now financially worse off in work than staying home as a Carer to my child. Not by much but the rent rise has tipped the balance.

BUT, I am still happier than these women in the article.

I have a poorly paid job but one I absolutely love and which gives me so much satisfaction. I look forward to going to work despite it being physically demanding and exhausting.

I have a child who is happy and healthy despite his autism and the challenges it brings him and me.

I have a roof over my head thanks to a local Housing Asscoiation and my rent is cheap when compared to local private rents. All other costs are the same though

Yes, I agree.

I just think it's a bit 'short sighted' for people to say 'Well just pull them out of private school then' as if it's nothing. If you were in the position of putting them in private school and now find you're struggling, I can well understand why you'd sacrifice anything else you could before the school.

Most people on here seem to think that's because anyone in that position must be a horrendous snob who deems state education beneath them - but IMO it's just as likely that they just don't want to disrupt their dc, like most people.

Good grief rebecca so grumpy!

Its a beautiful sunny Sunday morning. Why so angry?

I'm neither complaining nor squeezed, so I hope I'm not part of 'you lot' .

Hermione yes indeed.

It is perfectly natural to hope to offer you children at least the comforts of childhood that you yourself had. Particularly if you have trained to get employment that should, on paper, offer it.

However, the parents of the current middle class enjoyed the benefits of affordable housing, relatively low costs of living, decent public transport, free tertiary education. Many will also have received a very handsome pension.

However, times have changed. People need to recalibrate. Some take a lot longer to see the world how it really is now.

The difficulty is that by perpetuating the myth that such h/holds are part of the squeezed middle (DM are not the only offenders, I've seen similar before), the media and the people concerned are obscuring the truth. Which as that these couples, despite being at or above the 95th centile of income, can't afford the traditional upper middle class lifestyle.

That tells us an awful truth about our economy. And about how lower income groups must be doing.

But, no, let's all conspire in the idea that £100k is 'middle'

What I also really dislike is those that assume that everyone who has a decent salary and life now knows no different.

We don't earn as much as in the article - probably about £60-£70 k gross. But we live no where near London so it goes a lot further. We have a nice house, holiday, savings.

But we've pulled ourself up by our bootstraps to get there. We both came from shitty council estates with parents on benefits (benefits for no reason). I've known what it's like to hide in the kitchen from the provy man. And to look at the leccy meter with £0.36 on it, wondering if that's enough to cook dinner.

9 years ago dh were living in a 1 bed flat the size of a shoebox, earning peanuts and eating pasta and beans every night...with cheese if we were flush.

Just because someone is well off now doesn't mean they have no idea of what it is to struggle. You don't know where anyone came from, or started as.

Mad - we already live in a one bed flat ( with x2 children), what would you like us to downsize to? A shed? A cardboard box?

If you have no money after paying achool fees and a huge mortgage you arent poor.

You are just spending your large income on a house and education.

"Where I am (west of Scotland) that would be affluent."

Naw, et'd be pure rerr minted man

The people who are getting squeezed are those who are above the point where working tax credit and child benefit are assessed out on income, but who are not rich enough not to be hurt by the rising prices, eroded savings and constant rip-offs.