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.

DH and I are on 125k between us and I feel rich. And lucky.

Don't think private school is on the cards though, it would mean we couldn't save anything whic wouldn't fly wih

Not sure what happened there!

Which wouldn't fly with DH, I mean. But we have good state schools here and a super selective grammar which DS might get into!

JustMarriedBecca, you're missing 5k from your sums. Unless you have racking great CC debts or something?

grateful £500 per month? Is that full time hours?

If it is full time or even part time then you whole argument in your post becomes redundant, how can you comment on people struggling when you choose to work for £500 per month because you 'love' you job?

I wouldn't get out of bed for £500 per month.

Ten years ago I lived with DH in London on a combined salary of 170k. We had a two-bed flat on the border of Zone 1/2 (probably not doable now) and ate out in plenty of fancy restaurants, bought nice clothes, went to the theatre etc.

Has the cost of living in London really escalated so much that people on such salaries feel hard done by?

Our family summer holiday cost £10,000 for a fortnight and we only went to Greece, nothing overly fancy

Wow, for how many is that?

That seems way ott. My sister has just brought her family from
Australia to the UK for a month on not much more than that

I don't think there is any bashing of high earners. The bashing is of those who are unrealistic and are trying to make out they have some sort of hard life financially when actually what they mean is they are incapable of living within their means - heaven forbid they should have to scarfice a holiday or drive an older car than their neighbour does!

I wouldn't get out of bed for £500 per month.

Comments like that are disgusting. We get that you're very well off, Super but at least try to see how the little people live, would you? My wages are between £128 and £350 each month, depending on how many extra hours I get on top of my basic each month. I'm not going to go into all my personal circumstances as to why this is but I'm over the moon to be earning anything at this point.

Do try to engage your brain before you post.

10k on a holiday? Really?
Wow. Wish I was that poor. No holiday at all this year despite both working as job security uncertain and had to find 3 months rent to secure a flat for dd2 who is at uni but doesn't get any loan money over the summer so we had to find the rent to secure the digs until her SAAS money went in. Dd1 works in a coffeeshop to pay her way in life but hasn't a good in hell of saving enough for a deposit or a car so still lives at home at 23. Dd2 also works part time in a coffee shop so she can eat while at uni. We earn enough to pay the regular bills and save 150 a month towards Christmas. Any unexpected bills cripple us which is why there is currently no fire or heating in the front room.Our mortgage is low but we both commute 45/1 hour in different directions so petrol costs are huge and we need two second hand cars. I think we are the squeezed middle.

You'd get out of bed for £500 a month if it meant the difference between your children eating or not. It really is that simple for a lot of people.

Pastperfect I agree, embarrassing is the word

There's no bashing of higher earners, just of delusional higher earners

10K for a holiday? That's what plenty of people (yes even in London!) pay for a year's rent. By any normal standard of logic, that makes you very well off.

I do think there is a general anti-higher earner thing on mumsnet. However, not on this thread.

We went to the med this summer too. I think it cost about £10k for four of us - we were in a 5 star hotel, that included all our flights, food, drinks, spa treatments, golf and children's activities including 2 weeks of private tennis lessons. I really hope I am never so delusional or enough of a knob to say "we only went to Greece" and I would have to cancel all family holidays forever if my dcs ever utter that sentence.

And have to say that despite the above,we are wealthier now that are have ever been and I know what its like to be scrabbling down the sofa for money for school lunches etc. Would be nice to just have some left over once in a while though.

My wages are between £128 and £350 each month, depending on how many extra hours I get on top of my basic each month

I'd assume that's nowhere near ft hours though? So not really illustrative that you're a low earner, just that you work pt.

Whisk and fairylea my apologies if that sounded harsh but I can't fathom why some chooses to stay in a job that pays £500 when they have children because they 'absolutely love it'

I think 100k could be considered squeezed if it's combined income in the south east. If both parents are on 50k each in London and have two young children they could be paying £2500 per month in nursery fees, which more or less wipes out one salary if you include travel costs to work. Mortgage or rent for a normal 3 bed house could be 2k per month, travel to work varies depending on how close to london, but the closer to london the higher the rent/mortgage repayments, so if both parents work in london you are forced to live closer to reduce travel costs.

Factor in nappies, food, bills, high council tax and all other necessities and there is very little if anything left.

The fact is 100k per year if you have grown up kids and a low mortgage is loads, but for young people starting out with young children it really isn't. It's not poverty by any means, but it is squeezed.

On the other hand a couple earning a combined income of 50k in a cheaper area, with parental help for childcare and low travel costs with much lower rent/mortgage could be
very comfortable. It's all about circumstances.

Of course it's not full-time. I have so many contracted hours and so many casual (in a different role). But even if I was full-time (on my hourly wage) I'd still be a low earner, especially as a single parent.

Full-time work is off the cards while my kids are in school because I'd lose to much money in childcare (before and after school and holiday - I work term-time).

And even when I did work full-time I was classed as a low earner.

I don't know what some if you are wasting your money on. Unless you're being taxed to heaven (you want to go get yourself an accountant for that).

When those quizzes to assess where you are on the wealth ladder were circulating, we rated almost 2/3 of the way up, so we're probably what is meant by the squeezed middle. I'm an SAHM carer, DH has a decent wage, but well under the HRT threshold and the boys both have disabilities which entitle us to a significant amount of benefits for them. DS1 does go to an independent school, with annual fees on a par with the value of our Northern pit village house. Paid for by the LA because it's a special school. He's bright but if he were NT or less severely disabled, private secondary would be out of our reach (we might have just managed primary fees, if necessary, but would have absolutely no savings at all and no hope of moving to a bigger house, ever) and we most definitely couldn't afford a house in the catchment of the sought after secondary school in our area, as even our little house would be worth 3-4 times as much, there.

The level of "income hate" and lack of sympathy for people who are struggling (whatever the circumstances) is horrible.

I haven't read the article as I despise the DM and the interviewees may or may not be financially feckless morons. A little more kindness and a little less bile would make this thread more readable though.

But yep if the boys weren't at private school we would have another £32k a year disposable income.

Food for thought, DS1 really needs it for various reasons but DS2 would muddle along fine wherever he went - though probably wouldn't do any work :))

Downtheroad but the 'whatever the circumstances' is relevant

I do have empathy for people who are struggling, but if you're only struggling because you insist on trying to live above your means, or because you won't consider cheaper options, then no, I don't have much sympathy

For example, why should anyone have sympathy for someone who chooses to live in Zone 1 London and then complains about struggling?

I know what you mean, Downtheroad. You'd think people would see the connections and find solidarity. But no. Instead it's "divide and rule."
We should be demanding less income disparity and less struggling for the Vast Majority ( my term, to compete wth 'squeezed middle'). We shkould be asking why people are working so hard and having a poor life quality. And we should care about others, frankly. Those struggling with care responsibilities, people feeling desperate, and those who are struggling globally because of the obscene inequalities of wealth and health distribution globally.

"Bashing of high earners"

No just deserved criticism of idiots who cannot see that if they have thousands to spend on holidays handbags they are not squeezed or poor or unfortunate.

God only knows what message your DC receive....actually I know: the same as the hideous brats at my DCs school who bring everything back to money, complaining that they had to fly business or that a certain luxury hotel is not up to par.

Shamefully embarrassing.

Seriously , the whole "pooh, they're rolling in it and don't know they're born. I'm the one who is really struggling," argument helps no-one. Because you can always find someone having a worse time.
As long as there is global inequality, very few people in the UK will be 'squeezed middle' in global terms.
We have free education and healthcare and shelter and water.
We should be raising our eyes up, to protect these things, and to extend the to our sisters and brothers across the world, not biting each other ver smaller differences.

The 10k Greek holiday comment made me chuckle.
When I was on my 5.5k holiday this Summer I remembering thinking to myself this Is amazing, what family could want for more. Very fancy it was too.
Some people are always going to want more, especially if they commit every penny before it is even earnt. Often then people realise they haven't got much or any fun money left and the moaning starts.